["O Come All Ye Faithful"]
If, Lord, I want to thank you so much again for your son, what a Savior he is.
Lord, what a great God you are, that you look down upon this dust and these sinners, Lord,
and you loved us enough to sacrifice your son. Lord, that we can be brought into your family
simply by believing in Christ alone. Lord, thank you for making salvation
so easy for us. And God, we're again here in the house of the Lord.
We come to worship you. We come to be in your presence. Lord, may you
guide and direct us. Lord, in all that we say and do, Lord, I pray that your
holy word will be open to us and we will learn some great truths from you. We pray this in Jesus' name.
Amen. Alright, hymn number 45.
Hymn number 45, When I Can Read My Title Clear.
["When I Can Read My Title Clear"]
Alright, please take your Bibles and turn to Philippians chapter 3.
Philippians chapter 3 and Matthias is coming up.
Brother Matthias, Matthias,
coming up for the reading. Thank you.
Philippians chapter 3.
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. 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. 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 all. Circumcise the eighth day of the stock of Israel,
of the tribal Benjamin, and Hebrew of the Hebrews, as
touching the law of Pharisee. Concerning zeal, persecuting the church,
touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.
But what things were gain to me, 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, and do count them but dung, that I may
win Christ, 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. That I may
know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings,
being made conformable unto his death, if by any
means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. Now as though
I had already attained, either were already perfect, but I follow
after, if that I may apprehend, that for which also I am
apprehended of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself to have
apprehended, but this one thing I do, for going to 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 of God in Christ Jesus.
Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded,
and if in any thing 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.
Brethren, be follows together of me, and mark them which walk
so as ye have us, for an example. 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, whose end is destruction,
whose guard is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly
things. For our conversation is in heaven, from whence also we look for
the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, 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. Let's pray.
Dear Lord, I pray that everyone learn something from the sermon
and that everybody has a safe trip home. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen.
Thank you, Matias.
So Philippians chapter 3 is what we're up to. As we go in chapter by chapter through this book,
Philippians chapter 3, and I can't help but use number 14, verse number 14
for the title of the sermon, it says, I press toward the mark for the prize
of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. The title for the sermon
this afternoon is, The High Calling of God.
The High Calling of God. Now isn't it wonderful that salvation is free?
It's free. There's nothing that you need to do. There's no merit that you can
contribute when it comes to your salvation. But when you are saved,
you have a choice. You can live however you want,
and listen, you're saved, praise God, it's a free gift, or you can aim for that high calling.
There is a high calling. And this isn't saying,
oh man, I've been called by God. No, this high calling is for every believer.
This is your calling, now that you're saved, to be like Christ.
To be more like Christ as we keep changing, as we continue to grow in our
Christian faith. But brethren, it is a high calling. In fact, you're never going
to reach it until you receive new resurrected bodies.
But like I like to say, just because you won't reach it until you have those new bodies doesn't mean
you're aiming for that right now. God wants you to have victory over your sins today.
God wants you to be more like Jesus today, as we continue to grow
and mature, to continue to grow in knowledge and wisdom and understanding.
God wants you to be better husbands, better wives, better pastors, better church
members, better children. God wants you to learn more and more, better employees.
Whatever part you play in life, God wants
you to be better. There's a high calling to every aspect of our life.
Let's start there in verse number one.
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.
You know, Paul is saying, look, the Philippian church, I'm telling you, I'm repeating some of the
same things to you. I'm writing some of the same things that I've already taught you before.
And I want you to remember that church is this way.
You know, when it comes to, you know, I've got the office of the pastor in this church,
that from time to time you're going to hear repetition. You know, right now
we're going through the statement of faith, aren't we? We're going through the statement of faith
of our church. Well, there's repetition. I preached on these things, you know, five years ago.
But I promise you this, even though I'm going to be teaching
similar things and, you know, that's what life, you know, that's what it is. Learning the Bible, you're going to be learning some
of the same things over and over again, you're never going to get just a regurgitated sermon from me.
Okay, you're not just going to get, listen, the sermons are going to be different every time I preach to
new life at this church. Now look, sometimes because I do have another church in Sydney,
sometimes I do regurgitate the sermon to Sydney. And sometimes there are sermons that I preach to Sydney
that I regurgitate over here. But I'm never going to regurgitate the same sermon to the same church
over and over again, okay? But the point is the teaching may be the same.
The doctrines may be the same. We need to hear it again and again, the same thing over and
over again. Don't let it become grievous to you. Don't be like, oh, I already
know all this stuff. You know, oh, Jesus, the son of God, we heard that this morning.
Oh, Jesus, the son of God. Come on, pastor. Can you teach us something a little bit more deeper than that?
A little bit more media? Look, what does it say about that? To me, indeed
it is not grievous, but for you it is safe.
I want our church to be a safe, isn't that what they say? A safe place.
I don't want to go to universities now. Safe place where no one's allowed to get offended.
You're going to get offended by church, don't worry. You're going to get offended by God's word. But I want this to be a safe place
away from false prophets, away from false doctrines, from false
place. And sometimes we need to repeat ourselves. We need to teach the same doctrines
again and again. And sometimes, you know, I'm talking to the man and we talk about different sermons.
You know, sometimes you might say, oh, you know, I was thinking of preaching about
this topic, but then you're kind of covering that, so maybe I won't preach it.
Just preach it. Don't worry. It's safe for us to hear it again and again.
It's good for us. And I'm sure even if you're going to hear a doctrine that I've already preached on recently,
I'm sure you're still going to attack it from a different angle. I'm sure you're going to have your own thoughts,
your own experiences with that teaching that I would have. So look, it's
safe. Please don't ever think it's grievous to hear the same thing again and again.
Verse number two. Beware of dogs.
So those of you that went so in just between services, I hope you paid attention
to those signs. Beware of the dog. Okay, beware of dogs. Now, yes, they're dogs,
but this is not talking about human beings here. Like, what would it take
to call something like a human being a dog? Beware
of dogs. Of course, we're not talking about just the animal here. We're talking about
a person that the apostle Paul says they're dogs. Who are these
dogs? Beware of these dogs.
