Go with me back to Philippians 3. Philippians 3. I have something laid on my heart tonight that normally I would see this as being a Bible study. and I believe you'll see why I say that. This is the message for the evening. I strongly believe that this is the message for tonight, and I pray the Lord will bless it. I want to begin by reading a few scriptures to you. Right here in Philippians 3, verse 13 says, 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 you be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you. Paul said, I reach. I press. For what? Those things which are before. The mark of the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. I reach. I press. I reach. I press. Turn with me to 1 Corinthians 9. 1 Corinthians 9 verse 24 says, Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, everybody's running, but one receiveth the prize. There's only one winner. He went on to say, so run that you may obtain And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. If you want to be the best at something, you are disciplined in it. If you want to be the best at something, if you're striving for the mastery of something, you're disciplined in it, you're committed to it, you're devout in it, devoted He went on to say in verse 25, now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible. I therefore so run, not as uncertainly. He said, I'm not on a random leisure jog through town. I'm on a set course running a race. I therefore so run, not as uncertainly, so fight I, not as one that beateth the air. He said, I'm not shadow boxing. I'm not practicing. I'm in the middle of a fight. He said, when I get to the end of this, I want to be able to say, I fought a good fight. But verse 27, I keep under my body and bring it into subjection, lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway. I think about. I have thought this many times before and I still do think about this right here. I wonder if the Lord is going to let me stay true to the gospel and true to the message of Jesus Christ crucified the rest of my days on this earth. And I'm not joking right now. I'm not joking right now, not at all. I wonder, I have thought this, thought about this, I think about how old I am and how much longer I have to go. You don't really retire from this. You don't put in 20 years and retire. You keep going until you just fall out on the floor. I've got a long way to go, unless the Lord takes me. Unless the Lord takes me. But I do wonder if the Lord is going to allow me to stay true to the gospel, true to the message of Jesus Christ crucified. I do wonder if God's people, I wonder if I will be considered by God's people to be a preacher of truth for the rest of my preaching days. And some of you have been around a while understand what I'm talking about. I wonder if God is going to keep me right here, right here, right here, and right here for the rest of my days, or is he going to allow me to veer away? Will he let me come to a point where I veer away like he has with so many men before me? I think about men right now who I have zero confidence in, that when I was a child, they were one of us. They were one of us. Men who have gotten tired of the simple message of the finished work of Christ and have moved on to other issues. Other issues. I can't keep myself. If God doesn't keep me, I'm not going to be kept. I don't have any control over this. I didn't bring me to the place I am today. God brought me here. And God brought all of you here. And not only do I wonder if I'm going to be standing here the rest of my days, I wonder if you're going to be sitting there. I really do. Worse than this thought of wondering if God is going to keep me staying right on the one thing needful, the one path, the one, worse than that thought there, the thought goes through my mind, if the Lord did allow me to stray like that, would it be proven in the end that I was not a child of God at all? Would it be proven in the end that I was not a child of God at all? Claimed to be. put on a front to be, thought of myself to be, but in the end it was proven I was not. That's the case for men and women all over this world. That's the case for men and women all over this town. Look right here at chapter 10, 1 Corinthians 10 verse 1. It says, moreover, brethren, I would not that you should be ignorant how that all our fathers were under the cloud and all passed through the sea. The Lord brought them out of Egypt, brought them into the wilderness. That Red Sea opened up. How many people went across that Red Sea? And that cloud, that pillar protected them. Verse two, they were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea. And did all eat the same spiritual meat that God provided. And did all drink the same spiritual drink. For they drank up that spiritual rock that followed them. And that rock was Christ and they drank from it. Verse five, but with many of them, God was not well pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness. Now these things were our examples to the intent we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted. Neither be ye idolaters as were some of them. As it is written, the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play. They were playing games. They were playing games. Verse eight, neither let us commit fornication as some of them committed and fell in one day, three and 20,000. Neither let us tempt Christ as some of them also tempted and were destroyed of serpents. Neither murmur ye as some of them also murmured and were destroyed of the destroyer. Now all these things happened unto them for examples. And they are written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come. Now watch verse 12. Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. What he's saying is don't assume. And that's what I'm saying to myself. And that's what I'm saying to every person here. Don't assume. Don't assume. I want that to just be embedded in our brains when we walk out of here. Don't assume. What was the message on last night? Don't assume. Cry. Seek. Beg. Knock. Look. Gabe, are you saying that we can't have any rest and peace in Christ? No, I'm not saying that at all. God's people can have all rest and all peace in Christ. They just don't assume on it. They don't assume on it. They don't assume that they have rest and peace in Christ. They constantly need to know in certain certainty. They constantly beg for it. We're constantly begging for it. God's people constantly sue for it. You've heard that phrase, sue for mercy. Think about taking somebody to court. I have to have what's mine. I need to sue for it. I need to plead for it. God's people find their only hope in it. They cast their all on it. But the one thing they don't do is assume. The one thing they don't do is assume. They don't assume on it. That's what men and women in false religion do. That's what men and women in false religion do. Even if they're sitting under the truth in the false religion of their own mind, worshiping the idol of self, and good works of, you know, a person can do that sitting right in the pew of a true gospel church. Men and women in false religion never question their standing before God, never, never. Therefore, they never feel the need to beg, please don't let me go, please don't let me go. Men and women in their false religion never doubt. They never doubt. And therefore they never plead. They never plead. They never in desperation cast their all. You know what I'm talking about, you who have done it. Lord, I cast my all on you. I'm just, I'm so worthless, and I'm so helpless, and I'm so miserable, and I'm so wrong, I just throw myself on you. I just throw it all on you. I mean, you're gonna have to do with me whatever you do with me, and I'm begging for mercy. Men and women in false religion spend all their time assuming. Don't assume, don't assume. Verse 12 says, wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. Now I've asked you this. We've thought about this many times. I'm gonna ask it again, okay? We're gonna ponder it again. Let me just ask a few questions here. Is God sovereign or not? We spend all this time talking about God's sovereignty and we name our church Kingsport Sovereign Grace Church. Is God sovereign or not? Did he order all things or not? Was there a particular people chosen and given to Christ or not? You know, we're talking about falling away, veering off. Are we being kept by the power of God or not? Did Christ shed His blood and pay the sin debt of His people in full and satisfy every demand of God concerning them or not? Did Christ redeem His people or not? Did He get them or not? Is it finished or not? Is salvation finished? All the souls, finished or not? Will God's Spirit through the preaching of the Word, and that's a key to the whole thing, through the preaching of the Word, will He go out and get all those people or not? Are God's people eternally secure or not? Are we eternally secure or not? Here's the answer. Yes. Yes. God is sovereign. He chose a people. He ordered everything concerning those people. Christ finished the work of saving those people to the uttermost. God's spirit will quicken and call every single one of those people. Not one will be lost. Not one will be lost. Every soul ordained to glory is going to make it. All right, then let's ask this question. What are we worried about then? What are you so torn up about then, Gabe? What's so urgent? Why is Paul reaching, impressing, why? If it's all set in stone, what are we begging for? What are we seeking? What are we searching? What are we hoping in? What are we pleading for? If Christ has already opened the way into glory for His people, if Christ said, I'm the door and I've already opened the way for you into glory, what are we knocking for? It's because that is the heart that God has put. That is the heart that God said he would place in all of his people that he has done this for. He said, you seek me. And he said, you'll find me. Well, hold on. I thought we didn't seek him. I thought he sought us. That's right. That's exactly right. He does all the seeking. He does all the finding. But to every soul that he sought and found, he says to the heart of that soul, search for me. Seek my face. Isn't that what he said to David? Seek my face. In response to that, the child of God cries, I need to find my Lord. I need to find my Lord. Where is my beloved? Has anybody seen my beloved? I can't be without him. I cannot be without him. I can't live in this world. I especially can't leave this world without him. Go back to Philippians 3 with me. This is the heart that God puts in all of his people, all right? Verse 13 says, brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended. He said, I do not consider myself as having attained it yet. I know and I believe in my heart that He has attained me. I know that. I believe that. But I still have a deep desire in me that I need to attain Him. David said in Psalm 17, I'm not satisfied. I'm not satisfied. He said, I will not be satisfied until I awake with thy likeness. I will not be satisfied. Are we satisfied with Christ? Yes. Are we satisfied with his