In feeling to need the Lord's help, I would seek to direct your prayerful attention this afternoon to words you'll find in the Epistle of Paul to the Philippians chapter 3. And we'll read again at verse 7. The Epistle of Paul to the Philippians chapter 3, reading again at verse 7. But what things were gained to me, those I counted lost for Christ. Yea, he doubtless, and I count all things but last for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I suffer the loss of all things, and do count them but done, that I may win Christ, and be found in him, not having mine own righteousness which is of the Lord, 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. The words that are especially on my mind this afternoon are those words in verse 10 and 11, 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. These words were given unto me, I trust, when Mr Sant invited me by faith to speak on this occasion, to preach to you here today, last August, before I was even sent out by the church attending into the ministry. And those words remained with me and I felt I had to preach from them before the church when they heard me preach prior to sending me out into the ministry. And although I've sought another text for today, I haven't been able to get away from them, friends, and so I must bring them to you here this afternoon, 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. Paul was writing here to the Philippian church, a very blessed church, We read of the Philippians, that church in Philippi, they met together by the riverside, in that place where prayer was wont to be made. And of some of those characters in the Philippian church, we know a little bit. Lydia, who I mention in prayer, whose heart the Lord opened. The jailer who was saved at that midnight hour. Paul there, singing in the prison, the earthquake. The effect that the Holy Spirit working in the heart of the jailer had. when he was brought forth and added unto that church at Philippi, even at midnight. And Paul, writing unto the Philippians, tells us that they were his joy. They were, as it were, a consolation unto him. His ministry had been evidently blessed amongst them, and they had been preserved as a little church. But we find, writing unto them in this letter, nevertheless, though they were found, as it were, a blessed church, he comes with those gospel precepts to give unto them. And in the second chapter which we read, he opens by telling them that they should be like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord of one mind. Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory, but in loneliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. And the Lord's people, friends, have needed these gospel precepts. They have need that the minister should come with the word of truth and speak also the practical part of religion, those exhortations as it were unto holiness. Though we come with that realisation of ourselves that we are unholy needs no proof. We sorely feel the fall. Yet we have to prove that Christ has holiness enough to sanctify us all. But the apostle you see in this epistle to the Philippians, he sets before the Philippians something of the tension that is found in the life of the Lord's people. Yes, there is that that we've attained to. The Lord's people have a hope. a hope which goes beyond this lower sky, as it were, a hope of salvation in the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. And yet the Lord's people have to prove that their experience is, day by day, that wrestling against the old man, that wrestling against the rising of sin and corruption that rises within them. Yes, they have to prove it day by day. Oh, they find themselves feeling more unholy than the day before. There is that constant warfare. And in the midst, friends, that constant warfare. Lest we should be found overwhelmed by it. Lest we should be found giving in to our old nature. Lest we should be found falling into open sin. And indeed, only the Spirit of God can keep us. Nevertheless, Paul comes with these practical gospel precepts unto the church at Philippi, to encourage them, as it were, and to strengthen in that battle, and especially to set before them that One who alone can sanctify them, that One of whom He wrote unto the Corinthian church, Christ Jesus, who is made unto them, that wisdom, that sanctification. But of Him are ye and Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. that according as it is written, he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. And friends, that is the source of our sanctification. So Paul here tells the Philippian church, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God? No, but made himself of no reputation, freely came, that he might be found the appointed salvation for sinners. And we find Paul elsewhere when he gives the precept. Says before them, Christ has a motive to that precept. We think of that precept in the Ephesian church. Husbands, love your wife, as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it. Oh friends, these are high standards, as it were, that are set before us in the gospel. But what a motive, what a motive to encourage the Lord's people in seeking and striving day by day in that wrestling against the old man to attain, to seek to attain unto that standard set before them Christ. Let this mind be in you, which is also in Christ Jesus. But you see, friends, in this striving, as it were, against self, in this striving against sin, the Lord's people have to prove they have one great enemy. And that great enemy is legal self. Legal self. Oh, left to ourselves we feel that we can sanctify ourselves, we feel that we can work out our own justification. Yes, left to ourselves, even after we've tasted that the Lord is gracious, we have to prove ourselves looking back under the law and looking back to the works of our own righteousness. This was the area that had crept into the Galatian church. There was found that Judaising spirit amongst them. They were found again seeking to put themselves under the law. I think most divines would be agreed that there's no evidence that that spirit had entered into the Philippian church. But Paul writes them to warn them of that spirit. And in what strong language he does, coming into this third chapter. Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision. For we are the circumcision which worship God in spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. Now I have to ask you this afternoon, friends, where is your confidence for time and for eternity? Is it in the flesh? Is it in the flesh? Or is it in the finished work of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ? And you might say, well, that's a very simple question, a very obvious question to ask. Surely all the Lord's people have their confidence alone in Christ. But, oh, friends, that's a close-cutting question to the Lord's people who truly exercise For we have to prove we're left to ourselves. Oh, we're left to ourselves. We put our confidence again and again in ourselves, and in our arm of flesh, and in our own strength. And so we're found, as Paul was, seeking after that faith, that righteousness, mine own righteousness, which is of the Lord, rather than that righteousness which cometh alone from God, which is by faith. So, friends, I would ask you to closely examine your heart this afternoon, as you're found gathered with us round this word. Oh, where is your confidence this afternoon? Is it in Christ Jesus? Have you renounced all confidence in the flesh? Well, Paul tells us, and this is the force of his argument, friends, that if you think this afternoon, gathered here in Portsmouth Chapel, you've got any room for confidence in your own flesh. Paul had far more confidence than you will ever have. circumcised the eighth day, the stock of Israel, the tribe of Benjamin, and Hebrew of the Hebrews, as touching the law of Pharisee, concerning zeal, persecuting the church, touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. Oh, friends, this was the confidence in the flesh that Paul had, blameless. Touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. Oh, can you aspire to such high confidence this afternoon? Can you sit there and say that according to the law you are blameless? Oh, but what does Paul say? What things were gained to me, those I counted lost for Christ? Yea, doubtless, and I count all things but lost, for the excellency and the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, and do count them but done, that I might win Christ. This is the false friends of Paul's argument. All this righteousness which you may be found eating upon this afternoon left yourself. or the righteousness which Paul had. Oh, it's but done. It's but dropped. It won't do in a dying hour. It won't save you, friends. It's not a passport to eternal life. But it will, in that last day, be proved to be that which falls short of the mark. And you'll be found there before your judge at the last eternal day. That last eternal day of judgement. You'll be found naked with no clothing. You'll be found as Adam was when the Lord walked in the garden in the corner of the day. And he proved himself to be naked. He had no righteousness. He had nowhere wherewith he might stand. And Paul, having this realisation of this, exhorts the Philippian church, telling them that he counted these things but done. that he counted them as loss for Christ, that he might win Christ and be found in him. Well, friends, I ask you this afternoon again, on what are you placing your confidence for time and for eternity? And has the Spirit made you willing, has he brought you to a realisation that all your righteousnesses are as filthy rags? that you are reserved from head to foot those bruises, those wounds, those putrefying sores. Thou very bestest died with sin, says the hymn writer, and all is nothing worse. Oh, has the Lord brought you to realise that the only righteousness in which you can stand in that last day is found in Christ, in the perfect righteousness which He's wrought out for His people, by His life and His death? Don't separate, friends, the two vital parts of the work of Christ. Bone had it right when he said, on a life I did not live, on a death I did not die. That was what he hung his hope for eternity on. And that's what you will have to hang your hope for eternity on this afternoon, if the Spirit's been teaching you. This lesson that Paul had to learn, that he might count all things but done, that he might win Christ. Well, Paul, in the verses I read together with you this afternoon, had three wishes, three desires, and those desires were firstly that he might win Christ. What does that mean, friends? What does it mean? We tend to think of winning as having that meaning, you win because you attain to something, you're running a race, because you're best at it, because you put all your efforts and your exertions into it, you win. This is not the winning that Paul's talking about here. But there is that sense of winning, which is gaining something which is not yours by right. And that's what Paul here was desiring, that he might gain Christ. Now you say to me, what do you mean? Paul already had Christ. Why did he desire that he might win Christ? Why was it a daily exercise with him that he might gain Christ? Oh, friends, because Paul knew this wrestling with self. Because day by day he was found left to himself, putting his confidence within himself, looking back to his birthright, looking back to his Hebrew upbringing. Day by day, left to himself, he was looking to himself to work out his own righteousness. And that's where the Lord's people find themselves, where the Lord withdraws himself from them, looking again unto self. looking again unto self, but Paul desired that the Lord would grant him Christ in such a measure that there would be no room for self, no room for self, that he might win Christ, that Christ might be unto him his all in all, that he might be his Alpha and his Omega, that he might be the beginning and the ending, the author and the finisher of his faith. This was Paul's first desire, that he might win Christ, that he might gain them, that he might not at last be found as they were without Christ. Oh, Paul writes those solemn words, lest he, having preached Christ faithfully, having ministered in the gospel many years, should at last be found a castaway. And, oh, friends, what a solemn realisation it is unto the Lord's people how far we can come, as it were, in the pretence, how far we can come seemingly outwardly in the path of real religion, and yet at the end be found a castaway. Oh, friends, the only mark that's set before us in Scripture is the true mark of the Lord's people. is they endure unto the end. And all those of us that are here this afternoon that are young in the way, and have many years left before us, it may be a trial with us, not only how we shall stand in the trying day, but, oh, to be kept unto the day of Jesus Christ. But this is what Paul desired, that he might win Christ, that he might gain Christ, that Christ should also fill his life, or that he might be found in Christ. And then that was his second desire, that he might 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. Paul desired that he might be identified with Christ. And more than that, friends, notice the preposition, that he might be found in Him, not with Him. There are many today that are content, as it were, to have a religion that has much about Christ. They're willing to be about Christ. They're willing, as it were, to be with the people of God. But, oh, they don't want this religion which puts them in Christ. They have no desire after that unity with Christ. They're not entered into that, the answer of the prayer of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, before He departed from this earth. That prayer that the Father would reveal Himself unto His people, that they all may be one. As thou, Father, art