From this chapter tonight, it's so rich in content, but Father, please just help us to get across the truths that you would have for us tonight.
And in Jesus' name I pray, amen.
Alright, Philippians chapter 3.
The first two chapters we saw, I think chapter 1, the prevailing theme seemed to be boldness.
He talked a lot about not living a life of fear, but living a life as a Christian that's characterized by boldness.
Then in the second chapter, we saw a whole lot about unity in the first part of the chapter, about how we need to be unified as a church.
We need to have the same goal, the same vision, the same mind, be in one accord.
And then it went, throughout the whole chapter, a theme of others.
Unity, because we're not always necessarily the issue, but others are the issue.
Then we saw that Jesus Christ took upon himself the form of a servant.
He was humbled and he was serving others in his life.
And on and on, that seemed to be the theme of chapter number 2.
Then in chapter number 3, he says, finally my brethren, rejoice in the Lord.
He's starting out in chapter 3 and entering a different phase.
I think the first two chapters was almost correcting some problems that he saw.
He was mentioning a lot of personal things later in chapter 2, which we didn't get to,
about Epaphroditus and Timothy, who he was going to send back and forth,
and he was going on about some questions that they had asked him, and so forth.
Now in chapter 3, he's getting down to the teaching that he wants to do here.
The purpose of this book is the teaching that he's doing in chapters 3 and 4.
Now, he says, finally my brethren, rejoice in the Lord.
To write the same things to you, to me indeed is not grievous, but for you it is safe.
Now, what's Paul saying here?
He's saying, I know that it's important as a preacher and as a teacher to be repetitious.
He says, it doesn't bother me, it doesn't grieve me to repeat things to you,
to say the same thing to you again, because that's safe for you.
He says, there's such a temptation, as we'll see in verses 2 and 3,
there's such a draw away from the truth.
There's constantly attacks going on. There's constant pressure to change.
So, he's saying, no, it doesn't bother me at all.
To write the same things to you, to me indeed is not grievous.
He says, it doesn't bother me at all to be a little bit repetitious,
because that's the safe thing for you.
What am I talking about?
Why, as a preacher, do I repeat things many times?
Why do I repeat many things to my children as a parent?
Over and over, constantly affirming these things.
Why do I, for example, constantly, it seems there's just a few subjects to soul winning.
You constantly have to keep hitting on, either every week or every other week,
one of the sermons is going to really hit on soul winning.
That doesn't bother me.
That's not grievous to me, because it's safe for you.
It's safe for me.
There is a constant tendency to quit soul winning, let's face it.
There's a constant tendency to just say, what's the use?
Forget it. I don't want the door slammed.
I haven't seen a lot of fruit from my labor in the past few weeks.
There's so much else I could be doing.
There's a constant tendency not to be a soul winner.
That's why, as a preacher, I have to just keep on stirring myself up,
stirring you up about a lost and dying world,
people that are on their way to hell, people that need the gospel.
And so I'm going to have to be repetitious about that.
You know, when you're raising your children,
don't be afraid to be repetitious with your children.
Here's a perfect example, salvation.
Now, many children growing up in a Christian home,
you look at them and you know they've heard the gospel,
they've been in church, they've heard the Bible,
and you wonder how old should they be when they're old enough to get saved?
Or when should I start talking to them about it?
I don't know, they're a little young,
I don't know if they really understand what I'm talking to them about.
And this is something that people often have a question about,
getting their children saved.
Well, the answer that I would have is repetition.
I started going through the plan of salvation with my kids
when there's no way they could have understood it at a very young age.
I took them out-soul-wining with me many times
at ages even as young as John's age here,
you know, 15, 16 months old to 2 years old, 3 years old.
They were out-soul-wining with me.
They saw me win people to Christ.
They heard me go through the verses.
And then I took time just every few months,
even in those really early years, and just sat down
and just let me explain to you the gospel.
Let me explain the plan of salvation.
Then, when it came to a place where they were understanding a lot more
and they seemed to comprehend it,
I would go through the whole plan of salvation and say,
Do you believe this?
And I'd say, Well, let's pray right now
and why don't you ask Jesus Christ to be your savior?
Why don't you put your faith in him right now?
Now, then a week later, I'd go through the same thing
and say, Why don't you pray right now and make Jesus Christ your savior?
And they'd pray again.
It didn't bother me at all because it's not going to hurt them to pray twice
because they didn't understand what was going on.
It's not going to hurt them to hear the plan of salvation 200, 300 times
because faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.
Then there came a time with Solomon where I'd gone through it with him
and gone through it and he prayed several times
asking Jesus Christ to be his savior.
But there came a point where he said, Dad, I've already done that.
I know that I'm saved.
This is what it takes to be saved and I've done that.
I let him tell me that because I don't want to make the mistake of just assuming,
Oh, yeah, all these kids, they grow up in church, they must be saved.
No, that's not true because you'll see a lot of kids that grow up,
everybody just assumes they're saved.
