Getting to Know Christ - 15

Well, today in our preaching series through Philippians, we come to one of the most quoted verses that is found anywhere in this book, namely Philippians 3, 10, which says that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings being conformed to His death, that I may know Him. It seems remarkable that the Apostle Paul, who had served the Lord now for more than 30 years, would say that I may know Him, that He would indicate that there's still more to know about Christ that He does not yet know. And yet that is exactly the case, Paul expressing a desire to know Christ and to know Him more fully.

And we recognize with that statement that there is certainly something unusual here, but what can it possibly mean for a veteran apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ who has been saved for decades to pray that I may know Him? There's something here that we need to understand, and may God help us do that. To understand our text, we have to take it in context.

That's always the key to proper understanding, isn't it? And the context of this text is the sentence in which it is found, which starts at the beginning of verse 8 and runs through verse 11, one of Paul's many long sentences. And so we're going to track this text through the context, starting with verse 8, and realize that Paul is describing salvation as a process and he's describing different stages along the way. And also, surprisingly, he is describing salvation as something that is difficult to acquire. And that's a neglected truth in our day, and that indeed is a paradox because it is true that to acquire salvation, one must simply believe. We sometimes say all you have to do is believe, though I shy away from stating it exactly that way, but that is in fact the case. And yet, on the other hand, it is difficult to acquire.

There is a cost involved, and that seems contradictory, and that seems very confusing, and yet we must understand how these two truths come together. And in this text, they do come together. As Paul is talking about the Judaizers and their adding works to the gospel and ruining the gospel by adding their works to the gospel of grace, that salvation is not by the deeds of the law, it is not by works, it is by faith in Jesus Christ, as he emphasizes so strongly, at the very same time saying it's difficult to acquire and it comes at great cost, and all of this in the same sentence. The Judaizers were proud of their religious works and they were relying upon them for salvation. Paul, though he asserts his religious credentials as being equal to and greater than the Judaizers that he's referring to, nevertheless makes it clear that he does not rely upon those works for salvation. In fact, he makes it clear that anyone who does so cannot be saved. You cannot have Christ holding onto your works as a means or even a partial means of salvation.

Doing that cancels all hope of salvation, but why is this so? We're going to work through these verses in the following manner. Number one, gaining Christ, verse 8. Number two, possessing Christ, verse 9. Number three, knowing Christ, verse 10. And number four, achieving Christ, verse 11. But to each of these that I have formed primarily from the words of the text themselves, you can find those words there, gaining Christ in verse 8, that I may gain Christ, the last words of the verse. And possessing Christ, verse 9, that exact phrase is not found there, but that's the general idea. And knowing Christ, verse 10, exactly the words that are found there, that I may know him.

And what did I say? Achieving Christ, that word is not found in verse 11, but again, that's the essence of verse 11. But let me add something to each of these statements that will help us as we make our way through. Gaining Christ, salvation acquired. Possessing Christ, salvation begun. Knowing Christ, salvation continued. Achieving Christ, salvation completed.

Are you ready? Gaining Christ, salvation acquired. Verse 8, yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ. Gaining Christ. And Paul tells us that in gaining Christ, number one, we must recognize his worth, and number two, we must count the cost. We must recognize his worth, that I may gain Christ.

That I may gain the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, or as the ESV puts it, in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ. Paul has already listed his impressive credentials in verses 4 through 6. Paul had all the advantages of the right birth, born of Jewish parents, born circumcised on the eighth day, born of the nation of Israel, born of the tribe of Benjamin, all of these things that the Judaizers pointed to as credentials that gained them favor with God.

Paul said, I had all of these in addition to many achievements of my own personal endeavor. I became a Pharisee, the strictest group of the Jews. I persecuted the church with zeal when others only talked against it, but I was willing to go much further than that.

I was willing to war against it. Yes, I demonstrated my zeal for God and my sincerity in all of these things which I believed, and yet I came to realize that all of these things were nothing. They did not earn one day in heaven. And I had to renounce them, the advantages of birth, the achievements of personal endeavor. I had to count them all loss of no value whatsoever. In fact, more than that, I had to count them as a liability, not only loss, but refuse, rubbish, dug.

They stunk when I came to realize the truth about them. And so Paul is making it clear that we cannot acquire Christ until we value Him more than anything else. Paul had all these things that were formerly of great value. He thought they were and others thought they were. And Paul said, I had to renounce them all.

I had to get rid of them all. I had to reject them all in order to be able to gain Christ because I could not gain Christ until I rejected all of these personal achievements. The surpassing value of Christ must become to us greater than anything else in all the world.

