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And resolve to go to the Savior, Leaping my sin and strife. He is the true one, He is the just one, He hath the words of life. I will hasten to Him, Hasten so glad and free. Jesus, greatest, highest, I will come to Thee. I am resolved to follow the Savior, Faithful and true each day. Heed what He saith, He is the living way. I will hasten to Him, Hasten so glad and free. Jesus, greatest, highest, I will come to Thee. Amen. Wonderful singing. Let's start off our service with a word of prayer. Lord God, Heavenly Father, I thank you for giving us this day. This time that we can come to your house, Lord, and to hear the preaching of your word, and to fellowship with our brethren, Lord, here and I thank you for every precious soul in this building. I thank you, Lord, for the five years that you've given us thus far, and I thank you for helping us along the way through everything, through thick and thin, Lord, and helping us through every trial and through all the persecution, and I ask that you please just bless the five years to come, the five years after that, and ever more on from there, Lord. I ask that you please bless the service tonight, that you would please fill past and be healed with your spirit as he preaches your word, and I ask that you please give us your spirit also in the congregation, that we may take what Pastor preaches and apply it to our lives. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Amen. Go ahead and grab your song sheet. Our next song here, Holy, Holy, Holy. If you do not have a song sheet, please raise your hand. One of the ushers will come by to give you a sheet. Our second song, Holy, Holy, Holy. Leave your hand raised up if you need a sheet. Brother Jose needs one back there. Holy, Holy, Holy. All together on that first verse. Holy, holy, holy, Lord God almighty. Early in the morning our song shall rise to thee. Holy, holy, holy, Merciful and mighty, God in three persons, blessed Trinity. Holy, holy, holy, All the saints adore thee. Casting down their golden crowns around the glassy sea. Cherubim and Seraphim falling down before thee. Which work and art and evermore shall be. Holy, holy, holy, Thou art beside me. Though the eye of simple men, Thy glory may not see. Only Thou art holy, There is one beside Thee. Perfect in power, in love and purity. Holy, holy, holy, Lord God almighty. All Thy works shall raise Thy name in earth and sky and sea. Holy, holy, holy, Merciful and mighty, God in three persons, blessed Trinity. All right, great singing. Thank you for being here this evening. Just a few announcements before we sing our next song, which will be song number 281, Pass Me Not, O Gentle Savior, song number 281 if you want to get that ready. In your song books, of course, our services are as follows. Sunday morning is at 10 30, Sunday evening at 5 pm, and then we have our Thursday night Bible study at 7 o'clock. The sowing times and teens there are located on the bulletin. You can reference that. The list of expecting mothers continue to pray for them. Of course, today was our anniversary service, so happy anniversary to you all. Five wonderful years. We're looking forward to what God's going to do in the coming decades. We have the Samaria missions trip to Barstow, California on Saturday, September 24th. There is a sign-up sheet in the back if you want to participate. Sign up in the back where the usher station is at, and if you want any extra information you can talk to brother Ulysses Hernandez regarding that. Men's prayer night, it's coming up on Friday, September 30th, and then we have the fall program kickoff on Sunday, October 2nd. Key word for this is participate. Participate, participate, participate. I just woke everyone up when I raised my voice like that. Good, and so we're going to be having uh birthday breakfast, fall family photos, pumpkin sundae, pie baking contest, teen sunday, teen night, and apple cider fellowship for uh those six weeks. Just different things each week of course, and then culminating to the annual Thanksgiving banquet Tuesday, November 22nd. Now last year everyone was kind of like in the dark a little bit of what it was to dress up in the 1800s style, and some people went a little too far, you know too far back, you know some people were too modern, and so but now you kind of have an idea of what to dress up as, and you've had an entire, you had 365 days to collect your your attire, amen. So uh make sure everyone dresses up for that, participate, and of course we're still going to have a contest, and the reigning champ is brother Maury still. You didn't, you won last year didn't you? And so uh it was a toss-up between you and brother Eric, he's still bitter about that, and so um what we're looking forward to is gonna be great, but the big thing for the fall program, we're gonna do a bunch of fun stuff each week, but the big thing is bring visitors, amen. Bring your friends, your family, co-workers, neighbors, and of course if uh you attend all three services, you receive a thousand points, go sony once a week, thousand points, bring a first or second time visitor, two thousand points, third time visitor, fifteen hundred points. If you just get a bare minimum of fourteen thousand points, you'll get a good works hoodie or fleece sweater, if you get third prize you get a twenty five dollar gift card, uh second place forty five dollar gift card, and the first place will receive a local church publisher's leather bible. I want to encourage you to participate in that, and be in prayer that we would see a lot of people come to church, get saved, baptized, integrated into the church, and so we're looking forward to it, and that's pretty much it. Make sure you silence your phones during the preaching so as to not be a distraction during the service. It's going to take some so many numbers from this past week, um from Monday to Thursday, any salvations from Monday to Thursday? One right over here, one, okay, anybody else? Anybody for Friday and Saturday, Friday and Saturday, salvations? One, three for brother Maury, anybody else? How about this afternoon, salvations for this afternoon, for the uh Marcos, one, one, two, for the hike, one, anybody else? Going once, twice, thrice, okay, keep up the great work on soul winning. Let's sing our next song 281, Pass Me Not O Gentle Savior, song number 281. Song number 281 as our third song here, all together on that first verse. Pass me not, O gentle Savior, hear my humble cry. While on others Thou art calling, do not pass me by. Savior, Savior, hear my humble cry. While on others Thou art calling, do not pass me by. Let me at a throne of mercy find a sweet relief, kneeling there in deep contrition, help my unbelief. Savior, Savior, hear my humble cry. While on others Thou art calling, do not pass me by. Trusting only in Thy merit, would I seek Thy face, heal my wounded broken spirit, save me by Thy grace. Savior, Savior, hear my humble cry. While on others Thou art calling, do not pass me by. Thou the spring of all my comfort, more than life to me, whom have I on earth beside Thee, whom in heaven bought Thee. Savior, Savior, hear my humble cry. While on others Thou art calling, do not pass me by. Amen. Wonderful singing. At this time, the ushers will come forth to collect the offering, and you can turn in your Bibles to Philippians chapter number three. Good evening. Tonight we're in Philippians chapter number three. Philippians chapter number three, and the Bible reads, 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 more. Circumcised the eighth day of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, and Hebrew of the Hebrews, as touching the law of Pharisee. Concerning zeal, persecuting the church, touching the righteous, which is in the law blameless. But what things were gain to me, 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, not 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, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling 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, whereunto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing. Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for the 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 God 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 our 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, we thank you for our church, for five years of our church being here, Lord, and we thank you for pastor as well, Lord, and I pray that you bless him, and fill him with your spirit as he preaches your word, Lord, and that we're edified by the preaching, and we're attentive to the preaching of your word, Lord. We pray this all in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Okay, we're continuing this evening with the book of Philippians, and we're in chapter three. Of course, the first chapter, the apostle Paul essentially just addresses the fact that he is imprisoned, and he talks about the fact that because of his situation, because of the fact that he is being arrested here, and he's in prison, he understands that it's for the furtherance of the gospel, and not just because it's going to sound abroad, it's going to reach the ears of many people, but also because many brethren in the Lord are waxing confident by his bonds, and so a lot of what chapter one is talking about is is essentially challenging others, encouraging others, exhorting others to preach the gospel and suffer persecution. Chapter two, he emphasizes a lot of unity, so he talks about the trials in the beginning. Chapter two is the unity that a church should have, and the importance of having that unity. Chapter three is a subject that you see the apostle Paul talk about quite frequently, and that is false prophets. Okay, because of the fact that in order for a church to thrive, to go forward, and not to allow any leaven to enter into the church, you know, the members need to be warned regarding evil workers and false prophets, reprobates of that sort, because it's safe, you know, for the congregation to do so, and it helps people to be aware of these things, and I would say that one of the things that independent fundamental Baptist churches lack the most in is not necessarily the teaching on end times. I would say far more than that is their lack of teaching on false prophets, okay, infiltrators and reprobates, and that's why you see a lot of infiltrators and reprobates and false prophets, you know, get into these churches and teach false doctrine and violate the innocent, it's because this isn't being emphasized enough, whereas here in chapter three it seems as though the apostle Paul is reiterating this quite a bit because he says in verse number one, finally my brother rejoicing the Lord to write the same things to you to me indeed is not grievous, but for you it is safe. So apparently, you know, this isn't the first letter that he wrote to the Philippians, it's obviously the letter that God would consider to be scripture, it's inspired by God, but apparently there's other instances where he wrote unto the Philippians, and in that epistle or in that letter that he wrote, he was warning the Philippians regarding, you know, wicked people as we're going to see in verse number two, and he's saying there, you know, to essentially reiterate this or talk about this again, it's not a grievous thing for me to do, you need it, it's safe for you, okay, and this could be said regarding the teaching of false prophets, but it can also be applied all across the board to everything in the Bible, okay, and one thing you have to understand is that in the Christian life, the Christian life, the preaching in the Christian life is preaching that you're going to hear over and over and over again regarding the same things, okay, it's me talking about the same exact things throughout the year, obviously you want to learn new things, obviously you want a new perspective, but the vast majority, a large percentage of the preaching should be things that are reiterated because people forget, okay, church members forget, Christians forget, if they're not constantly being reminded of these doctrines, of these truths, you know, they have a tendency to forget, and so it's important to reiterate them, to hammer them in, to hammer once saved, always saved, to hammer the doctrine of the Trinity, the deity of Jesus Christ, the sonship of Jesus Christ, you know, all these important doctrines need to be talked about frequently so that people do not forget them, and he's saying it's not grievous for me, it might be grievous for you because you're like, oh man, I've heard this before, or I know what he's going to say here, but it's actually safe for you to listen to it again and again and again and again and again. You say, why is that? Well, you know, if you're constantly being reminded of something, it's going to be on the forefront of your minds, it's not something you're going to easily forget, and it's going to help you to stay fresh in the Christian life, you understand, we as Christians, we don't want to just learn something and then file it away in our long-term memory and just completely forget about it, we want to make sure that it stays on the forefront of our minds, that we're constantly studying these things out, reading these things, etc. Now, more specifically, it's not just any doctrine that he's talking about, he's referring to verse number two, he says, beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision. Now, what does he mean when he says beware of dogs? Now, just to let you know, this is not like a sowning tip that he's giving here, he's not saying, hey, when you go out knock on doors, watch out for those pit bulls, those rottweilers, watch out for the ankle biters, you know, shake the fence, I mean, I believe those are great instructions, and by the way, when you go out and preach the gospel and there's a gate, shake the gate a little bit, wait a little bit, if you have a ring, tap the gate, you know, make some noise to make sure there's no dogs in there, and don't ever underestimate, you know, the power of the dog that's on the other side. I remember one time I went sowning with someone and I would do that and they're just like, why do you do that? That's unnecessary. I'm like, because there might be a dog on the other side, and they're like, no, watch this, and then he goes to a fence, he just opens it up, just walks in, he's like, hello, and then he turns and there's like two pit bulls chasing him, and I've never seen, you remember the cartoons where like they would run in there and the cloud would just stay right there, you know what I mean, it's just like of their form, that's what I saw, and he, the legs were like going like this, you know what I mean, he booked it, but you know after that he shook the fence and he tapped it, and he understood the wisdom in that, okay, so yes we should be aware of the physical dogs, but there's actually a dog out there far more dangerous than the pit bull, than the Rottweiler, believe it or not, even the ankle biter known as the Chihuahua, okay, although they share a lot of similarities, okay, but when he says beware of dogs, you say, well, you know, what is it referring to? Well, when you actually study what the Bible describes as being dogs, it's actually a spectrum of different things. It could be referring to sodomites, it could be referring to false prophets, it could be referring to just simply workers of iniquity, wicked religious leaders, you know, for example, in Deuteronomy chapter 23, in verse 17, the Bible talks about that there shall not be a whore of the house of the daughters of the house of Israel, and it says, nor a sodomite of the sons of Israel, and then he says in verse 18, thou shall not bring in the hire of a whore, nor the price of a dog into the house of the Lord thy God for any vow. So verse 18 is reiterating what verse 17 is saying in regards to the hire of a whore being the whore of the daughters of Israel, and then the price of a dog is the parallel to the sodomite of the sons of Israel, implying that sodomites in the Bible are also referred to as dogs. Now you can see why, because in those days, of course, they're not like dogs the way people have them today, today dogs are like pampered, and they got, you know, they even give them shoes and clothing, and some dogs are just taken better care of than even humans sometimes. In the ancient world, they were seen as just very filthy animals, okay? They're dirty dogs, and they're roaming in the streets, they were diseased, they would attack the innocent and those who were vulnerable, you know, kind of like they sodomized you, you understand? And so sodomites do the same exact thing, so the Bible compares them to dogs because of the characteristics of an actual physical dog, and their agenda to just attack vulnerable people, etc. But it's not only referring to sodomites, although it definitely, you know, describes fags as such, it's also just referring to just wicked people. Like when you read in the Psalms, some of David's Psalms, the prophetic Psalms about Jesus Christ, he specifically says that dogs are compassing him about, he says, the assembly of the wicked encampeth me, he said, and it talks about how he put nails in his hands and in his feet. He's obviously referring to the Jews of the New Testament who persecuted Jesus Christ and sought to crucify him. So that could be applied to false prophets, religious leaders, dogs, as Isaiah 56 puts it, greedy dogs, okay, referring to religious leaders who are essentially trying to, you know, make merchandise off of God's people. You know, you have, for example, Jesus Christ calling Herod a fox, which a fox is a type of a dog, okay? So over and over again, we see that dogs don't necessarily have a good connotation in the Bible. You know, Jesus Christ even said in Matthew Chapter 7, to not to cast our pearls before swine, don't cast that which is holy unto the dogs and your pearls before swine, especially referring to these workers of iniquity, wicked people, etc. The Bible talks about Revelation 22 when talking about hell. It says, for without our dogs, okay, what does that tell us? Dogs don't go to heaven, okay? There was a famous movie back in the day put out by Disney that, you know, all dogs go to heaven. It's not, whenever Disney says, just think about the exact opposite. Because without our dogs, referring to the fact that fags, false prophets, workers of iniquities, all of these people will burn in hell, and they have no hope of salvation. And so the Apostle Paul here is saying, beware of dogs. So, you know, in the mind of the reader, because they see the rest of the scriptures, they know, okay, it's referring to either fags, false prophets, workers of iniquity, you know, just these evil people. And a good word to use just to kind of put them all together is what? Reprobates, right? Because when we say reprobate, it can be referring to a fag. If we say a