Bible Commentaries
Philippians 3

Verse 1

Philippians 3:1

Good-day, friends. We come to you with studies in the book of Philippians. And I just trust that you will take your Bibles and turn with me to the third chapter.

We come to a part that is to my mind one of the most amazing passages in the history and life of Paul. We get a little intimation here of the passion of this man’s heart for the Saviour. But before he discusses it, he takes up the question of what the flesh can do and doesn’t do. In other words, in the first six verses, we are going to see things that hinder our knowing Christ.

If I were to give you a theme for chapter three, I would say “that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His suffering.” This is Christian experience—to know Him. Not so much to know about Him, but to really know—Him. This is experimental knowledge.

Paul starts the chapter with certain things in the first six verses, things that hinder our really experiencing knowing Christ. And I want to say frankly that, when I read this passage over and over again, I find out how easy it is for us to want the flesh to behave, but we want to get some gratifica­tion out of it.

Now listen to what he says—

Philippians 3:1. Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you, to me in­deed is not grievous.

He is saying, “I don’t mind writing to you about these things because for you, it means safety.” We are to rejoice in the Lord.

You know, it’s easy to rejoice in the things of life. It’s easy to rejoice when you get what you want. It’s easy to rejoice when you have your own way. But here the ground of rejoicing for a Chris­tian never changes: “Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say, rejoice.” He’s ever on the ground of rejoicing. It never changes. We are not to rejoice in gifts or attainment or service, but we are to rejoice in Him.

You know, we’re too often affected by our circumstances, and when our circumstances are not very good, we growl and we grumble; we’re not very good people to be with, are we, anyone of us? We get so occupied with ourselves; and, when circumstances are not so good, we expect everyone to sympathize with us—and, in fact, we sympathize with ourselves. But, my friend, when Christ is the source of our joy, we can rejoice over any circumstance.

And, by the way, this man Paul had a right to say that. When he wrote to these Philippians, I’m sure he remembered his experience at Philippi in Acts, chapter 16. When he went to Philippi, he went to a prayer meeting by the riverside and met a group of women, and the first convert in Europe was a successful business woman by the name of Lydia. And after she and her household came to know the Saviour, they took Paul and his party into her home.

And then he was opposed by Satanic forces; and then he was opposed by men; and then I find him in jail. He’s been beaten up, and he’s in the inner dungeon with the slime and the slaves and what have you and the smell and the filth of past prisoners. He was in the inner dungeon, his feet fast in the stocks. Talk about circumstances! If any man would growl and grumble, it would be here!

No, in fact, he could have said, “Lord, why should I be in this condition? Why should my feet be in the stocks? Why should my back be bleeding? Why should I be in this filthy place? Just because I love you? Just because I talk about you? Because I witness to men concerning you?”

No. He sang praises to the Lord. He and Silas sang so much that God heard and answered, and there was an earthquake, and everyone’s bonds were loosed. You talk about the supernatural life; here it is. Circumstances were bad, but, you see, the ground for his joy hadn’t changed. Rejoice in the Lord always! “Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord,” he says. Where else can you rejoice?

By the way, for those of you who are Bible students, it might be a very interesting study to find out what Christ is to the believer. For example, Christ is my Peace. You have this in Ephesians 2:14. He is our peace; He never changes. In Colossians 3:4, He’s our Life; and here in Philippians, He’s the source of our joy. He’s the source of all knowledge in Colossians 2:3. He’s the Source of all power, the power of resurrection and exaltation in Ephesians 1:19-22.

One could multiply these wonderful things.

What is Christ to us? Marvelous things! He never changes; hence, our joy should be filled full. And, by the way, this is what He wants of you and me; He wants our joy to be filled full. He doesn’t want us to go around murmuring all the time, being sour. He wants us to be filled with joy.

So Paul says, “Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord.” I say again, these dear Philippians had suffered for the Gospel. Their circumstances were pretty tough, but so was Paul’s. He had been in jail and beaten up in Philippi, and now he’s in Rome, and he’s chained to soldiers. Yet he could say “Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord, and to write to you is not going to be a hard thing, because I have you in my heart.” See, that’s what you have in the first verse, and as I see it, we are affected by circumstances.

He goes on to say, “I want to write to you, and it’s not too hard for me to do this, but for you it is safe.” Let me repeat what I said in chapter 2. What a tremendous place the people of God had upon this man’s heart.

My Christian friend, I wonder if I dare say this to you or ask you this question, “Do you have the people of God on your heart?” I don’t mean so you can criticize them or be censorious and sit like a judge or jury.. I mean to have them upon your heart so that you are full of love for them, that you pray for them, that you encourage them and, if need be, to instruct them. Oh, no, but with a heart full of compassion and tenderness for the people of God.

You know, I find so many Christians who are in great, great need with tests and trials of life. Some are in very, very difficult circumstances; and yet Paul says, they are no worse than mine. I’m a prisoner of Jesus Christ, I’m here at Rome chained to soldiers, I’ve been beaten up, I’ve been perse­cuted. Yet he could say, “Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. And I’m so desirous, just so de­sirous for your safety that ye might be kept from the things that would hinder your really knowing Christ in your experience.”

And this is how he starts the chapter.

I wanted to get this upon your heart as we go into these verses. This man is burdened that God’s people be free from anything and everything that would blur the vision of Christ, that would prevent their enjoying divine life, that would hinder their walking on a high plain of spirituality, that would hinder their being useful vessels for the Lord. This is the burden of his heart.

And you know, it’s not the bad things that keep Christians from going on with God. Some­times it’s the good things of life, things that people run after, other things that hinder our really know­ing and experiencing Christ Jesus. And I want to leave this with you today. As you read the Word of God, will you remember that Jesus Christ never changes—as Hebrews 13:1-25 says, “The same yesterday, today, and forever”—and He is the ground not only for your peace, He’s not only the ground of righ­teousness for us, but He’s also the ground of our joy. You remember, at the last verse of John 16:1-33, He could say, “In Me, you can have peace. In the world you’ll have tribulation. But cheer up, I have over­come the world.”

Isn’t it wonderful that you and I can live and walk—whatever our circumstance may be— walk in fellowship with God and enjoy His strength and the joy and peace that are beyond the under­standing of men!

Now the Lord has it for you; He has it for me; but we must appropriate this. We must have Christ on our hearts.

Now why don’t you go over this the rest of this day? I don’t know what your past has been. It doesn’t matter. You can’t bring it back. But won’t you start and enjoy Christ in your life today? Today!

Yes, His strength and joy and peace can be yours today.

And the Lord wonderfully bless you for His name’s sake.

Verses 1-3

Philippians 3:1-3

Good-day, friends. Again we come to you with our studies in the book of Philippians and here we are dealing in the first six verses with things that hinder our knowing Him.

Philippians 3:1. 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.

Philippians 3:2. Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision.

Philippians 3:3. For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.

Now we were saying in our last lesson that the ground for our rejoicing as Christians is in the Lord. “Rejoice in the Lord.” And too often we believers are affected by our circumstances when we ought to be rejoicing in the Saviour.

You know, that Christian maturity is just that—when you can come to the place where you can rejoice in spite of your circumstances. That’s victory, that’s joy, that’s blessing, that’s spiritual power.

Now in verse 2, you’ll notice that he says three times, “Beware, beware, beware.” Or, if I could use a little different touch, keep your eyes open. Just keep your own eyes open. Look out for anything that has to do with the flesh. Look out for anything that will blur your vision for Christ. Look out for any doctrine that does not make Christ the center. You be careful about anything that you hear and see with respect to the flesh.

Remember what Jesus said in John 3:1-36: “That which is born of the flesh is flesh (and can’t be anything else but flesh), and that which is born of the spirit is spirit.”

In the book of Galatians, we read in chapter 5: “The Spirit desireth against the flesh, and the flesh desireth against the spirit: and these are contrary the one to the other.” And I wish we Christians, we who love the Saviour, could see the fact, this fact, that nothing the flesh can do can satisfy God.

Indeed, in the book of Romans, chapter 8, verses 7 and 8, it says, “the carnal mind is enmity against God. It is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be, so then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.” And he goes on to say, “But you are not in the flesh but in the spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwells in you.” In other words, the flesh itself cannot do anything that will please God. God has no confidence in anybody’s flesh, neither yours nor mine.

Let this be very clear in your mind. There was only one man who ever walked the face of the earth of whom God said, twice, “This is my beloved Son in Whom I am well pleased.” But when the Spirit of God indwells a person, we can still fall back into sin. And this is true of all Christians, carnal Christians as well as spiritual Christians, because it was to a carnal group that Paul wrote, “Your bod­ies are the sanctuaries of the Holy Spirit.”—The trouble is too often, too often we allow the things of the flesh to hinder the work of the Spirit of God in our lives.

Now mark this threefold warning in verse 2. Beware—keep your eyes open. The first thing is “Beware of dogs.” Now who are they? Well, they are the strangers to grace. They’re the false teach­ers. In fact, the Apostle Peter writes a whole chapter on false teachers in 2Peter 2; and Paul in Col 2:, also writes about and warns concerning false teachers, false philosophy, and vain reasonings of men.

If I were taking up 2 Peter, I’d point out that in chapter 2 these false teachers deny the fact of Christ’s second coming; for “since the fathers fell asleep,” say they, “everything continues as it was from the beginning,” and of this they are willfully, willingly ignorant. You be careful of false teach­ers. And you remember 2 Peter, chapter 2, ends up where Peter says they are wells without water, clouds carried with a tempest. There is no reality to them. They’re just like dogs and sows. They like the mud and the filth and the sin. Dogs. Watch out. Be on the alert. Keep your eyes open. Beware of dogs or false teachers.

And the second one is “Beware of evil workers.” And this has to do with their conduct, and their conduct equals their hearts. You remember in 2Co 11:13-14, where it speaks of the fact that Satan himself will come as an angel of light for the purpose of deceiving the very elect if it were possible.

Our Lord spoke of some of these fellows in Matthew 7:22-23, where He said, “Many will say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name?” Have we not performed miracles in your name, have we not cast out demons in your name? Here were preachers who performed miracles, cast out demons, did wonderful things in the name of Jesus, and yet, Jesus said, “Depart from Me, ye workers of in­iquity. I never knew you.”

Beware of false teachers. Beware of these who would seek to lead you astray by their evil works and their conduct which is a manifestation of what their hearts are like.

And the third warning: “Beware of the concision.” Now these are religious forms and cere­monies that people use to add to the sufficiency of Christ. Beware of anything that adds to the work of Christ for sinners.

Now that doesn’t sound like a very difficult one, does it? But, my friend, may I say that too many, even among those who profess the name of the Saviour, too many seek to add to the work of Christ. Beware of the concision, of these who would add religious works and religious ceremonies to the sufficiency of Christ. They deny the sufficiency of Christ, and, by the way, there’s a whole epistle of Paul written on this and that’s the book of Galatians. It is so easy, so easy for the religious flesh to add something. It makes you feel good. “I’ve done this, I’ve done that, I’ve had this rite, I‘ve had that ordinance.”

But, my friend, this is false. When Christ died, He did a perfect work. He did a complete work. And when sinners come and accept Jesus Christ as their own personal Saviour, they receive a perfect, complete, eternal salvation.

Beware of those who would turn your heart away from the sufficiency of Christ. They are those religious people who would get your mind occupied with what you do—some religious thing, some good thing that makes you feel good to add to the work of Christ.

I remember one time, some years ago, a preacher saying, “Well, brother, you better get bap­tized and make the thing sure.”

Now I’m not opposed to baptism, but no, no rite of baptism or anything else can make sure your salvation. Christ is the Saviour. He’s a perfect Saviour; He’s a complete Saviour. And you know, the flesh is so subtle; the flesh is so, so subtle; it wants to take a little credit for itself.

You know, we sing,

“I need no other argument,
I need no other plea,
It is enough that Jesus died,
And that He died for me.”

That is a complete job.

“My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness.
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly lean on Jesus’ name.
On Christ the Solid Rock I stand.
All other ground is sinking sand.”

And if I’m talking to any person today—you’re listening to my voice—and you’ve never come into right relationship with the Saviour, you’ve never received into your life as the One who died for you, my friend, we offer you a perfect, complete, eternal, satisfying Saviour, Who guarantees His salvation with the resurrection from the dead.

And He is saying to you today, “Come unto Me all ye that labor, and are heavy laden, I will give you rest.” Come as you are, He is saying, come with your burdens, come with your sin. Come just as you are, and He will redeem you, save you, make you a child of God. You can’t add one thing to the work of Christ.

So Paul here is saying, “Beware of dogs (false teachers); beware of evil workers (their lives equal to what their hearts are); beware of the concision. Beware of those who talk glibly about the Saviour, but whose lives are evil. Beware of those who are always boosting some religious ordinance or something that you must do to be saved and you must do to be kept saved. Christ is a perfect, com­plete Saviour!

My friend, if you have put your trust in Jesus Christ as Saviour, why don’t you revel in Him today? Thank God that He’s a real, perfect, eternal Saviour, a complete Saviour.

And if I’m talking to you, and you’ve never accepted Christ as your own personal Saviour, I would urge upon you now, while I’m talking to you, bow your heart, your head before Him, receive Him as your own personal Saviour. That means put your trust in Him.