Everybody just shuffles by them because they've got other more important things to do.
They're out knocking everybody else's door
and they didn't take the time to ensure that their own children understand the gospel
and are saved.
And what happens, they grow up, they get to be 17, 18 years old
and we see them go off the deep end and then you'll talk to them and they say,
Well, you know, I never really believed in that anyway
because let me tell you something, praying a prayer does not save anyone.
Show me in this Bible, go through it, cover to cover, go through the New Testament
and show me how many times God talks about praying a prayer for salvation.
Now, I've heard people say, The Bible doesn't say that anywhere.
Well, that's wrong because the Bible does talk a lot about praying a prayer.
But you know what it talks about a hundred times more?
Believe, believe, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.
The prayer is mentioned, of course.
Jesus, when he was speaking to the woman at the well,
he said, If thou knewest who it was that said unto thee, Give me to drink,
thou wouldest have asked of me and I would have given thee living water.
He said, If you ask me for salvation, I will give it to you.
Again, in Romans chapter 10, verse 9, it says,
That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus,
and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead,
thou shalt be saved.
For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness,
and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
Then a few verses later, the famous verse,
For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved,
followed up right after with, How then shall they call on him in whom they've not believed?
So the key is always believe.
There are a few verses that talk about, you know, a man who went to the temple,
he beat upon his breast and he was so humble he wouldn't even look up to heaven,
and he bowed his face and said, God, be merciful to me, a sinner.
And the Bible says that he went away saved.
Another man on the cross said, Lord, remember me when thou comest like him.
Many times we see in the Bible someone praying a prayer of salvation,
but a thousand times you'll see God say,
it's the faith in the heart that produces the prayer of salvation
and the difference between a person who's going to heaven versus a person going to hell.
The person who's going to heaven has all of their faith in Jesus Christ.
They have believed on the Lord Jesus Christ.
The person who is not going to heaven does not have their faith in Jesus Christ.
It's not words that you say,
well, I prayed a prayer when I was six years old so I must be saved.
No, I was saved when I was six years old because I believed on the Lord Jesus Christ
and asked him to save me.
And so don't be afraid to be repetitious with your children about the gospel, about salvation.
Hammer it again and again.
Show them the verses.
Go through the Bible with them.
There are many other subjects that I need to be repetitious with as a preacher,
not only soul winning, not only the gospel.
And you'll notice we emphasize the gospel a lot just even in sermons about the plan of salvation,
but Bible reading.
Another thing, the book of Hebrews chapter 2 says,
we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard
lest at any time we should let them slip.
If we don't constantly walk guard and say,
I will make sure that I'm reading my Bible every day,
that's why I love that little chart because it has it laid out for you,
for reading the Bible through cover to cover in one year.
But if you don't take heed to that, it's going to slip.
So repetition is the key to preaching.
Repetition is the key with child rearing.
Repetition is the key for any kind of a spiritual leadership role.
Look at verse number 2.
It says, beware of dogs.
Beware of evil workers.
Beware of the concision.
Why do we need to be repetitious?
Because there are forces of evil that are out there
with a purpose of destroying your life.
Now I was reading this word dogs,
and boy, whatever you do, just do yourself a favor
and never pick up a commentary of the Bible in your life.
Never pick up a commentary where they go verse by verse
and explain the Bible to you in a book
because they'll fill your mind with such goofball ideas.
This is the Bible.
The Holy Spirit is living inside you.
Open the Bible and read it,
and compare spiritual things with spiritual,
not comparing it with what a man wrote.
But you look up this word dog,
if you dare to look it up in a dictionary
or try to figure out what it means,
they'll tell you the weirdest, most bizarre things
that this word dog means.
They'll tell you that it means a male prostitute.
Weird things.
Don't even get the Bible dictionary,
but you can't trust that.
I looked up the word dog throughout the Bible,
and every single time you'd be shocked what it means.
Dog means a dog.
The whole time I went through,
I looked the first time it's mentioned,
I looked every single time all the way through,
and I just kept hearing resounding in my ears
as I read the Bible's pages.
And it's a dog.
Now obviously he's using it here metaphorically.
He's saying,
these dirty dogs who are coming in
trying to change what we believe.
Now notice the three things that are listed.
Dogs, he said, beware of dogs.
Beware of evil workers.
Beware of the concision.
For we are the circumcision
which worship God in the Spirit
and rejoice in Christ Jesus
and have no confidence in the flesh.
What is the concision?
I'll tell you what the concision is.
These dogs, these evil workers,
these concision crowd
were people who were coming in
teaching people that they had to be circumcised
in order to be saved.
That's why he says, beware of the concision.
The concision is talking about
the crowd of Jews who wanted to take an adult
who got saved in the New Testament
who was not a Jew, who was a Gentile,
they got born again, and they said,
well you're not going to heaven until you get circumcised.
They said, you have to keep the Old Testament law
in order to be saved.
