Our text this morning will be found in the Epistle to the Philippians, Chapter 3, considering verses 8 to 11. We'll begin reading at verse 1. Once again, let's give our diligent attention to this reading of God's holy and fallible and perfect word. Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. For me to write the same things to you is not tedious, but for you it is safe. Beware of dogs. Beware of evil workers. Beware of the mutilation. For we are the circumcision who worship God in the spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. Though I also might have confidence in the flesh, if anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh, I more so. Circumcised the eighth day of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews, concerning the law of Pharisee. Concerning zeal persecuting the church concerning the righteousness, which is in the law blameless But what things were gained to me these I have counted loss for Christ Yet indeed I also count all things lost for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my lord For whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish That I may gain Christ and be found in him not having my own righteousness Which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ the righteousness which is from God by faith, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings being conformed to His death, if by any means I may attain to the resurrection from the dead." Let's follow this reading of God's holy word. Let us pray. Almighty God, we come now and ask You, Lord, that You would speak to Your people I pray, Lord, that I may fade away completely and that Christ Jesus may be high and lifted up, that He may draw all men unto Himself. And we pray, Lord, that Your Word would come forth in a demonstration of Your Spirit and power to the blessing of Your people, to the strengthening of Your people, to Your holy name and glory, we pray in Jesus' name. As we continue our exposition here of Philippians, we're here in chapter 3, and we saw, first of all, that Paul emphatically warns against false teachers or false teaching. And he uses no uncertain terms, calling them dogs, evil workers, even the mutilation. And we saw that Paul, last week, expounds on that. What exactly are the Philippian Christians and by extension us because this is the Holy Word of God written for our instruction are to look out for But the Philippians in particular were to look out for what is called a Judaizer a Judaizer Let's be clear on our terms is an individual who claimed to be a believer in Christ yet was seeking by the works of Old Testament Particularly ceremonial laws to be saved in addition to believing in Christ And Paul would have nothing to do with the idea of Christ plus anything. It's Christ and Christ alone in which believers have salvation. And in fact, the thing about the Judaizers is that they don't even understand the Old Testament, because in the Old Testament, all those shadows and types of Christ did not save them, but rather pointed them to Christ. It was always by faith in Christ Jesus and Christ alone that saved God's people. And as we come to our text this morning, Paul is continuing. We saw last week that Paul, if anyone had a right before God, as humanly speaking, to say that they have checked all the boxes and that they meet the criteria of being a believer, it was Paul. He was a Jew by birth. And not only that, he was a very specific kind of Jew. He was a Pharisee. And he was circumcised on the eighth day. And he followed all the traditions of the Jews, particularly of some of the false traditions of the Pharisees. But Paul says, he counts all of that, nothing that he may have Christ. We saw in verse 7 last week, but what things were gained to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. And we're going to see this morning that in union with Christ, believers abandon all things in light of the resurrected life we will have in Him. And we'll look at this beautiful truth under two main points, two main heads. First, union in Christ and abandoning all things. What does that mean? How does that look in the life of believers now? And second, union with Christ and the resurrected life. What does that mean and how that ought to look in our lives even now? So first, union with Christ and abandoning all things. Let's read verse eight again. yet indeed I also count all things lost for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish that I may gain Christ having just said in verse 7 that he Counted all things lost for Christ. He's more explicit here and says, yes, indeed, I have counted all things lost for the excellence of Christ. All things lost. But Paul is saying that everything or anything that sought my allegiance, anything that made me trust in it outside of Christ, I counted lost. And not only that, he will tell us that he counts it rubbish. And the Scriptures and those who interpret the Scriptures are being nice. The word there is refuse, garbage, things to be thrown away and useless. When something is thrown, when something is rubbish, it means that it has no purpose. It serves no purpose. It serves its purpose and is to be discarded completely. And not only discarded, but discarded with contempt. And that's the way