And the Lord bless you for His name’s sake.

Verses 3-6

Philippians 3:3-6

Good-day, friends. What an opportunity is ours in the study of the book of Philippians, chap­ter 3, as we take up the Apostle Paul’s testimony and especially the things that would hinder our knowing the Saviour in a wonderful way, in a real way. This knowledge that I might know Him is ex­perimental knowledge.

We were dealing in our last lesson with dogs and false teachers and religious unbelievers who tell you that God will do something for you if you do something for God.

Now Paul is here dealing with things that hinder our really knowing the Saviour. He has just declared in Php 3:2 these three bewares, telling us to keep our eyes open, to be on the lookout for those things that would boost the flesh and minimize the work of Christ. And then we have in verse 3 what true worship and rejoicing is; and, by the way, these are the marks of a real believer.

Philippians 3:3. For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.

“We are...verse 3.” Mark those three things in that verse. We worship God in the spirit; there’s no room for the flesh at all. We come with a heart that is exercised, not something that is puffed up and stirred up. We come with a heart that is exercised by the Spirit of God. You remember, Jesus said to the woman at the well in John 4:24, “God is a Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.” There’s no room for the flesh, not a bit of room. We worship God in spirit.

The second thing in the verse is that we rejoice in Jesus Christ, not in the flesh, not in self. We rejoice in Him because He is sufficient for all our need. We have no need to trust in the flesh; we trust Him. My, how the Lord loves to have us trust Him! I don’t know of anything that delights the heart of God more than to have His people really trust Him, fully trust Him. Not Christ plus what I do. Not a little Christ and a big I. No, Christ alone is sufficient. So we rejoice in Jesus Christ; and, instead of rejoicing in the flesh, we rejoice in the One Who is our all-sufficient Saviour.

And then we have “have no confidence in the flesh.” Remember this—our true faith is in Christ, our trust is in Christ, our confidence is in Christ; not in the flesh. We renounce all confidence in the flesh. God has no confidence in anybody’s flesh, neither yours nor mine; and when we come to the place of seeing that the Lord Jesus is a perfect Saviour, then we can worship God in spirit and in truth. This is not something we pump up, but a heart that’s really in love with the Saviour, really in love with the Saviour. Not just to talk about it, but we enjoy a real life in the Saviour.

And we rejoice in Jesus Christ. We don’t rejoice in what the flesh thinks it can do or has done or hopes to do, but we rejoice in Jesus Christ because He is sufficient for all our need. And then we renounce all confidence in the flesh because God does that. He has no confidence in anybody’s flesh except, as I said a while ago, except His own precious Son, Jesus Christ, the One with whom He was well-pleased. So you have in this verse the three-fold aspect of a real believer who worships God in the spirit, rejoices in Christ Jesus, and has no confidence in the flesh.

Now we come to Php 3:4-6, Paul’s own testimony. And here’s an amazing thing—Paul’s past was one of self-righteousness, and the religious flesh has a way of hindering our experiencing Christ. I want to repeat that. The religious flesh, whether it’s yours or mine or Paul’s or anybody else’s, the religious flesh has a way of hindering our really enjoying Christ.

Now I know I’m making a strong statement here on that, because it’s so easy for us to glory in something that we do. We get a great deal of satisfaction out of things we do for the Saviour. Now there are certain rights in that we are workers together with God. He takes us and uses our bodies and all the gifts He has given to us. He uses them for his glory; but we still glory in the Lord, not in the flesh.

Now Paul here begins to use his own experience to tell us of things that hindered his really knowing the Saviour. Notice his birth, verses 4 to 6, chapter 3 of Philippians. He says, verse 4:

Philippians 3:4. Though I might also have confidence in flesh. If any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more:

Philippians 3:5. Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an He­brew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee;

Philippians 3:6. Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.

A man can have all those things and be wrong. Well-born, he was a real Jew. Look at his birth. He was a real Hebrew; he wasn’t a proselyte. He could tell you his tribe, “I belong to the tribe of Benjamin.” He was proud of his birth, proud of his race, proud of his tribe: I belong to the tribe of Benjamin. This man Paul was a real Jew! Mark his position. He was a Pharisee. “As touching the law, I’m a Pharisee.”

If I were to use present-day words, he could say, “I wasn’t a Sadducee; I wasn’t a liberal. I wasn’t one of those who deny the supernatural; I wasn’t one of those who deny the verbal inspiration of Scripture. I was a Pharisee. I was a fundamentalist; I was an evangelical.” (I’m using those words that we use today.) He was a conservative in theology, a Pharisee, a stickler for the Law.

And then concerning zeal—persecuting the church. And mark you, my friend, this zeal of Paul, when he persecuted the early Christians, was because of his zeal for God. He was going to stamp out this terrible way—the people of the way who worship Jesus, the One who was crucified, the One who became a curse. “I’m going to stamp this thing out.” And he had such a place of prominence that he was held in confidence by the high priests who gave him papers and authority to go to Damas­cus and put the Christians in jail. And he had done this before around Jerusalem.

He stood by the side of the ones who stoned Stephen, the early church martyr. This man [Paul] was a zealot for God, but he was wrong. You know, people can be zealous for God and still be wrong. A person today can be very zealous for his church and be wrong and zealous for his denomination and be wrong and zealous for religious feelings and experiences and ceremonies and be wrong! What’s Paul talking about? These are the things in which men glory. These are the things that hinder people from reveling in Christ Jesus.

And, my friend, I know what I’m talking about. You and I have the same experiences. It’s so easy for us, so natural for us, so logical for us to do something to merit favor with God; and, my friend, you just can’t merit favor with God. God has given us a Saviour; God has given to us a Lord. As we had in the preceding chapter, where Paul had the mind of Christ: He was sold out to the Saviour, not to religious zeal, not to something of the flesh, but to God Himself!

I ask you the question today, have you got enough zeal?

Is it for Christ? Or are you proud of it?

Is your heart in love with Him?

Are you full of zeal for Christ Himself?

Are you in love with the Saviour?

Or are you in love with yourself? Are you in love with the flesh?

My friend, this is what he is talking about. You see, it’s not the bad things that keep us from the Saviour and the enjoyment of the Saviour. Oftentimes, and most of the time, it’s the good things that keep us from enjoying Him.

Think about that today and make Christ the very center of your life, of your devotion, of your affection, and of your love.

And the Lord bless you for His own name’s sake.

Verses 7-11

Philippians 3:7-11

Good-day, friends. It is our great desire that people come to know the Word of God. How else can people know the things of God if we do not spend time in the Word of God? And you know, we’re not left to our own resources. If you love the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, then the Spirit of God indwells you and, as our Saviour could say in John 16:1-33, “When He the Spirit of Truth is come, He will guide you into all truth. He will take the things of Mine and show them unto you. He will show you things to come.” And if you are really a believer in the Lord Jesus, then, my friend, you have the Spirit of God as your teacher; and He is willing and waiting to take the Word and make it live in your life.

How glad I am that Jesus could say, “The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life.” And our Lord could say, “Thy Word is truth.” And so it is our desire to unveil as far as we can the marvelous revelation of Christ, His work for men and women, His care for His own people, His return to the earth in power and great glory.

Indeed I want to talk to you personally, to sit down and talk to you about these wonderful things that God has given to us in His Word.

We’re dealing in the book of Philippians in chapter 3, and in the first 6 verses of this chapter. We’re talking about things that hinder us from really knowing Christ. Now it’s not a mental knowl­edge that I’m talking about. I believe that the Spirit of God here has reference rather to knowing Christ experimentally, that is, the enjoyment of Christ Himself.

You know, it’s a wonderful thing, when you think of it, that you and I who were sinners can now be redeemed, can become a child of the living God, can be pronounced righteous by Him, in-dwelt by His Spirit, and then to grow in the grace and knowledge of God, to really enjoy Christ for Himself. We had this in chapter 2; now we have it in chapter 3. In fact, the theme of chapter 3 is “that I might know Christ”—in a very intimate way; but there are things that hinder our knowing Christ in an intimate way. This is what Paul is dealing with in the first six verses.

You remember, he has warned us in verse 2 of certain false religious leaders, false teachers, those who would seek to deny the sufficiency of Christ and would get you occupied with yourself and your own feelings, your own experiences and your own religious works rather than the person of Christ. And he takes his own experiences in verses 4 to 6 and speaks of the fact that there was a time when he was very, very religious.

Indeed, if you have his own testimony—if I may be allowed to do this again—he was a real Jew, a pure Hebrew. He could even tell his tribe; he belonged to the tribe of Benjamin. He was not a proselyte; he was a real Jew. And he was circumcised the eighth day. He was a Hebrew of the He­brews. In his position he was a Pharisee; that is, he was a stickler for the Word of God and especially for the law of Moses. It is true that the Pharisees pushed the Word of God beyond what I believe was the intent of the Spirit of God. Paul would be called, in this day, in our day, one who was an ultra-con­servative. He would be called by some an ultra-fundamentalist.

There was one thing he was not; he was not a Sadducee. Sadducees, you remember, in our Lord’s day and in Paul’s day, were the men in Israel, religious leaders, who denied the supernatural. They denied the resurrection; they denied the miraculous, the things that God would do. They were the modernists of the day; they believed in man, entirely in man. The question of a supernatural God doing supernatural things was entirely out of their range of knowledge.

Nor was Paul a Herodian. The Herodians were the religious politicians of the day. No, Paul was a Pharisee.

And then he said, “Concerning zeal, persecuting the church.” Do you remember in 1Co 15:9 he could say, “I am not meet to be called an Apostle because I persecuted the church of God.” And you remember how he persecuted the church of God. In fact, on the road to Damascus, when he met the Saviour, he was going to that city to put the Christians in prison. He had a zeal for God but not ac­cording to knowledge.

A great many people are just like this. They have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. Religious works, religious organizations, religious things occupy them. It’s of the flesh; it’s the religious flesh. And these are the things hindering our knowing and experiencing the wonder­ful Son of God. I’m pressing this to your heart because Paul is so desirous of our realizing that it’s not the bad flesh, not so much the so-called sinful flesh; it’s not the bad things of life that hinder our knowing Christ so much. It is sometimes the good things, the religious things.

And then he goes on to say in verse 6, “Touching the righteousness of the law, blameless.” In other words, he was a man devoted to what he believed. That is, I take it, that he walked according to the standards of the Law; he did openly all the things the Law demanded. Blameless!

My, what a man this man Paul was before he met Christ. Pure Hebrew, a Pharisee, a conserva­tive in theology, a zealot for God and, touching the righteousness in the Law, blameless. But all these things hindered his knowing Christ.

My friend, is it not true—can I say this—really, really honestly to us Christians, it’s not the bad things of life that hinder our knowing Christ. Oftentimes it’s the good things. We choose the good, and we miss the best. And so often Christ ceases to be the center of our affection, of our devotion, of our lives.

I know what I’m talking about. I’ve been a minister of the Word of God for a great many years. I know how subtle this thing is. We can be a teacher of the Word of God, a preacher of the Gospel and give all our time to the things of Christ and to the things of the church and still miss the life in Christ. “These things,” says Paul, “which were gain to me, I count them loss for Christ.”

Now something must have happened for Paul to do this. Something must have happened. Let me read it in verses 7-11:

Philippians 3:7. But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.

Philippians 3:8. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,

Philippians 3:9. And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:

Philippians 3:10. That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;

Philippians 3:11. If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of (as from among) the dead.

Now when you come to this, you see this man’s great passion. I don’t know of any scripture that reveals the heart of Paul more than this. As I said a moment ago, and I repeat it. Here’s a man who was very sincere, very devoted, very religious , a zealot for God—but wrong. He had to be saved. You see, my friend, sincerity is not enough. It is not sufficient. You must have Christ.

People tell me, “As long as I’m sincere, I must be all right.”

My friend, that’s far from the truth. You’re not saved by your sincerity, by your religion, by your good works. Christ is the Saviour. I know I’ve said this before, but I’m going to repeat it because I’m meeting it all the time, in witnessing to people who often say, “Why, Mr. Mitchell, I’m a very sin­cere man or woman. I do the best I can for God. Now what more does God want?”

My friend, He doesn’t want what you can do. Did you hear what I said? He doesn’t want what you can do. You’re not saved by work you can do. I am saved by another. I’m saved by God’s wonderful Son, Jesus Christ. He came. He bore our sins in His own body on the tree. He died and was buried, and God raised Him from the dead and set Him at His own right hand in the heavens to be a Prince and a Saviour. And He’s an all-sufficient Saviour. He’s a perfect Saviour. You can’t add to what He has done. But the religious flesh would love to add to what Christ has done. We would like to say it is Christ plus my sincerity. It is Christ plus me, Christ plus what I can do or what I hope to do.

Paul says, “All these things that were gain to me. I count them loss for Christ.” What had hap­pened? Paul had caught a glimpse of the Saviour. And when Paul caught a glimpse of the Saviour, all that he’d been trusting, all that he had been depending upon was just like the refuse of the streets. He had a complete reversal of values once he saw the Saviour.