reprobate, it could be referring to a false prophet, religious leader, or just referring to just a wicked person who isn't necessarily a religious leader who's trying to proselytize, just like a psychopath or something. You understand? And so he says there, he's writing this thing to them, and he's saying, hey, make sure you're aware of dogs. And the reason he's saying this is because, you know, the Apostle Paul's not present. He's not there to protect the flock. He's not there to kind of filter the people and make sure that, you know, there's not false prophets and wicked people coming into the church. So he's kind of expecting the deacons and the bishops to pay attention and say, hey, we've got to make sure we don't allow dogs and evil people into the congregation. He says in verse two, beware of dogs, beware of evil workers. And then he lumps these people together with them. He says, beware of the concision. Now, he says in verse three, for we are the circumcision. So he says concision basically means circumcision. But the reason he says it, he gives a different variation of it is because it would be some kind of redundant to say, beware of the circumcision, for we are the circumcision. And what he's trying to get across here is that the concision is referring to those who depend on the circumcision of the flesh for salvation. OK, and at the end of the day, what he's talking about is Jews. OK, Pharisees adherence to Judaism. He said he's like, hey, beware of the dogs. Beware of the evil workers and beware of the Jews. OK, you got those pesky Jews. You got to watch out for them. You say, man, is he like anti-Semitic? Well, you got to understand is that the apostle Paul essentially is single handedly fighting the battle against the Jews in the New Testament. I mean, he's constantly having to deal aside from the persecution that the Jews bring upon himself. They're going into the churches that he's starting, trying to Judaize them, false brethren that are creeping unaware, trying to bring people back under the law. I mean, you read the Book of Galatians, the churches of Galatia were being infiltrated by Judaizers, Jews who are trying to bring these Gentile believers, so to speak, back under the law. And he has to go in there with a sledgehammer and just dismantle all these doctrines and preach against the Jews. But you understand where he's coming from. So, you know, the greatest adversary of the New Testament was the Jew. And in fact, still is the Jew. But, you know, it's obviously more blatant here in the New Testament. And, you know, this is God's word. And so when it says beware of the concision, it still applies to us today. You understand? He said, well, that's only, you know, in the Bible and the New Testament back then. No, that's a problem even today. And in fact, Jews have infiltrated churches, and more specifically, fundamental Baptist churches. They've infiltrated it through dispensationalism, you know, the zionistic agenda of trying to make the Jews God's chosen people, the apple of God's eye. And I'm just telling you, they've done a great job at it, because many churches, especially fundamental Baptist churches, they worship the Jews. They have the Star of Rephan behind them. They pray for the Jews. They pray for Israel. They do everything that the Bible tells them not to do. Like they're just violating scripture left and right in regards to the Jews, you know, and they're not, they're just kind of, you know, just not paying attention to scriptures like this. And in fact, I remember one time in Bible college, there was a pastor who came, and he's actually an evangelist. What's his name, Brother Marcus? Do you remember his name? What's that? No, not the redhead guy. I know who you're talking about. What's that? I mean, yeah. I think that's the one. No, that's really old. There's another guy. He's like a Hiles Anderson dude, and he preached a sermon called Beware of Dogs, right? And it was from Philippians 3, 2. And I remember he titled the sermon, he's like, the title of the sermon is Beware of Dogs, and I was just like, whoa, you know, this is going to be good. Because, you know, in college, I didn't really know what this was talking about. I knew it wasn't referring to physical dogs, though. So it's like, what's the interpretation of it? And so what is he going to say? And then he goes on to talk about physical dogs. And he starts going through different, you know, kinds of dogs, and comparing people to those dogs. And not a single one of them was a sodomite, which it would have been a great sermon if he did compare them to sodomites, you know. There's a Rottweiler sodomite, there's a Pitbull sodomite, there's a Chihuahua sodomite. But none of it was like that. He just talked about dogs and how they do whatever. I don't even remember the sermon, honestly, because it sucked. And so, you know, but, you know, of course, he's not going to preach against the Jews because he loved the Jews. And obviously, we want to see Jews saved, and we want to preach the gospel to them. And those who are receptive, we want to win them over to the Lord. But Judaism is a false religion that produces reprobates far and wide. Okay. And responsible for some of the worst evils in this world. And so, you know, we love the regular Jew that may be ignorant. You know, he's ignorant of the scriptures. He doesn't necessarily know what he believes or what he's doing. But we do not love those who hate the Lord. You understand? We're not going to love those who hate Jesus Christ, who blaspheme him. You know, the concision, those who desire to come into churches and infiltrate and teach their Judaism and try to bring in their Talmud and try to Judaize Christianity and use the term rabbi and shofar and all this nonsense. We don't want that to come into our church. Okay. So this still applies to us today. That means if some Jew comes into our church and he identifies as a Jew and he's trying to push his Judaism on us, you know, he gets thrown out because just the same way a Catholic would if he comes in, he's got his idols with him, just like a Mormon would or any other false religion, they would immediately become excommunicated from the church on day one because of the fact that they're bringing in a religion, more so Judaism, obviously, because of the fact that they represent a religion that hates Jesus Christ. And, you know, no one knows that better than the Apostle Paul. So he's telling these Philippians, which are Gentile believers, they're not Jews according to the flesh. He's telling them, hey, you need to be aware of these people, the concision. And then he clarifies this in verse three. And he says, for we are the circumcision. He's not saying all of us have gone circumcised when he says we are the circumcision. It's a reiteration of Romans chapter two, twenty eight to twenty nine. You know, when he says for he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly. Neither is that circumcision outward in the flesh made of hands. But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly. Circumcision is that of the heart and of the spirit is praise not of men, but of God. So when he's talking about circumcision, he's not talking about the physical circumcision, but the spiritual circumcision of the heart, which is essentially a symbolic representation of salvation. When we believe on Jesus Christ, spiritually speaking, it's like our hearts were circumcised before the Lord and he's giving us a new heart, a new man. OK, he says we are the circumcision which worship God in the spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. So those who are of the concision are essentially the ones who are who have confidence in the flesh. This is why in the Book of Acts, the Pharisees are going about teaching that you have to be circumcised in order to be saved. Because they think that physical act will actually justify a person who does it. And the question I have for them is like, what about the women? You know, what do you do with the women? And so he's saying here, we're the ones who worship God in the spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus, you know, Jesus Christ, when speaking to the Samaritan woman in John Chapter four, said they that worship God must worship him in spirit and in truth. OK, it's what he's stating here. Now, this could be said of the Jews because they obviously depend on their works to be saved. But that's basically every false religion. Even some sects of Christianity, right? They claim Christianity. You have the Pentecostals, you have the Apostolics. I mean, what else? You have even some non-da-dam churches that will pay lip service to believing on Jesus Christ, but they add works to salvation. These are people who are who essentially are trusting in their works. They have confidence in their flesh for salvation. Now, how does the Apostle Paul combat this ideology? OK, well, look at verse number four. Though I might also have confidence in the flesh, if any other man thinketh that he have whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more. What is he saying? He's saying, look, if there's anybody who can trust in their flesh because of their works, it would be me. Why does he say that? Well, look at verse five. Circumcised the eighth day. I mean, he's following this to the letter of the law. This law says that a child should be circumcised on the eighth day of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin and Hebrew of the Hebrews as touching the