you. Hello everyone. Thank you again for just inviting me into your home or maybe you're watching on your mobile and taking a wee bit of time out to do that. We appreciate that. We want to share with you that we are the 500 plus community. There was one in the first century. 500 plus community of brothers who saw the Lord Jesus, were told by Paul that they were witnesses to the resurrection. But we need that type of community today. We need a 500 plus community today who believe in the risen Christ, who fellowship with the risen Christ, and who know his power, which we're going to read about and hear about today. This 500 plus community, we've been speaking about it now for a number of weeks because it was influenced by the bodily resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. First of all, they were given certain assurances because of that, of God's existence, of the work that Christ done was sufficient for them and that one day they would also rise. They received assurance. They also received comfort because there was the promise that their loved ones would also rise in 1 Thessalonians 4. But once again, they were influenced again more by his resurrection in another particular direction. And we read about it in Philippians chapter 3 here, where Paul is writing in verse 10, and he says that I may know him and the power of his resurrection. And it's this phrase, the power of his resurrection, that I want to emphasize and speak about even just today. The fact is that we can know the power of the risen Christ in our lives from day to day. through our fellowship with Him. You know, Philippians 3 is really an extension of this letter by Paul. If you notice, the first word of Philippians 3 is finally. Now I know, and I've preached like this myself, and sometimes you hear other preachers and they will say a finally, but then they go on for maybe for 10 more minutes or 15 more minutes. The finally isn't really a finally. But it appears that Paul, was winding up this letter here because in the previous chapter in verse 19 he said I'm going to send Timothy to you. Now you remember that Paul of course in writing this letter was in his own rented house in Rome because he had appealed to Caesar for the trial that would take place and he's now in his own rented house. For two years he was there. During that time he actually used it to write to the churches, to four churches. to Ephesus and here Philippi and then Colossae and then he writes to Philemon, one of the brothers that he knows so well. And so he's writing here to the Philippians and here he says I'm going to send Timothy in the future He also talks about himself going, he says in verse 24, I trust in the Lord, I myself shall also come shortly. So these visits were planned, but at this moment he was actually sending someone, Epaphroditus, this is a brother that came from Philippi, who brought a gift from Philippi, but he was sick and almost died. But then Paul was sending him back to Philippi, and it appears that he was the one who carried the letter, he was the bearer of this epistle, so he was taking the epistle back. Paul had written all that, it appears he was finalising the epistle, and then news came of other false teachers who had arrived in Philippi and Paul was deeply concerned about what they were doing and saying to the believers there in the church. And so he extends the epistle more here He says, finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. And to write the same things to you is not tedious for me, for you it's safe. I'm going to go over some fundamental points that are important because of what's happening there. And so he begins to do that here in chapter three. There are actually three things that I want you to see that he does. in response to this false teaching that we'll hear of in a moment. He talks about the fact that as believers we glory in Christ and what does that mean? That word glory, it means to boast or it really means to depend upon him. It means rather than trusting in anything you do yourself, or boasting about what you can do as far as your relationship with God is concerned, you are depending entirely on the Lord Jesus Christ. You're depending on Him and what He did on the cross for your acceptance with God, for your salvation. Believers, he said, you believers are those who actually, glory in Christ, you're depending only on the Lord Jesus Christ and his death for you. Paul has spoken about that death earlier in Philippians chapter 2. We read that verse in verse 8 where he says that Christ was obedient. to the point of death, even death on the cross. So the Lord Jesus had died for them on the cross, and they were depending upon what he'd accomplished at the cross. They were glorying in Christ. But then also he goes on to speak about how they have gained in Christ, and we can see that. He talks about he suffered loss of certain things because of what he gained when he came to know the Lord Jesus Christ, and we'll see that in a moment. they gloried in Christ, they had gained in Christ, and then as we're talking about this morning, they actually also were given power in Christ. That's the point we're coming to, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection. They were given power because of their relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. So he speaks here and he says, first of all, in verse two of chapter three, beware of dogs. Now, of course, he is using that description as a contemptuous description. Dogs here in the West, you know, they are pampered, they are They are showed even at places like Crufts and so on. They are loved. People carry them about. But dogs in the East are treated and seen very differently, very different attitude because they're seen as something that's contemptuous, a dog is something that's contemptuous. I myself, of course, during the years in the past that I've been in Romania and preaching in different parts of the country, different churches, you stay in believers' homes, you lie on a couch overnight in Romania there, somewhere, and then during the night you hear the packs of dogs, the wild dogs that are roaming the city. They're crying out, barking against one another. It's a contemptuous thing, a dog. We remember how even the Gentiles by the Jews were considered to be dogs. The lady, the Saraphanation lady, in Mark chapter 8, in verse 27, 28, she says, you know, to Jesus, you can't take the children's bread. and give it to the dogs. She's referring to herself as a gentile that she would receive blessing would be a wonderful thing but you can't take the children's bread give it to dogs and yet here you know The fact is that Paul now uses this term, dog, of Jews. These Judaizers, these false teachers, he says, you beware of these