That's what Paul is saying. We must come to value Christ more than any and everything else in all the world. It's not just a matter of believing the gospel, believing that Christ died for our sins and rose again.

And I believe that, therefore, I'm a Christian. There's more to true saving faith than that. There is a renunciation of all the things that the world holds dear and that we hold dear because we are part of the world. And we have to say, if I must give that up for Christ, I gladly give it up. If I must renounce that for Christ, I gladly renounce it. If Christ demands this for me, I gladly give it up. I'm willing to give up anything and everything that is necessary for me to acquire Christ because I consider Him of greater value than all these other things.

To gain Christ, we must recognize His worth, and to gain Christ, we must count the cost to accept whatever loss He requires. Now, that differs from person to person and from case to case what it is that God requires of us in order to come to Christ because God alone knows our hearts, and God alone knows what it is that we worship. God alone knows what we have made God in our lives. God alone knows what is our idol, and we must renounce our idols. And our idols are not graven images of stone. Our idols are wealth, money. Our idols are relationships that we aren't willing to give up in order to have Christ. Our relationship is more dear to us than Christ is. Our idols are our position that gives us honor in the world, and we're not willing to give that up for the cause of Christ.

Our idols can be so many other things, popularity. We're not willing to be thought poorly of by others if we identify ourselves openly as a Christian, and on and on it goes. And Paul is telling us it's not exactly any thing in itself. It's not that this thing is required or that thing is required.

It all depends upon the person and what it is that you're holding on to in your heart, and God knows what that is. And whatever it is, God says, give it up, give it up, give it up, give it up. You must. You must renounce it.

For the rich young ruler, it was wealth, wasn't it? What must I do, good master, to inherit eternal life, he said. And Jesus said, well, if you would enter into heaven, then keep the commandments.

Well, which ones? Well, thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not commit adultery. Honor thy father and thy mother. Honor the Lord.

I love your neighbors yourself. I think he put that in there. And the young man said, well, all these things I've kept from my youth up. Oh, really?

Well, he thought he had. That's a great delusion, but yes, I've kept all these things from my youth up. All right, here's the one thing.

I'm going to put my finger right on it. Go and sell everything you have and give to the poor and follow me and you'll have treasure in heaven. Well, is Jesus saying that the way to salvation is by giving everything to the poor? Is that what we must do in order to be saved?

No, but that's this rich young ruler must be willing to do that in order to have Christ because wealth was obviously his idol. So on the one hand, it is true. Salvation is free.

Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. On the other hand, it is also true. There's a great cost to be paid. You must be willing to give up. You must be willing to renounce. Is that a contradiction?

No, it goes together. This is what it means to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. You must believe on Him alone. You must believe in His surpassing worth. You must believe that He is more valuable than anything else. You must believe that you need and desire Him more than anything else this world has to offer. That is the requirement to gain Christ. When a soul full of fleshly confidence was lost, Paul, dependent upon Christ alone, was saved. To gain Christ requires nothing.

Nothing in my hand I bring. Simply to thy cross I cling. To gain Christ requires everything. For whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish that I may gain Christ. And so gaining Christ, salvation acquired, we must recognize His worth.

We must count the cost. Possessing Christ, salvation begun, verse 9, and be found in Him. Not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ. The righteousness which is from God by faith.

Be found in Him. I've called this possessing Christ. It really is more Christ possessing us, but it goes both ways.

Both phrases, both perspectives are given to us in the Word of God. When we come to Christ, we possess Him. When we come to Christ, He possesses us.

We belong to Him, He belongs to us. Possessing Christ, when we are in Him, that mysterious union where we are in Christ, and then what Christ has done applies to us. His sinless life gives us His righteousness.

His vicarious death pays our sin debt to be found in Him. But again, to be found in Him, to possess Christ, we must renounce all personal merit, we must acquire divine righteousness, and we must receive Christ by faith. We must renounce all personal merit. Not having my own righteousness.

And be found in Him, verse 9, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law. We must renounce all personal merit, all of our personal goodness. We all think we have a lot of that. That is an imaginary delusion that we carry into life and carry through life.

And we've got to come to realize that is not so. How much goodness do you have? How much goodness do I have? We have this much.

A zero with a rim rubbed out. That's how much righteousness, how much goodness we actually possess. We just think we have goodness, but we don't. All of our meritorious achievement, or what we think is meritorious achievement, we have to come to realize it is not meritorious. Whatever we have achieved, it's not meritorious, that's for sure. It merits us nothing. We must renounce all of our religious connections and accomplishments.