Beware of evil workers. Beware of the
concision. Con-with-cision. That's circumcision.
With the circumcision. Paul is advising this church, the
Philippian church, a Greek church. Again, you know, I preach, you know when I
preach things, because I don't hear it from other Baptist churches, I
feel like, like when I say these things, I feel like I sound anti-Semitic or something.
I do not hate the Jews. I want you to know I want them saved.
You understand that? I want them saved. Just as much I want the Chinese
saved, and I want Australians saved, and I want Chileans saved. I want the Jews saved.
But listen, it says here, beware of the
concision. Beware of the Jews. Be careful
about the Jews. It's so strange that Baptist churches, they
bring Jewish teachings, you know, Jewish fables and they
bring them into the church. You know, it's so weird.
You've been warned. You've been warned. Beware, beware of the dogs.
That's what he calls them, the dogs.
These evil workers. Okay? We're talking the same thing.
Now, Paul is using the same language that Jesus Christ used
when he walked this sofa. I'll just read it to you quickly. You know the passage.
Matthew chapter 7 verse 15, and this probably explains why he calls them dogs, okay?
But Matthew 7, 15, Jesus Christ says, beware of false prophets.
Right? Beware of dogs. Beware of evil workers. Beware of the concision.
Jesus Christ says, beware of false prophets, look at this, which come to you
in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
So these dogs are wolves.
Wolves in sheep's clothing. Beware of them. This is why we need to repeat
things over and over again in this church, because a wolf can come in
in sheep's clothing. They act and talk and sound just like
any believer. They might even get a chance to preach behind the pulpit.
And they'll start preaching their strange doctrines, their strange heresies.
And look, if we don't hear the same things repeated again, if we don't go back to the
fundamentals from time to time and get that reinforced again and again, we'll just learn
to accept it.
You say, surely not in an independent Baptist church, pastor.
Man, where have you been? I've gone to some
church my whole life. I've gone to the best churches that I could possibly find.
Independent fundamental Baptist churches, and I still find the strangest doctrines,
the strangest Jewish fables. You know, people
coming behind the pulpit and literally preaching, you can lose your salvation.
I'll tell you one story.
And look, this man, before I heard what he preached, I love
this man. He's a friend to me at church and he's come behind the pulpit
and he says, look, if you don't live, if you just go back to sin,
then you'll lose the kingdom of God. I'm expecting at some point, surely, pastor,
you're going to stand up and rebuke this man. Surely, pastor, at some point
you just pull him off the pulpit. Who cares? Who cares if church service is cut
short because it was a bad sermon? This man's not even saved. Who cares?
Just cut it short. You know, beware
of these people. Beware of dogs. Beware of evil workers. Beware of
the concision. He would not. He'd just let him finish the sermon. It's very
clear you can lose your salvation. I went to my pastor afterwards. I said, pastor, I don't understand
that sermon that was preached. It sounded like you could lose your salvation. He goes, look, other people came up
to me as well, saying the same thing, and he had a conversation with that man.
He said, but he's saved. Trust me, brother, he's saved. I'm like, no, I don't think you're saved, pastor.
That doesn't sound like the words of a saved man.
Believing that you've got to live a righteous life to go to heaven. That's not the words
of a saved man. That's what makes me so sad. Like, Paul warns
us again and again and again. Beware. Be careful.
And look, I could one day make the accident
of getting a man behind this pulpit that's not saved, that's going to preach some heresy.
I could make that mistake. We're human beings, right? I mean, I don't know, they're wolves.
They're in sheep's clothing. They look like sheep to me. Hey, brother, come and preach
for us sometime. But I tell you this, as soon as the heresies
start coming out of their mouth, that sermon's over. That sermon's done.
We'll do something else. Say, what do we do with the hour that's remaining? I don't know. We'll do anything
else. I'd rather play ping pong with you, because
that's going to be more profitable than listen to a false prophet.
Whatever it is, okay? Or let's just go sobering then. Whatever it takes.
Or, hey, let's get this guy saved maybe. Maybe that's a problem.
But look, we're being warned. Beware of evil workers.
False prophets. They're ravaging wolves. Dogs.
They want to come in and hurt our church. And again, I don't understand. I cannot
I have to just accept that's the reality of wickedness.
Again, I got saved when I was four years old. I don't really, like, of course I've committed sin.
I know what temptation is. I know what failure is like, okay?
But I just don't understand how someone can be so evil to want to just come into a church for the
purpose of destroying the sheep. It's like, why did you even come?
Sure, there's other things you can do. Maybe that's the advantage of the Sunshine Coast.
Like, the beach would be nice. Just go there.
Instead of coming into our church and trying to hurt us.
Let's keep going there. Verse number three. Now, again,
Look at verse number three.
For we are the circumcision.
So beware of the concision. Beware of the Jews. Let's say you've got to be circumcised
to get saved. We are the circumcision.
Again, pastors, they just, it's like they trip over this truth.
We are the circumcision.
Say, pastor, have you been circumcised? No. I've not been physically circumcised.
It says, which worship God in the Spirit.
And rejoice in Christ Jesus.
And have no confidence in the flesh.
Again, the Jews, they do not rejoice in Christ Jesus.
And because they don't rejoice in Christ Jesus, they are not the circumcision.
Not really. They're not the spiritual circumcision.
We are. Because we have no confidence in the flesh.
That's what circumcision represents. The cutting of the flesh on that part of the body.
They put away the flesh. That doesn't do
anything for someone's salvation, but it's an object, it's a picture
of that salvation is no confidence in the flesh.
When we come to Christ, we say, Lord, I can't save myself.
I can't reform this flesh. I can't save this flesh. I'm going to put that aside.
And I'm only going to trust you. I'm going to rejoice in Christ Jesus.
In your salvation. So the physical circumcision in the Old Testament
is a picture of salvation. No confidence in the flesh.
Take the flesh away. We just rejoice in Christ Jesus. In spirit.
Now, please turn with me to, keep your finger there
and go to Romans chapter 2. Go to Romans chapter 2.
Romans chapter 2 and verse number 28.
We are the circumcision. What does that mean?