And you know, I’m afraid this is so today. We’ve been so occupied with our goodness, our religious ceremonies, and what we can do, we have in some way been blind to the beauty and the glo­ry and the righteousness of God’s precious Son.

Do you see what I want you to do? I want you to know something about the Saviour. I want you to fall in love with Jesus, God’s beloved Son. And the reason you are trusting the works you are doing, the reason you are trusting religious feelings and zeal and even a zeal for God is because you’ve never seen Him in His beauty, in His righteousness, in the perfection not only of His character but perfection of His work for lost men and women.

Believer in Christ, why don’t you revel in Him?

Forget your deadly doing, and just be occupied with the Saviour. Just for today, will you? We’ll talk about tomorrow, but for today, will you do that? And may the Lord wonderfully bless you.

Good-day, friends. I just trust that you who have been reading the book of joy and rejoicing, the book of Christian experience, the book of Philippians are rejoicing in the Lord.

Beware of those who would seek to thwart the work of God in your heart, who would seek to blur your vision of the Saviour, and who do it by false teaching, who do it by religious flesh. Paul in verses 4 to 6 of this third chapter speaks of this for it was the thing that hindered him. He was well­born. He was a conservative in theology. He was a zealot for God. As touching the law, the righteous­ness in the law, he was blameless. And all these things that were gain to him, he counted them loss of Christ.

What made this man turn his back on all his religious feelings and religious doings and just trust Jesus? He caught a glimpse of the Saviour. You know that marvelous verse in Ephesians 1:6—do you remember it?—that God has accepted us in the beloved, that God sees the man in Christ in all the beauty, in all the merit, in all the righteousness of the Saviour. And once you see Him as a perfect, all-sufficient Saviour, my friend, you begin to realize that these other things are not worth anything. As Paul here says, he just counted them as the refuse of the street, just fit for the ash can once he saw Christ in His beauty, in His righteousness.

Oh, friend, today, I wish in some way I could picture to you the Lord Jesus Christ as He really is. But you read the Word of God, and you’ll find it. Does Christ understand you? Is He full of com­passion? Is He tender? Does He know all about you? Yes. Yes. Does He ever leave you? No. Does He love you? Yes. Do your failures affect His love? No. No.

Oh, read the first four books of the New Testament, the four Gospels, and then read through the epistles of Paul, through Hebrews, and so on. My, what a Saviour we have! And I tell you very frankly and bluntly that once you catch a glimpse of the Lord Jesus in His sufficiency, in the perfec­tion of His work for you, you’ll never again trust the flesh, even good flesh, even religious flesh, moral flesh. And Paul could say in verse 8,

Philippians 3:8. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung—(what for?)—that I might win Christ.

All the past with its attainments is just loss compared to knowing Christ. The knowledge of Christ is so far superior, so far more wonderful, that Paul is glad to empty his life of everything that he has just to know Christ! Just to experience Christ!

You see, he didn’t suffer the loss of bad things. We expect when a person accepts the Saviour, certain things will drop out of his life, things that are corrupt, things that dishonor God. We expect that. The world expects it. If you want to know how a Christian should live, you ask the man of the world. He’ll tell you very quickly what he expects of Christians. But sometimes we hate to give up good things—to give up sometimes even religious things, and to give them up if you’re trusting them, especially!

Now does that mean that we’re not going to do good things anymore? Does that mean we’re not going to be in the service of the Lord anymore? Well, of course not. But if you’re trusting those things instead of Christ— .

This is the thing. Don’t trust them; because, if you trust them, it means that they become the object of your affection and that Christ is pushed out of the picture.

Paul says, ‘I’m going to push these things out of the picture, if it’s going to hinder my know­ing Him in a very, very vital way. In fact, I count everything but loss 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 refuse—just fit for the ashcan —just to know Christ, just to win Christ.

Now he is not writing about being saved. Paul was saved. Ephesians 2:8 you all know, “For by grace are ye saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.” In Titus 3:5, Paul wrote, “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us.”

Well, what’s he talking about then: to win Christ? It’s to experience Christ in the life, to be satisfied with nothing less—and by the way, nothing more than Christ.

I ask you a simple question. Can Christ satisfy your heart? Can Christ meet the needs of your heart and your life?

You say, of course, He can.

Then why don’t you trust Him? Why do you trust the flesh? Why do you trust men? Why do you trust yourself?

Paul says that having caught a glimpse of my Saviour in all His beauty and glory and righ­teousness, I count everything but loss just to know Him, just to be found in Him, just to win Christ. What a thing!

And then when you get down to verse 9, an amazing verse, “And be found in Him.” I count everything but loss to be found in Him, “not having mine own righteousness, which is (by works) of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith.” Now he comes to this amazing truth again of righteousness. You are no longer filled with filthy rags, no longer with self-righteousness. I count the whole thing loss to be found in Christ’s righteousness.

Do you know, in 1 Corinthians 1:30, Paul writes, “But of Him are ye in Christ Jesus,” who in the wisdom of God has been made unto us righteousness. And Romans, chapter 10, verse 4, “Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth.” And 2 Corinthians 5:21, God “hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”

I tell you, friend, I don’t know of any doctrine in the Bible that grips my heart more and thrills me more than this fact when Paul says, “I’m going to be found in Christ, not having any righ­teousness of my own.” Isaiah 64:6 says that our righteousness is in God’s sight as filthy rags.

Job could say, “Though I wash myself with snow water and be ever so clean, my very clothes will abhor me.” To be found in Him righteous! And may I suggest to your thinking, my friend, there’s one righteousness and that’s God’s. Time would fail to go back into the book of Romans 3:21-22, “But now the righteousness of God without the law (works) is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets. Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe”—everyone—Jew or Gentile. And he goes on to say, “Therefore we con­clude that a man is justified (declared righteous) by faith without the deeds of the law.”

In Rom 4:5, he says, “But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.” Therefore, being declared righteous by faith, we have peace with God. “Being declared righteous through His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.” I’m still quoting from the book of Romans 5:1; Romans 5:9. And one could go on down into chapter 8, “He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not also with Him freely give us all things?” To whom? To the one who is simply trusting in Jesus.

Friend, may I ask you a question? Are you trusting in Jesus alone: a-l-o-n-e? Or is it Christ plus what you do? Christ plus some ceremony? Is it Christ plus some religious act? Or is it Christ alone? Christ alone.

Again let me quote a verse of a song: “I need no other argument, I need no other plea, It is enough that Jesus died, And that He died for me.”

Oh, friend, it’s a wonderful thing to know that you and I can come into the presence of God clothed in the righteousness of Christ. Because we’re clothed in the righteousness of Christ, we have

peace with God. We’re no longer at enmity, and you and I can come at any time into the presence of God.

I tell you, when Paul saw this, he could say, “I count everything but loss.” What for? For the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them but refuse—fit for the ashcan—to win Christ, to be found in Him, having the righ­teousness of God, not of my own. All His.

Friend, my friend, listen. This is just the simple Gospel: That He who knew no sin—Jesus Christ, who knew no sin—was made sin for you and me who knew no righteousness that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. Wonderful thing! We do not stand before God in self-righ­teousness or in legal righteousness. We stand before God in all the righteousness of Christ, accepted in the Beloved.

I repeat it. When Paul saw this, when Paul saw this—I count everything else worthless, ab­solutely worthless just to be found in Him. My friend, have you seen the Saviour in all His beauty? Have you seen Him in all His righteousness? This wonderful, holy, sinless, righteous Son of God?

And then to know that He loved you and me enough to die for us to put away sin, corruption, judgment, death and set you and me free! To fit us to stand in the presence of God in all His righ­teousness! The righteousness of God! Oh, friend, what a Saviour we have. What a salvation is this. May God open your eyes. May God open my eyes to see more and more of the beauty and glory of our Saviour. Then we will have a complete reversal of values. Then we begin to enjoy Christ for Him­self. Instead of being occupied with ourselves or people, we’ll be occupied with Him.

May this be your joy today for His name’s sake.

Good-day, friends. We’re in Philippians, chapter 3, and I would like to read again if I may from verse 7, where we have this great desire and aim of the apostle Paul, in verses 7-11.

Philippians 3:7. But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.

Philippians 3:8. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,

Philippians 3:9. And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:

Philippians 3:10. That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;

Philippians 3:11. If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.

Now we’ve been dealing with the Apostle Paul’s first of all giving us the things that would hinder our knowing Him, such as things of the flesh. And remember God has no confidence in any­body’s flesh. Paul here is willing to count all things loss. In fact, he had suffered the loss of all things, just to win Christ. I tell you it’s a wonderful thing.

You know, this is where we fail. We hang up on things and experiences and movements and tradition. We depend on anything and everything but not just Christ; and Paul says, I count everything but loss, anything that would hinder my experiencing the Saviour, knowing Him in a very intimate, personal way. I count everything but loss. I give up good things if need be, just to know Christ, and to win Christ, and then to be found in Him, righteous (verse 9)—no longer dressed in filthy rags. Indeed, self-righteousness means loss; Christ’s righteousness means gain.

It’s a wonderful thing: Christ is our righteousness. And I again repeat it, once the Apostle Paul saw Christ as his righteousness, everything else was no good. The flesh could go to one side. He wouldn’t have any more place for it because he was trusting implicitly in Christ.

Now when you come to verse 10, we come to the, shall I say, the very heart cry of Paul. He counted all things but loss, “That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellow­ship of His sufferings.” Mark these three things, will you today, please? That I might know Him. I re­peat it again. He’s talking here about personal fellowship with Christ, an intimacy, to live with Him, to revel in Him.

You know the old statement that you do not really know anybody until you live with him, and sometimes it takes a long time even when you’re living with him to know him. Friends, may I say you’ll never really know Christ as He really is. You’ll not know Him in your own heart’s experience unless you live with Him.

I think that’s the cry of Paul in Philippians 3:1-21, when he said, he prayed that Christ may dwell in our hearts by faith, that Christ may dwell down in our heart, that Christ might have the run of the house. Oh, says Paul, just to know Him. I count everything but loss just to know Him. All the advan­tages of life, all the good things of life, all the religious activity, I’m willing to give everything up just to know Him.

My friend, this is a passion. This man is in love with the Saviour. And you know, to be hon­est with you, how much of Christ do you know? I mean in your experience? How much of Christ do I know? I’m afraid very, very little—very, very little. Here was an intimacy, a cry of a human heart for a real intimate, personal knowledge of the Saviour. “That I may know Him.”

I always think of Abraham. Do you remember that three times in the Bible Abraham is called the friend of God—in 2 Chronicles 20:7, in Isaiah, and then in James 2:23. In fact, Isaiah 41:8 quotes God saying, “Abraham, My friend.” Oh, here’s an intimacy that God wants. In fact, I’ll go so far as to say that in some way the Apostle Paul had caught a glimpse, a little glimpse of the yearning of the heart of God for fellowship with the ones He has redeemed, His children.

Oh, that I might know him! Job cried out, “Oh, that I might know where I might Him!” Well, we’ve found Him. We can say with Andrew, “We have found Him.” We can say with Philip, “We have found Him.” You’ll find that in John’s Gospel, chapter 1. Can we say this to somebody to­day? “We have found Him!”

Today men are trying anything and everything to get personal satisfaction. Different move­ments are striking out. Young people are following different movements and different ways, trying to get some reality out of life. And it’s an amazing thing, we’ll go anywhere and everywhere; we’ll try anything and everything but Christ.

As I started to say about Abraham, he had had a glimpse of the heart of God. He yearned for God, and God met that yearning. And you remember in the 18th chapter of the book of Genesis, verse 17, God said to Abraham, Shall I hide from Abraham what I’m going to do? If I can put a little word in there—“Shall I hide from my friend, Abraham, what I’m going to do?”

Oh, here’s an intimacy. Here’s a life in God, something that the world knows nothing about, something that most Christians know nothing about. I wish I knew more about it, don’t you? This life in Christ!

But listen, friend, it doesn’t cost us anything to become a child of God. He has done a perfect work at the cross. But, oh, I tell you, to know Him is going to cost you everything.

Paul says, “These things that were gain to me, I count them loss for Christ. I count everything but loss, just for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things that I might know Him.”

Personalized intimacy! To know Him. To live a life with Him, every hour, every day, with Christ on your heart. The enjoyment of Christ.

Ah, this is spiritual life. This is the spirit-filled life.

“Oh, but, Mr. Mitchell, if I were Spirit-filled, I’d be doing all kinds of things.”

No, you wouldn’t; no, you wouldn’t. What is a spiritual life? What’s a Spirit-filled life? The enjoyment of Christ. That I may know Him. A passion, a love, a yearning for the Son of God Himself. Not for the things He can give, not even for the things that He does. To love Him for Himself.

Many of us are like children. Our parents give us toys. They give us little presents, and we’re so occupied with the present, with the thing that has been given, we forget the giver. And how many of us are so occupied with some past experience or some great ecstatic utterance or some gift you claim to have or some service you’ve done or a great revival you had and yet you know so little, so little of Him, so little of Him.

Paul said, “That I might know Him.”

Friend, do you really know Him today? I think I’ve said enough. In some way has it ever gotten a hold of your heart, the wonder, the marvel of knowing the Saviour?