What are you looking to and saying, well that will help me. That's a brownie mark, that's a good mark on my record. I belong to this church, I have been baptized, I do this religious thing, I do that religious thing.

Exit all out. It counts as nothing when it comes to gaining Christ. Nothing, nothing, nothing. We have to come to realize that we have, listen to me now, we have no self-worth.

Not before God. The world almost makes a religion of building up self-esteem, building up self-worth. You've got to do that, you've got to help children.

They come to school, they're all battled and broken because of problems in their home. So what we've got to do is we've got to build their self-esteem, we've got to give them self-worth. Yeah, and you'll probably send them straight on the road to hell because they're not going to get to heaven feeling good about themselves. They're not going to get to heaven having high self-esteem and great self-worth. They're going to have to come to realize that before God they have no self-worth.

Absolutely nothing. We almost come to that. We must renounce all personal merit and we must acquire divine righteousness. Righteousness that is imputed, that is given to us.

It's applied to our account. It's not ours, it's Christ's. Righteousness that is alien.

I used that word I think a couple of weeks ago. It's outside of ourselves. What is an alien? It's a little green man that comes out of a spaceship. What is an alien? That's somebody who crosses our border, comes from another country. What is an alien? An alien is something that is outside of ourselves. In regard to interplanetary travel, it's a being that comes from another place. If there be any such beings, we shall find out I suppose eventually. What is an alien?

Well, in regard to nationality and geography, it's somebody who comes from another country. What is alien righteousness? It's righteousness that comes from somewhere else. It doesn't come from me. It comes from outside of me.

Where does it come from? It comes from Christ. I don't have any righteousness of my own. I don't have any goodness in myself. If I'm going to have a right standing before God, I've got to have a righteousness which I cannot acquire by myself, I cannot achieve by myself, I do not have within me, I am unable to produce, I am bankrupt in regard to it, I have no hope of acquiring it.

It must be given to me from outside of me. There must be a righteousness that is alien to myself, that is given to me by the mercy of God, the righteousness of Christ. A perfect righteousness. You see, only a perfect righteousness gives us a right standing with God.

You can keep almost all of the law. And James tells us, break one commandment, and it's the same as if you've broken it all. I'm a good person. I haven't murdered anybody. I don't steal. I don't commit adultery. I'm not a bad person like these other ones. Have you ever told a lie?

Well, of course, everybody tells a few little lies now and then. Guilty, damned, doomed, you've broken the law. You can't get to heaven unless you have a perfect righteousness.

Well, how do you get that? By faith. We must receive Christ by faith twice in verse 9. It says, faith, that which is through faith, the righteousness which is from God by faith. What is faith?

Faith is believing the revelation of God. Faith is my empty hands reaching out to God. Empty. Empty of all merit. Empty of all self-worth. Empty of all concepts of goodness and merit and anything that is pleasing to God.

Acknowledging that I have nothing with which I can please Him. My hands are empty, O Lord God. I am a beggar. I'm begging bread.

I have nothing. Will you give me that which I need? Will you give me the righteousness which makes me right with yourself? And God who demands a perfect righteousness supplies it in Jesus Christ for all who come to Him by faith. Are you willing to reach up to Him with empty hands, the empty hands of faith and receive that which He so freely gives? If so, you will have the perfect righteousness which God requires.

If not, you must go to hell clinging on to your own merit. Faith is trusting Christ's life and death as my standing with God. We are justified by faith. And that's the beginning of the Christian life as far as we are conscious of it.

Obviously, God breathing life within our soul. The new birth precedes this, but as far as we are conscious of it, it is when by faith we embrace Christ and acknowledge that it is His righteousness that gives us a standing before God. And that's the beginning of the Christian life. Possessing Christ's salvation begun and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith. There is a righteousness which is unsatisfactory. Ours, all of our deeds, all of our merits, all of our religiosity. There is a righteousness which is fully satisfactory.

What is that? Christ's perfect. It satisfies God in every detail. And there's only one way to obtain His righteousness by faith and faith alone. It must be given.

It must be bestowed. Number three, knowing Christ, salvation continued. And that brings us now to verse 10. That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings being conformed to His death. That I may know Him in a growing knowledge and an ongoing knowledge and an increasing knowledge and what we sometimes call an experiential knowledge.