Now, I don't have to keep any law to be saved
because I just have to believe on Jesus Christ to be saved, of course.
But, that's why he says we are the circumcision
which worship God in the Spirit
and rejoice in Christ Jesus.
And here's the key,
and have no confidence in the flesh.
The real circumcision in the New Testament,
the real believers on Christ
are those who have no confidence in the flesh.
They're not trusting their own good works
to get them to heaven.
Let me show you what I'm talking about.
Flip back two books in the Bible
to Galatians chapter 5
and we'll see what he's talking about,
what he's warning us about.
These people who will come in
and teach us something wrong
to try to destroy our faith.
God calls them a dog and an evil worker.
And look at Galatians chapter 5
and let me read this for you.
The Bible says in Galatians 5,
Stand fast therefore in the liberty
wherewith Christ hath made us free
and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.
Behold I Paul saying to you that if ye be circumcised
Christ shall profit you nothing.
So here's what he's saying.
He's saying if you think that you have to be circumcised
and believe on Jesus Christ to go to heaven,
Christ shall profit you nothing.
He says you can't be saved like that.
You've got to put all your faith in Jesus Christ to be saved.
And if you go out and get circumcised
because you think that that's somehow part of salvation,
he says Christ shall profit you nothing.
And then listen, he explains the rationale why.
For I testify again, this is verse 3,
to every man that is circumcised
that he is a debtor to do the whole law.
He says you think that since you can just go out
and get circumcised as a man
and believe on Jesus Christ
and that's going to somehow get you to heaven,
he says I wrote a whole book of the Old Testament,
39 books with rules and laws and commandments
and dos and don'ts.
And if you want to go down that road
of saying you have to do a good work to get to heaven,
I've got about 589 more good works for you to do, he's saying.
He's saying if you think getting circumcised
is going to get you to heaven,
what about the other 600 commandments I gave you?
Are you going to keep all those too, sir?
He says anybody who goes and gets circumcised
and they think that's going to get them to heaven,
he says you're a debtor to do the whole law.
It's either salvation by works,
you'd have to do it all perfect,
which none of us can do,
or you can put your faith in Jesus Christ.
He did the whole law perfect.
As we preached about on Sunday morning,
he lived that perfect life
and that righteousness goes on our account.
And so you've got to do the whole law to go to heaven
and none of us can do that.
That's why we have the righteousness of God,
which is through our faith in Jesus Christ.
And so Paul is saying here
if you believe in faith plus works,
you are not saved, period.
Very clear.
Look at verse number four.
Christ is become of no effect unto you.
Does that sound like somebody who's saved?
If Christ has no effect to them,
it doesn't sound like he's their savior.
It doesn't sound like he's going to get them to heaven.
Christ has become of no effect unto you
whosoever of you are justified by the law.
In other words, you think you're saved by the law.
You're saved by keeping the law, by doing good works.
You are fallen from grace,
for we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness
by faith.
Where does our righteousness come from?
By faith.
Our faith is counted for righteousness.
Romans 4-5.
But to him that worketh not,
but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly,
his faith is counted for righteousness.
So my faith in Jesus Christ,
God looks at that faith and counts it as a righteous life
that Jesus Christ lived being the life that I lived.
Isn't that amazing?
And so it says here in verse number six,
For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth anything,
nor uncircumcision, but faith which worketh by love.
So he says it doesn't matter whether you're circumcised,
whether you're uncircumcised, that's not the issue.
Is your faith in Jesus Christ?
That's the issue.
But turn back to Philippians if you would.
I just wanted to give you a little background
of what was going on at this time in history.
Same thing that's going on right now.
People trying to come in and add good works to salvation.
Add some kind of a ritual.
You must be saved and baptized to go to heaven type of thing.
You must believe and be baptized rather.
Now, let me read for you, and you don't have to turn there,
but in the book of Galatians, that was in chapter five,
the whole book of Galatians is dealing with this issue.
If you go back to chapter number two,
and I'll just read this for you,
but in chapter number two, verse four, the Bible says,
And that because of false brethren, unawares brought in,
they came in privily, it means they snuck in,
to spy out our liberty, which we have in Christ Jesus,
that they might bring us into bondage.
You see how it's the same nomenclature
that Paul uses in Galatians five where he said,
Stand in the liberty.
It's not that you have to keep the law to go to heaven.
That's bondage.
When you get saved, you're freed from that bondage,
and you know that Jesus is your savior by faith.
In chapter number one, Paul starts out by telling you
how to deal with these people that come in with these lies
and these heresies,
and it says here in verse number eight of Galatians one,
But though we, or an angel from heaven,
he says, I don't care if it's me,
I don't care if an angel comes out from heaven,
preach any other gospel unto you
than that which we have preached unto you,
let him be accursed.
He says, I don't care if I come back and tell you
that salvation is not by faith.
I don't care if an angel appears to you, Joseph Smith.
I don't care if an angel appears to you, Mohammed.
I don't care if an angel appears to you, sir.