We are the circumcision. Because again, I told you, I've not been physically circumcised.
And if you've been physically circumcised,
it doesn't matter. It doesn't profit you or anything. It's just the flesh.
If you did it thinking that God, that would make God happy, no.
What makes God happy is that you get saved. Is that your circumcision is of spiritual nature.
Romans chapter 2, verse number 28.
For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly.
Neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh.
Just because you're outwardly circumcised. They're not the Jews.
That's what it says.
For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly. Neither is that circumcision
which is outward in the flesh. That person, that's not a Jew.
Look at verse number 29. But he is a Jew
which is one inwardly. And circumcision
is that of the heart in the spirit.
Not in the letter, whose praise is not of man,
but of God. Why are we the circumcision?
Even though we have no physical circumcision. Because we're circumcised in the heart.
We've believed on Jesus in the heart.
Believed with our heart, right? We've believed in him. Lord, not the flesh. I can't save myself.
I've put away the flesh. I'm only trusting you, Jesus.
We are the circumcision. We are the Jews.
Say pastor, I've never heard this in a Baptist church group. Just forget the Baptist church.
Forget this pastor for a minute. Forget me.
I'm just a channel. I'm just a vehicle to just show you.
Okay? For he is not a Jew. Verse number 28.
Verse number 29. But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly.
Circumcised in the heart. If you've believed on Jesus
Christ, you are a Jew.
That's what you are. Okay? There's one family of God.
There's one fold. There's one shepherd. Okay? The Jews of the Old Testament
that trusted in Christ. Even the Jews of the New Testament that trusted in Christ.
And the Gentiles of Old and New Testament that have trusted in Christ. We're one fold.
Some are physically circumcised because they were under that covenant.
Hey, that was the right thing to do. It was out of obedience. But that never saved them.
They also had to be circumcised in the heart to be saved.
In fact, that's the only thing I had to do. To be circumcised in the heart to be saved.
Can you please turn with me to Deuteronomy. Turn with me to the Old Testament.
Deuteronomy chapter 10, verse number 16.
Just in case you think this is just like a New Testament thing, it's not.
Okay? When we go back to the Old Testament, the very first five books, the books of the law,
the books of Moses. We're turning to those books. Deuteronomy.
Deuteronomy chapter 10, verse number 16.
Deuteronomy chapter 10, verse number 16. Now remember the book of Deuteronomy is written
after the 40 years in the wilderness and the new generation would come into the promised land.
So a lot of things have been repeated for the Israelites of this day.
It says in Deuteronomy chapter 10, verse number 16.
Circumcised therefore, the foreskin of your heart.
And be no more stiff-necked.
God is telling the Israelites, please stop being stiff-necked. Stop being rebellious.
I'm ready to bring you back into that promised land. But you've got to be circumcised
in the heart. You see, it's not just a New Testament teaching.
This is an Old Testament teaching. This is how you get saved. By faith.
Not outward practices. Not following the law. Not keeping the commandments.
Okay? That's not how people ever got saved. It was always the
circumcision of the heart. That's why God is reinforcing this.
Okay? Verse number 17. For the Lord your God is God of gods,
and the Lord of lords are great God, and mighty and terrible.
Regardeth not persons, nor taketh reward.
Regardeth not persons. Okay? Well the Jews had to be circumcised.
God doesn't regard persons. Okay? It's not about your ethnicity
or your background. It makes you a special child of God. Or if you get outwardly circumcised.
God does not regard persons. We're sinners.
We're all sinners in the sight of God. Okay? We all start on the same level.
Okay? And we only are regarded by God if we've
trusted Christ. If we have the circumcision of the heart. Okay?
So this idea, man, the Jews are God's chosen people.
Where is that in the Bible? It's the believers.
Jew and Gentile. One fold. Okay?
That are the people of God. Those that have
trusted Christ. I'll quickly turn to Galatians.
Go to Galatians chapter 6. Galatians chapter 6.
And while you're turning to Galatians 6, I'm going to read to you from Jeremiah chapter 4, verse 3.
Now you know that in Jeremiah, it's shortly before the Babylonians came and took Judah
into captivity. Okay? But in the book of Jeremiah, God has given
the nation time and time again an opportunity to be made right
with God. Over and over again, God said, look, just be made right with me
and you won't be taken into captivity. God gives them chance after chance after chance.
And then God says in Jeremiah chapter 4, verse 3,
For thus saith the Lord to the men of Judah and Jerusalem,
Break up your fellow ground, and sow not among thorns,
Circumcise yourselves to the Lord.
You say, well, maybe the Lord's asking them to keep the Old Testament practices of circumcising themselves.
Let's read it again. Circumcise yourselves to the Lord, and take
away the foreskins of your heart,
ye men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, lest my fury
come forth like fire, and burn that none can quench it
because of your evildoers. Hey, what fire can never be quenched?
It's the fires of hell. God is saying, look, circumcise
your hearts so you don't just burn this fire that can never be quenched.
You say, believe, have your faith on me.
Stiff neck people.
But I want to show you, this is not some New Testament,
even in the Old Testament, the true Jews
that pleased the Lord are those that were circumcised in the heart.
They could be circumcised outwardly in the flesh, but if they never
circumcised themselves in the heart, that's just believing in Christ.
Not trust in the flesh. They were not the people of God.
They were the people to everlasting fire, if they did not circumcise themselves in the heart.
Just understand that, because I know it's confusing. People think, oh, just because
they were under the old covenant, they were saved. No, they had to believe.
It had to be by faith. They had to have the circumcision of the heart.
That was the most important thing that God required. You're there in Galatians 6.
Galatians 6, verse 14. And the Galatian church was
being inundated with people that are trying to tell them, hey, you Gentiles,
get circumcised. In order for you to be saved, circumcision is part of that process.
And they kind of get it, but
it's outward. If they're saying, look, circumcise yourselves,
Gentiles in the heart, then that would be right. But they're trying to get these guys to
circumcise themselves in the flesh. And so it says in Galatians 6, 14,
But God forbid that I should glory, save
in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified
unto me, and I unto the world. For in Christ Jesus,
look at this, circumcision availeth anything.
