Please turn your Bibles to Philippians chapter three. They sang about the higher ground, pressing on to the higher ground. And we're going to sing that tonight, and I believe in the congregational song, when you come back at five. But this is our theme for the year, pressing toward the mark. And it's really basic to our Christian living. If you're in Philippians chapter three, and you find verse number 10 through 14, we'll start by reading that passage. It says there that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his suffering 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, but it says either we're already perfect, but I follow after if that I may apprehend that for which I also am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I caught 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. Pressing toward the mark. Let's have a word of prayer and ask for God's blessing on the message. Heavenly Father, I pray for the power of your Holy Spirit this morning. I pray, Lord, you know we are depending upon you to do a work. Lord, in my heart, in the hearts of our people, God, we would not be content with where we are, but desire to have the highest calling possible, to answer everything in our life to this one main purpose. Please direct our thoughts today in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. I just want to give you, before I get started, a word that Not to be concerned, you know, I have four points to my message today, and four main points, as I often do. But if I don't tell you that we're gonna only preach the first two this morning, you're gonna be thinking halfway through the first point that this is gonna take forever. And so we're gonna preach point one and two this morning, and then three and four this evening. There's a natural break there anyway, and as the Lord has led us, to do this, it's not half a thought, it's just a big dinner and we're gonna split it into two different places. And so what is the highest and holiest calling or best ambition an individual can give their life to? And I think you and I could come up with some possible answers. How about having to live a holy life? And I'm sure that that is a high ambition. The Lord has asked us to do that over and over again, be holy as I am holy. But according to this passage, that's not the highest ambition for an individual. What about being a great soul winner? We've dedicated our building last year to the cause of the Great Commission, and we are evangelistic. We go out to reach the lost. We ask you to bring your unsaved relatives into church so we might see them hear the gospel and get saved. We are interested in soul winning. We give to missions. We're involved in missions. But I believe we could find from this passage an even higher ambition. And what I'm talking about here is if you could have the goals that you have, if you finished every goal in your heart, what would you have at the end of that? And I'll tell you that that is your ambition. that are a set of things that you would have. You say, my goal is to retire well. Well, there's nothing wrong with that, but is that the highest and most important goal of your life? And if you could reach all of those goals that you have, what would you have? And when you examine that, then you have the answer to what you have set up in your own heart as the highest achievement. But from this passage, I believe we have what should be considered the highest calling. In verse number 14, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. The greatest Christian I have ever heard of is the Apostle Paul, a believer who withstood all the sufferings that he is talking about. When he wrote verse number 10, he knew what it was like to have an involvement in the fellowship of the sufferings of Jesus Christ. And he is writing the Philippian letter, the epistle to the Philippians, from really a dungeon, we believe the Mamertine prison in Rome. He's already a prisoner by the time this epistle is written. And like Bunyan, when he wrote the Pilgrim's Progress from that jail cell, He didn't know if he'd ever get out. I believe that he did get out. I have in my understanding of the New Testament that he got out and made another journey, a short journey, and was then arrested over there. But Alexander the coppersmith turned him in and he was brought back to Rome and under Nero. He's about to be executed somewhere in the winter of 68 to 69 AD, when that crazy emperor was about to burn down the city of Rome in the summer in June of 69. And this great apostle is ready now to be offered. And he's writing from this prison saying, I don't know if I'll ever get out of this prison. And so he's got time to think, and he says, you know what the highest calling is? And he writes it down in verse number 10. Take a look there. Those first few words, that I may know him. Do you know what the greatest ambition that you and I could have in this world? It's not some kind of race to get all the spiritual points that we can get before we go to heaven. It certainly isn't physical, like who could have the biggest house. The world, we know, is impressed by those things. Who could have the greatest education, the most degrees? Who could have the greatest bank accounts, the retirement accounts? In fact, the physical things are really not