But what does that mean? And that's what this text will help us understand. That I may know Him in, number one, a powerful relationship, the power of His resurrection. Obviously, it took great power to raise Christ from the dead, power that is beyond human achievement or human understanding. All the things that man is able to do that's powerful, including split the Adam and create an Adam-bob, but he can't raise anybody from the dead.

Man doesn't have that kind of power, never has, had, never will, but God does. It's a great power that raised Christ from the dead. And that's the regenerating power that has breathed life into our dead souls, that has raised us from spiritual death to life. That is the power that it took in order for us to be given new life, to have divine life created within us, to have a new birth take place within us. That is the power of God at work within our lives. And it is a persevering power. It is the power that continues with us throughout our lives.

And that's what Paul is getting at here. Where do we get the power to give up all these things that we treasure? That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection. Where do we get the power to face the trials and sufferings of life and the ridicule and the scoffing and the scorning and perhaps the real active persecution that comes to some of the people of God? Where do we get the power to stand up to that, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection? Where do we get the power to serve Him effectively?

To find a place of service, to find a place where we can advance the kingdom of Christ, to find a way that we can proclaim the gospel to others and see it effectively used in hearts. We don't have the power to make that happen. We can't make our witness effective.

We can't make anything we do have any lasting value. Where does that come from? That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, the power that flows from Him, the power that was demonstrated in His resurrection. Persevering power, serving power. I may know Him as we experience His power working within us. An ever increasing power in our lives that proceeds from the risen Christ to those who trust in Him.

It is a powerful relationship, but it's more than that. It is a suffering relationship that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings. Obviously our sufferings are not the sufferings of atonement.

Only Christ could suffer on the cross to atone for sins. But it is the suffering of identification, the suffering that comes to us because of our identification with Christ. Now to have Christ we must value Him so much that we are glad to be identified with Him regardless of what that brings. But I can tell you what it will bring.

Jesus told us what it will bring. If they've hated me, they will hate you. If you are identified with me, then the world doesn't know you, doesn't appreciate you, doesn't love you, doesn't like you, doesn't watch you around, it hates you. It brings all kinds of sufferings. The suffering of identification with Christ. We share Christ's hatred in this world.

Because the world hates Christ, the world hates the people of God. Are you willing to bear that suffering? Are you willing to share that suffering? That's what it means to know Christ. To share His suffering means reflecting His sacrifices on behalf of others. He suffered in order to serve others and He calls upon His followers to be willing to suffer in order to serve others.

That's the sufferings of Christ. We suffer for the cause of the Gospel and we know Him as we suffer with Him. We know Him to the extent that we suffer with Him. We know Him to the extent that we are willing to suffer with Him.

That I may know Him in an ongoing, growing relationship and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings. A powerful relationship, a suffering relationship, a dying relationship, being conformed to His death. Again, not the death of atonement, that was His alone. But the death of our self-centeredness. Isn't that our problem?

Isn't that the obstacle? Isn't that what keeps us from loving others like we should and loving others like we love ourselves? We love ourselves a great deal. What nonsense we have heard some people proclaim that because we must love others as ourselves and we tend to not love ourselves as much as we should, we've got to start by loving ourselves more and then we can learn to love others more.

Isn't it amazing how false teachers can take God's Word and actually turn it upside down on its head to teach the exact opposite of what it's actually saying? The Bible doesn't indicate that we need to love ourselves more. The Bible is indicating that we already love ourselves too much. That's the problem.

That's the problem. Too much self-love. Now to love others as ourselves, we've got to learn to love ourselves less and to love others more. That's death.

Death to self. But that's what it means to know Christ. The death of self-centeredness, the death of worldly ambitions. We have these ideas of what we want to achieve in life and what if Christ says, but I don't want you to do that. I want you to give up your business.

For the disciples it was the fishing business, the taxing business, other businesses. I want you to give that up and follow me. Are you willing to do that? Oh, no, I can't do that. I've invested too much into this fishing business.

Why, it came to me from my father and to him from his father and we have been working at this a long time. I'm willing to believe in you, Jesus, but I'm not willing to give up my fishing business to follow you. That's what it means to know Christ. Death to worldly ambitions, death to self-preservation. We know him as we die to self to live for him and for others. That's costly.

That's difficult. That's impossible except by the power of his resurrection working in us. But that's what it means to know him throughout our Christian lifetime, to know him, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being conformed unto his death. You see, knowing Christ, it turns out, is more objective than subjective. Some have taken this text and have made it a rather mystical experience that I may know him, that I may feel my relationship with him or that I have this inner feeling. That's what tells me that I know him when I can work up this feeling. Now, I don't mean to say that there's nothing to that. I don't mean to discount that completely. I'm not saying that there are no feelings, there are no sense of personal relationship, but I'm saying that's not what Paul is talking about in this text and I'm saying that's not a great deal of what you're going to find in Scripture.