the Apostle Paul feels of all things that used to claim his allegiance outside or even in addition to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, the imagery here, as I was studying for this passage, is the idea of, if you want to think of sailors on the high seas and there comes a storm and they have all these possessions and they're going to either have to choose, are they going to die with their stuff or are they willing to take everything and throw it overboard in order to save their lives? And that's the kind of imagery that the Apostle Paul would have us have in our minds as we think of this passage. And he's saying, not only did he throw it off of the ship in order to save his life, but he was glad to throw it. Because he wanted to be found in Christ and Christ alone. That none of these things mattered for him, but only Christ Jesus. So let's look at these a little bit more closely. First, all things. What all things did Paul lose? Well, of course, the context is the idea of his identity, the idea of his worth, and most importantly, the idea of his salvation being found in anything but the Lord Jesus Christ. He counted that loss. Now, perhaps you're wondering, as you consider a passage like this, well, what have I given up? Now, the passage is not saying This is important for us to know because Christian groups throughout the centuries have misunderstood scripture. It's not saying that you in fact have to lose everything to become a Christian. You don't have to go and make sure that you're a poor, without a home or anything in order to gain Christ. That's not Paul's teaching at all. But rather, it is, he is teaching that nothing can take the place of Christ. And in fact, if he were to become poor, if he did suffer the loss of everything, he would be okay as long as he has the Lord Jesus Christ. And that ought to be our attitude. Because when it's not, it's indicative of how we are still clinging, as we spoke about a little bit in Sunday School, to the things of this world. That we say we love God, but we're not willing to lose any of the benefits that we may have. Now, don't misunderstand me. The Apostle Paul, in fact, is not asking you to throw anything away. But rather, he is asking you to put aside anything and everything in which you derive your ultimate worth, in which you derive your relationship with the living God outside of Christ. Because only Christ and Christ alone must be the Lord. That's what the Apostle Paul is saying and he wants to explain why to him it didn't matter he would he's willing to throw everything overboard to his life be saved because he is found in Christ Jesus and this Christ the Apostle Paul tells us is excellent right he says here in verse 8 for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord the excellence of Christ Jesus is excellent then because he understands, he has seen by God's grace, the unfolding of God's wonderful plan. This wonderful gospel that God didn't leave us to ourselves. Brothers and sisters, you ought to thank God, if you're in Christ Jesus, that God didn't leave you to yourself. All you have to do is go back and read Romans chapter 1. It talks about the immorality and the filth that men do when God turns them over to yourself. You know what? The devil is an enemy. And you know what? The world is an enemy. But one of the worst enemies you will ever face is the sin that lies within your own heart. But the wonderful Gospel, the wonderful truth is, is that because of Christ Jesus, we can have salvation. Because of Christ Jesus, we can have a relationship with the Holy God of Israel. the untouchable one, the unapproachable one, has now, because of Christ, become our Father. And Christ Jesus, even our brother, as our Lord and Savior. What a wonderful gospel we have. And this excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus is not knowledge simply that there is a Christ. Right? Because you'll meet many people and you'll hear many teachings that claim Christ, but in fact have nothing to do with Him. Remember, the Lord Christ Jesus Himself says in the Gospel of Matthew, not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, I did. And even great miracles says, depart from me, you evil workers. You shall know them. How? By the miracles they do? No. By the things they say? No. But by their fruits. By their fruits, their whole life. Yes. Your mouth will show forth the Gospel of Christ. If Christ is working in you, and he does work in you, remember, the Apostle Paul has already told us in Philippians, it's not about you, it's not up to you, it's about God's grace in you. He who began a good work in you will complete it to the day of Christ Jesus. What a wonderful promise we have. This is the excellency of Christ Jesus, the one who was 100% perfect and who died for the sins of God's people and who God raised from the dead for our justification. that we may have life and life in him. This is the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, who he says, not only Christ Jesus, right, but this is what differentiates the reality of Christianity as opposed to the mere mentioning of Christianity that we encounter, even sometimes hypocritically in our own lives, but he says in Christ Jesus, my Lord, my Lord, my master. Only