that important anymore to the apostle. But he says, the greatest thing that I know is that I may know Him. That is the ambition of Paul. And he says, if you go back, he says, brethren, in verse number 13, I count not myself to have apprehended, but this one thing I do. So it's a singular focus. You know, have you ever met people, and I have this tendency, I like to have my hands in a lot of things. I like to know something about everything. I like to say I'm a jack of some trades and a master of none. Because there's always something new to learn, and I like that. But life itself cannot be spread out so thinly that you could be involved in everything else and miss the most important thing. You can't fill, you will fill your life up. If you do that, you'll miss the most important thing, that I may know Him. Paul says, hey, I don't think I've apprehended, okay, and I'm going to talk about what that meant in verse number 12 and 13. He says, I know I'm not there yet. He said, but this one thing. I do. We're thinking this morning really about one step higher. The higher calling of God. What does God want you to live for? Why doesn't He just save you and take you home to heaven the moment you trust Christ as your Savior? But rather He has a purpose for your life. And it's one of the greatest parts about being saved is to know that there is a grand purpose for your life. You aren't here just to keep your grass mowed and at this time of year to keep your driveway shoveled, right? We are living for a purpose that is given to us, not from within our own heart, like the world says, always look within you, follow your heart, do these things. But we have something bigger than that, and that is the purpose given to you by God himself. And the greatest ambition is accomplished when we get to know him personally, intimately. What is God's high calling? To know Jesus Christ. There are so many people who settle for far, far less in life. He speaks here in that verse, if you go back to verse number 10, that I may know him in the power of his resurrection. Yes, but look what it says next, in the fellowship of his suffering, being made conformable unto his death. What does that mean? Well, I believe what it means is it causes us to ask the question, Are the things I'm living for worth Jesus dying for? Conformable unto his death. That's what it means to be conformable to this death. And are the things that I'm living for worth Jesus giving his life on Calvary? I mean, is the purpose for Christ dying on the cross our bank accounts and our riches and our wealth or our education or really our influence upon others in this world? And the Apostle says, I have found something that's much more worthy of Jesus. And it's that I may know Him. All these other goals are really below this. The high calling of God in Christ Jesus is that I may know him. And this was the secret of Paul's success. His life was molded by this. His life was controlled. His ambition, everything was there. Really an obsession with these words, that I may know him. Now, as I said, I want to give you four things. I want to put it upon your heart, if I can. I can only give them to your ears. I'm asking God to put it upon your heart. Four things that we can see from this passage of Scripture. Really, four principles that you could have for life that could be put, maybe indelibly, upon your conscience, that you will not forget these things. Four things we must have. Number one, we need to fix. our focus, fix our focus. Look again in verse number 10, if you need to, it says, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection. The first thing we need in our life to go on for God in the right direction is that we would put our focus off of the things of this world and place them squarely upon Jesus himself. You know what replaces that a lot of times? is an attitude of the extra. We say, well, you know, in my life I have blah, blah, blah, blah, one, two, three aspects of my life. Oh, and I have my religion too. And religion is not something that's added to a busy life. It becomes the center focus, Jesus. The trappings of religion also do this. People get interested in the things you do for the Lord rather than the Lord himself. We can be so busy for God in the things that we're doing for God, but yet you could backslide while you have a Bible right underneath your arm, carrying it with you. And backsliding can be kind of summarized to the very fact of not dwelling upon the relationship with Jesus Christ. True Bible Christianity can be reduced to knowing Jesus Christ personally. Knowing Him as your Savior first, that takes care of your destiny. But knowing Him intimately so that you're walking with Him day by day, moment by moment. God wants you to know Him personally. We should know Him intimately. I'm not, therefore, interested today in what are your most important doctrines. And you know, I teach theology. I, I love studying doctrines. I believe I'm, I know what I believe and I believe you ought to know what you believe. But the focus of our present issue is that we might look beyond that right now and ask the question, do you walk with Jesus Christ? That I may know him. When we get to heaven, we're going to see him face to face. We have that wonderful song, Face to Face with Christ my Savior. Pause