I want to thank you for praying for me while I was away. It was a good time of refreshment and I was truly blessed by the ministry of Shepherds Conference. It was lovely to spend time with other pastors and church leaders from right across our world. There's 3,000 in the worship centre where we video in. That's where I was at the time, but there were two overflow rooms, a whole then 2,000 other pastors. So it was an amazing time to be. They had a great fellowship as you went about the campus at the break times. You could sit with anyone and they would chat away to you and talk about their church and their view of them. I was learning a new language. So where are you from? They picked up the Irish accent. And they would say, oh, what's your church? And I would say, well, it's Grange Baptist Church in Northern Ireland. And then they would sit in their homes for a few seconds, like, I connected with you. So then the next thing, I'd get a notification to say that they've liked our church page. So there was real encouragement. And there's been new contacts made, and pastors now I'm going to read from the verse 7 to get context, but I would really like to speak from verse 10 through to verse 14 today. But we'll read from the verse 7 to get context. And we'd like to speak under the title, Pressing On Towards the Prize. Pressing On Towards the Prize. verse 7 please, and it reads, But what things were gained to me, those I count at 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 Christ, and be found in him, not having my own righteousness which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith. That I may know him, and the power of his suffering as 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 part of it, but I would follow after, if but I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I find 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, who we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing. And we trust the Lord will bless the reading of his word to each of our hearts. Just a prayer as we come to consider these verses together. Our Father, who we realize that the word of God is quick and powerful, sharper than any two-edged Facing even to the dividing asunder of the soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and as a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. O Father, we need your inerrant and all-powerful Word, which appears to our hearts just now. Father, we pray for the sake of our congregation, our fellowship here today, that your voice could speak to each of our hearts. this weak and sinful creature, O God, and cleanse me with the blood again. And Father, fill me afresh with your Spirit, that as I speak that you would be pleased to use me and speak through me. Grant me the power to share thy word and thy truth. we need to hear from you. So, Father, we ask that we will know your voice as individuals and as a congregation of your people speaking to our hearts just now and we ask this in the Saviour's name. Amen. Amen. Judging from the frequent use of Atlantic metaphors that Paul uses in his writings, would be fair to assume that Paul was a sports fan. Speaking of his desire to be an effective Christian in 1 Corinthians chapter 9 and verse 26, Paul wrote, so fight I, or I box in such a way, not as one that batheth the air. So he spoke about boxing. And he also spoke in 2 Timothy about boxing as well, because Paul wrote triumphantly to Timothy to the games that were held in Corinth when writing to the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 9.25 and it said there, everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. they then do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we, imperishable. But most definitely, Paul's favorite athletic metaphor is that of running in a race. He declared to the Ephesian elders in Acts chapter 20 and verse 24, but none of these things move me, neither count in my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish, run in a race, finish my course with joy. and the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus to testify the gospel of the grace of God." There was that imagery of running a race. In Romans chapter 9 he wrote, So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. That's Romans 9 verse 16. There's a running metaphor. And then of course if we say already Paul at the close of his I have finished my course, that's the reason I have kept the faith. And here in our passage today, we see Paul's passionate concern with spiritual growth in the Christian life, and it's the metaphor of the Christian life as a race that's expressed in verse 14, which I think is the key verse in this passage that we've read together this afternoon. Read it with me. Verse 14, it says this, it says, I press towards error we consider how Paul described his transformation when he encountered the risen Christ in the Damascus road and understood the gospel. And in that passage Paul spoke of his impressive religious credentials before he met the Lord. Then dramatically he declared that compared to the surpassing worth of knowing the Lord Jesus Christ, that all of his past achievements were useless human achievements in comparison all else, that the things that are given to us are given to us for us to use them in such a way that we can show that Christ is our treasure and not those things. Dr. Dwight Pentecost wrote a book on the subject of the Epistle of the Leper and his book was called The Joy of that. And in