A Portrait of a Christian

As I sought the Lord and prayed about what He would have me preach this morning, my first thought was to return to our expositional series in the book of Revelation. And yet I thought this last day and last Sunday of 2023 affords an opportunity to maybe do something different this morning.

My plan is to return to our series next Sunday evening in Revelation. But this morning, Philippians chapter 3 and verses 1 through 16. And I thought about giving you reasons why I chose to preach from this passage as a way of introduction. And I'll just mention one.

There were many. But one, as I thought about, OK, what does the preacher say on the last Sunday of the year? Well, it's an opportunity to think back, reflect on the past, give thanks to God for His faithfulness, to learn from mistakes, rejoice in blessings.

But it's also an opportunity to look forward. And Paul says something similar here in Philippians chapter 3. He says this one thing, this one thing I do, forgetting those things that are behind and pressing forward to those things that lie ahead. So that's initially the verse that took me here to Philippians chapter 3.

But as I studied, I thought, no, there's far more here than just that. So I have identified 10 subjects in these verses. Yeah, I know what time it is. So let's get after it. OK, you all right with that?

Let's get after it. I want you to notice with me in the first place, Paul's joy. He says, finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord.

As most of you know, this is a notable theme to trace through the book of Philippians. Paul mentions it 16 times. So he's not saying anything new. He's saying something that he's been saying.

And what is significant about that is his circumstances. He's writing from a Roman prison. Huh, that doesn't sound like a happy place.

No, far from it. Yet in the midst of that, he knew joy and he was commanding the brethren. The church in Philippi to rejoice. And if Paul could rejoice in his circumstances, then you and I, aided by the Spirit of God, can do the same.

Because joy is not something that's humanly manufactured. Joy is something that is sourced in God. It's one of the manifestations of the fruit of the Spirit. Paul is writing to the church in Rome and he says. That the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but it is righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. So, Paul begins this third chapter with the word finally.

It's our cue that he has said a lot already and is moving toward the conclusion. But one thing he does not want them to forget is this matter of joy. Here it is again. So let me give you a definition of what we're talking about here with joy, because it is so contrary to favorable circumstances. The joy that Paul is commanding of us. The joy that I'm commending to you this morning. The joy that is sourced in God that can be experienced regardless of what is going on in our life is this. It is the experience of well-being that springs from the deep down confidence in God. And in his perfect control of everything for my good and his glory.

That's what we're talking about. So. Let me ask you for a verdict. For an honest evaluation. On a scale of one to 10. What is your level of joy on this last Sunday of 2023? You have to think about that, don't you? I'm not asking you how well your life is going.

I'm not asking you how favorable your circumstances are. I'm asking you what is your honest evaluation of the level of joy that you are experiencing? There ought to be a measure of joy if you're a believer in Jesus Christ, because this is what the Spirit of God produces in us. It ought to be a great source of encouragement to us that we can have that. We can experience it to some degree when life has fallen apart around us. When there's troubling things going on, uncertainties about the future.

When there's that joy, some measure of it, some manifestation of it. We say, you know, that's got to be God because it isn't coming from this. So it can be a source of assurance that we are indeed in Christ.

So. Subject number one, Paul's joy. Notice with me, secondly, Paul's repetition in verse one. He says, Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord for me to write the same things to you is not tedious, but for you it is safe.

He's writing the same things. This is a repeated pattern throughout the scriptures. And we must stop and ask why, why would there be this conspicuous repeated pattern in the scriptures? Well, it reveals something about our nature. God knows we need repetition.

We need continual reminders concerning the same subjects, matters of faith. And he says, I'm writing the same things to you, for you it is safe. It is safe. Why?

Why is it safe? Because the goal isn't new information. You know, we like to hear new nuanced approaches to this or that, and it piques our interest.

But. I'll be honest with you about something. Cardi and I went down to Greenville to. Be with the Phillips and rejoice with them and Matthew's wedding to to lay and. When the preacher got up there and began conducting the ceremony. I've probably conducted twenty five or thirty weddings, and after a while it sounds like the same thing.

I mean, there's only so many things you can say at a wedding, right? So where did she go? Oh, he goes to Genesis. And now this is this is in the context of me preparing this message to preach to you. All right. So you'd think I would be the one who would be OK. You need to be doing what you're going to tell the people to do tomorrow. But something in me went. And then the spirit of God went on.