for a moment. Will that be a reunion with the one you know so well here? Or is that going to be much of an introduction to one who saved you personally from your sins, but you experimentally know so little about him? And I know Christ. I don't know him as I ought to know him, I know that. I've got a lot to learn. Like the Apostle Paul, I have to say, I'm far from where I want to be. But Jesus is more than a doctrine. To me, he is a person. A person I talk with and walk with, and you ought to want that same relationship. And I know to an extent we all do. But to set it as our focus This one thing we do. How the Apostle Paul, who was an old warrior, now in prison ready to die, and he was still talking about knowing Jesus. It's something that never disappears. Say, what is the greatest thing in all the world to know Jesus? Imagine what your life would be without knowing him. Knowing him for eternity becomes the issue. You say, I don't know Christ is my Savior. Well, then there isn't any hope for that person. You need to be saved. But if you don't know him in this life, then with whom are you walking? He says, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. We preached on last week. But the fact of that, the very fact of that is ignored if our hearts are not focused upon knowing him personally, talking and walking with Jesus, my Savior. How well do you know him? And here we have the secret of living a holy life, okay, is that I may know Him. Say, Pastor, I'm struggling with certain sins. Okay, this is it. I'm not even, I'm talking about a struggle with a particular sin or even so far as addictions in this world. Say, Pastor, I have been addicted, or as a Christian, maybe you're not, you don't have any kind of substance addiction or some kind of evil thing, but you say, I have struggles with this, and let me tell you the answer to that. That I may know Christ. And when you know him and walk with him, he gives you power. Look at verse number 10 again, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection. So isn't that powerful? Say how powerful is the resurrection? Well, I find it very interesting in the Bible that the Bible says that when you find out who raised Jesus from the dead, the Lord says that He raised Himself from the dead. Then it says later that the Father raised Him from the dead, and it even says that He was quickened by the Holy Spirit. He was raised by the Trinity. God was involved in this operation. But what is the resurrection to us? I'll tell you what, let's see if we can do this. Let's go down, if you will, down over to that cemetery, Mountain View Cemetery, and let's all gather around and somebody come up with some ideas about how to raise the dead. Right? Are we going to succeed? Is there anybody here that has any kind of idea how to produce that? And if we did, let's get done with the cemetery, walk up to the hospital, and accomplish the same thing there. Pastor, nobody can be raised from the dead like that. Exactly. So when the Lord is putting the superlative upon His promise of His power, He doesn't call it the power to digest your food, the power to speak, or the power to see, the power to do certain things. He says, I'm going to tell you, it's the ultimate of power upon this earth, and it is the power of God's ability to raise the dead. It's our hope, isn't it? That we're looking for one day. These old bodies get old and they die, they fall apart. And we put them in the ground and our soul goes and stands before God. If you're saved, if you're not, you wake up in the torment of hell. But we bury these bodies and we awaken the presence of God as a soul. And the promise is that one day down the road, the Lord's going to resurrect those. And in the process, those that have already died, he said, they will be raised incorruptible. And then we which are alive, if we're alive during this time, he said, we will be changed. 1 Corinthians chapter 15 and in 1 Thessalonians chapter four. By the way, we get a new body. Can somebody say amen? with no pain, no restrictions. And the Bible even says in 1 John 3 that it'll be like Christ's resurrected body. Do you remember he could still eat? I thought somebody'd say amen to that. At least my father-in-law, we like to eat. We like to eat. And He ate with His disciples in His resurrected body. And the Bible speaks about the great supper in heaven, about the supper of the Lamb and His bride and coming together and enjoying these things that God wants you to enjoy, but not limited to this old world. Certainly without the flesh that wants to sin any longer. What a glorious thing this is. But God says, hey, I'm going to fix your focus upon knowing Him. And accompanying that will come great power. If you know him in this way, you also realize that your earthly things become less important. Okay, look back, if you will, just a few verses in verse number, let's go back to verse number three. of the chapter, and I want you to see, Paul is going to list here all of his pedigree. I mean, he's a big guy. He's like, after you get done, you think he's got more degrees and a thermometer, and he's got more experience than the entire, I was gonna say the government, but they don't often know what they're doing. Anyway, verse number three, for we are the circumcision, talking about being Jewish, which