Sorry, neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision.
Because look, in Jesus, whether you're physically circumcised or uncircumcised,
it profits you nothing. There's no advantage, okay, it's some outward work
on your body, okay. But a new creature,
a new creature, you know when you get saved, you have that new creature. Look at verse number 16.
And as many as walk according to this
rule, say what rule? Again, the new creature.
That's what matters. Salvation, the new man.
As many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them and mercy,
and upon the Israel of God. Do you see
that? Reverend, not only are we inwardly Jews,
we are the Israel of God.
What about that country in the Middle East that call themselves Israel?
Yeah, that's an Israel, but that's not the Israel of God.
If God has to say, this is the Israel of God,
then therefore there must be an Israel that is not of God.
Okay, so maybe that Israel of God, maybe that is the Middle East, no.
Those that walk according to this rule, the new creature,
those that are circumcised in the heart, not outwardly, that's the rule.
That makes you part of this country, this nation,
this Israel of God. So I've got no problem saying I'm a Jew,
I've got no problem saying I'm an Israelite, I'm the Israel of God.
That's what we are, according to the Bible. If you've trusted Christ,
that's what you are. But again, I don't go around really saying that
because it's confusing sometimes. People think that I'm trying to say that I'm of
a physical nationality. No, I'm telling you, a spiritual nation, a spiritual
circumcision is what I'm saying. The new creature,
that is the Jew, that new creature, that is the Israel
of God. Alright, back to Philippians 3, verse
number 4. Now I had to go down that tangent
and read the other scriptures because Paul doesn't really
explain in this chapter what that circumcision is.
For we are the circumcision, and I guess if you didn't know any better you could read that thinking
that all these Greeks were circumcised or something, physically circumcised.
But no, he's talking about the circumcision of the heart, for we are the circumcision. In comparison
to the dogs, the evil workers, the concision, speaking of the physical concision
in verse number 2. Look at verse number 4, he says
Though I might also have confidence in the flesh, so we know that
salvation is not confidence in the flesh, Paul is saying look, I could have confidence in the flesh,
if any man thinketh that he have whereof he might trust in the flesh
I'm all. He goes look, if anyone has any reason to think that salvation
is by trust in the flesh, then I've got even more reason to trust in my flesh.
Okay, he goes, Circumcised the eighth day,
well that's good, that's what you're meant to do, okay, of the stock of Israel, so his
nationality is of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin,
and Hebrew of the Hebrews. He goes, even the Hebrews say about me
that I'm a Hebrew, like you really are one of the Hebrews, you know.
As touching the law, a Pharisee.
Because even the way I read and interpret the law, the books of Moses,
I read it and interpret it as a Pharisee.
I apply the Pharisee teaching and interpretative tools when I read the law.
And of course in the eyes of the physical Jews, I say wow that's amazing, wow
highly educated, this man knows the scriptures, this man is a Hebrew of the Hebrews.
So Paul says look, if I really wanted to glory my flesh, I could.
I have more to glory than most people about my flesh.
Now is he saying this in a good light or a bad light? Verse number six,
concerning zeal, persecuting the church. Because I'm even
so zealous as a Jew that I even persecuted the church.
We saw that about Paul earlier, you know, before he got saved.
He persecuted the people of God. Touching the righteousness
which is in the law. Because even my life, like I'm touching
the righteousness, like my life, if you saw Paul, you'd say man that's a good man.
Like he's a righteous man. Like he's living a life like the law says that he ought to live.
Okay, blameless.
He's living according to, of course he's a sinner, he's done wrong, but you know,
you'd say okay, let's identify a person that's following the law, that's living a righteous life,
and that's Paul. Look at him go.
But then he says in verse number seven, but what things were gained to me?
So these things were an advantage to him,
if you had to trust your flesh to be saved, okay.
But what things were gained to me, those I counted loss for Christ.
Because man, when I compare myself to Christ and true salvation,
that's just loss, that's pointless.
You know, all those things that you could glory about in the flesh, because it's just, it's rubbish,
it's loss. That's again that circumcision of the heart.
Because it's not my flesh. It's not what I've achieved. It's not me as a Hebrew.
It's not me living according to the righteous of the law.
Because this is loss in comparison to what Christ is actually offering me.
Isn't it so great? You put away the flesh.
That's the circumcision of the heart. Now, so you can see that
even though he's kind of boasting, he's doing it sarcastically, you know,
or ironically maybe if you want to put it that way. But you know, he's doing it in a way to show look,
if we really wanted to. But salvation is not by the flesh.
Okay. Now the reason I wanted to say that, look, go back to verse number six.
So these are, obviously these are not ways to get saved.
Concerning zeal, persecuting the church, touching the righteousness which is in the law,
blameless. He says this is loss.
This is not how you get saved. Touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.
Now look, I hope you try to live a righteous life. But that's not how you
how you get saved. Okay. He says it's loss.
People that are trying to work their way. I've got to live a good life. I've got to keep the commandments.
It's loss. You're not saved.
You don't get it. You're not circumcised in the heart. You haven't put away the flesh.
What is the law?
We're talking about the laws of God, right? And very quickly, you guys know this passage.
1 John 3, 4. Whosoever commit of sin transgresseth also the law.
For sin is the transgression of the law.
Sin is the transgression. Sin is breaking the law.
Paul says, I tried to keep the law. I was touching the law.
Blameless.
So what's something else you hear in a lot of Baptist churches to be saved?
You have to repent of your sins to be saved.
You have to repent of your sins. Okay. So I've got to repent from
transgressing the law. Isn't that what Paul just said?
Touching the righteous which is in the law? That's loss.
That's trust in the flesh. You think you can repent
of sins to be saved?
How can this be preached in Baptist churches?
The Bible never even says you've got to repent. The Bible doesn't say that.
Teach the Bible and you'll be fine.
Do I believe you should repent of your sins? Of course I believe that.
But that's not how you get saved.
Keeping the law is not your way of salvation. Paul says, man I had to count this as loss.
Yet Paul was repenting of all his sins.
He was trying to keep the law perfectly because it's all loss.