dogs. And he says, beware of the evil workers. He says these false teachers, their Judaizers, they are false teachers because their whole message Acceptance with God is about work, work, work, or do, do, do. And they're evil workers because the fact is we don't need anyone to work for salvation. Paul is making this point clear here that anyone that has found acceptance with God is not to their own works. but it's through a work that was done for them, a work that was done on the cross at Calvary. I'm just thinking of a verse, I want to read it to you, in Romans chapter 4, where Paul can write about this. You know, sometimes whenever we become anxious about our soul and about our relationship with God, we start to work and do things more and more to gain acceptance with Him. But Paul says in Romans 4 and 5, it's not about working. If you're going to be accepted with God, it's not that you've got to start working and do more. You've got to stop working. He says in verse 5, but to him who does not work, but believes on him who justifies the ungodly. Rather than working, we believe that Christ has done the work for us fully on the cross. He has paid the price. All has been done. We've come to believe in what he has done for us. and we put our trust in him. It's like the lady that said to a young man as she was witnessing to him about needing to be converted, needing to be saved. She said, there's very little difference between what you are depending upon for your salvation, what I'm depending upon. In fact, there's only two letters of a difference. You're depending on D-O-N-E. you're depending on D.O. but I'm depending, she said, on D.O.N.E. The work was done for her by the Lord Jesus Christ and she was trusting in him. So they were evil workers, Paul says, and he continues, he says as well, Beware of the mutilation. It's a contemptuous term again for circumcision, just a cutting of the flesh, because they were claiming, you know, that it's okay to come and put your trust in Christ, but then you've got to be circumcised and commit yourself to actually keep the law. But you know, dear friends, as we consider this today, the fact of the matter is that there's no need for law keeping because we're told by Paul again in Romans chapter 3 that through Christ and our faith in him we establish the law. All the demands of the law for us were met by Christ on the cross, he perfectly has satisfied the law of God for us, taking our guilt upon himself and dying for us. So we don't need to add law keeping to gain our salvation. We trust in him and in him alone. It's Christ not plus anything, not plus circumcision, plus law-keeping. It's just Christ and Christ alone. And he goes on to say here, in fact, he says, we are the circumcision who worship God in the Spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus. We are the circumcision. What he's talking about there is the fact that circumcision has got an anti-type in the New Testament. It means that we're saying no to the old nature, to the sins of the flesh. That's the true circumcision. It's us as believers saying no to the sins of the flesh and also looking then to the Holy Spirit to give us the power to live in righteousness, live a life of righteousness. In fact, that is the teaching he gives us very clearly here. He says we're the circumcision because we have said no to the flesh and we are rejoicing again is this word we're boasting or we're depending on Christ Jesus he says so the important point for you is in Philippi it's your it's your trust it's your dependence on the Lord Jesus Christ alone which secures your salvation he says you know I could have had confidence in many things, he said, as I lived in this world. Paul's a Jew and he speaks about that here now. He says many things he could have put his confidence in for acceptance with God. Listen to what he says here. He talks first of all that he was an eight-day child. He says in verse verse 5, circumcised the eighth day. That was the day, you'll find it in Leviticus chapter 12 and 3, that was the day for a Jewish child, the eighth day to keep circumcision and Paul had observed that perfectly. Just as we know that was true for the Lord Jesus Christ in Luke chapter 2, we have it mentioned there as well. So he was an eight-day child. He was also a true Israelite, he says, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin. Israel was being used here as a religious name for the people of God. And again, Benjamin was the one tribe that was faithful to Judah. at the very beginning when there was the great division between Rehoboam and Jeroboam after Solomon, and Benjamin was faithful to Judah. So he was a true Israelite. He was also a Hebrew of the Hebrews, he tells them. In other words, both his parents were Jews. He says, I was a strict Pharisee, an eighth-day child, a true Israelite, a Hebrew of Hebrews. and a strict Pharisee. The Pharisees didn't just keep the Ten Commandments, but there was what was called the Oral Tradition. That was about 613 different interpretations of the law. A Pharisee was a person who had committed himself to keep all of those traditions and to observe them fully. He was a strict Pharisee. He was also a zealous persecutor because, as Paul says here, he was persecuting the Church. You know, whenever Stephen was being stoned, Paul was a young man, but they laid down his clothes. Paul kept the clothes of those who stoned Stephen. He was agreeing with his stoning. And we know of Paul's throughout the Acts of the Apostles, where he's now breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the Christians. He goes to the high priest, he gets letters that allow him to go to foreign cities, to put them in prison, and even to give his consent when they have been put to death. His hands were stained, Acts 26 tells us, with Christian blood. He was a strict, zealous persecutor of the church. Even above that, he was also a morally upright man concerning the righteousness which is in the law. He says, I was blameless. We can't be faultless, but he was blameless as far as all the moral teaching of the law was concerned. He sought to keep it perfectly. What a witness we have here to the things he could have confidence in. But you know, he says that what things were gained to me, those things, I count it loss for Christ. He knew that he could depend on none of those things because behind it all, he was just a sinner. And what he needed was the Christ who on the cross, as he met him on Damascus Road alive, he realized Jesus was not an imposter. but that when he was on the cross, he was there as the mediator. He was there dying for sinners, and he was a sinner, and Christ was dying for him. So his trust was not in all that he listed here, but his trust was in his own Messiah, the