worship God in the spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. When you get to know Christ, you're no longer confident in yourself. There's a transformation that happens for a Christian even. In verse 4, though I might also have confidence in the flesh, if any other man thinketh whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more. He said, now listen to my history. And he's going to do it for a moment just to make a point. He said, I was circumcised the eighth day of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin and Hebrew of the Hebrews, touching a law of Pharisee concerning zeal, persecuting the church, touching the righteousness, which is of the law, blameless. You get that righteousness, which is of the law. The Lord says your righteousness has to exceed that. You need the righteousness, which is of faith. He's talking about his life before he was saved. Hmm. And, but when he came to know Christ, look at verse seven. But what things were gained to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea, doubtless I count all things, but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ. and being found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which was of the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is God by faith, that I may know Him. When you know Him, this earthly life doesn't seem so important. It is that phenomena that gets you through all of the temptations to sin. Because there's something so much better to live for, is this close walk with Jesus. Amen. Your journey, then, is never alone. I mentioned earlier from last week's Sunday morning service, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. But if you're not really getting to know Jesus Christ in an experimental way, well, then, He is there with you because of His promise. I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. Coming upon an individual the day they were saved and their heart was born again, and at that point, the Bible says you were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise. But in a practical way, you could end up living your life as though he's not with you, because your focus is not fixed upon knowing him. I mean, he could be there, but you haven't talked. It's like, could you imagine being married and never speaking to your spouse? Can you imagine just never even talking and just go on with life? And you say, pastor, that wouldn't be a good marriage. Hopefully nobody's saying, that's my experience. But you're saying, that wouldn't be a right marriage, and I would agree with you, that's not the right kind of marriage, but yet so many people are living their lives, God is with them, but practically speaking, their focus is on so many other things, except that I may know Him. Your walk becomes victorious because of His power. I'm gonna go on to the next passage, but look at verse number, I think I wanna explain for you verse number 11 and 12. It says, if by any means I may attain unto the resurrection of the dead. Now, this verse has been misunderstood as if Paul was trying to earn the resurrection of the dead. The first thing I want to explain is that, you know, in interpreting the Bible, we need a harmony of the beliefs of what God says. He doesn't contradict himself. But I'll tell you an examination of this passage that the word attained there means to, in very same words, means to arrive. It is like he is waiting to the point when he arrives at a certain condition. And then the word for resurrection is a real special word. It is a word that has a prefix. So the normal word for resurrection in the Greek is anastasis. And this one is the only place it's used. So it's a hapax legomena, which means it's only used one time in the New Testament. It has a prefix of ex. And so it's ex anastasis. You say, Pastor, what does that mean? It means that not just the resurrection, he's already sure of his resurrection. He's saying from out of those that are raised to obtain a place. So he was looking for reward. He wasn't just looking for his resurrection, he already knew in verse number nine, he's explained, I've obtained the righteousness, which is not of the law, but by faith. And here I want to see if I could ever get to the place where out of those that are raised, I could obtain or arrive at a place of great achievement. Wow, is that okay for us? No, it's not just okay, it's what we are pressing toward the mark for. Now I want you to know that this is, though he's writing from a prison, he gets out of the prison, he goes back into prison, and his last epistle that he writes, he writes to Timothy a second letter. And in 2 Timothy chapter four, where he tells him, preach the word and be instant, in season, out of season. And he goes on and tells him some instructions. He describes himself, beginning in verse number six through eight, and he says the following words. He said, for I am now ready to be offered. Now Nero's about to chop off his head. This is exactly what happened in probably about this time of the year in 69 AD. This great warrior for God, who had been shipwrecked three times, at least four times, because he said he was shipwrecked three times in 1 Corinthians, and then we read that was before the experience in Acts chapter 27. He's been a night and the day he spent out in the