It's far more objective than that. How do we know him better? By experiencing his power working in our lives to accomplish what he tells us to do. That's what it is when we experience the power that enables us to obey his word. Then we are experiencing his power. That's knowing him in the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings.

When we find ourselves by his help and grace being able and willing to deny self in order to help others and serve Christ, then we are experiencing the fellowship of his sufferings when we are willing to die to self in order to serve Christ and others, then we are knowing him in this powerful way, which is more objective than subjective. We've kind of grown up, most of us, with this idea that knowing Christ and walking with Christ is a joyful, buoyant feeling and when the feeling's gone, we need to work up that feeling again. We've all grown up singing songs like that.

And again, I say it's not that there's nothing to that, but that really leads us down the wrong path, I'm afraid. How many of you sang growing up every day when Jesus is sweeter than the day before? Any of you sing that growing up?

I did. Is it? Well, I guess it all depends on what you mean by sweeter. There are some days that are agonizing. Some days as I see my sin more clearly, I am distraught. That doesn't feel sweeter, but I'm making progress. I'm joining him in his sufferings as I'm putting self to death. You see what I'm talking about?

I thought about that chorus I used to sing and probably some of you did too. I love him better every day. I love him better every day. Close by his side, I will abide. I love him better every day. Have you sung that growing up?

We can even elaborate it. I love him better every D-A-Y. I love him better every D-A-Y. Close by his S-I-D-E. I will A-B-I-D-E.

I love him better every D-A-Y. Well, we sing these songs and they give us the idea that walking with Jesus, knowing Jesus is a matter of feeling joyful and feeling triumphant and feeling victorious and feeling close to him and it's all the subjectiveness. And Paul says, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. It's the power to count the cost. It's the power to stop holding on to the things of this world that you hold dear. It's the power to serve him in the way that he tells us to in a selfless service for others.

That's what it means to know him. And when you see his power working those things in your life, you are experiencing what it means to know Christ, this ongoing knowledge of him that Paul was praying for. That's the essence of the Christian life. Which brings us into number four, achieving Christ, salvation completed, verse 11. If by any means I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. That's the culmination. That's the goal. If by any means, now this is not a statement of doubt. I hope I'm going to make it.

I don't know if I am or not. That's not what Paul is saying. It's not a statement of doubt.

It's a statement of resolution. By any means, whatever it takes. Renouncing all things of earthly value. Dying to self. Dying to selfishness and self-centeredness. Whatever it takes by any means that I might attain unto the resurrection from the dead. The death of worldly ambitions.

All of these things we've already talked about. It is a statement of evaluation. Evaluating what is the goal. It is a statement of resolution.

I'm willing to do what it takes to reach that goal. It is a statement of focus. A single-minded focus upon the end, on the yard line. The end goal that we are attempting to cross with the help of God. And again, this is one of these mysteries and paradoxes in the Bible. That on the one hand, if we have been born again, we know we cannot fail to reach that goal. But on the other hand, we realize there are a lot of people who thought they were born again and they've dropped out before they got there. How do you explain that? Some people say, well, you can lose your salvation.

No, that's not it. You can deceive yourself into thinking you're saved when you're not. And so, Paul was always talking about working and sweating and committing and endeavoring until he got to the end, until he got to the final goal.

That's why I'm so joyful about the presence of my dear friend, missionary Steve Worth. He got all the way to the end without failure. I mean, obviously, every one of us fail in ways that God sees and knows. But he was faithful and persevering and committed and believing to the very end. He didn't go part way and then renounce it all and walk in another direction, as some have done. If by any means, whatever it takes to achieve the resurrection from the dead. That's the culmination of salvation. I've talked to you from time to time about the three stages of salvation, past, present, and future.

We can say, past, I have been saved, tracing it back to the day of the new birth, back to the time when we first trusted in Christ. I have been saved. We can say, I am being saved. That's also just as scriptural and accurate. I am being saved. That's what Paul is talking about, that I may know Him.

This is what's going on presently. I am being saved. I am being cleansed. I am being conformed to Christ. I am getting closer to the culmination, which is Christ-likeness. I am being saved, present.

Or I can talk about salvation in the future. I shall be saved. I shall be saved when I'm with the Lord. Then I will have achieved the goal, and there will be no possibility of failure at that point. I will be with the Lord, and it will be sealed and done.