Christ alone can be our master. And to know Christ is to know him as Lord. For whom the Apostle Paul says, I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish that I may gain Christ. Those things were not only necessary to throw overboard, but they were in fact nothing but garbage that needed to be separated from him that he may have Christ and Christ alone. that he may gain Christ. This is the same apostle Paul who earlier in this epistle, right? Remember, we are reading, we're looking at Philippians as we have it exposited to us throughout many weeks. But when you had Philippians, it was originally one letter, so they would have read all of this at once, right? And he's already said, for him to live is Christ, to die is gain. You see, because this world doesn't have nothing on him. This world doesn't possess him. You see, the Apostle Paul is the same one who will teach that all things that are legitimate are ours. This world will belong to us, and in fact we inherit it, right? Blessed are those who are meek, they will inherit the earth. And thus we don't live our lives and we don't find our ultimate purpose in the things of this world, even the legitimate things of the world, but rather we find our lives in Christ and Christ alone. Because when you love Christ and you adore Him and worship Him, all the other things turn away. All the other things become rubbish as they did for our beloved Apostle Paul. And as it does for every true believer in Christ Jesus, those born of His Spirit by the grace of the living God. And the Apostle Paul continues, right? We saw the Apostle Paul there speaking of union with Christ and abandoning all things. Remember, it's not the idea that you physically have to lose everything, but the idea that you in fact would lose everything. for Christ's sake. You, in fact, would do anything for Christ's sake. And of course, Christ is the Son of the living God, the second person of the Holy Trinity, the Holy One Himself. And what did He do? He obeyed the will of His Father. You want to grow closer to the Lord? You want to truly leave all things behind? Seek by God's grace to obey His word, to love the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself. Notice that wonderful truth, right? Love your neighbor as yourself. You don't have a problem loving yourself. You may think that an individual who in fact abuses themselves doesn't love themselves, but in fact, it's indicative of the fact that they care so much about themselves, they don't care about anybody else. Ultimate selfishness. I don't have to teach you to love yourself. We, by God's grace, need to be taught to love one another. to love God more than ourselves, to esteem others greater than ourselves. The Apostle Paul explicitly says this here in Philippians. But let us look at also union with Christ and the resurrected life. Let's read verses 9 to 11 again. And be found in him not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if by any means I may attain to the resurrection from the dead." Do you notice how the Gospel is so much different from a lot of things you hear that the Gospel is? How many preachers do you hear preaching about the sufferings of Christ? How many preachers do you hear telling you about that you have to be conformed to His death? How many of you really want to hear that? Not many, right? But thanks be to God, He hasn't left us to ourselves, right? Thanks be to God that He has saved us in Christ Jesus. Thanks be to God that He is working in us and He's conforming us to His image of Christ Jesus. But remember, to be Christ and to live a life honoring to Christ, you must be as He is. And what characterized his life? Obedience to the Father's Word and much suffering. Much suffering for you and for me. The Apostle Paul says in verse 9, to be found in him. What a wonderful thing. He counts all things rubbish to gain Christ. To be found in him. Not in anything else. Not in his own strength. but to be found in Christ and Christ alone, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ." Now, it's important for us to address this, right? Not having my own righteousness, which is from the law. Because, in fact, it may seem that the Apostle Paul is saying that one could, in fact, gain righteousness through the law. But in fact, we know that that's not the truth of the matter. But rather, the Apostle Paul is saying that, in fact, I can't get righteousness through the law. And that's why we need faith and righteousness through Christ, because the righteousness one might claim by works is, in fact, no righteousness at all. You see, what he earlier said, that here in verse six, concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. Blameless according to who? You see, he was a Pharisee, right? And what do we know about the Pharisees? Yeah, they knew a lot about the Lord and the law, but they had created their own law. They had created a false law. Yeah, sure, you can meet any standard if you lowered it low enough, right? That's the problem a lot of times with education, right? We think that we're, in fact, helping others by lowering the standards. But you see, standards are made for a purpose. And now we're talking about the law of God. You can't lower the standards of the law of God, because God is