ocean in the deep. He's been beaten. over and something like 149 stripes on his back. They stoned him at Lystra and left him for dead. The disciples came around and prayed, and he woke up from that, whether he was dead or not, but he was left for dead. This is a man who, as a great warrior for God, marched out into that area where they, to the chopping block by Nero's command, severed his head. In his last epistle, he writes, I am ready to be offered and my time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight. I have finished my course. Grab a hold of what he's saying. I have kept the faith. Henceforth, there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness. Which the Lord, the righteous judge shall give me at that day. And not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearance. You connect those two passages together and you find that Paul had his focus fixed on something. He said, when I get there, I want Jesus to be pleased with my life. He says in Philippians, some few years before this, in like 66 AD, writing the book of Philippians, he says, I haven't attained, I've not gotten to this place of this out of the resurrection arrival at something good. But he said, I'm pressing toward that mark. And weeks before they take his life, he writes, I've got there. I'm walking with Jesus. And in that prison cell, he would ring out these words as the most important focus of your life, that I may know him. Been some times in my life as a pastor, I don't know really what the answers are. And I'd like to go to the Apostle Paul and say, Paul, down in that prison, Debbie and I have visited that prison. Oh, they've cleaned it all up. You know, they've got nice shiny floor where it probably was damp and rodent infested. They have steps that come down. He was probably just dropped in that little cavernous place in the city of Rome. And I'd like to go there and say, Paul, can you give me some advice? And from that damp cell, you'd hear those words, Don, the most important thing in your life, that I may know him. He'd tell you, fix your focus. Fix your focus. We got our eyes on so many different things, but the Lord wants us to fix our focus upon him. Secondly, second point, face your faults. Verse number 12, he says, not as though I had already attained. All right. Either we're already perfect. He said, but I follow after if that I may apprehend that for which I am apprehended of Christ. Said I'm going after something. It is my obsession. It's my goal. But I have to admit I'm not there yet. If you want God's blessings upon your life, you can't be the kind of Christian that says that forward progress has come to a cease. I've come to the place where, you know, I'm satisfied with where I'm at. I'm not going to grow anymore in my knowledge of the Lord Jesus, either in my mind, my heart, or in my experimental knowledge of God. I'm not going to grow closer to him. I am just satisfied where I am. And hence the song that was sung, I'm pressing on the upward way. None of us here have arrived and we won't arrive. The Lord has a plan for us, a purifying. He calls it this idea of sanctification. And a principle here, though, is this truth. If you are satisfied with your life now. You are aiming too low. You're aiming too low. Well, Pastor, I'm as holy as I want to be. Are you? Then you're aiming too low. I'm as committed to God now as I want to be. Then your aim is too low. You say, I've done everything that I know to do. Exactly. There's a lot of this that the Lord reveals to us through his word and living in this relationship with your heart and your focus fixed upon Christ that you and I looking at our faults can say, I've got a long way to go. I've got to march forward for God. There's a lot of holiness that needs to be obtained. There's a lot of ground that needs to be broken up in my life. I want to know Him and the power of His resurrection. And even if it's the fellowship of His sufferings. Jesus wants you to long for Him. That's the whole focus of the Bible. Like Psalm 63, he says, this is my God, and he says, I'm thirsting for him in a dry and thirsty land where no water is, to see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary. It really comes down to wanting more from God. It deals with facing your faults. Like Paul, he, of anybody, should have said, hey, look, I built a church. Do you know how many churches he started? We have no idea. We know some of the letters, like written to the Philippians. But did you know, like in Galatians, did you know that at the first verse it says, unto the churches, plural, in Galatia? Because Galatia's not a city. Galatia was a region in Asia Minor, today Turkey, where in there he was Lystra, one of one, Derby, and these other places that Paul planted these churches there. If anybody could hold their head up and say they did something for God, He may have been able to say, I am God's present day favorite. I am God's best soldier. But the fact that he probably was led him to a position of humility. I have not apprehended. My goal in my life is still that I may know him. And the fellowship of his suffering. No growing Christian is really ever satisfied with your spiritual attainment. No growing Christian ever comes to this place. And before the Paul met his savior. He got to that place. He just