It's not just loss. He continues in verse number 8.
Yea, doubtless 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. Because it's not just loss. It's dung.
It's faeces. This belongs in the toilet.
This righteousness of the law, this repenting of sins
trying to keep the law. It's rubbish. It belongs
in the toilet. Those are the words of Paul. It's dung.
Brethren, it's dung.
And how many pastors get behind the pulpit repent of your sins
and believe on Jesus Christ. It's dung
preaching. Say pastor, that sermon belongs in the toilet.
Okay, let me get some toilet paper, the word
of God, and let's fix it up. Let's get you saved.
Now look, I recognise that a lot of pastors say you've got to repent of your sins and they're
saved. They've used bad terminology. Because I've
spoken to many pastors about this. When they say, what do you mean by repenting of your sins?
Well you've got to acknowledge you're a sinner. Is that it?
Okay, well you're saved but you're using bad terminology. Because repenting of your sins means
to turn from your sins.
I'll say something like that. It's like fine. I'm not saying that every time someone says
that there's some dog. There are sheep and wolves. I'm not
saying that, okay. But there's a lot of them that hide behind that phrase and they
truly are dogs. They truly are wolves in sheep's clothing. Please be careful.
They're in Baptist churches. They are in independent
fundamental Baptist. I'm not talking about Baptist union. I'm talking about independent
fundamental Baptist churches. There are dogs behind the pulpit.
Paul said
it's dung. I count it as dung. Man, you
don't want to be going to a church your whole life and it's all been dung preaching. It's all been good for
the toilet.
I don't know what it is. I was talking to brother Sam. We caught up with brother Sam on Saturday.
Obviously you guys know who he is, right? And he's like surprised just how many Christians
even that in Brisbane just, there's like this
ignorance, just a lack of discernment about preachers
and doctrines. I just don't understand it. I find it hard
to understand too. Like how? When God is so clear for us.
Salvation is so clear. Faith on Christ Jesus
alone. It's so easy. It's so clear.
Christ has done it all. Put away the flesh. Be circumcised in the heart.
Don't trust the flesh. Then pastors, you've got to repent of your sins.
Come on, you can do it. Repent of your sins. Be willing to turn away from your sins.
To be saved? You're crazy
because I can't turn away from my sins without the power of Christ. I have to be saved first
before I can have any victory over sin.
Look at verse number eight.
Oh sorry, I read verse number eight already.
Did I read verse number eight? Yes I did. Verse number nine.
And be found in him.
He says I've won Christ. Hey, when we go soul winning,
we win a soul, but that soul wins Christ.
That soul wins Christ. It goes at the end of verse number eight. I count the matang that I may win Christ.
Verse number nine. And be found in him. Not having
my own righteousness. Remember before? He was touching the righteousness which is in the law
blameless. That's not my own righteousness. That's not saves me.
That can't get me there. 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.
Isn't that amazing? So we do go to heaven based on righteousness
but not our own righteousness. The righteousness in Christ Jesus.
In faith. That's how we receive it. In faith in Jesus Christ.
I think it's so beautiful that Jesus
the Lord sees us in the righteousness of Christ.
And we know we're not perfect. We know we make mistakes. Our walk, we get messed up.
We walk in darkness. We need to get right with God day to day. But we know that
you know whether at the rapture or at death
definitely, even right now, positionally, right? He sees us in Jesus
Christ's righteousness. It's amazing. That's why we're children of God.
We're children of God because we receive the righteousness of his son.
It's amazing. What a privilege. Not just to have
sins forgiven, but to stand in Christ's righteousness. And you
know, we don't deserve it. We don't deserve that level of righteousness.
But that's how God sees us. Okay? What a beautiful thing.
Verse number ten.
That I may know him. The him that was saying before the sermon
was, you know, that I, you know, I, how does it go?
I shall know him. I shall know him. That's where it comes from. That I may know him
and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of
his sufferings being made conformable unto his death.
So now we're not talking about salvation. Like, now that he is saved, okay,
he says, I want to know him. I want to know Christ.
You can't really know Christ until you're saved. Until you're part of the family of God.
Then you can know him. Okay? You say, how well do I know
him, Pastor? Well, he just gives us this list. The power of his
resurrection. Do you know that power? It's the power that
overcomes sin. Gives us a victorious Christian life.
You know, since you've been saved, is your life a little
cleaner? You know, are you, do you find victory over
your sins? You know, if you've been able to find victory and you find maturity
and growth, then you've seen that power of his resurrection.
You can claim that you know him. The fellowship of his sufferings.
How much have you suffered for Christ? Say, Pastor,
I've never suffered for him. Well, get to know him a little bit better.
Because the more you know Christ, the more you'll suffer for him. And you'll be willing to suffer
for him. To the point that he says, being made conformable
unto his death. Because I know him so well, that I'm even willing to die for him.
Wow. Can you get to that? Jesus, if you
want to take me home early, so I can die for your name, then take me.
Yeah? That's a lot to think about. But you know, the
more you know him, the more you're willing to lay down your life for him as well.
Verse number 11. He says,
if by any means, I might attain unto the resurrection
of the dead. Alright, so
he's not saying that I hope that I'll attain the resurrection of the dead.
No, he will. He just says by any means, I might. So
like, he's saying that in whatever regard, whatever way
he's going to end up with that resurrection of the dead. Like, sorry, if by
any means. So, of course, don't take away what we learnt about Paul here.
Is that he's in prison, and in the previous chapters, you may recall that he was
concerned, well not really concerned, he doesn't care, for me to die his gain, he says
but he might perish in prison, or he might end up visiting the
Philippian people. But he goes by any means, whatever it is, even if I have to die in this
prison cell. He goes, then I know that that's the method by which
I would then attain the resurrection of the dead. I'm going to die this way, and then
I'll be resurrected because I died through those means.
So he goes, whatever case, whatever case death comes, you know,
he's looking forward to the resurrection of the dead. Verse number twelve.
Not as though I had already attained, either already perfect
but I follow after if that I may apprehend that for which also
I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Now verse number twelve
for me is the most complicated verse, just because of the way it's written, but if we just understand it
a little bit by little. He says, not as though I had already attained. So to attain something
is to have something, right? The other word that gets used up there is apprehend.