No, no, no, no. You need to listen to what this preacher is saying is if your life depended on it. Even though you're not the one standing here being married.

My attention was arrested. And we need that because I know I sit there most of the time on Sunday morning, except I'm up here preaching when the pastor's away and various eight or 10 times a year. I'm here on a Sunday morning, but I'm usually sitting where you're sitting. Pastor Barkman has been here 50 years, and after a while, you know, regardless of how creative you are, you start to say some of the same things over and over again. And you go, oh, boy, I've heard this before.

That's a dangerous mindset to entertain. We need repetition. We need reminders.

I've got some tools in my garage that I may go a year or two years, never need them. But when the need arises, I'm reminded I've got a tool to address that need. Well, the word of God's like this. You may have needs in your life that the word of God doesn't address for periods of time, but when that need arises, you are reminded, you need reminded of certain portions of the scriptures for your edification, for your growth, for your walk with the Lord. So never, never tire of hearing the same things.

Yes, there will be new things, but let us master the basics. Keep coming back to the fundamentals of the faith. Keep checking our roots.

Keep checking our moorings. Never tire of asking the question, is my life still tethered to the truths of God's word? This is a hymn in our hymn book, Tell Me the Old Old Story. Tell me the old old story of unseen things above, of Jesus and his glory, of Jesus and his love. Tell me the story simply as to a little child, for I am weak and weary and helpless and defiled. Tell me the story slowly that I may take it in, that wonderful redemption, God's remedy for sin. Tell me the story often, for I forget so soon.

The early dew of morning has passed away at noon. Yes, tell me the old old story. One of the things I love about the preacher's fellowship that we host here, and I attend different places, is often the men, they don't have this hymn book, so they're singing out of a different hymn book, and that's kind of a favorite hymn of the men. They love to sing, Tell Me the Old Old Story. Folks, if preachers can't get over it, if the preacher still needs to hear the old old story, so do you.

So do you. So purposeful repetition helps fasten truths to our minds. We need it. Notice with me in the third place, Paul's warning. Paul's warning, verse 2, beware, beware. Here's a warning.

The verse begins with this word, beware. And notice the warning is first about who and secondly about what. Who is he warning them concerning?

Well, Paul is calling out the Judaizers. He doesn't call them that here, but we know that's who he has in mind. He has three unflattering, scathing titles for these people. Notice he calls them dogs. Beware of dogs. Beware of evil workers.

Beware of the mutilation. Paul's not bashful about calling out people who are dangerous to the sheep. It's the Judaizers. That's who they are. But what about them? What about their teaching?

What is it about them that's dangerous? Well, they taught that the old covenant ritual of circumcision was necessary for acceptance with God. That's why he begins and begins to talk there in verse 3 about circumcision. For we are the circumcision who worship God in the spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. He's not talking about a fleshly circumcision there in verse 3. He's talking about the circumcision of the heart, the operation of the Spirit of God. Now, what did the Judaizers teach? They said that physical circumcision was necessary for acceptance with God.

Now get this. It wasn't this in place of faith in Christ. It was this in addition to faith in Christ. It's the danger of adding human merit to the merit of Christ. And Paul is sounding the warning, danger, danger, danger, beware. And you and I need to beware of any thinking that creeps into our mind that causes us to think that there's something we can do that's going to earn favor and merit with God. Our merit, our standing before God is based on the merits of Jesus Christ and Him alone. I had somebody recommend an Advent devotional to me this Christmas that was written by a Roman Catholic priest or somebody in the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church. And as I read it, I thought, well, this really sounds great.

This really sounds good. And then I stopped to think, now, wait a minute here. There's got to be error. There's got to be falsehood here. And how is it being communicated?

How is it being veiled? And it wasn't so much, the error was not so much in what was being said. The error was in what was not being said.

There was omissions. What was being said was truthful enough. But as you begin to understand, there was merit with Jesus. Yes, amen. Praise the Lord for that. But there's also merit with Mary and praying to her. Danger, danger, warning, warning.

This is not exclusively a first century problem. We must constantly be on guard against the temptation to add human achievement to our acceptance before God. Now, I'm going to say something that for some of you who are new, it's going to be a wonderful, wonderful encouragement. For those of us who've walked with the Lord, it's going to be a reminder. But for some, some of you are going to go, really?