law, a Pharisee. He's like, you can't get more, you know, lost than me. He's like, I'm the stock of Israel. I'm a Benjamin. And I honestly don't know what he means by Hebrew of the Hebrews. He's just saying like, I'm like I'm legitimately a Hebrew. I'm a Hebrew of the Hebrews. He's he's he's truly what you say? A Jew Jew. He's like he's purebred is basically saying because he's sharing his pedigree here. As touching the law, a Pharisee concerning zeal. So he's like, aside from the fact that I'm he's born into this, you know, this is what his blood essentially describes him as or represents him as. He says now concerning zeal, persecuting the church. So he's like, you talk about zeal. I was zealous from my religion to the point where I was persecuting Christians. You know, we obviously see him hauling in believers. He's trying to get letters and permission to go arrest Christians and believers. And by the way, let me just say this is that nowhere in the New Testament is recorded the Apostle Paul murdering Christians. OK, that's a common accusation that you see by Christians. Any time you bring up the reparate doctrine, they're like, well, what about the Apostle Paul? You know, he murdered Christians. It's like the Bible never says that he murdered anybody. OK, does the Bible say he was he was a blasphemer? Yes, he was injurious. Yes, but he did it ignorantly and unbelief, but it doesn't describe him as being a murderer. Now, given he held the coat of those who stone Stephen, but he himself was not necessarily a murderer. His thing was more so arresting Christians and trying to get people of that way, as as the Bible describes Christianity in the Book of Acts. The way he says in verse five or verse six concerning zeal, persecuting the church, touching the righteous, which is in the law, blameless. He's saying like, I had it all down packed. OK, he was he was essentially, you know, had all these works. He had all these things going for him as a lost person. You know, this is a lost person's dream, basically how they would want to be. OK, and mind you, he's he's not saying that you need to be this way to be saved. He's saying, you know, you think you're trusting in your flesh. I have way more to trust him because look at look at everything that I accomplished before salvation. OK, verse seven, he says, But what things were gained to me? Those I counted loss for Christ, yea, doubtless, and I count all things, but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of whom I have suffered, excuse me, excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things. Listen to this. And do count them, but dung that I may win Christ. What is he saying? It's all crap to me. So the fact that he's a Hebrew of the Hebrews, he's a Pharisee, he was circumcised the eighth day. He's a Benjamin, you know, touching the law blameless. He's like, it's all it's all manure to me. It doesn't mean anything. OK, now notice that when the Apostle Paul converted to Christianity, he didn't keep Judaism with him. Right. And in fact, he says the Judaism is crap. He says I counted, but dung. OK, so, you know, we don't see the Apostle Paul using this, you know, Masianic Jew term. He's all I'm saying, but I'm still going to hold on to my Hebrew roots. No, the Hebrew roots are now dung to him. Dung means poop. That's what it means. In case you didn't know that dung. He's like, it's all crap to me. It's all dung. Doesn't mean anything. It's meaningless. It's waste. OK. OK. And so, you know, this is how people should view the religion they came from once they get saved. You know, hey, if you were a former Orthodox, if you came from the Orthodox Church, you know, the Orthodox Church should be crap to you. And it shouldn't be something, well, you know, I keep my little icon that my grandma gave me. I like my little icon because it has sentimental value. It's an idol. You should count him a dung. OK, if you were a former Catholic, you should trash the Virgin Mary and in fact burn it. OK, grab your rosary and burn it and throw it in the trash and break your idols because you should count it but dung. Well, you don't understand. You know, I have family in Mexico. You mean your lost family in Mexico? Yes. Yeah, I got family in Mexico. They gave this to me and I don't worship it. I don't think it's a god or anything like that. It's just something that I hold near and dear because of the sentimental value that I have attached to it. Well, God even says to get rid of those idols that have sentimental value. OK, I mean, you have examples in the Old Testament of people who didn't worship a false god, but they had an idol. OK, and they still destroyed it because God still considers idolatry if you possess an idol, even if you're not worshipping it. OK, it should be done unto you. If you're a Catholic, throw away your Virgin Mary, throw away and burn your idols. You know, take down the faggoty picture of Jesus. It's not Jesus. I haven't done it in a while. You know the Jesus where the heart is just protruding? It's just like this huge open wound in the chest. You have the heart right in the middle. It's all bloody and there's always like a crown over it. And he's just like. And then he has this like long flowing hair. He's wearing a dress. You're like, well, that has been passed down from me. Damnation has been passed down to you from generation to generation. Yes, OK. And so that's why it should be more of a reason to throw it in the trash and burn it because it's caused multitudes of generations of your family to go to hell. That should be more of a reason to burn that nonsense and count it but done. And so whatever really, you know, I would even say this. You know, if you're a if you're a former Pentecostal, that Pentecostal stuff is trash. You know, what they consider to be speaking in tongues is trash. OK, don't get offended when I mock speaking in tongues like, oh, you know, you shouldn't make fun of that. People are just sincere. It's stupid. They need to stop flapping their gums like that because it's nonsensical. It's demonic. OK, and it's not right. You know, I think a lot of those people are just demon possessed, to be honest with you. And so, you know, count it but done. Anything that we any religion, any ideology that we have prior to Christ, you know, that contradicts the word of God should just be thrown in the trash. It should be burned. Obviously, there's cultural things that we have that may not even contradict the Bible, but you better make sure it doesn't contradict the Bible and not assume that it doesn't contradict the Bible. It may be, you know, cultural things that you hold to that, you know, the Bible doesn't condemn, but it may not be expedient. You know, you never know. But I'm talking about the major things such as idols, rosaries, icons, pictures. You know, if you come from a family that practice witchcraft, I mean, good night in the morning. You know, if you're just like, well, you know, I got this dream catcher from my Indian ancestor or whatever. Well, that's probably why you get, you know, a sleep paralysis all the time is because you kicked over in your bed. Burn it. OK, I got a spearhead and, you know, whatever from my ancestor, Indian, my Indian ancestors or whatever. Burn it. Burn it. OK, because nothing should supersede or be more important or superior than the knowledge of Jesus Christ. And if God says to burn it, to do away with it, to hate it, we should hate it. I don't care how many generations prior to me practice Catholicism. How many of them practice Santeria, which is a big thing in Hispanic cultures? How many of them practice voodoo or whatever? You know, I have no emotional ties to those things. And unfortunately, those ideologies sent generations of my family to hell. Therefore, I hate every false way. So the Bible says we should hate it and count it. But dung, it's crap to us. We don't esteem it. It's basically what the apostle Paul is saying. And think about it. You know, the apostle Paul invested a lot of time in being a Pharisee. I mean, he studied to be a Pharisee. He put in the work. I mean, he's hauling Christians. He knows what the word of God says. I mean, he studied the Old Testament. He put in a lot of work, but he's like, it's lost to me. You know, it has no value. He says in verse number, let's read verse number eight again. He says, 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 in new count them, but dung that I may win Christ and be found in him. Listen to this, not having my own righteousness, which is of the law, but the righteousness, but that which is through the faith of Christ. Excuse me, the righteousness, which is of God by faith. So this is really big here. OK, and this essentially sums up really what salvation is. Salvation is believing on Jesus Christ so that when God looks at us, he sees us through the righteousness of Jesus Christ and not through our own righteousness. He says, I want to be found of him not having my own righteousness. OK, and you know, you have a lot of so-called Christians out there who want to do all these righteous works and keep the commandments and keep the law and do good works. And they want to say, yeah, you got to repent of all your sins. You got to do all these good things. Why? Because they want to be found in him having righteousness. But they have a rude awakening when they die, because the Bible says that our righteousness, that we are all as an unclean thing and our righteousness are as filthy rags. So the best that you