So if you've been apprehended, you know, you've had, you've been
laid hold on, okay, to apprehend something is to lay hold on something.
So the idea of attained or apprehend is kind of the one and the same thing.
So he says, not as though I had already attained, so he hasn't obviously been resurrected from the
dead yet, okay. Either we're already perfect, because I'm not perfect, because
you know, that's the completion is of course when we receive those new resurrected bodies.
He goes, but, and this is what I'm trying to, this is the pointer that
I was trying to get at earlier, is that even though we know we won't be fully
without sin until we have those new resurrected bodies, doesn't mean we just stop and go
oh, we'll just wait for that to happen. He goes, no. He goes, but I follow after.
So he's not just waiting for that to happen, he's already following
after Christ. But I follow after, if that, I may apprehend
or take hold of that for which also I'm apprehended
of Christ Jesus. He goes, I want to take hold
of the same thing that Jesus Christ took hold of me for.
Okay, that's what, basically what it's saying, okay. And I'm not waiting just because I haven't
attained the resurrection of the dead yet, but I am following after that, I am still making my journey
I'm still growing, I'm still maturing, I'm still trying to be more like Christ.
You see, Christ has taken hold of you, not just to be
saved, but to make you into a great follower of him.
Okay, he wants us to grow. Please never get comfortable
in the state that you're at. Look, even the apostle Paul
says, I'm still following after, even though I've not attained the resurrection of the dead just yet
I'm still seeking to take hold of that which Christ took hold of me for.
Look at verse number 13. Brethren, I count not myself
to have apprehended, but this one thing I do, forgetting
those things which are behind, so that was all the glory and the flesh that he had earlier
and reaching forth unto those things which are before
I press toward the mark for the prize and the high calling
of God in Christ Jesus. So he's still
pressing. So look, Paul, you could die. He goes, I don't care, I'm still
pressing toward the high calling. That again tells us
that we're never going to get there in this life, with this flesh,
but you keep pushing forward. Look, I'm glad that you've grown
if you say, look pastor, I've grown in the Lord, praise God, that's awesome
that you've grown in the Lord. Keep growing. Say, pastor, I've run
the race, that marathon that you talk about in the Bible, alright, great.
Keep running. Don't stop, because you've not apprehended it.
You've not had the resurrection just yet. So keep going, keep pushing forward,
keep being more like Christ. Keep reaching forward to that high calling
that God has asked of you. I want to read to you from 1 Corinthians
6.19. What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the
Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
Brevin, do you believe that? Ye are not your
own. You don't belong to yourself now that you're saved.
Remember, Christ apprehended Paul.
Paul, I've got to work for you. You belong to me, okay.
And then he keeps going, verse number 20. For ye are bought with a price.
Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit
which are God's. You've been purchased with a price, the blood of Jesus
Christ, okay. He bought you. He saved you,
but he purchased you, okay. So now your body, even though
I know this body has a sinful flesh, God still wants to use your body,
okay. Also your spirit, which are God's.
Okay, this body, this spirit belongs to God. So what are you going to do with your life?
I want you to think about that. As you go and live your life,
remember, it's a high calling. It's a high calling.
I know that we want to do what we want to do with our bodies, and it's not always going to glorify
the Lord. But you need to remember, your body belongs to Jesus.
Your spirit belongs to Jesus. You've got to give it to him.
Say, Jesus, what do you want me to do with my life? Okay, you have to give it to him.
He's purchased you, okay. He's purchased you. It's a high calling.
It's not easy. You know, if it's just, oh, it's a low calling.
Yeah, it's easy to do. It's not easy to say, you know what, Lord, everything that I do,
okay, moving forward. What did he say again?
Forgetting those things which are behind. Paul says, look,
I'm not looking backwards anymore. I'm not looking at my past anymore, okay.
Sometimes as Christians, we get caught up in the past.
Now that you're saved, you regret all the mistakes. Oh, man, I did this. Look, forget it.
You need to push forward, okay. You've been forgiven.
We've all made mistakes, okay. We've all made mistakes in life.
You've got to forget that now, okay. You've got a high calling.
You can't change the past, but you can change this afternoon.
You can change this evening. You can change tomorrow morning.
Let's say God gives us all another 20 years of life, okay.
You can change those 20 years. You can make that the high calling of God.
You're going to get excited. Man, look, I can do, I can give
myself of my body and my spirit to serve Jesus for the rest of these 20 years
that God potentially has for me, but I can't do anything about the things that I've done in the past.
That's done. That's why, again, don't get comfortable. You say, man, pastor,
I've run the race. You know, I've won 10 million souls for the Lord.
You know, great. Praise God for you. Keep going.
Keep going, alright. Yes, the past is great.
You can glorify even the good things, but don't live in the past, because if you live in the past
you're never going to reach for the future. God's given us a future.
You know, the next hour is not written just yet.
I mean, God knows what you're going to do with the hour, but you've got free will. What are you going to do with the next hour
that you've got? Are you going to give it to God? What are you going to do with it?
What are you going to do tonight? Are you going to give it to God?
Look, I know it's a high calling. You probably have plans
right now, this afternoon, this evening, that you know we're not glorifying God at all.
And you're going to... You know it.
It's a high calling. It's not meant to be easy. Again, this has nothing to do with salvation.
But it's the goal that we ought to be reaching for as believers.
Verse number 15, please.
Let us therefore... Paul is saying this
just in case people are thinking, alright Paul, that's you. You and your high calling.
We're comfortable in our own lives. Yeah Paul, go for it.
Let us therefore, the whole church, as many as be perfect
be thus minded. Because look, please have the same mind that I've got.
Okay?
And if in anything ye be otherwise minded, God shall
reveal even this unto you. He goes, if there are other people in the church
that are otherwise minded, you're like, nah, nah, I'm not going to go for that high calling.
He goes, well, God shall reveal even this unto you.
Because look, I preached it, but now it's between you and God. And I like that attitude.