in thee and I in thee, that they also may be one in us, that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. He desired that unity for his people with him through the working of the Holy Spirit. And as we find that union with Christ, as we're found in Christ, that we might find that union with the Father. This is what Paul here desired, that he might be found in Christ. Or do we not read elsewhere that the name of the Lord is a strong tower, the righteous runneth into it, they are safe. Now a friend is where safety is, in Christ, and in Christ alone, and outside of Christ there is no safety. And so Paul desired to be found in Christ, to be identified wholly with him, to be one with Christ. And therefore that that which was Christ, his righteousness, his holiness, might be counted his righteousness by faith, that he might have that robe of which the hymn of righteousness is, in that last day, in this robe array, with joy shall I lift up my head. That, dear friends, is the hope that the Lord's people have, as they are found in Christ. And therefore how solemn this question must be, are we found in Christ this afternoon? But we read elsewhere in Scripture that it's outside of Christ. Almighty power can do nothing but devour. And in that last day to be found outside of Christ, it will be a solemn day unto you. It will be a solemn day unto you. but all to the Lord's people that are found in Christ, clothed with that robe of righteousness, wrought out by a Lord that is spotless, that is holy, that is impeccable, that cannot fail, that shall never fail. No, friends, it's that robe which is greater than that robe that Adam was created with. Oh, many people seem to speak today of salvation as being a restitution, a restoring to what we were in Adam. But, oh, friends, the work of salvation is much more than that. If you know, friends, the propensity of your own self to fall, you'll want a righteousness which is greater than the peccable righteousness of Adam. For you'll be brought to realise by solemn experience that if you had stood in exactly the same place as Adam, you too would have fallen, you too would have sinned, you too would have been left with no righteousness of yourself, wherewith you might stand in that great and terrible day. No, but the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ has worked out for his people that righteousness, which in Christ is impeccable, shall never pass away, can never be tarnished, and friends closed in that righteousness. There can be no falling away, there can be no sin that can enter into heaven, there can be no falling away out of that blessed state, but that is an aside for it. This was Paul's second desire, that he might win Christ, that he might be found in him. But his third desire was this, that I might know him. That I might know him. Now, friends, what does this knowledge consist of? What is this knowledge? This is vital knowledge, friends. Vital knowledge. Oh, if we know not Christ, if you are found this afternoon still as a stranger under Christ, if he has not been revealed unto you by the Spirit in his Word, oh, you are found a stranger, as it were, to the way of salvation. And friends, knowledge, as we tend to think of it, consists in that knowledge that we may learn as schoolboys learn their task, as the hymn writer says. And I would not totally decry that as being part of the meaning that's set before us here. We have to be careful, friends. We've been brought up in churches which rightly have decried head knowledge and have decided that we might have that which is an experimental knowledge of Christ, and that is essential. And I speak not against that. But friends, Paul tells us very clearly in the 10th chapter, I believe, of the Romans, that faith cometh by hearing. And how shall they hear? How shall they be saved? But it pleased God, as I spoke to the friends here a few weeks ago from, pleased God by the foolishness of preaching, to save them that believe. And so the Lord has given that way, whereby Christ and his gospel might be set before us. whereby you may be told week by week from the pulpit that you are a sinner, and that there is salvation found alone in the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, for his people, for those who are bought by the working of the Holy Spirit to realise that they are sinners before a holy God. This is the way God has given, whereby men should be saved, through the hearing of the Word, and face, friends, if not as it were, that woolly concept which many people seem to have, Believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, that faith that we have in Christ, saving faith, is, as one has said, is not a leap in the dark. It's not a leap in the dark. No, faith lays hold upon Christ as he's set before us in the Gospel. Faith lays hold upon that way of salvation as we read it in his Word and as it's found preached to us week by week. And so there is a sense, friends, in which this knowledge, This knowledge is that knowledge which is imparted unto the Lord's people, firstly through the preaching of the Word, and then as the Holy Spirit blesses that Word unto them and opens it up within their heart, they prove it to be the truth by precious experience. But friends, we would point out that the knowledge here is especially the experimental knowledge that Paul refers to. And why do I say it is experimental knowledge? Well, because of the three things that he desired to know knowledge of Christ in. the power of his resurrection, the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death. I've said it before, friends, if I read you a newspaper article concerning an earthquake, you read of the magnitude of that earthquake, it means very little to you as you just read it upon the page. If you see a picture and you see the buildings knocked down, you perhaps have a sense of how powerful that earthquake must have been. But to those of us who live in a country where we do not experience earthquakes, we have no real knowledge, no real experience of what that power was. And so when Paul here desired to know the power of his resurrection, it was a desire to know that experimental knowledge of that power, to experience that power working in his soul by the power of the Holy Spirit. It was not just a head knowledge. It was not just a realisation that the power that brought Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, who was truly dead, back to life again. But it was to know that power within his own soul. And how can you have fellowship with Christ in his sufferings, except by experience? To simply read of Christ's sufferings is not to know fellowship of them. You can go into the Roman Catholic Church, you can probably go into the local parish church here, You see many representations set before you of a suffering Saviour. But, oh friends, there's no fellowship found with Christ by simply looking upon those things. No, fellowship is only known as we're brought to taste and brought to realise