perfect and holy. And no one will see the Lord who's not holy. No threat. No threat, people of God. Your holiness is not found in you. This is exactly what the Apostle Paul is saying. His righteousness comes by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. What he's saying is, God, please don't judge me in accordance to the law outside of Christ. Because guess what? You're not going to stand. You're not going to stand. Nor could you stand. Because God is perfect and holy. We must always keep the whole counsel of God. Yes, we love to talk about His love. We love to talk about His mercy and compassion. It reminds me when I was in seminary, just to share something anecdotal, and I was late with a paper. I was quick to quote the right scripture, right? That God is merciful and long-suffering and gracious. But God is also just. And if your paper's late, your grade's going to suffer, my friend. We can't try to use God as our own personal genie to get by life. You see, that's not having Christ. That's not union with Christ. And the thing about it, believers, is that we do suffer through these things. And we do, in fact, struggle with them. The reality of what it means to be in Christ, that's found in accordance with His Word. But you notice, right, the Apostle Paul also talks in Ephesians, there's a spiritual battle, right? If it was so easy, it wouldn't be no problems. I'm in Christ, and that's good, and that's it, and I believe that, and I live my life. But what happens? You have to face temptations. You have to face trials. You have to suffer. Then where's your faith? Then is the Lord Jesus Christ the Lord of your life. Then are you truly saying, I'm willing to lose everything to be found in Him, in Him alone, where the rubber meets the road? The Apostle Paul is saying, look, I don't want righteousness from the law because, in fact, there is no righteousness in the law without Christ, but rather that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith, by faith. The Christian life's about faith, right? We live by faith and not by sight. See, the world has it topsy-turvy, right? They have it the other way around. You live by sight. That's why we have many individuals who will do many things, go to great lengths to protect their image, whether it be physical or status or whatever it is. But God sees the heart. An individual can fool the church. An individual can fool even godly people. But no one can fool the God of heaven and earth. We all stand bare before him. And the only way you can come to Christ, as Calvin says in commentating on this particular passage, is to be found naked in front of him, but clothed with the righteousness of Jesus Christ himself, the Holy One of Israel. God did not only leave us to ourselves, but he himself came that we could be saved. No one comes to the Father, Christ Jesus said, except through me. He is the way, the truth, and the life. And it's only He and His law, His word, that He guides and keeps His people. Because as we've already said, and we must remember, what was the context here, right? Beware of dogs. Beware of evil workers. Beware of the mutilation. Because there's, in fact, many people who come in the name of Christ who have nothing to do with Christ at all. And you church, it's your concern to be sure to be found in Him and Him alone and His righteousness and in accordance with His Word. It's indicative on us to be in the Word, to know the Word, to be about the Word, that we can be a people of the Word by God's holy grace. And remember, this faith, excuse me, this righteousness comes by faith, faith that God Himself gives us as a gift. We hear the Apostle Paul telling us earlier in Ephesians, right? You're saved by grace through faith and that not of yourselves is a gift of God for your God's workmanship created unto good works What a wonderful gospel we have in Christ Jesus And the Apostle Paul continues there now this powerful verse here 10 All of this of course is the Word of living God all of its powerful and effective to do God's will Let's look at verse 10 that I may know him him being Christ and the power of his resurrection and and the fellowship of his sufferings and being conformed to his death." Well, we like the first one, right? The power of the resurrection. But where does the power lie? The power doesn't lie in what you think the power should lie in. The power doesn't lie in getting you what you want. The power lies in the truth of God's Word that God, being merciful to you, sent Christ Jesus to die for your sins, which you ought to have died for. You may become the righteousness of God in Him. That's the power of the resurrection. That's the truth of God's Word. And He continues, right? In the fellowship of His sufferings and being conformed to His death. The power of the resurrection is not that on here on earth and now you will have no problems and you will be rich and there will be no difficulties. No. The power of the resurrection is that in this life you're going to suffer and you're going to have trials and you're going to have difficulties. But the power is that you're going to be raised. And that your life is not found here, but you're hidden in Christ. And the world itself, the Scriptures tell us, Paul tells us in Romans, groans