I like that attitude. Alright? And that's the attitude, or that's the, I guess the philosophy
that I have as a pastor, is that it's my job to preach God's word
and I'm no perfect man. I understand.
I'm preaching to myself just as much as I preach to the church. Okay?
I'm no perfect person. Alright? But I preach
hey, and I hope you have the same mind that I have
when it comes to learning God's word and what we need to achieve, but if you have another mind
then that's between you and God.
Like if I preach something and I'm like, blah, blah, whatever, and you're like, nah, pastor, I'm not going to do that.
You know, me and my house, we're just going to live the way, okay fine, it's between you and God.
Like I will never, I promise you this, and I've never done it, I will never come into your house
and rebuke you in your own house. You do what you have to do. It's between you and God.
My conscience is clear. As long as I'm preaching the whole Bible
as best as I know how, okay, and I'm not trying to hide doctrines
from you, then my conscience is clear, okay, and then the rest is up to you.
Alright? And again, pastors that
want to interfere in your family and in your house, okay,
be careful. The false prophets, those dogs,
they like that stuff. They like to just be the lords of
God's heritage. They love that authority. Now I love the authority.
I love the authority in the church, in the house of God.
Okay, but outside of the house of God, I do not have authority over you.
I do my best to preach God's word, and then it's up to you.
Verse number 16.
Whereto we have already attained, so
nevertheless, whereto we have already attained. So whatever you have already attained, so we've
already grown, we've already developed, matured,
so wherever we're up to, and we're at different places in our spiritual life, okay, he goes
let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing.
So again, just because you've done, you've attained something, you've grown and you've developed
and you're more mature, continue to walk. Just keep going.
Don't stop. Don't get comfortable in the situation that you're in.
Don't be like, alright pastor, I've done my million salvations, alright win
one more. You don't have to win another million, just win another one.
And when you won that one, then win another one. Just keep going.
Keep serving the Lord in whatever capacity that is.
Verse number 17. Brethren, be followers together of me,
and mark them which walk so as you have asked for
and sample. So of course he's talking about the dogs,
the workers, the evil workers, the concision, because look, don't follow
after them. Be followers together of me. This is why we need
good, because I know my weakness.
I know I'm not this great man. I know the things I struggle with.
Okay, but I've been given this office as a pastor.
And I want to be an example. I want to be like Paul, okay.
We need to have some examples in our life. We need to have some Christians
that we say, hey, wow, hey, that person's growing. Hey, actually my pastor's
getting paid at five years, maybe his preaching's a bit better than year number one.
There's some development, some growth, and oh, that's how a Christian marriage ought to be.
Oh, that's how Christian children ought to be. There ought to be some
examples in our church, that's the best way. And when you find those people,
mark them which walk as you have asked for and
sample, alright. And again, look, and mark them.
So he's not just talking about himself. He's talking about if you find other people in church that are
mature, serving the Lord, they've got it together, they haven't got some major
major sin that's, you know, in their life, hey, mark them as an example.
Now, I'll quickly read to you from 1 Peter 5 free,
which says, neither has been lords of a god's heritage, which I can't
cover before, but been and samples to the flock.
So this is talking about pastors. It's such a scary thought that I've got to be an
ensemble to you. It's a scary thought. Alright, that means my marriage
has to be in order, my children need to be in order, okay.
My children are children, by the way.
I'm still a man, my wife is still a woman, we still don't see eye to eye on everything
in life. Such, you know, that's how it is.
Alright, but man, could you imagine like I'm a pastor and like, alright guys,
my wife's leaving me like next week, can you pray for me?
He'd be like, don't worry pastor, serve behind the pulpit. No,
I can't take care of these basic things and I really shouldn't be a pastor.
Hey, pray for me, can you pray for me? Because I'm supposed to be an ensemble,
okay, and if the devil wants to destroy our church, he's going to go after me and my family.
He's going to go after all of us, okay, but I'll be target number one.
Okay, you know, he doesn't want these ensembles, and look, I love that word again.
I know it's archaic, I know, you know, we use example,
but at the end of verse number 17, as you have asked for an ensemble,
hey, I should be, I'm a sample,
okay, I'm a sample of Christ. I can never be a Christ.
Christ is the standard. I hope I can just be a bit of a sample of that.
Okay, that's what it's saying, okay, I'm not this
perfect man, and I'm not saying do everything, live exactly the way that I live,
and homeschool your kids the way I homeschool, and wake up in the morning
the same time that I wake up, and have the same breakfast that I have, and make sure you
I don't know what, no, that's not what it is. Christ is the standard.
But hopefully I can be an encouragement, just a sample
of what a Christian family, man, preacher, pastor ought to be.
And hey, maybe pray that God will use you to be a sample
as well in this church. That you can be an encouragement, you can be
someone that motivates and shows people, hey, this high calling is possible.
You know, reaching unto these things, this is realistic.
We can do it in the power of his resurrection.
Verse number 18.
This is the saddest part of this chapter.
Of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even
weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ.
Again, who? The dogs, the concision, evil workers.
We've said it before, the false brethren, the false prophets.
He says in verse number 19, whose end is destruction,
these people are not saved, okay, whose God is their belly.
Their God is not the God of the Bible, their God is themselves, their own flesh,
their own belly, fulfilling their own lusts and wants in life.
And whose glory is in their shame, who mind
is on earthly things, their mind, their head is on earthly things.
Riches, treasures, the lust of this earth, that's where their mind is at.
Okay, now, he says he
I tell you even weeping, weeping.
Paul is writing this and he's tearing up.
Well, he's not writing this necessarily, but you know, he's weeping as he's saying these words
and they're being recorded for the Philippian church. Paul knows how serious
this is. And again, it makes me want to weep,
but the independent fundamentally Baptist, we have false prophets
behind the pulpit. It's like, oh, it's all good.
You know, he graduated from Bible college or whatever it is, you know.
It's like, man,
look how Paul wanted to warn us.
He said, how do we know if someone is a false prophet? How do we know?
Is it that the fact that their god is their belly?