the book under this particular section he commentates on what Paul has said And he relates it to an experience that he himself had when he visited some of the art galleries in the city of London. This is what he writes. Now this is a particularly long quote, but I think it's a good quote. It says, when I was in London, I found my way to several of the art museums and galleries of that city. I wanted to see some of the famous paintings that had come experience to walk through these corridors and was particularly struck with one painting. Two chariots were racing at breakneck speed, their wheels were just a blur of motion, the charioteers with weapon hand were lashing their horses to speed them up and make sure they were using every ounce of energy that they had. Intensity was written in their eyes, in their faces and set in the set of their bodies. The horses were straining themselves. It seemed to the point of collapse. Their eyes were wild. Their nostrils were wide. They were gulping great breaths of air as they pressed towards the goal. And with the goal before them, they were giving themselves unreservedly to that race. Those who had not so exceeded themselves had been left behind. and were an insignificant part of the background of the painting. The attention of the viewer was focused by the artist upon the two charioteers who strained, with all their might, towards the goal. That's what this passage, dear brother, dear sister, is about for you and I. There's a goal, there's an achievement, that you and I will come to. We sing of it from time to time, the crowning day that's coming. And there's a prize, but we ought to strive towards it. We ought to, as verse 14 says, press on towards it. And Paul, he gives us three pieces of advice in this passage this afternoon. The first piece is this, encouragement. Paul's wise encouragement. By the time that Paul was writing to the Church of Philippi, he'd gone down the Christian road. This reads some way. And he affirms his commitment to Christ as he says in verses 10 and 11, he says, 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." It's a staggering statement, those verses. It's quite an amazing affirmation and aspiration. He said, I want to know Christ. Now it's just not, he knows Christ as his saviour. You've got to understand this, we're talking about someone who is a saved man. But Paul has this stream, he has this inbuilt want that he wants to know Christ more, to be drawn closer to him, that he would know Christ each day of his life with better understanding, that he would have a closer relationship with Christ each and every day, that as he else, that he'd be drawn so close to him. He says with all his might, like those straining horses that Herdie Cross speaks about, with all his might, he wants to know Christ. Can I ask you, is that you? Can I ask you, dear Christian, is that your experience? That each day when you rise, that you say, I want to know Christ. And I want to know him better than I knew him yesterday. And I want to be drawn closer to him, the closer I get to that day when I see him face to face. Today, as you woke up this morning, did you have that inbuilt desire to your child of God to say, I want to know what the hell? This is what Paul's encouraging us to do in these verses. And you see Paul's commitment, it's staggering. And in the race of the Christian life, it's possible for some of us to think that we're just at the starting block still, And maybe you look around and you see other, what you feel are spiritual giants around you. And maybe you say, if I'm surrounded by these kind of individuals, well, if that's really what it's all about, then that type of commitment, well, how am I really supposed to live for Christ? How am I going to do it? Maybe you become intimidated by it all and it just causes you to stay stagnant and to stay at the starting block. And you listen to the others talking and he reverses like 10 or 11, you go, well that's Paul, he was a spiritual giant. Paul didn't start there. Paul was a long way down the road. He's been walking with Christ for a long, long time. But the one thing and desire that can be inbuilt into each one of us, that desire to say, I want to do Christ better today than I did yesterday. compare themselves to him, writes in verse 12, not as though I had already attained, neither were already perfect. He says I have already attained and this place is perfect. But then he looked ahead and he says, well, I still wrestle with sin. And there's still work to be done. I haven't attained. There was a time when Paul thought he had attained, and he spoke about it in verses 1 to 7 of chapter 3, when he judged himself to be blameless. But now I hear him, he says, not as though I've already attained. He says to the Christians and Philippians, I am not perfect, nor will I be in this life. Sinless perfection was not the experience of Paul this side of glory. Indeed he says in verse 13, Brother, I count not myself to have apprehended. Now Paul's goal was perfection, complete conformity to Christ. He says that in verse 11, but he hadn't attained it and wouldn't. You know there's some denominations even in this country and they'll try and tell you. not biblical teaching. The Bible tells us that we will wrestle with our sinful flesh until we have that resurrected body of Christ. Sinless perfection causes people to stagnate. Sinless perfection causes people not to strive, not to press towards because they think they've got