I don't care, let him be accursed.
That means tell him to go to hell.
That's what it means.
Let him be accursed.
Curse him out.
No, I'm just kidding.
But anyway, in verse number nine,
that was a joke, all right.
Verse number nine, it says,
As we said before, and he says, wait,
some of you aren't getting this.
Some of you still think that he's a nice guy,
just coming in and trying to teach you work salvation.
And so because you didn't get it in verse number eight,
I'm going to say it to you again in verse nine.
And he says, As we said before,
so say I now again,
if any man preach any other gospel unto you
than that he have received, let him be accursed.
That's what it says.
That's why when the Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses
come to your door, the Bible says,
if any man come unto you and bring not this doctrine,
and that's in 2 John, verse 10,
leave him not into your house,
neither bid him God speed.
For he that bideth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.
So what do I do when the Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses
come to my door?
They come to my door, they say,
Hi, how you doing?
And they won't tell you who they are.
You know, the JWs are like,
Hi, how you doing?
I'm like, well, who are you?
Hey, how you doing?
Who are you?
And they're like, well, we're Jehovah's Witnesses.
I just say, no thanks, see you later,
and I shut the door.
Or I might quote them one verse
and just give them a verse and say,
Okay, here's the scripture, close the door.
Do I invite them into my house
and spend the next two hours debating with them?
No, because the devil sent them to me just to waste my time.
And God said, I don't want you to bring them into your house.
I don't want you to listen to what they have to say.
I don't want you to tell them,
God bless you, buddy, have a great day.
Just tell them, no thanks, we don't believe that,
believe the Bible, see you later.
Or, you know, you might give them a scripture
to put in their pipe and smoke it,
you know, and send them off with something.
But I usually just tell them,
I don't have time for it.
And I'll go to your door and get you saved someday.
But anyway, back to our text here in Philippians chapter 3,
I think you're already there.
But look at verse number 4, the Bible says,
Though I might also have confidence in the flesh,
if any other man thinketh that he hath whereof
he might trust in the flesh, I am more.
He said in verse 3, I have no confidence in the flesh
to give thee to heaven at all whatsoever.
But he says, okay, if you want to go down that road,
because these people, again, have been influenced
by this work-salvation crowd.
Isn't it amazing how the Galatians were being attacked on this?
The Philippians were being attacked on this?
Everywhere we look around, even today,
even in independent fundamental Baptist churches,
people are trying to change things around
and say you've got to have a little bit of good works or whatever.
Maybe that's why he starts out in verse 1 saying,
Do you mind if I'm a little repetitious?
Do you mind if I repeat this to you?
Because it's got to be repeated or else it's going to slip.
But look at this. He says in verse 3,
I have no confidence in the flesh.
But he says, if anybody thinks that they're going to heaven by works,
it would have been me.
Do you notice that in verse number 4?
He's saying, if any other man thinketh that he hath whereof
he might trust in the flesh, I am more.
And then he gives a rule called, these are my accomplishments.
He says, I was circumcised the eighth day.
Boom, just exactly according to the law.
I'm a purebred Israeli of the stock of Israel,
of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews,
as touching the law, a Pharisee.
He's saying, I was a Pharisee.
I was the most strictest sect, he says in the book of Acts,
of my religion.
He says, I was the most strict, the most fundamental of my religion.
And he says in verse number 6, concerning zeal, was I zealous?
Was I zealous as a Jew?
He says, I was so zealous, I was persecuting the church in verse number 6.
Touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.
He said, nobody could point a finger at me and say that I wasn't keeping the law.
So what's the synopsis of Paul's wonderful life
of following the law to the letter, being a Jew, being a Pharisee,
graduating from the Pharisee highest honors,
you know, graduating from the school of Gamaliel,
the most prestigious college, if you will, of his day.
He graduated with all the honors, summa cum laude.
What's the synopsis?
He says, but what things were gained to me?
In verse 7, those I counted loss for Christ.
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,
I count them but dung that I may win Christ.
He says, all my accomplishments, all my life up until I receive Christ as Savior,
all those great accomplishments in the Jewish religion,
the degree that's hanging on my wall,
he said I've lost all that, it means nothing to me,
and it means as much to me as dung, he's saying.
That's what I, what's on the front yard from the dog next door of my house right now,
that's what he said, I would give a synopsis of how I feel about the world's success.
He says to me it's like, that's what it's like, it's like dung.
Now, kids, I want you to listen up to me for a second.
The world, I want to explain something to you.
The world has nothing to offer at all, okay?
Read the book of Ecclesiastes, it's all vanity, it's all worthless.
You could say, well, I'm going to spend my life going after money.
There's no golden pot at the end of the rainbow searching after money in life.
It's just an endless pursuit of money.
You want more money, more money, and you get it and you're not satisfied.
Higher education, some people literally make a god of education.
I remember when I was in college, there were people like this who were,
they'd been in college for like 18 years.