I think all of us sometimes make our belly our gods, like our
own selfish lusts, you know. I'm sure
there are times that we mind earthly things. I'm sure there are times that we lose sight of eternity
and heavenly things and we start thinking about earthly things. Is that what makes someone
a false brother or false prophet? We need to backtrack a little bit. How do we identify
who these people are, who these wolves are, who these dogs are? Let's backtrack
a little bit. Verse 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. They are enemies
of the gospel is what they are. That's how you identify
them. Not by the way they live, okay. Now it's saying that
because they're enemies of the gospel, eventually they're going to manifest themselves to be these wicked
people, but even Christians can be very wicked.
What about Lot? Lot in the Bible. The Bible calls him just Lot.
And that guy lived in Sodom, alright. He offered his
daughters, his virgins to the Sodomites, alright. He ended up committing
incest. He was a drunkard. This guy, if you just read Lot
in the Old Testament, you'd think, man, this guy's not saved. But he's saved.
Even Christians can do wickedly, okay. But if you're truly saved,
you're never going to be an enemy to the gospel, an enemy of the cross
of Christ, okay. Salvation is the cross
of Christ. His sacrifice, his suffering,
that's what salvation is. You start saying it's something else,
pastor. Your own righteousness, repenting
of your sins. You've got to clean up your life. You've got to give up on the alcohol to be
saved. That person is an enemy of the cross.
That person is a dog.
See, you must have liked saying that, pastor. I don't like saying that.
Even Paul liked, he's weeping. He's weeping.
He says, man, this is going to happen. You know, church is going to
allow these people to creep in and preach behind the pulpits.
Because you've got to pay attention. If someone is an enemy of the cross,
his end is destruction. He's not just confused.
He's lost. He's on his way to hell, okay. They believe in a
close gospel. Again, don't be ignorant.
Church, please don't be ignorant. Don't just think someone says Jesus, they're saved.
Okay. I know what it's like. I've got a lot of family like this.
Oh, here's a Christian. Okay, he's a Christian, but he's saved.
That's more important than being a Christian. Because a Christian is a Christ follower. You can be
saved and not be a Christian. You can be saved and not be a Christ follower. You can be saved and
just live for yourself. Trust in Christ. You're circumcised in the heart.
That's what salvation is.
Judas Iscariot, he was a Christian. Judas Iscariot was a Christ follower.
That man was never saved. Judas Iscariot was circumcised in the outward flesh.
He was never circumcised in the heart. He never believed in Jesus Christ.
Verse number 20. For our conversation is in heaven.
So in comparison to these false prophets, they mind earthly things,
but our conversation, our perspective is in heaven,
as it were. Our fellowship, our perspective,
I suppose conversation, your behaviour or your life is in heaven.
From whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord
Jesus Christ. I like verse number 20 because again it plays into that thought that
we're already in heaven. We're already seated in heavenly places
in Christ Jesus. So like positionally we're there. But then we also
still look for the Saviour which is from heaven. There's that dual sort of duality
in our life. Our position and then where we are still
in our walk. Looking forward to the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Verse number 21. Who shall change our vile body,
say again the resurrection, that it may be fashioned like unto
his glorious body.
Jesus is going to take our body and change it, fashion it like his
glorious body. The power of his resurrection.
Jesus Christ cannot sin. He's never sinned.
The perfect Lamb of God is going to fashion us to have that body.
A body that can never sin. Wow.
So that's the high calling by the way. We're going to get there eventually.
But we need to be working toward it.
Don't give up. Let's keep pushing. Let's keep pushing and reach that high calling.
We'll never get there but at the resurrection, that's when we're going to get there.
Let it be fashioned unto his glorious body and according to the working whereby he is able
to subdue all things unto
himself. So Christ can subdue our
vile body unto himself. To subdue is basically
to be brought under control.
God's going to take that sinful body. He's got power of all things. He's going to change it.
Make it into his, as it were, his glorious body.
But again, this is a truth that's going to
happen in the future. But you know what? Christ can change your vile body
today. And I'm not talking about a physical change.
But he can give us victory over sin.
He can cause us and help us to walk in the spirits and not
to give into the temptations of the flesh. Remember at the end of verse
21, he's able even to subdue all things unto
himself. Jesus Christ is able to make you stronger
to be able to overcome those temptations. So don't give up.
Okay? Keep trying to live a more holy life. When you
are tempted, the temptation is not the sin, but when you give into the temptation,
you've sinned against the Lord. Okay? You can have victory. You can say, God, Jesus Christ,
you can subdue my vile body. You can help me in this time
of temptation. Please help me not to sin. Help me to walk in the
paths of righteousness. Help me to hit that high calling of God
that you've, what's the word?
I forget what the word is. That you've apprehended me for.
Help me to walk according to that high calling of God. Thank you so
much for salvation. Help me to walk in your paths. Man, it's going to be so awesome
for everyone. So awesome at the resurrection. So great.
In the clouds of Jesus. New resurrected bodies. Bodies that will never sin.
Ever again. What a glorious thing to be. Saved
person on their way to heaven. But don't forget, the main part of this was be careful.
Beware of dogs. Okay? Beware of false prophets.
Beware of false brethren. You can identify them when they become
enemies of the gospel. Enemies of the cross of Christ. That's how we identify them.
Not because they made a mistake, a major mistake in their life. They committed some weakness.
Because they deny their enemies. They preach another gospel.
They're against the cross of Christ. Let's pray.
Heavenly Father, Lord, thank you for your word. Thank you for the teaching of the Philippians. Lord, so much great truth.
So deep, Lord. And Lord, we are usually tired in the afternoon. So Lord,
just pray that you help us to retain the information that we learned today.
And Lord, just as we saw in the sermon, Lord, that Jesus Christ is the power to subdue
this vile body. So Lord, we all need help in this area.
Lord, help us all to desire to be an ensemble, Lord, to our church.
That we would be able to, in whatever capacity it is, Lord, maybe it may not be family necessarily,
but it might be in other areas, like soul winning. It might be areas like our zeal for you.
It might be areas of love for the brethren, service for the brethren. Lord, help us to be
an ensemble, Lord, of who you are. We thank you so much and we pray this in Jesus' name.
Amen. Alright brethren, let's turn to hymn number 317.
317.
117.