Christ, who suffered on the cross and paid the price for sinners and for him as well. And so once again, he's talking here something about glorying in Christ. And then he speaks about gaining in Christ. He talks about all that he was, you know, you could say here, and we're thinking about it. Think about what he was actually within his whole lifetime and culture. We're told here that as far as Paul is concerned, he would have financial stability. He's a Roman citizen. He's from a city, Tarsus, no mean city, we're told. He was sitting at Gamaliel's feet, being taught by him, walking in the right circles. So you can see here that he had financial stability. He had a noted reputation. Galatians 1 will tell us that, because among all the up-and-coming leaders, the young men, he outshone them all. Such a reputation. Financial stability. a noted reputation, he had physical comforts, all of those things were sure for him. And yet, you know, something meant that he lost all those things. One day he met Christ on the Damascus road and realised he wasn't an imposter, he was the son of God, and he'd been persecuting his people. And he came to put his trust, he realised that the cross of Christ was a sacrifice that met our need, and he makes that point clear. And he put his trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, what will you have me to do? He owns him as Lord, what will you have me to do? And what that meant was, when he confessed Christ, it meant that he suffered the loss of all those things that I've just mentioned, the financial stability, the reputation, the comforts, all those things were gone. He says, but what things were gained to me, those I counted loss for Christ. And he says, indeed, I also count all things loss for the excellency of Christ Jesus, my Lord. And he says, I count them even just like rubbish. They meant knowing Christ The knowledge of Christ meant more to him than all those things, because in having Christ, he gained. He may have lost something, but he gained more in having Christ. And what did he gain? Well, here's what he says. He says, I'm found in him not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through the faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith. You see, Paul talks here about being found in him there's a reckoning one day because we have to meet god we have to stand before him and how will we be found in that day when we stand before well paul says i wanted to be found in him in a certain way the reckoning he talks about the righteous he says i wanted to have a righteousness not my own he says being found in him not having my own righteousness which is from the law but that which is to the faith in christ the righteousness which is from God by faith. Paul, when he put his trust in Christ, received a righteousness from God. It's like the prodigal son when he returns to the father, and the father says, bring out the best robe, put it on him. So Paul was given a righteousness not his own. He was given imputed righteousness to stand before God accepted. That's a wonderful garment, a wonderful covering. And Paul speaks about it here. the righteousness, and how do we receive it? There's not just the reckoning, but there's the reliance, he says here, which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith. In other words, that righteousness became his when he believed the good news that Jesus had died for him, paid the price for him. And he put his trust in the risen Christ as his saviour, as his mediator between God and man. And it was by his faith in Christ, his trust in Christ, that brought that righteousness to him. So he not only says you can glory in Christ, but you can gain a righteousness. If you put your faith and trust in Him, with which you can stand before God and be accepted. And then the last thing he says here, which of course is important for the bodily resurrection of Jesus, which is our theme. He also talks about not just glorying in Christ, gaining in Christ, but giving power in Christ. He says, Now that I do know Him, He says, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection. He had come to know Christ. That just means not that he knew him intellectually or historically, just knew about him, but he knew the Lord Jesus because he had met him on the Damascus road. He was alive forevermore. He met him. He trusted him. He had fellowship with him. He knows him. experientially, in his own life from day to day, the reality that Jesus is real to him moment by moment. And he says, knowing him, that I may know him, he says, when I do know him, then he says, I know something else, the power of his resurrection. He knew that Christ's power would enable him to live from day to day a different life. And that's the wonderful, wonderful message we bring for the 500 plus community who actually believe that Jesus is alive and risen and have come to him and have come to know him and realize that they can have fellowship with him, that because of our fellowship with him we can know the power We can know power in our lives. All the power that raised Jesus from the dead, God's power, that power can come to us from day to day as we walk in fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ. We have power. Isn't that precious to know that? We know that we have to battle with many things, with temptation, with the lusts of the flesh, as it's called, passions. We have to battle with Satan's attacks sometimes. We have to battle with all kinds of trials and suffering. But you know, we have power. because as we walk with the Lord Jesus Christ, the risen saviour, as we know him in our lives, as we fellowship with him, his power flows through us. So Paul says here that I may know him and the power of his resurrection. Knowing the fellowship of his sufferings, Christ died on the cross. His were atoning sufferings but for Paul it was just ministering sufferings as he ministered from place to place and he suffered greatly but in that all he found help. He found the power of Christ helping him moment by moment and that's the most precious thing that we have here in this verse. He says knowing the power of his resurrection, the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable to his death. Jesus died for sin. He paid the price for sin. Paul died to sin. He turned away from sin and he found power to live a holy life in the Lord Jesus Christ. Do you have that power? The point is, do you know him? It's so important not just to know about him, but to realise that as a sinner he died for you and the price has been paid. You can come to him. He's alive forevermore. You can come to him. You can put your trust in him alone for your salvation and day by day fellowship with him and know his power. May God bless you. you you you.