of the effects of sin within ourselves and the offering that our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ made on behalf of sinners there at Calvary. And then, friends, conformity unto his death speaks of an act going on within us. It speaks of a change wrought within us by the Spirit. It's not simply a head knowledge, but it's that which we know by experience. And so Paul desired that he might really know Christ, that he might know Christ. Oh, that he might see Him in all His beauty, in all His glory, that he might have that knowledge of Him there hanging and suffering upon the tree of Calvary, not just on behalf of sinners, but in His place and in His room and stead. Oh, friends, do you this afternoon desire that same knowledge of Christ? Oh, you found the slave this afternoon, say it with one, give me Christ, or else I die. Can you be content friends with any other? Oh, what poor sad creatures we are. Poor Martha, careful, troubled about many things. You could slay godly Martha. The godly won't be careless about things. And if you're kept exercised in the things of grace, the Lord won't let you be careless about things either. Your desire to see that your daily things are done in all honesty and in their good before the sight of men. And indeed, carelessness amongst the Lord's people and indifference to the things of nature brings much dishonour upon His cause. But, O friends, dear Martha had the balance wrong, and the Lord spoke that kindly rebuke unto her, but one thing is needful. And what was that one needful thing? This experimental knowledge of Christ. Well, friends, why is this experimental knowledge needful? Well, I believe Paul, as it were, opens that need, as he opens the facets of that knowledge that he desired to have. Firstly, the power of his resurrection. The power of his resurrection. Oh, friends, this reserves nothing less than the power of God. We read in the scripture that the resurrection of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ from the dead is attributed to all three persons of the Trinity, to Father, to Son and to Holy Spirit. This was the power of God. It wasn't the power of man. No, it was the power of God. That shepherd of the sheep who brought again our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ from the dead, that was the power that Newton desired in that benediction hymn. might rest amongst his congregation. And it's a power that is necessary that every one of the Lord's people should know. And if you're a stranger this afternoon to the working of that power within your souls, oh friend, you're dead. You're dead. And how are the Lord's people brought to know this power? You see, friends, as we're brought forth into this world, we're brought forth as sinners. Born in sin, shaped in iniquity. We're brought forth from our mother's womb speaking lies. We're found as our deceitful bow, we continually go astray. Left to ourselves, we're found wandering, we're found afar off. We're dead, friends. We're dead. We have no feeling. The things that I'm speaking to you about this afternoon, if you're found dead, will mean nothing to you. You'll wonder what Paul meant when this was his one desire, that he might know him and the power of his resurrection. Didn't Paul have anything better to desire? I've got troubles tomorrow. I've got other things, more important things to be worried about. But, oh friends, when the Holy Spirit enters into the souls of his people, Christ's people, when he raises them again, when he regenerates them by the powerful working of the Spirit, that work which the Lord spoke of to Nicodemus, born again in the Spirit of God. We are brought, as it were, again from the dead. Except a man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God. We talk of this, friends, as it were, as a renewing of life. We find it described elsewhere in Scripture, as it were, to a resurrection. A resurrection experience, risen again to newness of life in Christ. But, old friends, we must be careful. This being born again, as it were, is a new creation. The seed of God is implanted within us. That seed cannot sin. That seed cannot fail, but must grow up into eternal life. This is a new creation that has worked in the souls of the Lord's people by this power of this resurrection. And so the experimental knowledge of this power consists in the knowledge that we were once dead, but now we're alive again. Now we're alive again. But oh, you say to me this afternoon, but I feel to be so dead. I came in with you with the words you quoted in prayer. My soul cleaveth under the dust. Yes, I'm poor dying dust. Poor dying dust. But old friends, the dead have no feeling. The dead have no feeling. Was there a day when you did not know what it was to be unable to say with a psalmist, my soul cleaves under the dust, quicken thou me? No, you were dead, you were content to be dead. You saw no life as it were beyond tomorrow. But oh, if you've known anything of this resurrection power, your feeling of deadness will now be known unto you. It will be a reality. You see, Paul says he was alive without the will of all ones. But the law came, sin revived and I died. That's the experience of the Lord's people. Once you had a life to live. But oh, when the Holy Spirit comes and his resurrection power, when he puts that life, that light within your souls, you're bought to realise that you are verily dead. You are verily dead. But you have no hope. You have no hope. And then you have need of a saviour. And day by day, as you're brought to knowledge, you know yourself as a sinner. And you have to prove that everything you do is tainted with sin. The good that I would, I do not. The evil that I would not, that I do, says Paul. And the Lord's people are not a stranger to that experience. It's a daily experience with them. These, friends, are signs of life. And then you see, friends, the living also prove that love unto the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Oh, does Christ mean something to you today that he didn't mean at one time during your life? You see, there was a day, friends, when you could be content without Christ. You could be content without the things that pertain unto godliness. You lived alone for yourself and for tomorrow. But, oh, if you'd known anything of the power of this resurrection, you'd have been brought to that day where the things of God are made precious unto you. You'll have been brought to realise the holiness of God, your state of the fallen sin. You'll be brought to confess to the hymn writer that if my soul was sent to hell, thy righteous law approves it well. That's a solemn realisation that the Lord's people are brought into, and it's a realisation they're brought to, as the power of this resurrection works within their souls. And then, friends, you'll be brought, as it were, to have that love unto the Lord Jesus, We love him because he first loved us. You see, this resurrection power opens our eyes. We were once blind, now