They have degrees upon degrees, they're career students,
and they've made a god out of education, and they sincerely, you talk to them,
and I remember when I was in German 4 class, because I was studying German in college,
and I was in German 4, and this guy, he'd been through Spanish 1 through 4,
Japanese 1 through 4, French 1 through 4, German 1 through 4,
and it was just, this guy was like 60 years old, and this guy just lived in school,
and he literally was just on this quest for knowledge.
I mean, he's just trying to learn and learn and learn and learn and learn.
It's done, is what God says about it.
The only thing that's worth it in life is living for Christ.
That's what it is.
It's raising children for the glory of God.
It's going to church and being a part of church and winning people to Christ.
It's, yes, knowledge, but the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.
Yes, wisdom, but the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.
Yes, monetary needs to support our family and to use for the things of God
and to enjoy life, of course,
but making a God out of these things that are done according to God
that are just not really what they're cracked up to be.
And so decide now, kids, I decided as a young person,
I decided as a teenager, I mean, I wasn't an adult when I decided this.
I said I'm not going to pursue money.
I'm not going to pursue education as much as I'm going to pursue the things of God
because Paul, he had the money.
He had the prestige.
He had the fame.
He had the degrees on the wall.
He had the nice everything, but he said,
I count it but dung compared to the excellency of the knowledge of Christ.
He said, I'd rather have this book.
I'd rather be living for Jesus Christ.
I'd rather read this book and be able to hold a copy of this book in my hand
and read the very words of God.
That means more to me than anything that this world has to offer.
It's not the temporary fun of partying and money and things and toys.
You know, somebody lives in a big fancy house
and somebody that lives in another smaller house,
after a couple months they both feel the same.
The newness wears off.
It's just not that exciting anymore.
And the only thing that provides the lasting enjoyment is the things of God.
But he says, I count all things loss.
He says it was like a waste.
It was like the negative that I may win Christ and be found in Him,
not having my own righteousness, which is of the law,
but that which is through the faith of Christ,
the righteousness which is of God by faith.
Of course, we already dealt with that.
That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection
and the fellowship of His sufferings being made conformable unto His death.
So he says, I gave up everything that the world had to offer.
I gave up my college degree.
I gave up the money that I'd earned.
I gave up my prestige and my fame in the Jews' religion.
What did I give it up for?
Number one was for the knowledge of Jesus Christ.
He mentioned that two times.
For the knowledge of Jesus Christ.
And then he says, again, that I may know Him.
My desire is to know God, he's saying,
and the power of His resurrection,
which we're going to be preaching on this Sunday morning,
and the fellowship of His sufferings being made conformable unto His death.
He says, I want to know God.
I want to know God personally.
And he says, I want to have fellowship with His sufferings.
I want to suffer for Him like He suffered for me,
being made conformable unto His death.
Now, that's the part I want to focus on.
What does it mean to be conformable unto His death?
Now, the word conformity,
you've probably heard people talk about kids in school conforming.
They dress like everybody else.
They listen to the same music everybody else does.
It's called conformity when you try to be like someone else.
It comes from the word form,
which would be like if you cut out a pattern
and you had a form for something if you were sewing,
and that pattern, you're patterning yourself after someone else.
The Bible says, be not conformed to this world.
Don't pattern yourself after the world.
That's why our music is not patterned after the world.
That's why the way I dress right now is not patterned after the world.
That's the whole sermon in and of itself.
But be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind.
He says, don't be conformed.
Don't be like everybody else. Be transformed.
And he says here, Paul is saying,
I want to be conformed to the death of Jesus Christ.
Now, how can you be conformed to the death of Jesus Christ?
Do you want to emulate Jesus' death on the cross?
Does that mean that we're supposed to, like in the Philippines,
the Roman Catholics who crawl on their knees on the pavement
and with bare feet and just bare knees,
and they crawl on their knees and then they crucify themselves every year?
What holiday do they do that at? Does anybody know?
The day of the death may be here.
Something. There's a Catholic holiday where people in the Philippines,
who are so zealous about Catholicism,
they will literally crucify themselves.
Not to the death, but they will hang themselves on crosses
and they'll crawl miles on their knees
and they think that by hurting themselves,
they're somehow earning favor with God, like punishing themselves,
which is obviously not scriptural because Jesus already paid it.
He already was punished for our sins.
And so we don't need to try to impress God with that.
But conformable unto his death.
Galatians chapter 2, and maybe I can shed a little light on this for you.
Galatians chapter 2, again, just two books back, the book we were just in.
Galatians chapter 2.
And the Bible says in verse 19,
For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God.
I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.
And the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God,
who loved me and gave himself for me.
Notice that I'm crucified with Christ.
Nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ, it says, liveth in me.
He says, there's a process that I'm trying to go through in my life where I die to self.
He's saying, I want to be conformed to the death of Jesus Christ.
I want to die to myself so that Jesus Christ can live through me.
You remember John the Baptist said in John chapter 3, verse number 30,
when people came to him and said, you know, Jesus is baptizing more people than you are, John.