I tell you, my friend, it’s a marvelous thing—that you can really, really know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His suffering, being made conformable unto His death.

It’s a funny thing, you know, that people want the power of God, but not the suffering. They want the power of God without knowing Him in that intimate way. We get occupied with the miracu­lous and the supernatural and oftentimes, we really miss Him.

What is there in my life, what is there in my yearning that hinders my really knowing Christ? Some good thing?

Some service?

Now, these are all right; don’t misunderstand me. Service, good things, zeal for God—these have their place.

But to know Him—then He becomes the very object of our heart’s devotion. And I would sug-

gest today that you and I get into our Bibles and someway lay hold of the things of Christ. And, my friend, you’ll have a joy, a peace that’s beyond the understanding of men. And God grant this to you today, for His name’s sake.

Good-day, friends. We are in the book of Philippians, chapter 3, and dealing with the great passion of the Apostle Paul, his great desire and aim. How this man longed for Christ!

And we’ve been discussing this in the past two lessons. If I may come down now to verse 10

again.

Philippians 3:10. That I may know Him, (and this is to know Him experimentally), and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death;

Philippians 3:11. If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of (from among) the dead.

We’ve been discussing how Paul would suffer all things just to win Christ, to be found in Him righteous, and then to know Him. Again I repeat it. This has to do with a life of intimacy with Christ, to really know Him—a life lived with Christ. He had the great desire that every moment of his life was to be occupied with the person of Christ, to glorify Him in everything he said, in everything he did.

His whole motive, the driving force of his life was to magnify the Saviour and to know Him. Just as it was, by the way, in the life of our Lord, when He could say, “I do always the things that please the Father.” The great driving force in our Lord’s life was the will of His Father, that He might perfect and might complete the purpose for which He came. And so it is with Paul. “I count every­thing but loss, just to know Him.”

Now come back to that verse: “And the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings.” You know, Paul must have had a real glimpse of the Saviour when he said this. I know a great many folks have quoted this verse, this 10th verse so much, yet I wonder how much of it we re­ally know. The power of His resurrection. What do we know about that?

Do you remember in Eph 1:18-22, where Paul says, “That you might know . . . what is the exceeding greatness of His power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, which He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenlies, far above all principalities and powers.” That “mighty power” is the power of His resurrection.

Paul could say in Colossians 1:29, I strive according to the working of Him Who worketh in me mightily—the power of His resurrection.

In 2Co 10:4, he said, “The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds”—the power of his resurrection!

In the book of Acts 4:33, I read, “With great power gave the apostles witness.” What of? Of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead—resurrection!

In Rom 8:11: “If the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by His Spirit that dwelleth in you.”

Think of it! You and I already have in us the power of resurrection. It’s what Romans 8:11 says. But Paul is praying that we might know it in our experience. The fact is we have the power.

You know, when I first went out preaching the Gospel of Christ, I used to ask the Lord for power. What did I want power for? Power in preaching to reach souls for Christ. My motive was

right. I wanted to be so able to preach the Gospel of the grace of God and of the power of God that many, many souls would be saved. But then I began to realize as I grew in the Word of God, it’s not a question of asking for more power.

We already have the power of the resurrection in us now. We even have the power of trans­formation and the power of translation, according to Romans, chapter 8, verse 11. But how much of it do we experience in our day by day living? Oh, that I may know Christ and the power of His resurrec - tion!

As I said a moment ago, we all want that power; we all want to experience it; but, you know, there’s something more than that. There’s something more than that.

Are you willing to say, I count everything but loss to know Him and the fellowship of His suf­ferings? I maintain that you will never know the power of His resurrection without knowing some­thing of the fellowship of His sufferings. You take all the saints of God who have experienced the power of God—they’ve also experienced the sufferings.

In fact, I would say, it’s when you come to the place of real suffering that we experience something of His power—maybe not a power that is seen openly so everybody can see it but, oh, that sustaining, wonderful thing where a believer can go through suffering and tests and afflictions and sorrow and still glorify the Saviour.

Brother, this is victory. This is Christianity. This is experiential Christianity—counting ev­erything but loss to know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His suffering. In 2 Corinthians, chapter 4, Paul takes it up. In Romans, chapter 8, verses 17 and 18, Paul says, “If so be that we suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified together (with Him), for I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us.”

And in 2Co 4:17, Paul says that these light afflictions are just for a moment and they are working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory and 2Co 4:18. You see, once you get your eye on Christ and experience Christ and live with your heart in enjoyment with Christ, sufferings don’t mean so much because you’re seeing more and more and experiencing more and more of His wonderful presence and joy.

As a pastor for more than 36 years, I’ve had the joy of being with these people in suffering and sorrow, and some of the things that have amazed me—and I say, it very kindly and bluntly— some of the things that have amazed me would be the fortitude and sweetness and the testimony of His saints in suffering. I’ve had them tell me, not once, I’ve been told a number of times by those who have really been in suffering, “I would be glad to go through it all over again if I thought I would have the same experience with Christ.”

Do you remember this fact that when Jesus Christ was in the storm with His disciples and He stilled the storm, they said of Jesus, “What manner of man is this that the very winds and the waves obey Him?” Remember that Jesus never stilled the storm for the crowd, for the multitude. It was only for disciples that He rebuked the waves and the wind. There was a calm. Why? He wanted to encour­age them in Himself. He wanted them to know what kind of a Lord they had, and it’s in the storms we get to know Him.

It’s in the afflictions of life we experience more power than we do when everything is run­ning smoothly.

I wonder, my Christian friend, and I speak to you very bluntly and yet I trust with a heart of compassion and tenderness and love, I wonder how much you, how much I really know the Saviour? What do we know about Him and the power of His resurrection, the fellowship of His suffering? This is what I’m after; this is what I mean. When Paul caught a glimpse of the Saviour in His glory, in His righteousness, he had a complete reversal of value.

We’re back now to verse 6 on through. All that he was trusting in the past was gone. He’s got a new glimpse of a Saviour Who not only saves for eternity, but day by day.

You know, a lot of Christians—and I have to say this kind of sadly—there are a great many Christians who can trust their souls to God for eternity, but they can’t trust him for the next 24 hours. It is nice to have a Saviour Who can get us to heaven, to forgive our sins, to make us children of God, but what do we know about Him today! This hour? Now?

What do we know about Him in our lives? Do we experience His power? Do we know as much about His sufferings? Do we really know Him?

You know, there’s a verse that comes to mind in the book of Daniel, “The people that know their God,”—and this is experimental knowledge—“that know their God shall be strong.” Shall be strong.

I wonder if Solomon had this in mind when he said, “The Righteous are as bold as a lion.” Yes, but you’ve seen God.

Elijah could say to King Ahab, “Jehovah before Whom I stand,” and “The heavens will be closed at my word.” Elisha could say the same thing.

Moses could say the same thing. Who was the great mighty Pharaoh to a man who has been in the presence of God? Oh, may God give us today a real passion for Him, a real hunger for the Saviour.

My friend, my Christian friend, I do not know what your circumstances are. I do not even know where you live. I don’t know what church you go to. I’m not concerned about those things. What I am concerned about is what place does Jesus Christ your Saviour have in your life, in your own heart?

Paul could say, I count everything—the good things of life—but loss just to know Him and know the power of His resurrection, to know the fellowship of His suffering, to be made conformable unto His death.

I just pray that today, you and I may experience more than we’ve ever done before in our lives something of the sweetness and the joy and that glory of this wonderful Saviour, Who gave Himself to redeem us out of all iniquity and to purify unto Himself a people for His possession.

Do you really, really, know Him? I’m not asking you, are you saved? That comes by receiv­ing Him as your Saviour. But do you really know Him in your life?

As Paul could say in Colossians 3:1-4, “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek ye the things that are above where Christ sitteth. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth, for you have died and your life is hid with Christ in God, and when Christ who is our life shall appear, then shall you also appear with Him in glory.”

Live today in the ecstasy of that for His name’s sake.

Verses 10-14

Philippians 3:10-14

Good-day, friends. We’ve been considering Paul’s great desire and aim in verses 7 to 10 of Philippians chapter 3.

How this man Paul longed for Christ Himself! And with your permission, I would like to read again from chapter 3, starting in at verse 10, where Paul writes, “That I may know Him.” He has just been saying he counts everything but loss that he might win Christ, that he might know something more about the life that is in Christ and to be found in Christ and His righteousness.

Philippians 3:10     That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship

of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;

Philippians 3:11     If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of [from among] the

dead.

    Philippians 3:12     Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I fol-

low after [press on], if that I may apprehend [lay hold on] that for which also I am apprehended of [I was laid hold on by] Christ Jesus.

Philippians 3:13     Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended [yet to have laid hold]: but

this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,

Philippians 3:14     I press toward the mark for [goal unto] the prize of the high calling of God in

Christ Jesus.

Now we’ve been discussing this matter of Paul’s desire and aim, and I repeat it—how this man really longed for Christ Himself! He had a complete reversal of values on the Damascus road when he saw the Saviour and, hence, he could count everything but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus his Lord.

All the good things that a man counts good, even the religious things, if they come between him and knowing the Saviour, he’s going to get rid of them. Experiences, movements, tradition, what have you, anything that would hinder our experiencing Christ, Paul counted loss to win Christ.

Now he’s not talking here about being saved, but rather about experiencing Christ in his life, about being satisfied with nothing less than Christ. He’s talking about being found in Him, no longer in filthy rags of self-righteousness but the righteousness of Christ. He’s talking about knowing Him in an intimate way, in this 10th verse, to so live with Him that we shall know Him very, very intimately. He wants to know Him and the power of His resurrection—that is, to live in His resurrection power. You remember that in Romans 8:11, we already have the power that raised Christ from the dead—and then the fellowship of His sufferings.

As Paul could say in 2 Corinthians, chapter 4 in the 10th verse and on down to the end of the chapter where he talks about these light afflictions he’s suffered for the Gospel’s sake, or Romans chapter 8, verse 18, “I reckon the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us.”

In other words, Paul counted everything but loss. The great passion of his life was to know Christ, to experience the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His suffering.

Remember in Colossians, he said “to fill up that which is behind with the sufferings of Christ.” And writing to Timothy, he could say, “If we suffer with Him, we shall also reign with Him.” There is something about a life in Christ that’s going to cost you something.

Now I recognize that it costs us nothing to be saved; it cost God everything to save you and me. And, my friend, may I again suggest that, if you want to know what it cost to save you, you look at the cross of Calvary and see the holy, righteous, sinless Son of God dying in your place, in your stead.

Remember that’s how bad you and I were—so bad that Jesus Christ became an accursed thing. I think too often when we try to get people saved, we try to make it so easy that they miss something of the glory of what Christ really paid for their redemption. It’s more than just believing on the Saviour in the sense of mental assent to the facts of the cross and of resurrection, but rather, may I remind you, that life comes through a relationship with Him.

There must be a real relationship to the Son of God, and the reason why most people do not accept the Saviour is because they don’t believe they need a Saviour. They’re as good as anybody else. They’ve never seen themselves as God sees them and they have never seen the holy, righteous character of God.

And when the Apostle Paul saw the holy, righteous character of God, he would say, “I want to be found in Christ, not having my own righteousness.”

Someone says, “Well, suppose I keep all the Law of God and suppose I keep the 10 Com­mandments and suppose I keep the Golden Rule.”

Well, suppose you did? What would you have? That wouldn’t give you life. That wouldn’t make you righteous. Oh, you would have self-righteousness. You’d have possibly legal righteousness, but you wouldn’t have the divine righteousness, the righteousness of Christ. And it’s when Paul saw this, the marvels of Christ in His righteousness and His beauty and His glory, he could count every­thing but loss to know Christ in an intimate way, to really get to know the Saviour in the power of His resurrection, in the fellowship of His suffering.

Most Christians would like to know something of the power of His resurrection but are not very much inclined to want something of the sufferings of Christ.

May I say it again, very bluntly, if you aspire to the power of Christ, you are going to have to have something to do with the sufferings of Christ; for it is in the time of afflictions and tests and trials that we experience the power of God.

He goes in the 10th verse even a little farther. “Being made conformable unto His death.” All that we were in the old has been nailed to the cross.

You see, all that you and I were in Adam—we were born in sin, we were unrighteous, we were unholy, and we were looked upon by God as a terrible thing—and this thing that we had, this old sin­ful nature, and all that we are in our own personalities were so bad, the Father had to say, “The heart of man is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it?” What God saw that we were, He crucified it in Christ.

Now this is the book of Romans, chapter 6, where he takes up this question that when Christ died, He died unto sin once; in that he liveth, He liveth unto God. We are to reckon the same thing— that when Christ died, we died. And Paul here says, “I want to be made conformable unto His death. I want to live this new life in Christ. I don’t want to live the old life.”

It’s very hard for us to believe—I mean, actually believe that all that we were in the old was crucified with Christ. But you know, Paul speaks of this in 2 Corinthians, chapter 5:14 and 15, when he said, “The love of Christ constrains (overmasters) us, because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead.” Death has come in, and severed the relationship between the Christian and the old master of sin. Again, the death of Christ has come in and severed the relationship between the Christian and the old race in Adam, which is unto death.