there already. The mature Christian honestly evaluates himself and herself and strives to do better. And often in the Bible we're warned against this false estimate of our spiritual condition. Do you recall what the risen Lord Jesus Christ said to the church of Sars? He said, The church of Mediasea boasted that it was rich. When in God's sight, Revelation 3 verse 17, they were wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked. Samson thought he still had his old power, but in reality it had departed from him. Do you know something? Look at the end of verse 12, it says, But I follow after, if that I may apprehend that which also I am apprehending. press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Jesus Christ. Paul on his realisation that he wasn't perfect, he's dissatisfied. He wants to serve Christ better. It all folds out from this that I may know him and within this he has this, what I'm calling a sanctified dissatisfaction. He realised that there is still that sinful nature within him and he's going to fight it and fight it and fight it each day so that he may know Christ, so that he can press towards that goal and towards that mark. He says I want to know Christ, how am I going to do that? Well I realise I'm not perfect so each day I've got to strive harder. Sanctify the satisfaction. believers are self-satisfied. Do you know why? Because they compare their race, their running with other Christians and usually those who aren't running very well. Maturity in Christians and Christian living is actively at its beginning an awareness of what I'm not. Christian maturity is not exemplified It's a sign of immaturity to think of ourselves more highly than we are. Maturity rejects exaggerated claims. Maturity is marked instead by a sane estimate of our real spiritual progress. And Paul's wise encouragement to you and I is this, don't think more of yourselves than you are. Paul's wise encouragement. Secondly, I want you to see Paul's single focus. Look at verse 15. He says there, brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended. I don't count myself as getting to grips with all this yet. But look at the next phrase. It says, but this one thing I do. There's Paul's single focus. But what is the one thing that you do, Paul? Well, Paul goes on and he says, this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth onto those things which are before. To the exception of all else, he excludes all other competing interests and influence in his life. This one thing I do. For he knows that life is too short and life's too small to be scattered in a dozen directions, chasing a dozen dreams. This one thing I do. So what does he do? He compacts all his desires and all his strengths in one direction overall, and it's the highest and the best. It's to know Christ. Can you say that? This one thing I do is Christ and the things of Christ and of God, the highest thing in your life. The highest purpose, the highest direction, desire and goal of your heart is in Christ. Paul says in Hebrews that we're to set aside every weight and every sin that so easily besets us to roam the race, to win the prize, to the exception of everything else that we might He's pursued a single goal with a forgetfulness of the past. I think I'm right in saying that no one ever reached Christian maturity until they were able to deal with their past. That's why we ought to confess our sins. Maybe you're here today and you're stuck in spiritual sense, in your spiritual journey, in that run that we're talking about, maybe you've come across some mud, and you've just got stuck there in the mud, and you can't get out of it. And you can't move on, and you're stuck in something that has happened in the past. But Paul's formula is, this single goal that he has, is that you'll forget the things that are behind, and reach for And if you're going to strive to reach forward and strive for this spirituality, you've got to forget the past. But it's not done by mind tricks. And it's not done by physiological mantras. Saying things over and over again, you say, oh, forget it, it's fine. It can't be cancelled out by wishful thinking. But this forgetfulness that Paul talks about here can only be through confession, and confession of your sin, and correction of your life, and restitution. You see, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. That is not a gospel text. That was written to the child of God. 1 John was written to the believing church and that's what Paul wrote to Christians who were failing. If you will confess your sins, he is faithful and just to forgive your sins and cleanse you from all unrighteousness. Stop getting stuck in the mud. If there's something in your past, in your childhood, that's leaving you stuck in your spiritual journey, that you can't run any further, just stop today, even stop just now and say, Lord, I put it to you, I give it to you, your blood has cleansed my sin and I confess it Paul says this one thing I do, I'm forgetting the things which have gone before. I'm not getting stuck in things and the mistakes that I've made. Because it's going to stop me from living for you today. You've got to come to God and tell him that you've sinned. You've got to correct that problem in your life and repent of it. Restitution means that you've got to put right whatever you've done wrong and restore your fellowship with God. Listen, I'm not talking about someone who's not saved here. I'm talking about the child of God. We all