we see. That was the testimony of the poor man who had his eyes naturally opened. But he, as it were, a type of the soul under spiritual blindness. Blindness is we're brought forth into this world as children of Adam. Yet when we have our eyes opened by the Holy Spirit, and we're brought to see something of our fallen state, We're also brought to see something of the beauty that's set before us in Christ as a saviour for sinners. Well, I ask, friends, do you know anything of this? If you do, it's this power of this resurrection. It's the work of regeneration. It's the work of that bringing forth the newness of life brought out in your souls by the power of Christ's resurrection. But, oh, friends, this power of the resurrection is not only known in regeneration. The Lord's people prove it to be the power of God in justification. We read Christ was risen again for our justification. It's His resurrection power that you will be depending upon this afternoon for your righteousness, for your salvation, for your hope of eternal life. Why? If the story, and that's a wrong word friends, if the gospel account If the gospel account had ended when our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ cried with a loud voice saying, it is finished, and gave up the ghost, we this afternoon, friends, would be of all men most miserable. Why? Because the thing that we would put our hope in is no hope whatsoever. But we read Christ was raised again for our justification. Christ must be raised. The Apostle makes this very clear in that 15th chapter of the first epistle of Paul to the Corinthians. Our hope of eternal life rests upon the resurrection of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Oh friends, if you've been born to find your hope for salvation in Christ, your hope will rest upon this, that he was risen again for our justification, risen by this resurrection power. And then, friends, you'll be found resting upon this power to be for your keeping. You see, the Lord's people are brought into that experience which the hymn writer says, that if ever it should come to pass, the sheep of Christ could fall away. My fickle, feeble soul at last would fall 10,000 times a day. Oh, friends, are you found there this afternoon? Are you found coming into the sanctuary with the prayer of the psalmist, hold up my goings in thy paths, that my footsteps tip not? Are you found with that concern that we've already spoken of that the Apostle Paul had, that at last it should prove a castaway? Oh, you have to prove day by day, myself I cannot keep. Yes, insulting folk is true. Oh, but friends, where is your hope? Where is that power for keeping? What is the power that we're kept by? What is the power that prevents the Lord's people falling out of salvation, that grants us that abundant hope? Well, it's that power that Peter speaks of. Blessed be the God and Father, our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope. by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, that's that resurrection power again, working out that lively hope within you, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God, through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed at the last times. Oh friends, this resurrection power is that keeping power, that upholds and that keeps every one of the Lord's people, The means that they cannot be lost, the means that they cannot eternally stray, the means that they cannot fall out of the arms of the everlasting covenant, is none less than this power, the power of his resurrection. And then, friends, in the context that we read it off here, Paul is undoubtedly speaking of that power working in him to his sanctification. We read in the sixth chapter of the Romans, Paul there writing of us, the Lord's people, wrestling with sin. Yet that newness of life brought about in us by his death. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we should be also in the likeness of his resurrection. Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with it, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is free from sin. Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we should also live with him, knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dies no more. Death hath no more dominion over him. We read of it also in the 8th chapter of the Romans, where Paul speaks also of that resurrection, power and sanctification. For ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit. It so be the Spirit of God dwelling in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you. Yes, friends, this is the working of the power of the resurrection power within the hearts and lives of the Lord's people. Now before I come on to this second aspect of knowledge of Christ that Paul desired, fellowship of his sufferings, I would notice the order. The Apostle at times can appear unto us as we read a chaotic writer. He wrote with freshness. He wrote as it were his pen hardly keeping up with his heart in the matter. But Paul often writes very carefully when it comes to order. And we see here careful order, friends. The power of his resurrection is put before fellowship of his sufferings. You say to me, why is that? Christ suffered first. Then he was raised. Why does Paul ask first to know the resurrection power? Before he knew the fellowship of his sufferings. Well, friends, this is where we prove Paul to be an experimental preacher. An experimental preacher. What do you experience first? Oh, you can know no fellowship with Christ in his sufferings. You know conformity unto his death until you're awakened, until you're regenerated by the Holy Spirit, until you know the power of his resurrection. And so, friends, if you're amongst the Lord's people this afternoon, you'll prove the order of Paul here to be the order of the Lord working within your soul. You know first the power of his resurrection, raising you first to life, and then you prove the fellowship of his sufferings. being made conformable unto his death. It's the same thing as Friends with the benediction, that benediction that we end our services with, the benediction that Paul ended in that second epistle to the Corinthians with, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, the communion of the Holy Ghost. Why, Friends, is the Son, as it were, put before the Father? Well, friends, it's only as you're born to know the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ that you approve the love of the Father. You see, until we know anything of the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, we're sinners. We need that reconciliation with God. We're found afar off. God is holy. We cannot approach unto Him. We are sinners deserving eternal death. But, oh, when the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ is shed abroad within your hearts, then you come to realize something of the love of God. The love of God. And it's not until you know something of the grace of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ that you'll truly know anything of the love of God. That's the same, friends, here. There is this order, this order in experience. Oh, may you be able to trace it out in your experience this afternoon, and having known the power of His resurrection, to know the fellowship of His sufferings. Well, friends, what is this fellowship of His sufferings? It troubles me sometimes that Many today seem to speak of their outward afflictions. They have pain, they have sickness, and they speak of it as being in fellowship with Christ and His sufferings. I don't understand, friends, whether the source of that is a lack of knowledge of what the sufferings of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ entail, or whether it's a lack of understanding of what their own sufferings are. But, oh friends, the sufferings of Christ went beyond the sufferings that we can ever enter into. They were not just natural sufferings. The pinnacle of His sufferings came in this. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? And, oh friends, the blessed thing is, because Christ was found there, because Christ knew that real separation within His own Holy Soul, We, friends, never enter into the foreness of that experience. You see, for the unrighteous, in the day of their death, they will enter into hell. And what is hell unto the unrighteous is eternal separation from God. But, oh, if you're in Christ, if you're one of the Lord's people, if you're one for whom our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ suffered, He tasted death for you. And therefore, friends, you'll never, as it were, however dark your path seems to come, however far and however much you feel within your souls that my God is afar off, however much you may be brought this afternoon into the experience of Jeremiah, I cry and shout, and all my cries you shut it out. Yet, friends, I tell you, if you're in Christ, you can never know separation from God. No, you may feel it in experience, but you can't be separated. You can't be separated. The Lord has passed a promise. I am with you always. I am with you always. Let your conversation be without covetousness. Be content with such things as you have. For I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. And God cannot give up on that promise. No, if you're in Christ, friends, you cannot enter into the fullness of that separation which Christ knew in his holy soul. But, oh, friends, as you're brought to realise that sin has separated you from God, as you're brought to realise by some fresh breaking out of sin within you, the frowns of God, as it were, upon you, as you're brought, in experience, to realise something of the separation that sin brings between you and the God you love, then, friends, you enter a little, and only a little, into the fellowship of Christ with his suffering. There is a sense though in which sanctify suffering. There is a sense in which the troubles and pains and afflictions which the Lord's people are brought into. Though the world have them. But the thing that makes suffering different in the hearts of the Lord's people is that they're sanctified to them. As in suffering they're brought into the experience of what our dear Hezekiah knew. When his afflictions unto death were sanctified to him. And he said this, by these things men live, and in all these things is the life of my spirit. And so, friends, there is a sense in which the Lord's people do enter into fellowship with Christ in his sufferings, both in body and in soul, but it's only ever in measure. And it's something which the Lord's people will never be able to talk about lightly, but it's a very precious experience. But, old friends, the fellowship with him and his sufferings here has, I believe, a special application unto that suffering which the Lord suffered when he was here upon this earth. He came unto his own, but his own received him not. Oh, if you're one of the Lord's people, you'll have to prove, as the hymn writer says, and I cannot quote it, where they walk they feel the public scorn. You see, the Lord's people are a strange people. The people in this world cannot understand them. Your work colleagues may be saying, why on earth are you going to church on Saturday as well as on Sabbath? But oh, friends, if you're one of his people, if you desire to be here, if you desire to be amongst his people, if you desire to be here in the things of Jesus, oh, you'll be willing to count their scorn as it were for nothing. But that, friends, is when we know fellowship with Christ in his sufferings. when we're bored to realise the scorn that the gospel brings, the scorn that separation from sinners brings, or the scorn that our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ endured when he went without account, bearing our reproach, separated from the people, scorned at, scoffed at. Friends of publicans and sinners, this man received his sin as an equism, the wine beeper a glutton, All friends, this is the same sufferings that the Lord's people still have to have today. And all friends, we live, as we often say, in times of peace and plenty. And we may know but little of these things. But all friends, it troubles me sometimes, just how little separation real religion brings. And it's a close question to me personally. The Lord said concerning those that accused him of having the spirit of the devil. That a house divided against itself will fall. And our old friends, the working out of that truth within the Lord's people is this. Constant warfare. Constant warfare within and without. You see, friends, if you haven't got anything of real religion, the devil won't try, as it were, to turn you out of the way. The devil won't try to rise up against you, to tell you you've got nothing. to tell you not to trust, to tell you not to believe. If you've got real religion within you, if you've been born to be found putting your trust alone, my hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. Mark it, friends, the devil will try to do everything he can to root out that real religion that's found within you. And therefore, friends, if you're found this afternoon, as it were, coasting along, not knowing anything of that constant warfare, not knowing anything of the scorn of the world, not knowing anything of that separation that the work of the Lord brings within the lives and hearts of his people. Oh, friends, I have to ask you this afternoon to carefully examine yourself and of your standing in Christ. And it may be a trouble sometimes unto the Lord's people, and something which exercises us. Oh, why is it, is it, were we known so little opposition? Well, Paul decides that he might know the fellowship of his sufferings. But what was the end, friends, of this fellowship? Being made conformable unto his death. Being made conformable unto his death. Oh, what is that being made conformity unto his death? Is that dying unto self? Is that dying unto sin? Paul says again in that sixth chapter of the Romans, shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? How shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein? No, there must be that dying to sin in the hearts and lives of the Lord's people. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Oh, but you say to me, Our articles deny progressive sanctification. They do, friends. And the truth they set forth is truth. The Lord's people will always have an old nature here to wrestle with. Their experience day by day will be that of Paul in Romans 7. You will have to wrestle against the powers of hell till Jesus bid you go. And you'll prove that constant opposition against you, both amongst professors and amongst the world. And you'll prove that opposition within your own heart. The devil and your old nature, as it were, ganging up against you, are together. And, oh, you may find there are times when they'll be found in that desperate place, of which one said, the old man struggles hard to gain the conquest over grace, and oft times seems to gain the field when Jesus hides his face. And, oh, you prove for it's breaking out of sin. Oh, you have to prove you have no strength, no strength. No, you strive, as it were, to do good. You're found again putting yourself under the law, striving again to keep the law. You again might be found holy. Oh, but where does Paul point the end of this sanctification to? It's not friends that it were into a death of old nature. It's not friends that when we come to be fed to die, we shall be holy throughout, having finally killed our old nature. No, we'll prove it's power down to the end. But there is, friends, as it were, this tension in the lives of the Lord's people, that you look upon the godly, you look upon those that are aged and nearing their end, and you see that holiness about their walk, about their conversation. They want not the things of this world. Yet, friends, you speak to them in private conversation, and they tell you they feel more a sinner today than they felt when they first tasted the Lord's love and mercy. Oh friends, how are these things? Paul speaks as though having not attained, but pressing toward those things, forgetting those things which are behind, reaching forth unto those things that are before. Let us therefore, as many, be perfectly thus-minded. That's not Paul saying that he'd reached perfection in sanctification. That's not Paul saying that he finally mortified that old man, that he finally delivered himself by his own workings from that body of sin and death. No. That word perfect there is translated elsewhere, maturity. It speaks to those who are fathers in Christ, those who have been in the way many years. Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, as be mature, as it were in the way, be thus minded. Nevertheless, whereunto we have already attained, let us walk by the same road, let us mind the same things. Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an example. Pretend it's another mark of grace as it were. If you're found struggling against sin. If you're found struggling against sin. You see the dead, oh they have no struggles. Sin is not sin unto them. You only have to speak to so many in the world today. You only have to try to tell them they're a sinner. Or their immediate reaction is, oh I'm not a sinner. I'm not a sinner. They do many good works, give much to charity. They know nothing of sin. But you see the Lord's people brought to know something of their sin. Oh, it is worth struggling against it and fighting against it. But Paul here, as I try to open up at the start of the sermon, warns the Philippian church against looking to the law, against looking back to their own works of righteousness, against thinking that if they work a bit harder, if they strive a bit more, they'll be able to reach, as it were, a state of sanctification. No, Paul says, that His only hope was found in Christ. He counted all those sins as stone, that I might win Christ and be found in Him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the Lord, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith. And our friends, as it were, wrought out in the hearts of the Lord's people, as we are brought to know Him, as we prove that resurrection power working mightily within us. as we find fellowship with Him in His sufferings, as is the weaning from all the things of this world here below. We are, friends, made conformable unto His death. And oh, what does that growth of grace consist? I do love it, friends. I, at all times, have to look back to it. I mention it again to you here this afternoon. You read our article, the Gospel Standard article, concerning what growth in grace consists of. There's many in the professing world today that see growth in grace, as only as it were growing in good deeds, in growing in outward righteousness. But, oh, what does that article say growth in grace consists of? What does that work of sanctification in the hearts of the Lord's people consist of? A daily growing in knowledge of ourselves as sinners. But, oh, friends, not just that. That would reduce you to despair. That would reduce you to despair. But against that, friends, it's a growing knowledge, a daily growing knowledge of the perfections and of the beauty of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and the salvation that He has provided on behalf of poor needy sinners. I ask you, friends, is that an encouragement to you this afternoon? Is that when you hang your hope as it were upon, when you're found wrestling day by day here below with sin and with the powers of hell? O friends, as these things cause you to realise your sinnership more and more, cause you to realise more and more of your weakness, more and more of your own inability to save yourself, more and more of the fact that you have no hope in self. O friends, as you are enabled by faith to look towards Christ, as he reveals unto you more and more day by day, that the blessings of the Father as pleased should dwell in him, that in him should all fullness dwell. And why should it dwell then? For the poor and the needy are not by the way. for those who prove they've got nothing within themselves, they've got no hope in self. No, no hope in self, I thought, and yet have sought it well, the native treasure of my mind is sin and death and hell, but oh, where is the hope of the Lord's people? In Him who hung there upon the cross and cried, it is finished, it is finished, and has risen again for our justification and is now ascended into glory. And there, friends, his heart, oh, as Joseph Hart says, his human heart he still retains, though thrown in high springs, he feels each tempted member's pains, for their afflictions his. Yes, he knows your daily wrestlings against sin and against death. He sees that daily cry that ascends from the Lord to people, who can deliver me from this body of death? And, oh, friends, what is the answer? What is the answer to that continuing procession going on before the Father's