When you tell me that you have eternal life, it means that something has happened to the old life. The old was judged at the cross in Christ. The very death of Christ separates you, emancipates

you, severs the relationship between you and all that you were in Adam’s race. We are now new men and new women in Christ. As Paul would say, “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are passed away, all things are become new.”

We have a new life. That’s why he could say, “We do not know even Christ after the flesh; from now on, we know Him no more.” We’ve been joined to a risen Christ. The old was so bad that God crucified it. God has absolutely no confidence in anybody’s flesh. I say, it was so bad and cor­rupt, God crucified it in Christ. Now, as a believer in Christ, as a Christian, we have new life. We have a new life. You possibly know that verse in Romans 6:23, “The wages of sin is death.” Sin pays wages. God executes the penalty.

How are you going to get rid of your wages? You can’t go on strike. You can’t quit the job. You’ve got to receive the wages. Either you receive the wages or somebody else does.

Now the wonderful fact is that when Christ came, He bore your sin. Listen, He not only died for your sins, He died for you. He took your place. You and I were the ones who should have died. We were the sinners; we were the rebels. Christ died in our place, in our stead.

Paul here says that he wants to experience to the full this new life in Christ, and you remem­ber in Ephesians, chapter 4, that this new man in Christ is created in righteousness and true holiness. True, we are now in the flesh, in bodies that are frail and have lusts and desires; but we don’t need to live in them. Paul wants us to experience this new life in Christ. That’s what he means when he says, “Being made conformable unto His death, if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection from among the dead.”

But we can’t speak of this question of resurrection life unless we believe that we died. The very word “resurrection,” of course, signifies that death has come in. Resurrection has no meaning un­less death has come in, and we died with Christ. We were raised with Christ to walk in newness of life. And now as Christians, joined to a risen Christ, he wants us to experience this identification with the marvelous risen Son of God.

That’s why he could say in the preceding verses, “I count everything but loss”—everything but loss, even the good things of life I count but loss if they stand in the way of my experiencing this new life in Christ Jesus.

Wouldn’t it be a wonderful thing today if you and I just sat down and believed this, that God does not see us in any other place than in His Son? But the tragedy is we know so little in our experi­ence, in our day-by-day living, of this new life, this resurrection, this powerful life in Christ.

May God grant we will push to one side anything and everything that will hinder Christ from being manifested in our lives today.

May your heart be occupied with Him today, with the One who is indeed your life. And the Lord bless.

Verses 11-14

Philippians 3:11-14

Good-day, friends. And we’re still in the book of Philippians, chapter 3. We were dealing in our last lesson with verse 10, where the Apostle Paul has been speaking of the passion of his heart that he might be found in Christ, that he might know Christ, that he might win Christ, that he might expe­rience the power of a risen Christ, the fellowship of His suffering, and then to enter into this amazing fact that when Christ died, he died. He wanted to experience the life of the risen Saviour.

Again may I remind you of the fact that this life in Christ, the Christian life, is a supernatural life, and that when you and I accepted the Saviour, we were made new men and women in Christ, so much so that we are in that place where we can experience this wonderful life of Christ.

To realize this, however, we must see that the old was crucified with Christ; that we were so bad that nothing short of the death of Christ could free us from the old master, sin, from the old race in Adam, and from the very law of God which brings a curse.

Again I remind you that the death of Christ severs relationships. We found that in the book of Romans, chapters 5, 6, and 7.

Now Paul wants the experience of this to come to you and me, that we might know Him in such an intimate way that we may experience to the full the resurrection power of Christ and enter into something of the sufferings of Christ. Just as Paul could say in Romans, chapter 9:2-4, “I have continual sorrow. I have unceasing pain in my heart. I could verily wish myself accursed from Christ for my brethren’s sake, my kinsmen according to the flesh who are Israelites.”

I want this clearly understood that we can enter somewhat into the very heart of God, even in this question of the work of Calvary.

You know, sometimes I hear people talk about Calvary love, whatever they mean by that. If you only knew what it really meant, my friend, it would mean real suffering—not necessarily physical suffering, but to enter into the heart of God, into what He suffered in making a sacrifice to redeem you and me from sin and from judgment and from death and from all that pertains to the old.

Now Paul, as he saw this, yearned to experience it in his life.

Which brings me now to the 11th verse.

Philippians 3:11. If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection from among the dead.

Now Paul is not teaching that he was trying to merit physical resurrection, when he says this. The Apostle Paul was sure of physical resurrection. You can’t read 1 Corinthians 15:1-58 without realizing that he believed in resurrection. For example, in 1Co 15:51-53 of that chapter—and may I inject here that he wrote Corinthians long before he wrote the book of Philippians—he said, “Behold, I show you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.”

We’re all going to be changed. He was sure of that. You take it even in this book, Philippi­ans, chapter 3:20-21 at the end of the chapter, he could say, “Our conversation (manner of life) is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: who shall change our vile body (these bodies of our humiliation), that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body.” And one could go on through the Scriptures where the Apostle Paul knew and believed and was sure of physi­cal resurrection.

Then what is he talking about?

I repeat, Paul has a passion for Christ, and he wants the realization of his identification with Christ in a risen life, that the power, the resurrection power of the life of a risen Christ might be a con­tinual reality in his life. In other words, he wants everything in life to be under the control of a risen Saviour.

Resurrection, physical resurrection, is not an attainment; you know that. We are going to be raised from the dead on the ground of what Christ did and what He accomplished at the cross and in resurrection. He has the keys, the authority over death and hell, and did He not say in John, chapter 6, if you believed on Him, you would pass from death to life? In John, chapter 6, four times, He said He would raise up those who believe on Him at the last day.

Resurrection, physical resurrection, is a guaranteed thing. Paul knew that. But what is this at­tainment? It is his great yearning to experience in his life the very power of the One Who burst the bonds of the tomb. You remember in Ephesians, chapter 1, verse 19, where Paul prayed, “That we might know what is the exceeding greatness of His power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of His mighty power, which He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principalities and powers.”

Indeed the apostle Paul is so yearning for this that he prayed in chapter 3:17 of Ephesians, “that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith.” He prayed that we might know what is the greatness of His power by the indwelling Spirit, that we might be made powerfully strong according to His rich­es in glory—not according to the Man on the cross, but the Man in resurrection and exaltation on the Throne.

There’s something here that I believe we Christians have never gotten hold of. Oh, it’s true that theologically and doctrinally we believe in the resurrection of Christ, but for some reason it has never gotten hold of us that the life of the risen Christ is yours and mine today, today! That we can ex­perience His life today!

I think this is what Paul is talking about—the realization of his identification, the actual expe­rience of a union with the risen exalted Son of God.

My, what a change it would make in our lives day-by-day—in your tests, your trials, your problems, whatever you may go through, your sorrows.

Sometimes you say, “Well, Mr. Mitchell, I don’t know where to go to from here. I don’t know what I can do next. I don’t know which way to turn.”

Why, turn to Him. He’s got the answer. You take our present generation here. We’re turning to everything. We’re trying everything. We’re trying philosophies of men. We’re trying the scientific realizations of men. We’re trying anything and everything but, but the risen Son of God. Even in our church work, even in evangelical circles, we’re trusting anything and everything but Him.

Now listen. Paul here has a passion for the Son of God, and the one thing he really yearns for, starting in verse 6 and following through—he counts everything but loss that he might know Him “for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord.” He put aside everything for one fact, that he might experience the risen Son of God. “That I might attain unto this risen life” that is in Christ in my day-by-day experience.

I say again, don’t misunderstand me, the Apostle Paul very well knew that physical resurrec­tion was not an attainment. That’s part of our salvation. Paul wrote, for example, in 1Th 5:23-24, when he said, “The very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it.”

You see, Paul knew this. He was the one who revealed this by the Spirit of God to His peo­ple. Hence, I say, in this passage, he wants to bring everything under the Spirit’s control. Take, for ex­ample, the passage which comes to mind, in Colossians, chapter 3. Do you remember that passage in Colossians 3:1-4, the first 4 verses when Paul says, “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not

on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.”

Now here’s the confidence of appearing with Him in glory. Here’s the confidence of resur­rection. Here is his appeal, “If you then be risen with Christ, having died in Christ, now you’re raised with Christ, what shall I do?” Seek the things that are above, where Christ sitteth. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. In other words, the life we have is the life of Christ, the life of a risen Christ.

Paul here is yearning for the fact that the life of the risen Christ might be ours, really ours, in our own heart and in our own life.

My Christian friend, let me ask you some questions.

How much of Christ do you really know in your life?

How much of Christ do you really know, concerning the power of His resurrection? How much do you know of the wonderful, supernatural life in the Saviour?

I’m not asking you what your doctrine is. I’m not asking you what church you belong to. That’s neither here nor there.

The great thing that I’m concerned about is—do you really know the Saviour? And if you’ve accepted Him into your life as your Saviour and Lord, how much of His power, His blessing, of His fragrance do you know? This is the desire of Paul.

“I’m willing,” says Paul, “to put everything out of my life that would in anywise hinder my experiencing this life in Christ.”

Can you say that?

Now I’ve been spending time on this. I feel I’m touching one of the most needful things among God’s people today. What we hold as a doctrine, the early church held as a reality in their lives. These dear apostles, you couldn’t fool them on this one question. Their Saviour lived! And they became men of God, men of courage. They could defy the nations of the earth. They could be torn to pieces by tigers and lions and wild beasts. They knew they were joined to a risen, glorified Saviour; and they went out into eternity rejoicing in One Who was indeed their life.

There may come a time soon when we will be called upon to take such a stand for Christ. Death was a conquered foe. The world was a conquered enemy. And no wonder the Word of God says, “The people that know their God shall be strong.”

God grant you and I will know our Saviour in a very, very intimate and precious way and will revel in Him today, because He loves you with an everlasting love.

He’s more willing to make these things real to you than you are to have them made real to

you.

And the Lord bless you for His name’s sake.

Verses 12-14

Philippians 3:12-14

Good-day, friends. The great desire of my heart is that you will really know the Lord Jesus in a very wonderful, precious way. You know, we are living in a day when so many Christians, profess­ing Christians, know so little of their Saviour. They’ve never for some reason or other entered into the marvelous liberty that is in Christ. I don’t mean license. I mean the liberty of coming into the presence of God, of knowing something of a life of intimacy with God Himself.

And here in the book of Philippians, chapter 3, we’ve been dealing with the great passion of the Apostle Paul, this man who had been trained in all the Gentile culture and Jewish culture of his day, a brilliant man, and yet a humble servant of the Lord Jesus Christ. And when Jesus Christ came into this man’s life, he was absolutely transformed from a persecutor into an apostle of Jesus Christ, from a blasphemer into an evangel of the Saviour.

Think of it!

I am amazed at the power of God in people’s lives. But the tragedy is that so few of us have been transformed, not because God doesn’t want to do it or can’t do it, but because we’re not making ourselves available to Him to do what He wants to do with us.

When I now read of the passion of this man in the chapter, I can only say that Paul was a spe­cialist for Christ. In verse 13, he writes,

Philippians 3:13. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forget­ting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,

Philippians 3:14. I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

He was a man who had a passion, a devotion, a man who was entirely sold out to the Saviour, a real bond-slave for God.

The great yearning of his heart was to experience all that he had in Christ. And you know, it’s going to take all eternity for us to really appreciate and experience all that we have in the Saviour. Oh, we’re so slow to learn. We’re so slow to learn.

But it would delight the heart of God, if we would walk in fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ, and experience His presence, His power, His love, His compassion, His tenderness, whatever you may need to live down here.

Now Paul has been talking about the fact that he had thrown everything overboard just to know Christ in a wonderful way. He wanted to attain all that his identification with the risen Son of God could bring him.

So in verse 12 he says, “Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect.” That will never be until we see Him face to face, “but I follow after” if that I may apprehend, may lay hold of, may experience all that Jesus Christ has laid hold of for me. Brethren, I count not myself to have laid hold of—or experienced all that I have in Christ—but this one thing I do—I’m going to for­get the past, ignore the present and reach forth unto those things which are before. I press toward the mark for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Paul here is declaring that the Lord had laid hold of him for something. And by the way, when you accepted the Saviour, He laid hold of you for something, too. If you haven’t experienced all that He has for you, He wants your heart to desire and to yearn for that.

Now, if I might suggest two or three things here. He knew that he was going to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. You find this, of course, in Romans 8:29, that God has determined that we shall be conformed to His image. Paul had not experienced that yet, but he yearned in his own heart that he might experience this transforming power where he would be just like his Saviour.

You remember, Paul speaks of this in 2 Corinthians 3:18, “We all with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord.” We are being changed from glory to glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord. The process of transformation is taking place now. In fact, it started the moment we accept­ed the Saviour. And believe me, my friend, in Philippians 1:6, Paul said, “Being confident of this very thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you will perform (perfect) it until the day of Jesus Christ.”

The end is guaranteed. God has determined that you will be conformed to His image. Paul says here, “I haven’t laid hold of that yet. I haven’t fully experienced that yet.” I say, he won’t, nor will you, nor will I until we see Him face to face. But he yearned for this—to be just like his Saviour.