have to offer God is still filthy to God. There's no amount of righteousness. There's no amount of good works. There's no amount of deeds or effort that you put into the Christian life that can ever make you acceptable to God for salvation. God will never look. You can spend 100 years each day reading the Bible, you know, doing good works and seeking to obey the commandments. It would never be enough. Because the Bible tells us, as it is written, there is none righteous. No, not one. It's a fool's errand to try to establish your own righteousness. It's a fool's errand. And the Bible tells us in Romans chapter 10, you have to submit yourself to the righteousness of God through Jesus Christ. That's the only righteousness that God accepts. You know, the Bible says he has made him to be sin who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. The doctrine is called the imputation of Jesus Christ. The imputation of righteousness means that when we believe on Jesus Christ, he gives us of his righteousness. You understand? And it's not like his righteousness with my righteousness. It's like, here you go, God. I did my part. And here's Jesus, too, by the way. You know, I believed on Jesus, but also, you know, I prophesied in the name and in that name have done many wonderful works. You know, I've done all these wonderful things. And I find it funny that people try to use Matthew chapter seven as proof that why you have to do works for salvation when the guy who's being thrown into the lake of fire did works for salvation. And it's not like he did any like, you know, level B works. I mean, he's like prophesied in his name. He did many wonderful works. He cast out devils. I mean, these will be considered like, you know, the tier one of works. Doing exorcisms, preaching, doing many wonderful works. But yet God's like, I don't even know you depart from me that work iniquity. So it seems to me that, you know, works don't work because this guy did all those things. And it's, you know, because people try to say when they criticize us and what we believe, they'll claim, oh, you know, many will say to me, Lord, Lord, and that day, Lord, Lord, you know, because we call upon the name of the Lord to be saved as the Bible commands us to, and they'll mock us and they'll quote Matthew chapter seven. But what's interesting is that in Matthew chapter seven, the guy never says, hey, have I not called upon thy name? Have I not believed on Jesus Christ? Instead, he begins to list all of his works. So they criticize us for calling upon the name of the Lord and then we have to do works. But the guy in Matthew seven is being cast into hell because he did those works. You know, and on YouTube, it's like the scariest verse in the Bible. You guys ever seen that? The most terrifying passage in the Bible. It's like, well, yeah, if you're like not saved. Yeah, like you don't know the Bible. And you always have these liberals, these lib Christians, and they're just like, you know, it's the most terrifying passage in the Bible. It's like, Lord, Lord, have I not, you know, cast out these demons in your name and in your name, I've done all these wonderful deeds, you know, because I always use like some modern version or something. It's like, dude, you're you. That's you. That's you. I know why you're afraid of that verse, because it's a reflection of you. A believer is not afraid of that verse because we're not trusting in those things for salvation. We don't want to be found having our own righteousness, but the righteousness of Jesus Christ, which is what? By faith. He's like, when God looks at me, I don't want him to see me through my righteousness. Because even though he did all these things, he's of Israel. He's of Benjamin touching the law of Pharisee. He's zealous. He has all these works going for him. He's like, I do not want God to know about those things because they can't save me. That's what he's saying. Be found in him, not having my own righteousness, which is of the law. Which, by the way, the Bible says, therefore, we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. It blows my mind when people try to bring this up and say, you got to keep the law. You got to keep the Ten Commandments. You got to do all these, you know, the observe the law and keep the law to be saved. When the Bible literally says this is the conclusion of the matter. So that means the case closed. End of discussion. We're not talking about this anymore. Therefore, we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. Because the law was never meant to save anybody. And it's crazy to think that people think, believe that by keeping the law, they can be saved. Because that would mean that they would have to know everything that the law says. But most of them can't even quote to you the Ten Commandments. Let alone any other commandment in the Bible. Most of them don't even know what the law says. The Bible says that the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ that we might be justified by faith. So the law operated as just this really strict, austere teacher. That essentially shows you, you can't keep all these things to be saved. You need a savior because you're not good enough. The law is just like this really mean teacher. Okay. It's just this old mean teacher who's just really strict, really rude, and is just this meanie. Okay. Who comes to an individual and says, you have to do all this to be saved. And then you're like, well, I've already failed. You're like, well, then you're basically done then. So in light of that, we should what? Seek after the savior. And say, well, I need someone with an A plus then. I need someone who's able to keep all this because I can't do it. I've already failed. You know, who's ever keep it the whole law yet offended one point. He's guilty of all the Bible says. So in light of the law, not just the 10 commandments, like everything that God says. It should bring us to the foot of the cross. So it's hypocritical. And they're like, well, I believe in Jesus, but you also have to keep the law. So basically what you're saying is that the death of Christ and his resurrection is just insufficient to save you. Like you actually have something to offer God for salvation. It's nonsensical, folks. Okay. The apostle Paul, who, you know, kept the law to the best of his abilities. He has this pedigree here. Even he understood it's all done. And I don't want God to look at that righteousness because it's not righteous. Okay. People are just kind of delusional when they think that they are righteous before God. He says in verse number 10. That I may know him in the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his suffering, be made conformable unto his death. So he transitions here from talking about salvation and being found in the eyes of God, having the righteousness of God, of Jesus Christ, to describing the fact that he wants to know God. Now we hear this term being thrown around a lot, right? Just know God, just know him. And it's always this like lubby-dubby type of like very shallow type of knowing God. It's not even, it's like, doesn't even involve the Bible most of the time. It involves like praise and worship and, you know, just liberal stuff. You know what I'm talking about. You know, mega church stuff. You know what I'm talking about. But to know God biblically is actually way different. He says there that I may know him in the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his suffering. So if you want to know God, what this means is that you have to be persecuted. You have to suffer. And that could mean obviously persecution, but it could also involve just trials and tribulation, persecution of the workers of iniquity, or just persecution of Satan himself. You know, the principalities, powers, and the rulers of the darkness of this world. It's essentially referring to suffering, but you know what? People don't want to suffer. Okay. And you know, this whole thing of just know God, just know God is just like, you don't really want to know God because it involves a lot of pain, the fellowship of his suffering. And in fact, when you read Revelation 2 and 3, you read about all these churches and the seven churches which are in Asia that Jesus Christ is addressing through the Apostle John. There are these letters that are being written to the seven churches which are in Asia and a lot of them are suffering persecution. I mean, people are dying. You have Antipas, the faithful martyr. You have just people just being persecuted for righteousness sake. And then at the end of chapter three, you know, the Bible describes Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ says, behold, I stand at the door and knock, right? And you know, I'm paraphrasing here, but he's essentially saying, you know, I want someone to sup with, to fellowship with. So the reason he gives all these examples of these churches is because he's essentially talking about these churches who have suffered for Jesus. And it's a picture of Jesus Christ knocking at that church door saying, are you willing to suffer for me? You understand? So we can apply that today in 2022 to say, you know, Jesus Christ is knocking, not literally, but spiritually on the doors of the churches of America. And he's not going to see, are you willing to suffer persecution for my sake? And you know what? Unfortunately, the vast majority of churches are not. You know, he's like ringing that ring. And then people are looking on their