Boy, John the Baptist, seems like six months ago everybody was following you,
but more and more people seem to be following Jesus Christ, and he's baptizing more people than you are.
And John said, that's my whole goal, was to point to him.
He says, I told you I'm not the Christ.
He said the famous words in John 3, 30, I must decrease.
I'm sorry, he must increase, but I must decrease, he said.
That's the Christian life.
I must decrease, he must, he, ah, I keep getting this backwards.
I got it written down.
He must increase, but I must decrease.
All right, that's the order.
He must increase, but I must decrease.
He says, my goal is that I would be, it's almost like I was dead, because I have no ambition,
I have no desire, I have no goal, except what Jesus Christ's goal would be.
Jesus Christ's desire would be, I want Jesus Christ to live through me,
and I want to be crucified to myself and alive unto Jesus Christ.
Now think about Jesus on the cross,
because this idea of the crucifixion and the cross is a theme that's used throughout the Bible,
talking about our life, talking about our sufferings.
He says, I want to be conformable unto his death.
Think about this.
When you're hanging on a cross, dying, you can't really hold very much in your hand, can you?
I mean, your hand's nailed to the cross,
and so maybe living this crucified life means that you don't really have a very strong grip
on the things of this world, on the possessions, the things, the things that Paul said are done.
You know, when you're on the cross, dying, there's not really tomorrow, is there?
There's just today. Isn't that the truth?
Because when you're hanging on the cross, dying like Jesus was, it's today only, because tomorrow you're dead.
And so I think that God is telling us to live your life crucified to Christ daily.
That's why he says, I die daily, Paul said.
Daily, you must decide whether you're going to walk in the flesh
or whether you're going to let the flesh be crucified with Christ and walk in the Holy Spirit.
That's what the Bible's teaching here.
Don't always think about tomorrow.
You know, you talk to people all the time.
This is what I'm going to do down the road.
I'm going to do this tomorrow.
I'm going to win souls tomorrow.
I'm going to win souls, you know, as soon as I can turn the corner financially
and I don't have to work so many hours.
I'm going to go soul winning once I know the Bible a little better and I feel a little more comfortable.
Or, I used to do thus and so.
No, God is the God of right now.
God is a very present, tense God.
I am is his name, and he says, now is what matters.
Today is what matters.
And God says, live your life as if today is the only day you have.
Today is the day to serve God.
Today is the day to be a soul winner.
Today is the day to teach your children.
Today is the day that God has given you, and tomorrow may not be there, is what God's saying.
And we need to live a life that's crucified with Christ.
Where it's not always about us.
It's not always about what we want.
It's not always about what we can get and acquire and hang on so tight to.
Loosen your grip on the things of this world.
Loosen your grip on the finances.
Loosen your grip on the possessions, because the Bible says it's all vanity.
It's all going to be burned up one day.
And so that's not what matters.
The thing that matters is the never-dying soul of mankind.
That's what matters.
Loosen your grip on the things of this world, and live life like it's today only.
Now is the day I'm going to serve God.
Today, I'm going to do it now.
Today, that's what God's saying here.
And so you must be crucified with Christ.
That means some of your goals are going to have to go on the back burner.
Some of the things that you want must go to the back burner,
so that He can increase and we can decrease.
That's what He's saying.
Back in Philippians, chapter 3, He says,
being made conformable unto His death,
if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.
The goal of being crucified with Christ
is because you can't be resurrected until you've been crucified.
And so this is a metaphor saying,
I'm crucified with Christ so that I can live my life with the power of His resurrection.
So the flesh has to die,
and then I can be resurrected, so to speak, walking in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Now, one of my favorite verses in the Bible is in John chapter 12.
I'm going to show you this.
Turn to John 12.
Turn back several pages to John chapter 12.
And this is a great promise from God.
John chapter 12 and verse 24.
This is one of my favorite promises in the Bible.
The Bible says, verily, verily, I say unto you,
except a corn of wheat, fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone.
But if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.
So God is saying, he's likening himself to a kernel of wheat that is a seed,
that in order to bring forth, if it stays on the vine,
if it stays on the stalk there, it looks beautiful.
But in order for it to produce any fruit, it must die.
And then it must be buried in the soil, right?
And then it must rise up a brand new plant.
That's the picture of Jesus Christ, of course, dying.
Why was Jesus buried?
Why does the Bible talk so much about the burial?
Because he pictured that seed where he was that kernel of wheat that died.
He fell into the ground and he rose again.
And that's a picture, even in nature, when you see growth of plants
is what the death, burial, and resurrection is pictured in wheat,
if you look at the wheat.
And so we can apply this to our own lives.
If I don't want to abide alone, if I don't want to say,
well, it's just me, I believe in Jesus Christ, I'm saved.
Or let's say this church is just me.
I show up on Sunday morning and it's just me.
And I'm alone.
Nobody shows up and all the chairs are empty, and I'm here as a pastor, and I'm alone.