And, secondly, he was yearning to be where Christ was, for this is the hope of the believer. Jesus said, “Where I am, there you may be also.” These were some of the last words of our Saviour in John 14:1-6, when He said, “Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.”

You see, Paul knew this, but he was still on earth; and he yearned to be with His Saviour. We had that in the first chapter in verse 23, when he said, “I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better.”

Now the third thing, Paul knew that the Lord had laid hold of him so that he might be glori­fied with his Saviour.

“Do you mean to tell me,” someone says, “that Christians are going to be glorified with the Saviour?”

Well, of course, you know, in John 17:22, Jesus said, “The glory which Thou gavest Me, I have given them.” In verse 24 of the same chapter, Jesus said, Father, I want something; that everyone that You’ve given to Me might “be with Me where I am; that they may behold My glory. ”

It’s what Paul yearned for. It’s one of his passions, that he might see Christ in His glory. He hasn’t experienced that yet. He could say, for example, in 2 Corinthians 4:17, that these light afflic­tions are just “for a moment,” but they’re working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.

You read in Romans 8:18, “I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” Or that verse in Colossians 3:4 “when Christ, Who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory.”

Now Paul hadn’t experienced that yet, but he wanted to lay hold of it. He wanted to experience the yearning of his heart. He wanted to lay hold of everything that Christ had laid hold of for him.

I tell you it’s a wonderful thing that when you and I accepted the Saviour, the Lord already had a real purpose in saving us. Yes, we’re going to be conformed to His image. We’re going to be exactly where He is. We’re going to be glorified together with Him.

I’m not through yet.

And the fourth thing I think is the important one of the four, and that is, he was going to ex­perience eternal unbroken fellowship with the Saviour face to face.

Now none of us has ever had that experience. I don’t believe that the Apostle Paul had either, and if any man had a passion for Christ and wanted to live for Christ and was Spirit-filled, it was the Apostle Paul. But I’m sure there were times in his life when he was discouraged and disheartened. I’m sure there were times in his life when he was out of fellowship with the Lord. That could be true be­cause he writes so clearly about that problem.

Oh, for that day when we shall be in unbroken, eternal fellowship with the Saviour face to face. My, what a prospect! And Paul here says, “Not as though I had already attained or were already perfect, but I lay hold of that for which Christ has laid hold of me.”

Why do you think Christ saved you? To get you to heaven? That’s just a mere incident.

What did He really save you for? For the glory of God, yes, and that you and I would not only share in His glory, but spend eternity in unbroken, eternal, wonderful fellowship with the Saviour face to face.

My, what a prospect!

What a prospect!

What a prospect!

Do you know, the tragedy is, too many Christians have so little fellowship with Christ now. For some reason or other, we’ve allowed so much to come into our lives that we’ve robbed ourselves of fellowship with the Saviour; and the great yearning of His heart is your fellowship. That’s why He made you. That’s why He saved you. Not just to get you to heaven. Not just to give you eternal life. Not just to pronounce you righteous and forgive every sin. Wonderful as that is.

But God wants to have a people with Himself who are just like Christ so that through eterni­ty He can have unbroken, eternal fellowship with us and that we can enjoy Him for eternity face to face.

Friends, what a passion!

You know what’s the matter with us? We’ve never really had a vision of Christ in all His beauty and all His glory. We’ve never seen the great yearning of His heart. We’re so occupied with what we want that we miss what He wants.

Now let’s be specialists for Christ. And today, even today, whatever the past may have been with all its accomplishments and all its failures, supposing today we start to walk with Christ.

If your fellowship is broken, confess your sin to Him.

Be real about it.

He’s promised to forgive you and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness.

Now go on and enjoy your Saviour.

Enjoy Him today.

And the Lord bless you for His name’s sake.

Verses 13-14

Philippians 3:13-14

Good-day, friends. We were discussing in our last lesson, verses 11 down through verse 13, taking up the great yearning of Paul’s heart when he said, “I am not perfect,” or as he puts it here, “not as though I have already attained either were already perfect, but I follow after (chase after) if I might experience, if I might lay hold of that for which Christ has laid hold of me.”

We were making the statement in our last lesson that I think there are four things involved in this that Paul never fully experienced, but the passion of his heart was that he might experience them.

And now you’re going to say to me, “But, Mr. Mitchell, we’re never going to experience those things until we see the Lord face to face.”

There’s a certain measure of truth in that. But may I remind you that we grow day by day in maturity. We grow from glory to glory as by the Spirit of the Lord, as you find in 2Co 3:18, which speaks of the fact that “we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are (being) changed into the same image from glory to glory” and that these light afflic­tions are working for us a “far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.”

What Paul here is after is that we might experience all that we have in Christ, that we’ve been joined to the risen, glorified Son of God. I wish that in some way I could put into words the way I feel about this and which I think is the heart of Paul—this passion for the Saviour—to really know the Saviour.

When a man could say, “I count everything but loss just to know Him,” that’s experimental knowledge—a day-by-day, hour-by-hour experience of the presence of the Living God.

This is a rare thing today. It shouldn’t be. Every believer should have this passion. And God has left us down here that we might yearn after Him and experience His power and the fellowship of Christ’s suffering and the intimacy of His fellowship. And when Paul caught a glimpse of why Christ had laid hold of him and why He laid hold of you and me, he was beside himself, as he said in 2 Corinthians 5:13, “If we be beside ourselves, it’s to God: or whether we be sober, it is for your cause.”

Oh, this amazing fact of the purpose of God in Christ for His people!

Allow me to mention again the four things I mentioned in our last lesson. The first is that Paul believed God had laid hold of him for the purpose of changing him and conforming him to the image of Jesus Christ, that God is not going to be through with His people—He’s not going to be through with you—until you’re just like Jesus, conformed to His image, transformed, transfigured into the im­age of the Son of God.

I wish in some way I could make you see this. Even the very tests of life, the very afflictions of life, the sufferings of life, the sorrows of life are part of God’s purpose in taking His people and making them yearn for glory, to be just like the Lord Jesus. And this process of transformation is go­ing on now. He started that when you accepted the Saviour, and He’ll not finish it until you stand be­fore Him looking just like Jesus Christ.

And then the second thing I said was, He saved us to be where He is. I think most believers believe this and see this because you find this in John, chapter 14, the first four verses, where Jesus said, “Where I am, there you may be also.” The wonderful fact that wherever Jesus Christ is—He’s at the right hand of authority, He’s the One Who upholds the whole universe by the word of His power —wherever He is, we’re going to be with Him and enjoy Him.

And the third thing was, we’re going to be glorified together with Him. This is beyond all human comprehension to know that you and I who were born in sin, shapen in iniquity are going to look just like the Son of God. We are going to be glorified together with Him.

People say, “Well, if I can just get to heaven.”

My friend, is that the only vision you have, just getting to heaven? Is that your only desire, just getting to heaven? That’s only a change of location. We’re going to be glorified together with Him, and the very angels of God, the holy angels, are going to be the ministers, the servants of the children of God. I love that verse, the last verse of the first chapter of Hebrews, when He speaks of holy an­gels, “Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for those who shall be the heirs of sal­vation?”

Oh, Christian friend, lay hold of what you have in Christ and then rejoice for the blessed hope that you’re going to be glorified together with Him. He said this. He’s given His word on this. “For the glory which Thou hast given Me,” said Jesus, “I have given them. And I want them, Father, to behold my moral glory.”

And then that last thing, the fourth thing, was the marvelous thing of spending eternity in un­broken, wonderful, blessed fellowship with the Saviour face to face.

I’m repeating what I said in the last lesson, and I don’t mind repeating it. I want this to get into your heart and mind. It’s wonderful to have fellowship with God now; but, oh, it happens so rarely with most of God’s people.

Let me ask you a very blunt question.

Christian friend, when were you last in the presence of the Saviour? I mean when you got down to business with the Lord, when you really enjoyed Him for yourself. Oh, I know we all come with our requests: The baby is sick or the business is no good or you’re not feeling too well yourself or some friend has died or whatever the test may be. All your children are having problems, and you run to the Lord—and rightly so, too. He wants you to do that—we don’t do it often enough —but do you ever take the time just to come down into the presence of the Lord just for Himself, just to have a time of fellowship with Him, of praising Him, worshiping Him and being occupied with Him?

You say, “Mr. Mitchell, when I get down to pray, I can say all I’m going to say in about three minutes. Unless I’ve got some great request, I can say all I have to say in three or four minutes. And that seems to be awfully long!”

Didn’t you ever learn to wait on the Lord, just to take your Bible and let the Lord reveal Him­self to you through the Word of God? I was thinking of Isaiah 9:6, “He shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.”

Did you ever stop to think of each of those words and to thank Him? That He’s the One “al­together lovely”? Have you ever sat down in the presence of His Father and read the 17th chapter of John, for example, and see the heart of the Lord occupied for you? He said, “I pray not for the world. I pray for those whom You’ve given to Me out of the world. They were Yours and You’ve given them to Me.”

Get occupied with the Saviour. Friend, you’re going to spend eternity with Him if you’ve tak­en Him as your own Saviour.

And one of the marvelous things that Paul here is saying, “I just yearn, I count everything but loss.” What for? For this intimacy of fellowship, the experience of His power, the wonder of His pres­ence.

And then to think that we’re going to have unbroken eternal fellowship with the Son of God. No wonder when I come to this verse, verse 13, “Brethren, I count not myself to have experienced (all that I have in Christ): but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling (the upward call) of God in Christ Jesus.” One thing I do. I’m not going to be occupied with my accom­plishments, and I’m certainly not going to be occupied, says Paul, with my failures.

I’m not going to be occupied with the past or the present. I’m going to stretch out. And this is the word of a man reaching out with all that is in him. “I stretch toward the mark for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

If I may add a verse—in Heb 12:1-2, you remember when the writer of Hebrews says, “Wherefore, seeing we also are compassed about with (being surrounded by) so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus (gazing intently upon Jesus) the Author and Finisher (Perfecter) of our faith; who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame.”

What was the joy set before Him? The accomplishing of a work that would bring you and me into eternal unbroken fellowship with God Almighty for all eternity, and that we would be just like His Son.

Oh, I say, no wonder Paul says, “one thing I do.” He was a specialist for Christ. Won’t you pray that God will raise up in these days, specialists for Christ? Men and women who shall live Christ, who shall be found in Christ, where He will be the object of their affection and devotion.

Oh, listen, Christian friend, what place have you given Christ in your life?

Can you say, “this one thing I do”—whatever else happens in life, “this one thing I do.”—I’m going to be occupied continually with my Saviour? I want to know my God; I want to know my Saviour; I want to really know Him in every department of my life, so that I can revel in His fellow­ship, that I can experience His power, and then become so available to God that I shall be a channel of blessing to my generation, to my neighbors, to my friends, to my family.

Oh, the resources we have in Him!

May God open your eyes and my eyes to the beauties and glories of Christ Jesus, whose we are, whom we serve. Remember, He bought you for Himself. Why not thank Him?

Revel in Him today, and the Lord bless you for His name’s sake.

Verses 13-19

Philippians 3:13-19

Good-day, friends. We know so little of Christ Himself. Oh, we read our Bibles and we can possibly talk about the doctrine of Christ and what He has accomplished for us; but I’m dealing here in chapter 3 of Philippians with the reality of a man who had a real passion for Christ Himself. Noth­ing else mattered—the past or present or the future. He had only one great passion—Christ.

That’s what he said here in Philippians 3:1-21, verse 13,

Philippians 3:13. One thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,

Philippians 3:14. I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

The great yearning of his heart is Christ. Now I’m going to start from here, but before I do, I’m going to ask you a question. Are you watching the spectators or the goal? Or are you occupied with your starting point in Christianity?

There are a great many Christians who hang around the cross. Now I believe that Christ died and did a perfect work on the cross, but He’s no longer on the cross for the Christian. He’s on the throne for you, my brother, if you love the Saviour. And if we hang around the cross, we’ll miss something of the glory of the Man at God’s right hand. It’s the One in the glory that we have fellow­ship with. He’s the One for Whom we look. He’s the One who can fill and flood your heart with joy and peace and love and compassion and all that you need.

Now I want to start today on verses 15 through 19. Paul has been talking about his great pas­sion and aim and goal, and now he takes up a brief exhortation. If I may read those verses 15-19. Now mark the great exhortation of Paul here. And the first verses,15, 16 and 17 are practical, when he said,

Philippians 3:15. Let us therefore, as many (of you) as be perfect (full-grown or mature), be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded (if you want to know any thing else), God shall reveal even this unto you.

If there are some things you do not know about the wonders of Christ and your relationship and fellowship with Him, God will be very happy to reveal them to you. The great thing I’m after here, and I think that Paul is after, is that his readers go on in their great yearning for Christ Himself, to experience all that for which Christ has laid hold of them.

Philippians 3:16. Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained (even though you’ve already gone so far), let us walk by the same rule (keep on going), let us mind the same thing.