phones and they're just like, Jesus, like. Can I help you? And he wants them to because you know what? Let me just tell you this. Jesus wants you to suffer. He wants you to feel pain. He wants you to go through the fire. He said, what? But Jesus loves me. Yes, we know. We obviously know that. God commanded his love toward us and that while we were in sinners, Christ died for us. OK, you know, but that doesn't mean that he didn't remember Chapter one, that it's God's will for us to believe on him, but also to suffer for his name sake. You say why? Because it's when you suffer for the name of Christ. If it's when you suffer for Christ's sake, then you experience the fellowship of the suffering. If you really want to be close to the Lord, you suffer. Because Jesus Christ is one who has been rejected of all men. You know, he's acquainted with grief, sorrow. He's a man who has been rejected even by God, his father on the cross. You know, you know, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? You understand? And so when you suffer, those are the times that you're like the closest to the Lord. So don't take your suffering as just like, oh, man, I'm just going to go through this. Actually, those are opportunities you can fellowship with the Lord the most. You can experience the fellowship of the suffering. And no, the fellowship of the suffering is not knowing God is not praising and worshipping him with purple lights and smoke, you know, machines and, you know, hoochie mamas or whatever, as a lot of these churches do. You know, repeating the song seven times over or something like that. OK, it means to to live godly in Christ Jesus and therefore you suffer persecution. It's when you are home at night and you cry yourself to sleep because of all the pain and your suffering, whether physically, emotionally, mentally, and the fact that you're still willing to just stay in the fight no matter what. I mean, that's suffering. Sometimes that's how people suffer. It's being willing to just keep serving God in spite of the fact that you just are wracked with emotional pain or physical pain. This is the fellowship of the suffering. But, you know, those who experience that type of suffering, you know, often they're the closest to the Lord. They love the Lord. They pray the most. They read the Bible the most because they understand this. So the Apostle Paul is like, I want to know him and the power of his resurrection. What is the power of his resurrection? Obviously, he's referring to the resurrection. But, you know, the power of his resurrection is just referring to the power of the Spirit, which he experienced by preaching God's word and being used of God. We want that power in our lives as well. And it should be that we pray every single day, Lord, fill me with your power. Fill me with your power to preach your word, to win souls to Christ, to stand up for righteousness, or just to do the day-to-day tasks that you have called me to do. Help me to have the power of God in my life. The power of his resurrection, the fellowship of his suffering, be made conformable unto his death. That means the more the Apostle Paul dies to self, the more he becomes conformable to the image of Jesus Christ. Okay? That I may know him. You really want to know God? Read the word of God. Pray and do not avoid suffering. Don't avoid it. Don't run from it. When the going gets tough, don't run. You know, don't hide under your bed. Don't just, you know, run off somewhere and just try to avoid it. Just welcome to just take the suffering. Just like spring it. Because I know it's not enjoyable, but you know what? At least we know this is when I'm going to be the closest to the Lord. And you will know that you're the closest to the Lord when you're going through that tribulation and that trial. I mean, the Apostle Paul, I mean, think about everything that he went through. Think about all the physical ailments that he suffered, the persecution, the stoning, you know, think about him being shipwrecked out on the sea. How terrifying would that be? Just like on a piece of board, just like on the ocean, like, what would you think? I would think like, I'm a shark about to eat me any minute now. You know, you're just like, I'm alone out here. There's probably a thought in his mind where he's just like, like any one of us, we'd be like, what am I doing? What am I doing? You know? But you know, there's probably a lot of time for him to pray out there in the ocean. And so he obviously suffered all these things, but he wanted to because he wanted to know the Lord. He wanted to know Jesus Christ. Verse 11, if by any means I might attain to the resurrection of the dead. Now, a lot of people get this confused when he says I might attain to the resurrection of the dead. Some would even pervert this verse to mean that he's doing these things so he can be saved at the end, so he can have the resurrection at the end. But what he is trying to attain is actually what we see in verse 14. Skip forward to verse 14. He says, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. So what is he trying to attain or obtain? It's a prize. It's the reward. You see in the Christian life, suffering comes with a reward. It's not like you just suffer and God's like, yup, that's it. That's all you get. You know, no, there's a reward that comes with that. There is a prize. There's a recompense that comes to people who suffer. And in fact, the Bible says in Romans chapter 8, that you shall be joint heirs with Christ. It so be that you suffer with him. And so that's what he's trying to attain to. Says in verse 12, 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. Sometimes the Apostle Paul, when he writes stuff, it's just like, you got to like slow down. Like, what do you mean by that? I don't get this. What he's saying here is that he wants to apprehend that which he's been apprehended for. So essentially is what we see in Ephesians chapter 2, verse 8 through 9, where he says, for by grace are you safe through faith and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works that any man should boast. And then he says in verse number 10, for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God has before ordained that we should walk in them. So when you get saved, it's not like, oh, you're saved and that's it. That's the end of the line. Now you have like a purpose in life. And in fact, God has ordained works for you to do. This is like a job for you to do now. It's like, all right, you're saved. Well, hey, see you in heaven. You know where to get, get in contact with me if you need to or whatever. Just call upon me at any time. It's like, God's like, all right, it's time to work. You want to make some money? You want to get some crowns? You want to get some riches, some eternal riches? Okay, well, I got good news for you. I have some works that are ordained for you to do on this earth. So the Apostle Paul is saying, I want to apprehend that which God apprehended me for. What? The works that he's going to do. And this should be the attitude of every Christian. You understand? Is that now that we're saved, now that we have eternal life. Okay, now what? What now? Right? It's sad, obviously, you know, we were thankful when people get saved at the door. They believe on Jesus Christ, but it hurts just a little bit when they don't come to church, right? It's like, man, why don't they come? Why don't they come and get involved? Because you want them to experience like the blessings of the Christian life. You want them to realize how cool our church is and how great it is to be a Christian and the greatness of the Bible. But you know what? They just, they don't, they don't take the job. We don't want to be like that. And in fact, everyone in here, I would say, obviously, is not like that. Because once you got saved, you got into church. Sometime soon or after salvation, okay. And the attitude that we should have is like, I want to apprehend the rewards that God wants me to have. I want to apprehend the awards. I want to apprehend the works that God has essentially saved me for. Because we're saved, you know, to have eternal life to not go to hell. But you know what? There's also a job for us to do. And this is not a sermon on the works that you're supposed to do. But obviously, soul winning. Obviously, you know, discipling others, teaching others the Word of God. I mean, there's plenty to do in the Christian life, my friends. You're never going to run out of things to do in the Christian life. Because aside from the fact that you just got to like make sure that you are growing in the Lord and repenting of your sin and cleaning up your life and fixing your marriage and helping your children and all these personal things inwardly, then there's things on the outside too that you should do as well. Get people saved, turn people to righteousness, etc. So I like his attitude here because he says in verse 12, not as though I had already attained. So what does that tell us of the Apostle Paul? He's humble. Because we would say, what do you mean? You're like legit. You're like one of the best apostles, you know, if not the best apostle in the New Testament. But he's saying, you know, I'm not perfect. I'm still striving to, you know, make a difference and work for the Lord. He says in verse 13, brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended, but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth into those things which are before. Now, if there's