feel that. The Bible calls us to keep us short of time. Dear child of God, don't get stuck. Christ died for that. If it could be that I'm talking to someone here in our gathering today, maybe it's See when you give it to the Lord, it's under the blood. Forget it. Isn't that wonderful? It's a not tremendously liberating when you think about that. But my friend, if you don't forget it, and you leave it as a better memory, and you don't leave it with the Lord, it'll take away your joy. You know, when Winston Churchill visited the United States during the war years, he remarked in the course of his conversation, present quarrels with the past there will be no future. If we hold on to the present quarrels with the past there will be no future. You know if we hold on to things that have happened in the past there will be no future. Now listen, Paul isn't just talking here but this He's not going to sit and say, well, look at all the work I've done for the Lord. I'm done. He's not looking back at the past and just enjoying these victories that he's had, the string of churches behind him that he's planted, hundreds and thousands of souls that have come to Christ, that he's led to Christ. He's suffered many things. We've read about it in the epistles and many of these epistles we don't call suffered so much. But it's not a soft pillow for Paul to hibernate his future upon. It wasn't something for him to look back and say, well, I've done it all. I've achieved what I needed to achieve for the Lord. I'm going to rest there. No future for me in God. His past, he said, was going to be a foundation, a springboard for pressing on. It's a foundation that he could go on and do greater things I want you to understand this, John, it doesn't mean you're still wrong. It means you've There are still souls out there who need to be reached for Christ. There are still children of God who are discouraged in these days that just need you to call in with them. Or just to write that wee card to them. Or drop that bunch of flowers round them just so that they know you care. Just so that they know that you're there for them. That's what a church fellowship is. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended, but this one thing I do, Paul's single focus, forgetting those things which were behind me and reaching forth onto those things which are ahead of me, which are before me. Then verse 14 says this, I am pressed towards the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. translation puts it, I press on towards the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. Paul speaks about the mark. That mark that he speaks about, is it not the finish line? That day when our faith will return to sight, Paul's consumed not only with running histories, but finishing histories. He dreamed of the day when he and many a believer starts out in this race so well that they don't finish so well. Paul not only wanted to finish the race, he also wanted to win the race. I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. The high calling. It literally speaks of an upward calling. It causes to look up and to strive. And in those days, when the contest was over, the winner would have taken the winner's stand and they would say to that winner, you've been called up. You've been called up. And the winner would then be presented with the victor's wreath. And Paul longed for the day when he was called up to the winner's stand and presented with his prize. And it seems for Paul that the goal and the glory were one and the same. Paul doesn't pause here to say what the prize is, but we know from other scriptures what he might have had in mind. There's the soul in his crown. 1 Thessalonians 2.16. There's the crown of life. James 1.12. There's the crown of righteousness. 2 Timothy 4.8. There's the crown of glory. 1 Peter 5.4. And there's the incorruptible crown. 1 Corinthians 9.24-27. The prize day is coming, dear child of God. Are you looking forward to it? Will you stand before the Lord in that day, and will you live with eternity in view as the child of God, as one who is striven for perfection, or will you be ashamed? Yes, you were in the race, but you fell behind. A question, but why overdo it? Take it easy. Don't make yourself a nuisance to the devil. One day, each Christian will stand before the judgment seat of Christ for almost 14 days. The Greek word for judgment seat is bema. The very same word was used to describe the place where the Olympic judges gave out the prizes. And on that prize-giving day, when you hear the master say, well done. Paul said at the end of it all, just before he was about to die, from the races and courts. AB Simpson says it's a picture of a man pressing forward on a race course with muscles strained to their utmost tension, with nerves alert, senses all alive to every advantage of the threat, and with his whole being intensely absorbed in the struggle for the prize which is flashing before the kindling eye for the open heavens where the great umpire stands, beckoning him on, holding out the glorious day. Let me ask you, how are you running the race this morning? Are you in the competition? Are you just a stadium spectator? Are you in the fight as a contestant? Are you on the sidelines as an observer? But what I do know is that each of us know that we've got to stride on, and press on, forgetting the past, and reaching forth. Know ye that they which run in a race for an awe have won the seat of the prize, so run that ye