That's the final stage in the future. But the future stage of salvation is actually in two parts, the salvation of the soul and the salvation of the body. The salvation of the soul is complete when we die and we go to be with the Lord, and instantly our soul is fully sanctified.

It's transformed. It's glorified. It's achieving all the fullness that salvation in Christ acquires, the redemption of our soul. But our body is still in the grave, and our salvation isn't complete until that body comes out, a resurrection body, a glorified body, and that awaits the second coming of Christ. And when Christ comes and the trumpet sounds and the dead in Christ shall rise first and all those bodies come out of the grave and they all come out as glorified resurrection bodies like Christ had when He came out of the dead, then and only then will our salvation be final and complete. And that's the goal that Paul was looking for. If whatever it takes to achieve to the resurrection from the dead, that's the end goal.

That's the final point. That's the culmination of salvation. That's what I'm looking for, achieving Christ, salvation completed. Let eternity begin. The goal has been achieved.

That's what I'm looking forward to. And whatever it takes to get there. This text teaches us about salvation, and it teaches us about the Christian life. In regard to salvation, it reminds us that there are two ways to relate to God, and everybody relates to God in one of these two ways.

We can relate to God according to works, so we can relate to God according to grace. If you relate to God according to works, then you get wages for what you have done. You get what you deserve, and it's not as good as what you think.

You've got an inflated idea of what your works are worth, but you're going to find out that when you get paid for what you have done, you're going to find out that the wages of sin is death. You're going to find out that all of your righteousness was as filthy rags. You're going to find out that you will get exactly what you deserve, no injustice with God.

You get exactly what you deserve. You want it to be related to God on the basis of your works, on your merit, on your good deed, and so God will judge that and pronounce it insufficient, and He will hear, Depart from me, you workers of iniquity, I never knew you. And relating to God on the basis of works always results in eternal damnation, because there is no one who has achieved the perfect righteousness.

Or you can relate to God on the basis of grace, on mercy, and that means getting what we do not deserve. Nobody deserves righteousness. Nobody deserves eternal life. Nobody deserves heaven. But if you're willing to come to God and acknowledge that you don't deserve it, you are a wicked, wretched sinner that deserves to go to hell.

Can you say that? Have you said that to God? Have you said, O Lord God, I acknowledge I deserve to go to hell? But I'm reaching out to embrace Christ by faith and to receive the righteousness which you impart through Him. I don't deserve it, but your word promises it to those who come to you for it, and I'm pleading with you to grant that to me. I acknowledge that I deserve hell, but I'm claiming the promise that those who come to Christ shall be given eternal life. And those who relate to Christ, to God, on the basis of grace are saved.

So choose your basis. Choose how you want to relate to God. And I plead with you, don't choose works that has no good end. Choose grace and be willing to part with whatever it takes, whatever obstacle is between you and receiving Jesus Christ of greatest value in your life. There's also a lesson here in regard to the Christian life, and the Christian life begins with renouncing self and surrendering to Christ, but it continues that way for the whole rest of the Christian life. That's what it means that I may know Him, that I may continue to know Him, that I may always know Him, that I may grow in my knowledge of Him, continually renouncing self and continually surrendering to Christ. I thought that long quote at the back of our bulletin today by D.A.

Carson was very appropriate at this point. We quickly learned that God is more interested in our holiness than in our comfort. He more greatly delights in the integrity and purity of His church than in the material well-being of its members. He shows Himself more clearly to men and women who enjoy Him and obey Him than to men and women whose horizons revolve around good jobs, nice houses, and reasonable health. He is far more committed to building a corporate temple in which the Holy Spirit dwells than He is in preserving our reputation. He is more vitally disposed to display His grace than to flatter our intelligence. He is more concerned for justice than for our ease.

He is more deeply committed to stretching our faith and our popularity. He prefers that His people live in disciplined gratitude and holy joy rather than in pushy self-reliance and glitzy happiness. He wants us to pursue daily life, not self-fulfillment, for the latter leads to death while the former leads to life. These essential values of the gospel must shape our praying, and they must also shape our living. Shall we pray? O Father, show us the truth of Your Word. Show us the truth of these words by Your Holy Spirit through the Apostle Paul. May they resonate and resound in every life. O Lord, those who are clinging to self-merit, by Your Spirit, help them to cut loose of that completely today and to see themselves as worthless beggars. May they hold on to Christ, and may they praise and glorify Him now and forevermore. Amen.