one piece of advice that I can just give Christians every week is forget about it. Forget those things which are behind. Stop bringing up the past. Stop looking at your failures. Forget those things. And you know what? The person who can say this the best is the Apostle Paul. Because how bad do you think this guy felt when he was the one like persecuting Christians? That's why when they brought him to the believers, the Christians are just like, isn't this Saul? Didn't you arrest me? And he's like, I know this looks bad, but you know, I got saved, you know. I mean, he had this reputation, right? He had this reputation. This guy was a Pharisee. I mean, Pharisees are just not looked upon. They don't have a good connotation in the Bible. You know, it's like, he was a Pharisee. He's just like, Pharisees are wicked. Pharisees are false prophets. Pharisees, Jesus called them children of the devil, a generation of vipers. The Apostle Paul is like, all right, I get it. You know, I'm not, he's like ashamed of his past, obviously. That's why he says it's all done for me, okay. He's not still trying to, he's like, you know, I'm taking my shofar everywhere I go still, and you know, my shawl or whatever, and call me rabbi. He's not trying to hold on to that. He's ashamed of that. But you know what he's doing? He's like, I want to forget those things that are behind, and I want to reach forth into those things which are before. And you know what? Christians just need to let go of the past. Let go of the past. Let go of your failures. Let go of your bitterness towards whoever. You know, stop pointing to your mom and your dad, and you know, they fed me with a slingshot when I was little or whatever, and they said all these mean things to me growing up, and I didn't have it made in the shade like most people do. I wasn't fed with a silver spoon, and my wife and my husband, forget it. Just forget it. Just stop. Because you're not going to be able to apprehend that which you're, you know, apprehended for if you're constantly revisiting the past. You know, you got to put your hands to the plow. And if you're putting your hands to the plow and you're looking back, then you're not fit for the kingdom of God. That's what the Bible says. So put your hands to the plow, and you know, if it's all burning back there, just let it burn. You know, hey, take the advice that Lot's wife didn't take. You know, lest ye become a pillar of salt. I remember when I first got saved, we used to have these preacher boy meetings. Okay. And this was where I learned how to preach and how to, you know, deliver and all that. And I had this sermon, I can't remember what it was called, but it was about Lot and his wife. And the best way for me to get truth across was like, I would rhyme words, like my points would rhyme. What are you laughing for, Albert? And I would rhyme these words, okay. And one of my points was this. It's nobody's fault if when you look back, you're a pillar of salt. Right? It's nobody's fault if when you look back, you're a pillar of salt. And what is that a picture of? Well, apparently, you know, she lost her savor. She was good for nothing, but to be cast down and trotted under the foot of men, that's why she became a pillar of salt. And you know what? If you're constantly looking back to the world, you're constantly looking back to your old habits, to your old friends, to your failures in the past, you're going to be a good for nothing pillar of salt one day. You may not turn into a physical pillar of salt, but spiritually you will be. And you know what? It ain't my fault if when you look back, you're a pillar of salt. Don't blame the church. Don't blame the pastor. Don't blame the members. Don't blame your mommy. Don't blame your daddy. Don't blame your husband. Don't blame your wife. It's your fault if you turn back. Okay, you and I have the instruction in verse 13 to forget those things which are behind, implying that God wants us to forget those things as well. Reach forth to those things which are before. Verse 14, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Press into those works. Push into the Christian life. Push into that. Push into the works. Push into the prize. Keep the millennial reign on the forefront of your mind. Keep heaven on the forefront of your mind. Think about those heavenly things. Think about the Bible. Press into those things. You know, the picture here is that you're not just like shoving into that. You're just like working your way into the Christian life. You understand? You're pushing into doing works. You're pushing into being a blessing. You're pushing yourself to go sony. You're pushing yourself to do good works. You're pushing yourself to make your marriage better. You're pushing yourself to raise your children. You're pushing yourself to be a blessing to the church. You're just pushing and pushing and pushing. You're pressing towards the mark. Because you know there's a prize at the end of that road. He says in verse 15, Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded. So I like what he says. You know, if you're mature enough, you know, this is how you're going to think. So what is he implying? If you're not mature, you can't receive this. If you're not mature, you're going to be looking back. If you're not mature, you're going to be thinking about your past law. Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded. And if anything be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you. Nevertheless, where to we have already attained? Let us walk by the same rule. Let us mind the same thing. Brethren, be followers together of me and mark them which walk, so as ye have us for and in sample. So, you know, obviously what he's telling the Philippians here is that Christians need examples, right? Because things are rather caught than taught. Now, you're being taught doctrine here, and you're expected to learn this doctrine and apply this doctrine. But the reality is this is that we do well at mimicking others. So when someone behaves like a Christian, we do well at mimicking their behavior so we experience the same success. And the Apostle Paul says, hey, walk like I walk, but also mark those in the church who are mature Christians as well, and walk like they walk as well. Okay, there's no such thing as a Ronan Christian. Some Lone Ranger Christian who just learns by himself, learns by herself, does her own thing, does his own thing. No, we need examples in our life, you know, and all of us are a compilation of other people's investment in us because we followed them. Okay, he says in 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. I believe he's also referring to these dogs, these evil workers, those of the concision, these people who were maybe false brethren who crept in unawares, because he says he's weeping. He wouldn't weep for some false prophet, right? He's weeping for someone who claimed to be a believer and then they just turned and maybe became an enemy, they became a false prophet or they're already a false prophet. But, you know, they essentially deceived the Apostle Paul or others around them. He says they are the enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly thinks. So what is the implication here? Mark those who you have as an example, but also mark wicked people as well. And you know what? We need to do this today. How would I mark someone to tell you, you should be like someone? Would I go to you and say, hey, you should be like, you know, this one guy in our church. Who? I'm not gonna say who his name is. This one guy. You know, he's really godly. He's experienced a lot of success. What's his name? You know, I'm not gonna say anything because then it just leaves you in obscurity. I would want to say, you know, be like, you know, who am I gonna pick here? Because I don't want to offend anybody here. Be like John. Raise your hand, John. That's John. You know, be like John. You know, be have, I mean, John could be really bad. I don't know, you know, you know. I'm just using him as an example. I'm just kidding. He's a godly man. You know, you follow John as he follows Christ or whatever. But, you know, I'm not gonna leave you in obscurity if I'm pointing someone else out. Well, in like manner, if there's wicked people out there, we gotta call the names as well. And calling names is a biblical thing. People get bothered by this all the time and they get all like, you know, all uncomfortable when you start calling out other pastors or churches. And they're like, oh, you shouldn't do that. You know, unity and all this stuff. We're not supposed to have unity with wicked people though. With bad churches and false prophets. And in order for me, and look, in the old IFB, this was such a big thing where they would talk about like a really bad church or a really bad pastor, but they would refuse to name the name. And they'd just be like, I don't want to say who it is. You know, this is one person. It's just like, who tell me? How are we supposed to like evade the wolf if we don't know who you're talking about? But it's just like this weird approach to just like, well, you know, they're fundamental Baptists. So we don't want to like call out fundamental, I'll call a fundamental Baptist out like that. If I find out that dude's a wicked false prophet. I've done it before and I'll keep doing it because I don't care if they're a fundamental Baptist. I'm not a respecter of people. If they're wicked individuals, if they're pedophile