knew. And I think it would have to be worded this way that our hearts desire our focus going and pressing toward the high calling of God in Christ Jesus is literally to say I want to get so close to the Lord in this life that the only way to get closer to Him is to die and see Him face to face. Do you know what would happen if you and I would do this? Well, there'd be a revival. There would be a turning over of of miracles of God and the presence of God in our lives, our families, our communities. I mean, do you imagine what could happen to Pocatello if the people just in this particular congregation today said, God, I want to be all that you want. I'm going to fix my focus. I'm going to look at my faults and I'm going to say, Lord, I want to be as close to you as this guy could ever be so that only death could make me closer and never be the same place ever again. It would be some outpouring of God. Paul got to know Jesus some on the road to Damascus. On that day, he received Jesus as his savior. A few days later, when he was baptized by Ananias, they came and visited him, and he received his sight, the Bible says right after that, he went and preached. He fixed his focus from an early time. But have you been on that road to Damascus? Do you know if you're saved? And if you're saved, what is your focus? What is your heart's desire? One of my favorite hymns is not even found in your hymn book. It was in our former hymn book. It's called, the title is Christ is All. And before we close, I want to read a few of these verses. The song goes like this. I'm not going to sing it for you. Okay, you can say amen. We've got an amen here, Mr. Graham. I entered once a home of care, for age and penury were there, yet peace and joy with all. I asked the lonely mother whence her helpless widowhood's defense. She told me, Christ is all. Next verse says, I stood beside a dying bed where lay a child with aching head waiting for Jesus's call. I marked his smile to a sweet as may as his spirit passed away. He whispered, Christ is all. I saw the martyr at the stake. The flames could not his courage to shake. nor death his soul appalled. I asked him whence this strength was given. He looked triumphantly to heaven, and he answered, Christ is all. I saw the gospel herald go to Africa's sand and Greenland's snow, to save from Satan's thrall, nor home nor life he counted dear, miswants and perils, own no fear. He felt that Christ is all. I dreamed that hoary time had fled, and earth and sea gave up their dead, and fire dissolved this ball. I saw the church's ransom throng and heard the burden of their song. Twas Christ is all in all. The last verse says, then come to Christ, O come today. The Father, the Son, and the Spirit say. The bride repeats the call, for he will cleanse your guilty stains. His love will soothe your weary pains for Christ. is all in all. If the unsaved people here could see the end of time with the fire of that lake of fire and hell being cast into it, they would run to Jesus. But if Christians could see the end, like somehow being like John on the Isle of Patmos, able to see Revelation chapter 20, where all of them are sentenced The only thing that would be beating in your heart after that point. Return to this time, you'd say, the only important thing that I may know him. We'll continue this tonight, but if you'll bow your heads and pray, we're going to ask you, what is your focus this morning? Are you already satisfied with where you are? Or can we say that our focus needs to change? Christ, is he our all in all? Or is he just something on the side? An insurance policy for eternity? Dear Father, I pray that you bless this invitation. Help us, Lord, to become that group of people that will concern ourselves and focus upon you. And Lord, take us to the next level, we pray. With your heads bowed and your eyes closed, is there anybody here who'd say, pastor, if I died today, I don't know if I'm going to heaven. You spoke a little bit about hell, and that's kind of scary. Is there anybody here who'd say, pastor, pray for me. I need to know about salvation. Would you lift your hand up that I could pray for you? Just lift it up where I could see it. I'm not going to come and embarrass you or call you out. I just want to know, do I need to pray for you concerning eternity? All right, many of you, I know your present circumstances. Some of you are still praying that God would help you to understand what it means to be saved. And it's so simple that the steps to become saved are completely relying upon Him and His finished work. I beg of you, as the Lord says in 2 Corinthians 5, I beseech you, make this the day that you will come to Jesus Christ. with your heads bowed and your eyes closed, if you don't mind, if you can stand, please stand. We're gonna give you that opportunity that the Lord's touched your heart. You say, pastor, I need to be saved. Then you can come forward and get my attention. But I wanna open the invitation up for the Christians to say, pastor, I need to have my focus changed. I need to fix my eyes upon Jesus Christ. I've gotta get myself squarely set upon that I may know him." Has the Lord touched your heart this morning? And if so, there are places up here you can come up and pray. The altar will be open. Come now as the piano plays.