Well, how am I going to not be alone?
Well, how are you not going to be alone?
How are you going to have somebody that you've won to Christ?
How are you going to have people that you've reached?
You've got to die.
You must fall into the ground and die.
But here's the positive side.
If you die, you'll bring forth much fruit, guaranteed.
Jesus says, but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.
Not maybe.
If it doesn't die, it's alone.
If it dies, much fruit.
Do you want to bring forth much fruit?
Or do you want to just maybe be a mediocre kind of a fair to average
or a little bit below average type Christian?
I don't want to do that.
Because in verse number 14 of the chapter we're looking at,
it says, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
And so I'm not pushing to be average or as good as the next guy or just okay
or a C minus or a B minus Christian.
No, I want to bring forth much fruit.
And in order to bring forth much fruit, there's a death process that has to take place.
Do you think that it feels good to die?
No.
Death is a painful process.
But it's a process that we have to go through daily
where we get up in the morning and say, Steve Anderson today will die.
And Jesus Christ will live through me.
That's why the first thing I do is I want to pick up the Bible and start reading it
and get all the garbage out of my mind that comes with being a human being,
that comes with being in the flesh.
I want to kill all that garbage and just start filling it up with the things of God.
I want to pray and ask Jesus Christ to fill me with the Holy Spirit
and ask God to lead me throughout the day and say, God, I want to do what you want me to do.
Show me what you want me to do and I'll do it.
See that death to self where you say, I'm not important.
Just what do you want me to do and I'll do it.
Now, if you die to yourself like that, there's going to be some pain involved.
There's going to be some times when it hurts a little bit to do what God wants you to do,
when it hurts a little bit to read this book when you don't feel like reading,
when it hurts a little bit to have someone turn their back on you
because they're upset about the fact that you love God
or the fact that you won't go with them to the same ungodliness that maybe you used to go with them
and there's going to have maybe about to be a parting of ways of wrong friends and so forth.
And it hurts. It's painful.
Or you might have somebody make fun of you or call you names or get angry at you
because of the stand that you take for the things of God.
But if you're dead, it won't bother you.
If I can walk down to the cemetery and get off some dead body and just cuss the fire out of it
and tell them that he's ugly and everything wrong,
the dead body's not going to care because it's dead.
It's not going to be offended at all.
I can say whatever I want to a dead body.
Well, it's not going to look at me, but it's dead.
I hope it doesn't look at me.
But in any case, if you're dead,
boy, the comments, the people who say hurtful things to you,
you're dead. It doesn't matter. Who cares?
You have no feeling because you're dead.
And that's what the Bible says.
Great peace have they which love thy law, and nothing shall offend them.
You're not offended easily.
You don't wear your heart on your sleeve when you're dead to self.
And when you're walking in the Spirit, you don't wear your feelings on your sleeve
and just get offended by every little thing.
What do you mean by that?
Hi, how are you doing?
It's like, what do I look like? I'm in a bad mood or something?
Of course I'm doing great.
But the point is, you don't wear your feelings on your sleeve when you're dead.
Nothing seems to bother you.
And that's what God's saying here.
You've got to die to self if you want to bring forth much fruit.
Or you can just be like every other Christian who doesn't bring forth fruit,
who doesn't go soul winning, who doesn't get people saved,
who doesn't turn out kids for God.
Or you can die and you can bring forth much fruit.
The choice is up to you.
But back to Philippians chapter 3, the Bible says,
let's see, I'm going to have to skip some of this a little bit.
Let's see, verse number 13, let's pick up in verse number 13.
It says, 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.
Again, about living now and not riding on past glories or past failures.
I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded.
And if in anything ye be otherwise minded,
God shall reveal even this unto you.
Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained,
let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing.
And then look at verse 17.
Brethren, be followers together of me,
and mark them which walk, so as ye have us for an ensemble.
He says, I want you to follow me,
and I want you to mark people that you see that are living for God,
and I want you to use them for an example, a godly example.
Now here's what I think sometimes people think it says.
Brethren, be followers together of me,
and mark Michael Jordan, so as ye have him for an ensemble.
Mark them which walk, and mark...
I need to rent a television for a while and just fill my mind with this stuff
because I can't even think of the names of the...
I can't even preach right because I forgot these names.
Mark Robin Williams, so that ye have him for an ensemble.
Mark Eddie Murphy, so that ye have him for an ensemble.
Brethren, be followers together of me,
and mark Britney Spears, so as ye have her for an example
about a dress and how to live and how to be married for one weekend.
Wow, that's really funny, isn't it?
Wasn't she married for one stupid weekend or some garbage like that?
And that's your kid's role model. Wonderful. Great. Wow.
That's whose poster you want on the wall, right?
Britney Spears, married for one weekend.
She's a whore is what she is, according to the Bible,
and there's no glory in ruining your life
than making a fool out of yourself in front of the whole stinkin' world.
There's no glory in that at all.