loving pastors, if they're teaching heresy, they're getting called out. Oh, you're going to make fundamental Baptist look bad. No, I'm not. No, I'm not. And you know what? Even if I do make it look bad, so be it. At least I'm pleasing God. At least I'm protecting the sheep. I'm not here trying to protect a movement. I'm here to protect my church. And you know what? A great way to protect the movement by the way is by calling out false brethren who have crept in unawares, right? Calling out false brethren who claim to be fundamental Baptist. A great example of this, it would be like the ruck tarts. Peter Ruckman, Gene Kim, Robert Breaker. I've had a lot of people get all hurt about the fact that we call them out. He's a brother. He's like, no, he's not. A brother is someone who's saved. A brother in Christ is someone who is saved. They're not saved. And you know what? Even if someone is saved, I'll call them out still. If they're doing things that are wicked, if they're sweeping pedophilia under the carpet, that's why Bruce Goddard gets called out every couple of weeks here. Because he does that stuff. And I have no quarrel with naming the name because I want you to be aware of such a person who would do that. Mark them, the Bible says. And study the word mark in the Bible. I don't mean the book of Mark. Study the term mark in the Bible. It often refers to actually naming. You're not taking a Sharpie. It's actually naming them. And the Bible's all about naming names. I mean, the Apostle Paul did it for good people and for bad people. I mean, Romans 16 is a chapter where he's just calling out good names. He just spends the entire chapter just addressing good people. But then there's other times he's just like, Alexander the coppersmith, didn't mean much evil. In case you're confused which Alexander he's referring to, he's like the coppersmith. You know, he didn't mean much evil. The Lord reward him according to his works. Oh, you sound so bitter, the Apostle Paul. Why are you saying that? Because Alexander's a wicked person. He's a wicked individual. You ought to stay away from him. And I know there's all kinds of Alexander's out there. So just to let you know, he's a coppersmith. He even called out like just like good people too. Not good people to save people. You know, he called out Demas. Demas had forsaken me having loved this present world. How embarrassing is that for Demas? I mean, he withstood Peter to the face. And so calling out names is definitely a biblical thing to do. And sometimes it's necessary to do so. And so this is what he means here. Verse 20, 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 into his glorious body according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself. And, you know, obviously what he's referring to or the parallel that he's making here is that all this wickedness is abounding. You have evil workers. You have the concision. You have these dogs. And it's just like, why is God allowing these people to just live or just exist? But you have to understand that one day he's going to subdue all things unto himself. Okay. And everything's beautiful in his time. And so he finishes off the chapter here, talking about the resurrection and the changing of our vile bodies into an image like unto him. And so that's chapter three there. It's a great chapter. And it's a great reminder that we need today in 2022 that we need to be aware of these people, be aware of the dogs, be aware of the fags, and not just be a church that is just like, well, you know, we want to take it easy on them because it's a new era. It's a new generation. And we've got to reach them. Let me just say this too. Okay. We're going to be, we reach a lot of people and sometimes we reach people that are not new IFB. And I think that's great because I think we need to reach people who are not new IFB. Amen. But let me just say this. Sometimes people who are not new IFB think that sodomites can be saved. And you know what? If they want to believe that, that's on them. But we need to make it very clear what the Bible says about adults and not just let that slide. You know, someone comes to you in the church and it's just like, yeah, I'm trying to be my gay friend here just to get in with him. Just be like, well, first of all, they're called fags. No, I'm just kidding. We use fag here. Okay. You know, he was like, first of all, let me just show you from the Bible that they can't be saved. And I'm going to explain to you why. You know, obviously be kind about it and discreet about it. And don't be a jerk about it either. You know what I mean? Like, look, the Bible, you know, we often refer to you as a fag hag. Let me explain why. You know what I mean? Don't say that. You know, explain to them saying, you know, Romans 1, this is what Romans 1 says, so they can't be saved. So that's what, you know, explain all that, that they can't be saved. But then afterwards tell them like, and not only that, but we do not allow sodomites into our church. The pastor, the church has a policy that sodomites are not allowed in here. Pedophiles are not allowed. And so, you know, obviously we want to win them over in the doctrine, but if they're so obstinate that they just believe that sodomites can be saved, let them believe that, but they can't bring them here. Okay, and show them, say, hey, the Bible says beware of dogs. So if we're not, if the concision and evil workers are not supposed to be in the church, then that means the dogs aren't either. And guess what the dogs are referring to? It's referring to sodomites as well. You know, and take them to Deuteronomy 23, 17 through 18, and show them what the Bible says about that. Where are the Bible says to call them dogs? Deuteronomy 23, 17 through 18, check it out. Okay, and so, you know, I think that's important. And just to remind everyone here, you know, that sodomites are never welcome in our church. It doesn't matter how much the culture changes, how much churches become accepting towards the LGBTQ, let God burn them quickly community. You know, it doesn't matter how, you know, nice they become to them, we're not changing on this. And this will always be the policy at our church. And, you know, if God forbid something were to happen to me and someone else takes over and they change that stance, just go to another church. Just go somewhere else. I know you love First Works, but First Works, if a pastor comes here and starts teaching that sodomites can be saved, they're welcome in the church, First Works dies with me. Go to another church. You know, it's biblical, we need to be aware of dogs, be aware of evil workers, be aware of the concision. And then ultimately what the chapter's teaching here is that we need to make sure that we're trying to apprehend that which God has apprehended us for. That we're pressing to work, that we're pressing to win souls, that we're not quitting in the Christian life, revisit the sermon from this morning, you know, that we may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his suffering. Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for your word. Thank you for the book of Philippians, Lord, and what a wonderful book. So many great truths. Pray help us as a congregation, Lord, as a church, and me as a pastor to give heed unto these things and not be weary in revisiting these truths. May it not be grievous unto us, but may we recognize that it is safe. It's safe to reiterate what it means to be saved, what the doctrine of justification is, the imputation of righteousness, the doctrine of eternal security. These are all things that are safe to do because we need to be reminded of them on a constant basis so that we don't forget. Many churches have gone apostate over generations and generations because these things were not emphasized. And I pray that you'd help us, Lord, to do so. Help us to forget those things that are in the past. If we had a terrible week, we had some failures, we had some fights, we had some conflict. Well, you know, tomorrow's a new day. Tomorrow's a new week. Help us to approach this week, pressing forward and seeking to reach forth into those things which are before. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Please turn your songbooks to song number one. As our last song, song number one. Jesus, I my cross have taken. Song number one all together, nice and strong on that first verse. Jesus, I my cross have taken. All to leave and follow thee. Destined to despise forsaken. Thou from hence my all shall be. Perish every fond ambition. All life sought and hoped and known. Yet how rich is my condition. God and heaven are still my own. Let the world despise and leave me. They have left my Savior too. Human hearts and looks deceive me. Thou art not like man untrue. And while thou shalt smile upon me. God of wisdom, love and mind. Foes may hate and friends may shun me. Show thy face and all is bright. Man may trouble and distress me. Twill but drive me to thy breast. Life with trials hard may press me. Hem will bring me sweeter rest. Oat is not in grief to harm me. While thy love is left to me. Oat were not in joy to charm me. Were that joy unmixed with thee. Haste thee on from grace to glory. Armed by faith and winged by prayer. Hence eternal days before thee. God's own hand shall guide thee there. Shall close thy earthly mission. Swift shall pass thy pilgrim days. Hope shall change to glad fruition. Faith to sign and prayer to praise. Amen. Wonderful singing. You are dismissed.