gospel? Yes. Are we satisfied with his finished salvation? Yes. I'm not satisfied with me. I'm not satisfied with all this sinfulness I still see in my flesh. I won't be satisfied until I'm standing there physically with Him, looking just like Him. That's the moment that I will apprehend that which I am apprehended of. David said in Psalm 27, one thing have I desired that will I seek after. Brethren, let's become seekers. Let's become seekers. That will I seek after that I may dwell in the house of the Lord to behold his beauty, to hear his voice. I must seek after that. I need to seek after that. Christ is my finish line. And until I lay hold on him, I cannot stop running this race as the scripture calls it. I can't stop reaching, I can't stop pressing. How does a child of God reach? How does a child of God press and run and strive? How? This word right here, this word right here. the very word of Christ himself. We come to this word. We read this word. We gather around this word. And we do 99.999% of that right here in worship. I know you, you're just like me. You don't wake up and read your Bible every morning like you should. I know you don't. You're just like me. Aren't we so sorry? Aren't we just so sorry? These are the words of life. This is the hardest book to open. The two covers of any other book open just a piece of cake. So sorry. If we want to press, if we want to run, if we want to strive and reach, we come to this Word. We gather around this Word, the Word that leads us. This Word feeds us. This Word is leading us right now. We're being led right now by the Spirit and the power of God to Jesus Christ. That's exactly what's happening. And if this strikes a note with our heart, we're being fed right now. We preach this word, we hear this word, we believe this word, we heed this word. This right here is our reaching and our pressing. We are not satisfied with yesterday's food, yesterday's gathering, yesterday's anything. I'm not satisfied with yesterday's reaching, yesterday's pressing. I'm not satisfied with that. We need it again. We need it right now. We come together as God's people in the way that he told us to, to press toward the mark. What are we doing here? I'm half sick. You can still hear it in my voice. What am I doing here? Pressing toward the mark. Pressing toward the mark. We need to grow in faith. We need to grow in grace. We need to grow in knowledge. How do we do that? By pressing toward the mark. We come here to worship Him. We come here not to worship me, not to worship my flesh, not to worship this world, Him. This is our pressing. The gospel is our pressing. Worship is our pressing. Our Lord keeps us pressing. Our Lord is the one who is keeping us pressing. We don't even get the credit for that. He keeps us pressing. He keeps us running in this race, not jogging, not walking, not sitting down, taking a break for a while. He keeps us running to Him through the warning of His Word. This is how He does it. His Word is what causes us to say, hold on, wait a minute. Let me get my mind back on this race. My mind and my heart has veered off of the race. Let me, as verse eight says right here, count all things lost for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I've suffered the loss of all things and don't care. because I count them all done, 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. Verse 15 says, let us therefore, and this is what I want to say to us, this is what is burdening my heart, okay? Verse 15 says, let us therefore, as many as be perfect, and that word means mature, spiritually mature. Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded, this way minded. Let us recognize, let's, oh, let the light bulb come on. Let's recognize our own great need to be exhorted in this. And let's recognize our need to exhort each other in this. Let's recognize our need to not be complacent in this and not assume on this. Let's exhort one another daily while it is still called today. When I start to grow weary in these things, and if you think I don't, you're wrong, I do. And when I start to grow weary in these things, you need to say to me, come on now, keep running, keep looking, keep pressing, we're almost there. And when you start to grow weary in these things, I need to say to you, come on now, keep running, keep looking, keep pressing, We're almost there. That is the encouragement. That is the exhortation. That is the keeping power of God. That is the keeping power of God. That's the keeping, continuing, renewing strength that God will give to his people all the way to the finish line. He'll keep reminding. He'll keep saying. That's how the Father will draw us. That's the draw of the Father. That way right there. That word will speak to the heart. Come on now. Keep coming. All the way to the finish line. If we belong to him, he will keep us running this race with patience. That's Hebrews 12, verse one or two. I love that. Run, run, run, run with patience. He will keep us running this race with patience, looking unto the Lord Jesus Christ, the author and finisher of our faith, knowing that for the joy that was set before him, he endured the cross and despised the shame, and he is right now seated on the throne of God Almighty. Let's all run to him. Reach, press to him. Let us, verse 15 says, let us therefore as many as be perfect be thus minded. And if in anything you be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you. Lord, if we don't see this, reveal it to us now. Give me a heart to press right now. Give me a heart to press right now. that price sell.