Is that who you want to mark for your ensemble?
Brethren, be followers together of me,
and mark N'Sync, so that ye have them for an ensemble,
how to sag your pants down and look like a queer effeminate little sissy.
Brethren, be followers together of me,
and mark Michael Jackson,
so you can learn how to be a freak and a weirdo and a pedophile.
Look, what's the point?
You've got to have the right role models for your children,
is what I'm trying to illustrate.
Have the right role models for yourself,
people who live for God, people who are pastors or preachers
or people that you know that live for God that do right,
not the whores and whoremongers of Hollywood,
to be the idols, as even the world calls it,
the idols that your children worship, the stars.
No, that's what God is saying.
And then look at verse number 18 and 19, he says,
For many walk, many walk, of whom I have told you often,
and now tell you even weepy, he says,
I'm crying, he's saying, I'm physically crying while I'm writing this to you,
that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ,
whose end is destruction.
They're going to hell when they die, he's saying,
whose God is their belly.
All they care about is what makes them feel good,
just putting food into their body,
just whatever gratifies their flesh.
If it feels good, do it.
Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly,
and whose glory is in their shame.
Now, if that doesn't describe the Hollywood rock and roll crowd,
then I don't know what does.
Their glory is in their shame.
What do they glorify?
You walk up to the checkout, and on the front of the magazine, what is it?
It's some shameful so-and-so photos of them with so-and-so,
who's somebody else's wife and somebody else's husband,
and, oh, we just heard a rumor that so-and-so is cheating on so-and-so,
and their glory is in their shame.
They're advertising how shameful and wicked and ungodly their life is.
They're advertising what a failure they are.
Any normal person who lives that kind of a life,
we would look at them and say, you're an idiot, you're a fool.
If we knew somebody, let's say somebody was at your job,
living the lifestyle that these Hollywood stars live.
You'd say, you're an imbecile, you're a loser, you're a failure in life.
And yet we make these examples of people that we prop up and say,
let's glorify their shame.
Isn't the Bible, isn't it?
The Bible just hits the nail on the head on everything.
The Bible knows all about the tabloids.
The Bible knows all about, you know,
fries, food and drug, what's in the checkout,
because the Bible knows about everything,
and the Bible lays it out for us that the wicked, ungodly examples
of this world glorify their shame.
All they care about is just fulfilling their lust.
Their God is their belly, and their end is destruction.
They're going to be in hell when they die because they're not saved.
Verse number 20, for our conversation is in heaven.
From whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
He says, I don't care what's going on in the world today
with all the Hollywood stars.
I don't care who, you know, Elizabeth Taylor is married to,
or Britney Spears is married to,
or I don't care who these people are married to for the fifth time.
I care what's going on in heaven, he says.
He says, I don't follow these people.
He says, our conversation's in heaven.
From whence also we look for the Savior.
I don't care what's going on.
I don't care about society is going on.
I don't care what they think is right and what they say.
I'd rather just throw the newspaper in the trash,
and, you know, I try to follow the news a little bit
just so that I'm not just living in some kind of a bubble or something,
but I'd just as soon just hardly ever even read it
and just read this book right here,
because this is what matters.
I'd rather know what's going on in heaven.
That's where my real citizenship is.
It'd be like if I was just out of town,
I'd probably go to Los Angeles tomorrow.
If I'm in Los Angeles tomorrow,
do you think I'm going to be more interested
in what's going on in Los Angeles
or what's going on in Phoenix in the news?
Probably Phoenix, because that's where I live.
That's where my residency is.
I don't care what's going on in L.A.
I'm going to be there for two days.
I'm going to be gone.
It's the same thing God's saying,
who cares what's going on on the earth?
You're only going to be there for a little while anyway.
Why don't you care what's going on up here?
Because this is where you're going to be spending
the real time, so just get used to knowing
what's going on up here.
Get used to living like you're going to live up here,
because up here, your Britney Spears CD
will not be there, he's saying.
So why get used to listening to it now?
Sing these songs now,
because we'll be singing them up there.
And so get used to the way you're going to live up there
is what God's saying here.
And then the last verse says,
who shall change our vile body,
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.
He's saying when we go to heaven,
God's going to change this vile flesh that we live in
that's so prone to sin,
that's just constantly tempting us to sin throughout every day,
constant pressure to do wrong,
this vile body, and also could be mentioned
physical ailments that go with this body that we all have,
that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body.
He's saying when Jesus Christ returns
at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ,
it says we are going to be changed
and our vile body is going to be changed
into a body that's like his glorious body,
the body that he had when he rose from the dead,
his glorified body.
We will have a body like that in which there's no sin,
none of the filth of the flesh
and that ungodly tendency to sin,
but we will be changed in a moment
in the twinkling of an eye,
and the glory of Jesus Christ
we will share in his resurrection.
Hallelujah.
Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.
God, I thank you so much for this chapter
and I thank you so much for heaven.
Boy, every time I'm preaching...