for what? The revealing of God's children. Because we are holy through Christ. Now what an interesting way to place it. The fellowship of His suffering. I'm a fellowship type of man. I haven't had an opportunity to have fellowship with many of you, and I pray that the Lord be merciful and grant me many years here to have fellowship with you. But one fellowship I don't really particularly care for are fellowships of suffering. But notice, this is God's working, right? The Apostle Paul is speaking by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit himself, that this suffering is, in fact, a fellowship. It's a bond that we have in Christ Jesus. Being in Christ is being conformed to His image. And what did Christ come to do? He came, as the Apostle Paul already has told us in chapter 2 of Philippians, right? He lowered Himself. He humbled Himself even to the point of death. And we have the great honor, now hear me church, we have the great honor of fellowship with Christ. You see, whereas the world will say, oh man, look at them, they have all these problems. Of course, the world has their own problems, but they have big mouths. They act as if we don't see the reality for them. But even just to answer their critique, they look at us and say, all these problems, why do you serve God? Because they don't understand the fellowship that we have with Christ Jesus. the fellowship of the Holy Spirit abiding in us and enabling us to be in God's Word, to obey His Word, to come amongst the saints and to worship God, to hear the preaching of the Word, to pray with one another, to sing with one another, to do family devotions, to have a personal relationship with God and yourself do private devotions. See, yes, I may be suffering, but I have fellowship. I'm not at it alone. You know, I'm not one for the big sentimental, you know, the footprints in the sand type of thing. But there is a truth there, that as we go through suffering, as we go through difficulties, Christ is with us! And not only is Christ with us, as Paul says in Romans 8, He is for us! And who can bring a charge against God's elect? It was Christ who died for us! And also was raised for our justification. So no matter what you're going through, Church of God, God knows each and every one of your names. He knows each and every one of your situations. If you're in Christ Jesus, it's a fellowship. He loves you. He will keep you. You might say, well, Pastor, you know, that sounds all nice and dandy and good, and perhaps, at least from far away, it's great. But you don't know what I'm going through. And you're right. I don't know. And that's OK. Because I'm not claiming to be God. But I am claiming to serve the one who is the creator of heaven and earth, the one by the power of his word made the heavens and the earth in six days and that very good. the One whose very Word upholds the entire universe even now while we speak. And if you're in Him, it doesn't matter what you're going through. It's going to be okay because Christ is your portion. Christ is your inheritance. And if you're in Christ, you have all things, my friend. All things. And that's why even your pain and your sorrow and your sufferings becomes a fellowship. Because God is by your side and God is working in you in accordance with His sovereign will to do His purposes. that Christ, not you, Christ may be glorified in his people. And be conformed to his death. Conformed to his death. I like the power of the resurrection, right? But be conformed to his death. Apostle Paul, when he says that, I think one of the great applications of it as, once again, a commentator says, is that we should look at this in two ways. First, there's the dying to oneself, right, and the holiness. That you've died to your sins. You died to your sins. Why are you still living in them? That's what the Apostle Paul talks about in Romans. Right? In Romans, he begins showing that everyone's sinners and deserves condemnation, that salvation is a free gift of God by faith. And then, you know, our sinful rationality says, well, if I'm forgiven, then it doesn't matter what I do. I can live my life as I want. And the Apostle Paul says, are you crazy? Are you out of your mind? If you died with Christ Jesus, you died to sin. And now you must live to Him and to holiness. So being conformed to his death is first being conformed in your spiritual life, in your sanctification, dying to the old man. Picking up your cross, which is not fun. He's not thinking of the little wooden things that you find, a little trinket when you're walking down the street. No, no, no. That'd be easy, right? Pick up your cross and follow him. That'd be really easy. No. He's talking about pick up your cross, the burden that we will have to face, the suffering we will go through, and follow him. And in order to do that, you have to die to yourself. to your old ways, to live for Him. And also, we're conformed to His death, and many of us will be, by actual death. Many of us will face death, as the Apostle Paul himself faced death. But you see, it was a conformity that he knew. He knew no matter what happened to him, that being found in Christ, not anything, not even death itself, can claim Him. It's what the Apostle Paul talks about in Corinthians, right? He