Is that true? There are some in our midst who have been justified before God on their faith in Jesus Christ alone for 40 or 50 years. You have known and enjoyed this standing before God for 40 or 50 years, maybe even longer. There's some of you who have enjoyed this standing of being justified before God on the merits of Christ for a very short time. You're new to this.

Maybe only a year, maybe in this past year. If that's you, you are no less justified than the person who has enjoyed that standing for 50 years. You mean I've walked with God for 50 years and that doesn't put me in any better place, any better position, than the person's only walked with Him for six months, a year? That's exactly what I'm saying. And if you don't agree with that, then what has creeped into your mind is this business of self-worth, self-merit. There's something I've done. I ought to get some kind of credit for that.

No. Justification is based on the merits of Jesus Christ and Him alone. That's why Paul goes on to say we worship God in the Spirit. Listen, the law kills. The law kills, but the Spirit gives life. The Spirit gives life. And we rejoice in Christ Jesus. Well, why do we rejoice in Christ Jesus?

That's what he's saying there in verse 3. We worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus. Well, why wouldn't you rejoice in Christ Jesus? Because He is what gives you right standing before God.

So we rejoice in Christ Jesus and Him alone. Amen? And therefore we have no confidence in the flesh, no confidence in the flesh. Now listen, some of you have lived better last week than some of the rest of us. Some of you haven't lived very well. You haven't availed yourself to the means of grace. You've stumbled, you've fallen, you haven't walked in the Spirit.

Some of you have got a great track record last week. But does that put you in any better favor with God than the person who has not done very well this past week? Now I'm talking about believers. I'm not talking about, I'm not mixing and matching here believers and unbelievers. And we ought to be striving to do our best and to walk in holiness.

But let's be honest, there's some weeks we do better than we do other times. And Jerry Bridges says, you need the gospel on your very best day and you need the gospel on your worst day. So, in the fourth place, let me point out to you Paul's pedigree, verses four through six. He says, though I also might have confidence in the flesh, if anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh, I more so circumcise the eighth day of the stock of Israel, the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews, concerning the law of Pharisee, concerning zeal persecuting the church, concerning the righteousness which is in the law blameless.

What's he doing? He's arguing, he's reasoning with these Judaizers in the hypothetical. He's saying, oh, you're boasting about your achievement, about your law keeping, about, oh, you have availed yourself to the ritual of circumcision. He's saying, let us say that a man can gain favor with God through human effort and merit. Here's my pedigree.

Let me list my accomplishments. And then you measure your life by my life. That's what he's saying to the Judaizers. How do you measure up in light of me if acceptance before God is based on who we are, what bloodline we're in, what our accomplishments are, how religious you've been? Nobody would argue that Paul was a very, very religious man.

Right? Be very careful when you hear people talking about somebody say, well, he's he's a very religious man. What does that mean? Paul was a religious man, but he was a Christ hater.

He was persecuting the church. That used to be. I haven't heard that too often. But when I went to testify to my father that God had saved me by his grace, he didn't say this to me, but I heard it after the fact. Well, Mike's got religion.

Mike's got religion. You heard that expression, right? Well, what's implied is, well, it's short lived.

It has a short shelf life. He'll get over that. Well, listen to me. I'm standing here 40 years later and I haven't got over it yet because what I got wasn't religion. What I got was Christ.

Christ. Once Paul draws attention to his pedigree and his long list of human achievements and accomplishments, what does he do? Notice with me in the fifth place, Paul's utter renouncement and repudiation. All the things that he'd said enlisted as an asset, he says in verse seven, but what things were gained to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. An utter renouncement and repudiation.

And this would probably this is no doubt. I've thought of this illustration. I've been back and forth. Do I share it? Do I not share it? I'm going to share it with this caveat, this qualifier.

It's a poor illustration of what Paul was saying. I've count all this loss. But it would be like the man who has been a faithful Sunday school teacher, say, for 60 years in a church. And he's been that's been acknowledged throughout his lifetime. And he's got this long list of pins. He got one every year. Perfect attendance in Sunday school. He's got 60 of them.

They're almost dragging on the floor. And he's come to the same understanding that Paul's come to. And he goes, you know what? All of this. Throws it away. Rubbish, garbage, meaningless. Now, is it meaningless?