Keep Christ pre-eminent. We mustn’t depend on past experiences. Let us walk by the same rule; let us mind the same thing. Keep on going. You see, there are a lot of believers who have had past experiences, a lot of Christians who revel in what they had one year ago, 5 years ago, 10 years ago, some of them go back 20, 40 years ago.

Well, that’s wonderful, but where are you now? That’s what Paul is talking about. Whereunto you have attained, keep on going. Keep on making Christ Lord and Master of your life. Keep on yearning for the things of Christ. Keep on walking with Him. Keep on growing.

That’s what Peter says, in 2 Peter, chapter 3:18, “We are to “grow in grace, and in the knowl­edge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.” There’s got to be continual growth. You can’t stand still, and it’s folly for us to depend upon experiences. They come and they go. They’re passing things.

Christ is eternal and goes on forever. He’s the One Who can satisfy your heart under any cir­cumstance at any time. I care not what your condition is. So whatever you’ve done, keep on going. Don’t fold your oars and sit down. Keep on going. You see, this will keep you in the path that God wants you to walk, where Christ will be experienced continually in your life. Let us mind the same thing.

Philippians 3:17. Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as you have us for an example.

He wants us to walk in the same path and follow him, Paul, as an example. He counted all things loss for Christ. He made Christ the supreme passion of his life, and that’s what we should do.

“There are others,” says Paul, “who walk just the way we walked. Now you follow their exam­ple. You follow suit. Just keep on going. Maintain that walk where Christ is the center of attraction.”

And I say, you follow Paul as he followed Christ. Christ was the supreme passion of his life. I can’t help but keep saying this, because today I see God’s people having other things in their life that have taken precedence over Christ. It may be business. It may be money. It may be homes. It may be fashion. It may be sports. It may be anything under heaven. Christ is squeezed out of your life. He doesn’t have the place He ought to have. Paul says, “You follow me. I have counted everything but loss just for Christ.” The supreme passion of his life was Christ. He wants you to follow suit.

And then in verse 18 and 19, he warns us about certain ones we must shun. If I make Christ the center of my affection and devotion, then I’ve got to watch out for somebody who would detract me from Christ. So he said,

Philippians 3:18. (For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ:

Philippians 3:19. Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things).

Look out for those who are so occupied with the things of the flesh and the things of the world that they would gather round you and detract you from Christ, and theirs is sure destruction. And I’m sure I can say this very frankly that we’re living in a day when religious people, religious leaders try to blur the vision of God’s people concerning Christ. As they preach earthly things, they water down the Word of God. They get your eyes off Christ and the things you have in Christ. They want you occupied with their little psychological secrets of how to have a fulfilled life and how to be a success. They want to be somebody. They want your devotion. They want your praise. They want your money.

Look out for them, Paul says. And I tell you even with weeping that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ.

You be careful, if I may give a word of warning here. Be careful of any doctrine, of any teaching, or of any group that does not make Jesus Christ the center not only their faith but of their af­fections and devotion. You watch any doctrine that does not make Christ the center. I know I’m tread­ing on possibly dangerous ground with some people when I say this, but I declare to you that one of the reasons why so many hundreds of God’s people have fallen away is because other things have come in, other persons and personalities have come in, and the result is that Christ has been pushed out of their life.

Oh, yes, they go to church Sunday morning. That’s about all; that’s about it. And if they don’t like the preacher, then they don’t go anywhere. The Word of God is neglected, and people have come in who are under the destruction of God, who are opposed to God, who are the enemies of the cross of

Christ. They glory in their shame. They mind earthly things. These are the people we’re warned about by the Spirit of God because these are the ones who keep you from making Christ pre-eminent.

Now it’s very obvious. Just you sit down and ask yourself the question: why isn’t Christ pre­eminent in my life? Why isn’t He first in my affection and my devotion? Why don’t I give more time to the Saviour? Why don’t I spend more time in His Word? Why don’t I spend more time in His fel­lowship? Why? Why am I just satisfied with going to church once a week, if I feel like it? Or, but I go to Sunday school, too.

Yes, all right, you go to Sunday school and you go to the morning meeting, and then what? You don’t think about the Saviour very much until the next Sunday. And you’re missing the riches of the glory of His grace. You’re missing the wonders of a fellowship with the eternal Son of God. You’re missing the revelation of His love, His compassion, His tenderness and His devotion to you. You’re missing the experience of His power, of His suffering. You’re missing being a channel of blessing to some other heart.

My friend, did you ever stop to think about it? And Paul says, now, in these verses, Php 3:15-17: he exhorts us to walk by the truths of Christ pre-eminent. He wants us not to depend upon past experiences, but to press on, to maintain that walk where Christ is the very center of our life. And then we are to shun those who would detract us from the Saviour.

Oh, I plead with you today, my dear Christian friend, to examine your heart in the light of His presence and the light of His word. And may you enjoy and glory today in the fullness of Christ, in the riches of His grace, in the riches of His glory, in the riches of His love, and may you be one of those who know God intimately.

And the Lord bless you for His name’s sake.

Verses 20-21

Philippians 3:20-21

Good-day, friends. We’re coming now to the end of the chapter, and we’ve come to this won­derful truth given to us by the Apostle Paul in verses 20 and 21. I’m going to read it and then in clos­ing up this chapter, tell you one or two little things that are on my heart. Where Paul says,

Philippians 3:20. For our conversation (citizenship) is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ:

Philippians 3:21. Who shall change our vile body (or our body of humiliation), that it may be fash­ioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.

Now here comes the encouragement. He’s just been informing us that God wants us to follow the Lord Jesus Christ in such a way that our lives will be a benediction, that those of us who claim to be mature keep on going in the path in which we are walking. We are not to stop nor to be occupied with experiences or with movements or with organizations. He wants our life to be controlled by the person of Christ Himself. He wants us to have a passion for the Saviour, and Paul even goes so far as to say, “Follow me as your example, and my example is that Christ may be pre-eminent in all that I am and all that I do.”

And then he warns us about those who make a profession of salvation, but are not real believ­ers. “They are the enemies of the cross of Christ, and their end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.”

And then he encourages us when he speaks of the fact that the coming of the Lord is near: “Our citizenship is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour.” Our hope is the coming of this One Who is the object of our love and affection; and because of the time element, because the time is short, we are not to waste our time on things that are passing nor on the flesh. Rather we are to be occupied with the Saviour, “For he that shall come will come, and will not tarry,” says the writer of Hebrews (10:37).

Now let’s look at these two verses for a moment. Our citizenship is in heaven.

Where’s yours, my friend?

You see, we don’t belong here; we don’t belong here. We are legally citizens of heaven. Did you know that God is going to populate heaven with redeemed sinners? Did you know that? That heaven is going to be peopled with redeemed men and women whom He purchased for Himself with His own blood? God’s going to have a people in heaven and the angels of God are going to be their servants, and they’re going to share with Christ in His glory.

“Our citizenship,” says Paul, “is in heaven.”

Don’t you forget that!

Somebody’s going to say, “Well, if your citizenship is in heaven, if you’re a legal citizen of heaven, adopted and born into the family of God, if you’re a child of one who is God, what in the world are you doing down here on earth?”

Well, my friend, we’re just here on business. Yes, we’re just here on business. Paul could say in 2 Corinthians 5:20 “Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God.”

You see, an ambassador is never on duty except if he’s away from home. You know that. We send ambassadors to other countries. They’re in foreign lands. They’re in strange lands. Their citizen­ship is here in America, but they may go to Germany, they may go to France, they may go to England, they may go to Taiwan, they may go to Japan, they may go to South America, they may go anywhere. And when they serve, they’re serving away from home.

Now our home is in heaven. Our citizenship is in heaven. We belong to heaven. We belong where God is, where the Lord Jesus is. Our citizenship, says Paul, is in heaven.

I tell you it’s a wonderful thing to belong there. Did you ever stop to think, Christian friend, did you ever stop to think that the Lord Jesus has been nearly 2,000 years in glory after He left here? And He’s preparing a place for us, His people.

It’s one of the last words He said to His disciples: “I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto Myself that where I am, there ye may be also.”

Oh, I tell you, it’s a wonderful thing to know that! Our citizenship, where? It’s in heaven. That’s what Jesus meant in John 17:1-26, when He said, “Father, these who believe on me, they don’t be­long to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. They’re in the world, but they’re not of the world.”

Well, where do we belong?

We belong to the glory.

We belong to heaven. We’re members of God’s family, and one of these days, we’re going

home.

One of these days, the Lord’s going to come and take all of His people home, as it says in 1 Thessalonians, chapter 4.

Wonderful thing this!

“If I go and prepare a place for you,” He said in John 14:1-31, “I will come again, and I will receive you unto Myself that where I am, there you may be also.”

I think it’s a wonderful thing to have a hope like this.

Our citizenship is in heaven.

Say, did you ever go to a foreign country; and, when you get off the plane or off the ship and you walk down the street, you find they dress differently from you. They look different from you, and they act different, and they think different and you feel like a stranger.

Yes. Remember that song:

I am a stranger here within a foreign land.
My home is far away beyond a golden strand.
Ambassadors to be
On realms beyond the sea,
I’m here on business for my King.

I say again, our citizenship is in heaven, and what are we doing down here? Bearing testimo­ny for Christ. Witnessing to men and women of the Saviour. Encouraging believers to be established in Christ and in the faith.

What are you doing, my friend, down here? You see, if God was through with you, you wouldn’t be here. And if you say to me, “Mr. Mitchell, I don’t have any gifts. I don’t know what God can do with me or do through me.”

Well, maybe you haven’t made yourself available to God. The very fact, my Christian friend, that you are on the earth means that God has got a purpose for your being here.

Did you ever try to find out what that purpose is?

Do you know you’re an ambassador for the son of God?

If I were to change the wording, I would say, “Do you know that you are down here represent­ing the Saviour?” That’s why He left you here.

“If I were a missionary. . . .”

Well, you are a missionary right where you are, right where you are. Oh, you don’t have to go to Africa to be a missionary. You don’t have to go to Southeast Asia to be a missionary.

Right where you live, right where you work, right where you work in your own home, in the

office, in the factory, on the street, wherever you go, do people know you belong to the Saviour? Do people know that your destination is heaven?

Do people know that you are a child of One Who is God?

Do people see in you something of the wonders of our Lord and our Saviour?

Have you made yourself available to God to be a channel for Him to use.

Friend, our citizenship is in heaven; and we’re down here on earth on business for our King. Business for our Lord.

Are we attending to business?

Are we doing the job God wants us to do?

You see, I’m talking to you personally, wherever you are, whatever time it is. God wants you to be available, so the Spirit of God Who indwells you can find you useable. And isn’t it wonderful? I say, is it not wonderful that He’s left us here on earth to be a benediction, to be a channel of blessing to somebody—maybe even to someone in your own home? And you can be that today.

Why not give yourself to Him?

Just say, Lord Jesus, I want to be available to you, to be a blessing to some heart, a blessing to some life just today.

I haven’t been much of a blessing before; but, Lord, today, I want you to take over and make me a blessing to some heart.

And the Lord wonderfully, wonderfully and richly bless you for His name’s sake.

Good-day, friends. And here we are again in Philippians, chapter 3, with the great encourage­ment that the Lord gives to us by His Spirit through the Apostle Paul. We are in the last two verses of Philippians 3:1-21, and I’m going to read them again—and by the way, I’ve been going very slowly through this chapter. Oh, how I have yearned, how I have longed that in some way the truth of this chapter may tug at your heart.

Now we have the encouragement at the end of the chapter, and the encouragement is the com­ing of the Lord, whom we love:

Philippians 3:20. For our conversation (citizenship or commonwealth) is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ:

Philippians 3:21. Who shall change our vile body (fashion anew the body of our humiliation), that it may be fashioned like (conformed) unto his glorious body (the body of his glory), according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.

We were discussing in our last lesson this matter of the coming of the Lord and especially that we are citizens of heaven and belong to glory. We belong to heaven. And Jesus said that where He is, that’s where we’re going to be. God is going to have a people in heaven, and we are citizens— legal citizens—of glory.

This is an astounding thing, and I hope it is an astounding thing to you— how God can take those who are in utter ruin and transform them into the children of God and make them just like His Son. Then He sends us back here on earth to be His witnesses, to be His ambassadors. You remember, Jesus said in John 17:18, Father, “as Thou hast sent Me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.”

We’ve been sent back into the world as ambassadors for Christ, representatives of the living God. Again may I remind you that all the power of an infinite God is behind you, that the message He has given to us is very clear and very simple. The message of the Gospel to men and women is that Christ died to save sinners and guaranteed that salvation by the fact that He was raised again from the dead by the glory of the Father and was exalted to God’s right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour. He’s left us down here to carry on the good news and to tell people. It’s His message; and may I say, as ambassadors, as His representatives, we have absolutely no right to change the message which He has given to us.

If you don’t like the message, if you don’t believe the message, then, my friend, don’t you try to be a representative of the Lord. If you are going to change His message, that makes you a false rep­resentative, a false ambassador. We are ambassadors, representatives, beseeching men in Christ’s stead to be reconciled to God. Our citizenship is in heaven, and we’re down here on business for the Saviour. But we’re looking for Somebody, and we read here in the verse, “From whence also (from heaven) we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ.”