throne even now, on behalf of poor sinners? Oh, the Holy Spirit is shed forth upon them. In the fulfilment of that prophecy others give them concerning the New Testament Church in the 31st chapter of Jeremiah. Behold, the day is come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, with the house of Judah, not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand, to bring them out of the land of Egypt, which my covenant they break, for I was an husband unto them, saith the Lord. But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord. I'll put my law in their inward parts, write it in their hearts, and I'll be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more, every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord. For they should all know me from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more. Yes, the answer to the continuing intercession of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ on behalf of his people is to send him forth to the Comforter. To send him forth to the Comforter. And how does the Comforter comfort his people? How does the Holy Spirit minister comfort to you? Oh, it's as he reveals Christ unto you. They shall no longer say no, the Lord, for they should all know me. This is the knowledge that Paul desired here, that I might know him. That I might know him. This is the working of the Holy Spirit. And what is the result of that knowing him? I will forgive their iniquity. I will remember their sin no more. And oh, friends, how does this? It won't affect your daily lives. Oh, friends, it brings our conformity unto his death. Yes, friends, the things that you could once do no longer mean anything to you. Yes, so you have to wrestle against it. Oh, friends, I ask you today, do you carry on today as you did before you knew anything of this resurrection power? If you do, I question whether you know anything of that power. Yes, if you can still go on reading your novels, if you can still go on loving the world, if you can still go on delighting more amongst the company of the world than amongst the company of the Lord's people. We might well ask, what do you know of him? Solemn question, what do I know of him? But oh, friends, if the Holy Spirit has revealed Christ unto you, according to that promise given unto the New Testament Church, if you know him, if you know him in any measure by the power of his resurrection, and if you are granted that knowledge of fellowship with him in his sufferings, be it made conformable unto his death, it must have an effect in your heart and life. It must, my friends, it must. And what is the effect of it? It brings you to that desire that Paul had, if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. Yes, sure, this world is no longer your home. The things that you once counted joy, they're no longer joy unto you. You're bought to count all things but dung and drops, for the excellency of the gospel is found in Christ Jesus. Oh, friends, I am a very, very poor at preaching, but I'll leave you with that hymn. That hymn of Terce Deagon in 1075, because, friends, I believe it sums up the substance of what I've been trying to say this afternoon. Thou hidden love of God, whose height, whose depth unfathomed no man knows, I see from far thy beauty is right, and in thee sigh for thy repose. My heart is pained, nor can it be, that rested I find rest in thee. Is there a thing beneath the sun that strives with thee my heart to share? I'll tear it thence, and reign alone, and govern every motion there. Then shall my heart from earth be free, when it has found its all in thee. O crucify this self that I no more but Christ in me may live. Bid all my vile affections die, nor let one hateful lust survive. In all things nothing may I seek, nothing desire or seek but thee. Lord, draw my heart from earth away, and make it only know thy call. Speak to my inmost soul and say, I am thy Saviour, God, thy all. O dwell in me, fill all my soul and all my powers by thine control. May the Lord bless his word. Amen. Let us sing the Hymn 364, the Tunis Grimoire 396. The Hymn 364. Happy is the Church, thou sacred place, the seat of thy Creator's grace. Thy holy courts are visible, thou earthly palace of our God. Okay. ♪ Perfect habits all have known ♪ ♪ I was a stranger at my age ♪ ♪ But a brother of theirs was I ♪ ♪ His counsels and his love ♪ ♪ I don't depend ♪ ♪ His height and age ♪ ♪ Against his own will ♪ ♪ With angry roar ♪ ♪ That thou shalt die upon the shore ♪ ♪ Then let us all desire and pray ♪ ♪ Still to come around ♪ ♪ Oh, it's a ship like no other's done ♪ ♪ Swift as the phoenix in the sky ♪ Lord, with us on forgiveness on all that has been uttered amidst, plead that the word might be followed with thy blessing, and that thou wouldst receive us graciously, keep us in thy fear, and grant us that knowledge which surpasses all other knowledge else beside. We'd ask of the forgiveness of every sin for Jesus Christ's sake. May the grace of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, the fellowship and communion of the Holy Spirit, rest and abide with us each, both now and forevermore. Amen. The service today marks the 203rd anniversary of the formation of the Britain Particular Baptist Church in Portsmouth, of course not on this particular site. as was mentioned in the prayer of the original chapel, was destroyed by enemy action in the last war. This building of course dates simply from the 1950s. It was some three years ago then that we celebrated the 200th anniversary. Copies of the brief history that we produced for that occasion are still available if you want to take one, they're quite free and you'll find several at the back of the chapel. I'll put these few copies back with the others. If you want to take one of those, do please feel quite free to take one. Tea is to be served. Our facilities are rather limited. We have to partake of our food here in the chapel. The food is laid out in the room behind the pulpit. If you go through the door on your right, through the vestry, into that room, and it's a buffet tea, and then come through here where tea and coffee and soft drinks will be served. Let us ask the Lord's blessing on that provision, let us pray. Our gracious God, we do thank you for every mercy that thou hast granted to us in our poor mortal life. We thank thee, Lord, for that great salvation that has been laid up in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ, and we beseech thee, Lord, that we might know, indeed, something of those things we have heard of this afternoon, even that saving knowledge of Christ. We thank thee now for this provision, for our bodies, for the kind hands that have prepared it for us, and do help us, Lord, that we might eat, eat and drink with thankful hearts, to thy glory we ask for Christ's sake. Amen. So we stand and sing the doxology. Praise him Lord, praise him Lord. Praise him Lord, praise him Lord. Praise him Lord, praise him Lord. Praise him Lord, praise him Lord.