says what? Oh, death, where's your sting? Because Christ has defeated even the grave and death. Thus, even though we've conformed, many of us will be conformed and die before Christ comes. Death cannot have you. Because we go and we know we'll be with him in paradise the moment we physically die. But not only that, my friend, your body is not going to stay in the ground or wherever you died. No, but your body will be raised. Because you will be like Christ Jesus. And there is a new heaven. And there is a new earth. And we will reign with Him forever and ever and ever. Do you believe that? That's the Gospel. And we have that because of Christ. And that comes with a conformity to His death. Look at verse 11. If by any means I may attain to the resurrection from the dead, Now, it's very important, as Paul seems, seemingly, his language seems doubtful, if by any measure I may attain the resurrection. But you see, Paul's seeming doubt is not doubt at all. We know that he is secure in Christ, and he knows, as he said already, to live is Christ, to die is gain. He's not doubting it, but rather, in this phraseology, the Apostle Paul is dealing with the reality of the struggles you're going to have in the Christian life. That as you go through these sufferings, as you in fact will die, you perhaps will go through difficulty. You perhaps will doubt. But guess what? That doubt's unfounded. And even as you're struggling through it, it is God who works in you both to will and to do. The Apostle Paul already said this, right? To do according to his good pleasure. It is God who began a good work in you. If it was left up to you, you'd be in trouble, my friends. I'm sorry to tell you. But the Gospel is not about you. The Gospel is about the Son of the living God. who loved me, who not only loved us, but gave his life for us, that we could be the righteousness of God in him, the Son of God, who is the excellency that we're willing to give everything up for, who came to die for us. Not only did he come to die for us, but while we were yet sinners. And in fact, we will attain the resurrection from the dead. We will attain the resurrection of dead because the one who died for our sins was raised already. You can go and try to look for his grave. In fact, they're not sure they know the precise location. It doesn't matter. Guess what? He's not there. He's seated at the right hand of God the Father, and he'll return in accordance with his timing, which he says no man knows but the Father in heaven. And we need not fret, because neither life nor death, no principalities or anything, shall separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus. And as we have our fellowship with Him and our suffering, as we have our fellowship with Him in the midst of even our own doubts, we know that being found in Him, we are the righteousness of God because of Him. And that's why we want to be found in Him. And that's why in the Gospels it talks about if you found great treasure, you sell everything, right, to claim that land. The pearl of great price that Christ talks about, that we must give all to God. and be found in Him and Him alone, in Christ Jesus our Lord. This is the gospel. It's a gospel that, in fact, has demands on you, but demands that God Himself, in His mercy and His love, enables you to meet. Namely, be found in Christ Jesus, and then being conformed to His image, you live a life of holiness and of good works, which are the fruit of God's work in you. God is the one who works through you. God is the one who is pleased to be glorified in your lives. What a wonderful Gospel we have. So I want to challenge us all. Living in the reality of union with Christ, are you still clinging to the things of this world? Are you still clinging to the things of this world? I love you, Jesus, but just this thing. I love you, Jesus, but don't mess with that one. I can't deal with it. Flee to Christ. Pick up your cross and follow Him. Are you putting your salvation in any other thing? Is your security or is your worth, your ultimate worth found in any other thing than Christ? Throw it away. It's nothing but rubbish. You cannot stand before the Almighty God outside of Christ Jesus. And you believers in Christ Jesus, You're called to live in accordance with his word. You're called to be as he is. He lives and he will come for us. And he lives in us. And the power of his resurrection is not simply that we're raised on the last day, but that power lives in us now as we live holy lives, as we share the gospel, as we see God working miracles in that people are dead in their sins, but God raises them spiritually that they become one with Christ. And not only does He raise them spiritually, He will raise them on the last day. What a glorious gospel we have. We ought to be about living for it. We ought to be about believing it. We ought to be about Christ and Christ alone. May He and He alone be raised in your life, that He can draw you and your entire being to Himself. May He be praised forever and ever. Amen. Merciful King, we thank You for Your Word. We pray now that You would apply it to our hearts by the power that works in us that raised Christ from the dead, namely, Your holy and wonderful Spirit. In Jesus' name we pray and ask it. Amen.