We’re not looking for the coming of a spirit. We’re not looking for the coming of death. We’re looking for the coming of a Person who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel. We’re looking for a Person.

Friend, are you looking for a Person or are you looking for an experience? Do you want the Lord to come to take you out of your troubles?

Do you want the Lord to come because you’re in a jam?

Or do you want Him to come because you love Him?

Paul says, “Our citizenship is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ.” I tell you it’s a wonderful thing. The One Who is the Saviour is coming again.

What’s He coming for? To complete the job of salvation. Did you ever think of it? You see, we have been saved from the guilt and penalty of sin. We are now being saved from the power of sin through our union with the risen Christ. He is yet to come and deliver us from the very presence of sin, and that’s what we’re looking for. We look for the Saviour, our Lord Jesus Christ. This is our ex­pectation.

You remember in 1 Corinthians 1:7, the Corinthian church, a carnal church, a church that was really out of fellowship with God, and yet they were “waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” And the Thessalonians were waiting for God’s “Son from heaven” (1 Thessalonians 1:10), the one who had been “raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.”

Are you waiting for the coming of the Lord? That’s what you have in 1 Thessalonians, chapter 4:13—we do not sorrow as others who have no hope. We’re looking for the coming of a Saviour, “for the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.”

I tell you, it’s a wonderful thing. As a pastor, I’ve had the wonderful joy of being with many Christians as they are going Home.

I’ve even had some of these dear old saints say to me, “Mr. Mitchell, please don’t pray for me to stay here. I want to go Home. I want to go Home.”

I remember a friend of mine in the ministry, who went to see his mother who was very, very, very ill. In fact, they didn’t expect her to live, and he was talking about going Home. Now her sister, this man’s auntie, didn’t have this hope, didn’t have this hope.

So one day the auntie said to him, “I wish you’d talk to your mother and have her stop talking about wanting to go Home, wanting to go Home. Why doesn’t she fight to live?”

And this dear boy said to his auntie, “Auntie, dear, you know mother has a Home to which she —can—go.”

I tell you that’s a wonderful thing. Do you have a Home to which you can go? Do you have a Home to which you can go? I say, isn’t it wonderful that you and I, if you love the Saviour, are guaranteed Home, Home with Him, as we sing sometimes, “Home, sweet Home, nevermore to roam.” To be with the Saviour, to see Him face to face, to enjoy unbroken, eternal, continual fellowship with Him!

You see, we’re waiting for the coming of a Saviour. We’re not looking for an event. We’re not looking for some great movement. We’re not looking for death. We’re looking for a Saviour, our Lord Jesus Christ. We’re in love with a Person!

You know, I just love to go down to the airport and often times when I’m traveling, which I do quite often, I get on a plane or I’m getting off a plane. You see people getting off the plane and their friends meet them. It’s a kind of an empty feeling when I get off a plane. Everybody’s being met by someone who loves them. They kiss, they embrace, they shake hands, they’re thankful to see each other; and you get off the plane and there’s nobody to meet you and pick you up there. You go and get your baggage and you get a taxi and you go to some hotel.

My, I tell you, it’s an empty feeling; and, if you’re expecting somebody and they’re not there, you wonder if they’ve missed the car or if they’ve missed the time. And my, what a relief when all of a sudden, you see them.

Do you ever stop to think that we’re going to go Home one of these days, and who do you think is going to welcome us? The Lord Jesus Christ. We’re looking for the Saviour. We’re looking for a Person. We’re looking for the One who redeemed us.

Friend, have you got that hope today? Do you have that hope, that expectation? No wonder when you come to the last chapter of the Bible, chapter 22 of Revelation, the Lord Jesus says, “Surely I come quickly.”

John responded and said, “Even so come, Lord Jesus.”

And in Hebrews 10:37, “He that shall come, will come and will not tarry.” And Jesus said, “If I go away, I will come again and receive you unto Myself.”

My friend, listen, that may happen today. I’ve got no right to say it’s not today. There’s noth­ing that I know of in the Scriptures that can prevent or hinder the Son of God’s coming today for His own.

Acts chapter 15 says, that He is gathering out a people for His name, called the church; and when that job is completed, when the church of Christ is completed with redeemed men and women, He’s going to call that church Home.

I said, a while ago, we’re here on business for the King, for our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Our legal citizenship is in heaven. We’re down here on business, and one of these days, He’s going to say, “Come on. Come on Home and report.”

We’re going to be caught up to meet the Lord in the air. We’re going to stand before the judg­ment seat of Christ, all believers, to receive the things done in the body, whether good or bad. He’s going to crown us. He’s going to rejoice in us and we’re going to rejoice in Him and see that we’ll be like Him.

My friend, are you ready today for the coming of the Lord? Are you? Is this your anticipa­tion? As Peter said, in 1 Peter, chapter 1, “Whom having not seen, we love, and yet though we see Him not, we rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory, receiving the end of our faith, even the salvation of souls.”

It’s a good place to stop today. I’m going to leave that with you.

Are you living today in anticipation of the coming of the Saviour or are you occupied with mundane, passing, corrupt things?

What’s your plan today?

Somebody said to Mr. Wesley one day, “What would you do if you knew that Jesus was com­ing today?”

He said, “I would be doing just what I’m doing, because I’m living daily in expectation of the coming of the Lord.”

Friend, if the Lord Jesus Christ would come today, would you change your plans? Would you change your plans, if you knew the Lord was coming today?

He might come today, and I plead with your heart, Christian friend, that when He comes, you’ll be in fellowship with Him.

Let us not be numbered among those whose tears have to be wiped away, but be with those who are rejoicing in the fellowship, those who are waiting for their Lord from heaven, the One Who has delivered us from the coming wrath.

And the Lord wonderfully, richly, marvelously bless you today, and remember, everyone who hath this hope set on Him purifieth Himself even as He is pure.

And live today in anticipation of seeing Him, our Saviour and our Lord.

Good-day, friends. Now we are still in Philippians chapter 3, and we’re down at the last verse. I’m going to read the last two verses again of Philippians chapter 3. We just want to reach your heart for the Lord.

You say, “Well, Mr. Mitchell, I don’t understand all that you say.”

That may be true, but if I can get hold of your heart for Him, I’d be greatly satisfied. It would rejoice my heart to know that in some way you’ve been brought into a closer relationship and fellow­ship with your Saviour and to be filled with that joy and that peace and that satisfaction of belonging to Him.

Now let’s consider these last two verses of Philippians 3:1-21, where the apostle says,

Philippians 3:20. For our conversation (citizenship or commonwealth) is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ:

Philippians 3:21. Who shall change your vile body (fashion anew the body of our humiliation), that it may be fashioned like (conformed) unto his glorious body (the body of his glory), according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.

Now we have been dealing in our past lessons with the fact that our citizenship is in heaven, that God is going to people heaven with redeemed sinners, those who are His children, and that those on earth are waiting for the coming of the Lord. We’re not waiting for some experience. We’re not waiting for some great thing to happen, for some movement to take place. We’re waiting for a Person, the Lord Jesus Christ. And our present attitude is to be one of expectancy, just like the Thessalonian church, who waited for His Son from heaven, the One Who burst the bonds of the tomb, the One Who had redeemed them and freed them, saved from the wrath to come.

Now look at the prospect in the last verse. What will Jesus do when He comes?

He is going to change these bodies, and He is going to fashion them like unto His glorious body. He’s going to make our bodies just like His. Now that’s what it says. In the book of Romans, chapter 8, you remember, verses 18-23, the apostle Paul there speaks of the fact that these bodies are going to be redeemed, for we are saved by hope. And the whole creation is waiting for the manifesta­tion of the sons of God, and not only they, but ourselves also wait for the redemption of our bodies.

It’s a wonderful thing, and Paul could say in 1 Corinthians 15:51, “I show you a mystery. We shall not all sleep. We shall all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible.” This mortal must put on im­mortality. This corruption must put on incorruption, and we’re all going to be changed. When will this take place? When our Lord comes.

As I said a moment ago, we’re waiting for the Saviour, and when He comes, He’s going to change these bodies. He’s going to make them absolutely immortal, incorruptible. This is the ex­pectance. Remember Paul could say in the same book of Philippians, chapter 1, verse 6,” Being confi­dent of this very thing, that He (God) who has begun a good work in us is going to complete it.” And that’s going to be completed when our bodies are changed.

You see, when Jesus died, He died for the whole man. He not only died for our souls, but He died for the transforming of your body, the old man. We quoted the other day in 1 Thessalonians 5:23

and 24, “The God of peace sanctify you wholly and I pray God your whole being, spirit, soul, body, be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is He that calleth you, who also will do it.”

My, what a prospect! We’re going to be just like Him! Think of it, my friend. 1 John, chapter 3, verse 2, says that when we see Him, we will be just like Him. Isn’t that a prospect? I know that our body is frail today, and it has its afflictions and its weaknesses, its lusts and its desires; but listen, lis­ten, my friend, when Christ laid hold of you and saved you, He’s going to complete the job. And I say this reverently, God will not be satisfied until you stand in His presence looking just like Jesus. This is the purpose of God in Romans 8:29. He has determined that we shall be conformed to the image of His Son; and it says in this verse that He’s going to change these bodies of our humiliation, and He’s going to fashion them like unto His own glorious body.

I remember the testimony of a dear saint, whose doctor had pronounced him incurable, that there was nothing left but to die. Sounds very bad, doesn’t it, but this dear saint said, “Well, if Jesus Christ doesn’t come this year, I’ll be going to see Him. If He’s going to wait too long, I’m not going to wait. I’m going to see Him and isn’t it wonderful? I’m going to see my Saviour.”

And I could multiply that statement in different ways by the saints of God who have gone to be with the Lord here in my city. I’ve been with them when they left this scene. I’ve held their hands and prayed with them when they left. I tell you, my friends, it’s a wonderful thing to have this blessed hope.

Like the old shepherd said, you remember, “Dear Lord Jesus, I’ve been waiting for You, been expecting You every day, and I’m tired waiting, dear Lord, so I’m going to be with You now.” And he went to be with the Saviour; and this was the testimony he left with those who were standing by, shepherds of the hills while they were waiting upon him in his illness.

I tell you, it’s a wonderful thing that death is a defeated foe; and the time is coming when ev­ery believer in Christ is going to be raised from the dead. Those of us who are on the earth at that time are going to be changed, and our bodies are going to be raised from the dead. The corruptible is going to put on incorruption. We who are mortal shall put on immortality.

He’s not talking about the immortality of the soul. That’s taken for granted in the Bible. He’s talking about the body. It’s going to be changed. It’s going to made like unto His glorious body. I say, my friend, what a prospect! What a prospect! Even a psalmist caught a glimpse of that when he said in the 17th Psalm, verse 15, “I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness.”

Now, how’s He going to do this? He’s going to do it according to the working of His power which is able to subdue all things unto Himself. How is it going to be done? According to His glori­ous power. Did you know that you already have in you, my Christian friend, the power of resurrec­tion? We’ve covered this in an earlier lesson. It’s folly for me to say I have the Spirit of God in­dwelling me if I do not believe that I also have the power of resurrection in me; and, if the Lord should come this very moment, my body would be transformed into His image.

Romans 8:11 says, “If the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken (make alive) your mortal bodies by His Spirit that dwelleth in you.” Isn’t it wonderful! The very Spirit that’s going to change your body already lives in you. And I’d like to repeat this statement again. If you and I have in us the power that raised Jesus from the dead, that same power is going to change this body from mortal to immortal.

Don’t you think that same Spirit of God, that same power can transform your life now? Isn’t this what Paul means in Colossians 1:29 when he says, “I also labour, striving according to his work­ing, which worketh in me mightily”?

Friend, there is no excuse for you or for me, absolutely no excuse. God’s power of resurrection is living in you now by the indwelling Spirit of God; and if that Spirit of God can change your body, He can certainly control it. Neither I nor you have any excuse for living loose lives.

You say, I’m weak.

But He is strong.

I am frail.

Yes, but He’s powerful.

And Paul, in Ephesians 3:1-21 prays that we might be made powerfully strong by His Spirit in the inner man, the Spirit that raised Christ from the dead and is already dwelling in you. And when the Lord Jesus comes, your body is going to be immediately, in the twinkling of an eye, transformed into an immortal body.

Did you ever stop to think of it?!

It may be today.

It may be today.

Now you read this third chapter of Philippians through again. It starts with God having no con­fidence in the flesh, and it ends with a group of people loving the Saviour, having their bodies changed and fashioned like unto the body, His body, of glory. That’s what it says in this 21st verse. “It may be fashioned like unto his glorious body.” Oh, wonder of wonders, when God gets through with you, and when God gets through with this man, Mitchell, all of us are going to be just like the Lord Jesus. I say, what a prospect. What a hope!

Now whatever time the Lord had given to us here on earth, may we make ourselves available to this wonderful Saviour that He might be glorified in us today.

Today.

He might come today. But if He doesn’t, may you and I be available for the Spirit of God to use us as channels for the display of His love, of His grace, of His compassion toward others.

May we beseech men in Christ’s stead to be reconciled to God.

May the Lord bless you today, and may His face shine upon you, and may you be a channel to glorify the eternal Son of God—today.