Is it good to have been faithful to church for 60 years, never missed a service? I'm not saying that it's that in itself is useless. That in itself is worthless. But if that's what you're looking to to gain favor with God, then it's useless.

Then it's worthless. That is what must be repudiated and renounced. And that's what Paul does.

Notice with me in the sixth place, Paul's accurate evaluation. He speaks of an accounting. This is accounting language. It's in verse seven and in verse eight, he says, What things were gained to me, these I have counted, loss for Christ.

We indeed. Yet indeed, I also count all things loss for the excellence 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. So you see those words gain. You see the word count twice.

The word counted. Those are accounting terms. He's evaluating. And we are, I think, to a picture in our mind's eye, an accounting ledger. And Paul is on one side of the ledger are his assets, his gains. And that's what he's making reference to as he goes through his pedigree and his accomplishments. And he's evaluating all of this in light of the value of Christ. And he says, doesn't even compare.

Doesn't even compare. It's a no brainer. He made an accurate evaluation and you and I must make the same accurate evaluation. We must completely and utterly renounce and repudiate and abandon any and all confidence in ourselves and our efforts and our works and then cast ourselves completely and totally upon the merit of Christ in order to be right with God, in order to be saved.

That's what it's going to take. And the hymn writers, they were masterful in capturing doctrinal truth, theological truth. When the hymn writer says, nothing in my hands I bring simply to thy cross, I cling. That's a picture of repudiation.

That's a picture of denouncing any merit. That's how we must come to Christ. That's the evaluation we must make. No man, no man, including the great apostle Paul, will ever abandon confidence in the flesh until he has been given eyes to see.

What? What must he have eyes to see? He must be given eyes to see the surpassing value of knowing Christ. That's what he must have eyes to see. You must be convinced in your soul that he is the pearl of great price.

You must be willing to give everything you've got, including your life, in order to have him. And if that awareness hasn't come upon you, you will never flee to Christ. You'll always see something more valuable. You'll always see something else to cast your lot toward.

No, he must be seen as more valuable than everything else. My testimony is I did not grow up in a church. I only started the church when Cardi and I were married because she had been a churchgoer, and I thought, I'm the head of this home. It's right for me to take the lead and find a church for us to attend. And we began attending this church that a former physics teacher from the high school had taught, so we knew him. I sat in the pew for a year or so.

We heard the gospel frequently, but I can't tell you that there was any time in that year that I felt being exercised in my spirit, that I felt being convicted of my sin, but we were faithful to church. And I've told you this before, but I want to tell it to you again because there's a purpose behind it. I have a friend. His name is Don Perry. We graduated from high school together. And Don and his wife attended a small Bible study on a Friday night, and he began to call me. He attended the same church we were attending. He began to call me on a Thursday night to invite me to attend this Bible study, and he'd call Thursday night after Thursday night after Thursday night. And I don't know whether it was four weeks, five weeks, six weeks.

It seems like it was probably five or six weeks. And it was repetitive enough that when the phone rang, I was in the basement working on a project, the phone rang. And I hollered upstairs to Carly. I said, if that's Don Perry, tell him we'll be there so he'll leave us alone.

That was my attitude, that he wasn't going to quit. So the Friday night came, we went to the Bible study, and we sat in this man's living room, Ken Miller, his wife Sherry, Don and Penny, and it was one other man, and it was Carly and I. When the Bible study was over that night, and we were leaving that home, I sensed these people have something I don't have, and what they have, I want.

And I didn't know at the time what it was, but what they had was Christ. Christ was being made irresistible to me. I saw him as lovely. I saw him as the pearl of great price.

I must have him. That's what came over me. Now, why that didn't happen sitting in the pew, I can't tell you. But I thank God to this very day that on that particular, in that occasion, in that Bible study, God moved me in that way.

And I'm so thankful for my friend, Don Perry. Now, I know I was chosen before the foundations of the world. God, if God wasn't going to save me through that means, there was going to be another means, but this was the means he used. And what I'm saying to you is you'll never abandon yourself to Christ until you see him as irresistible.

But the Spirit of God does that. Notice with me Paul standing in verse nine. Paul says, And to be found in him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is from God by faith.

This was not always his standing. He was brought to this standing and this confidence as a result of his encounter with Christ on the Damascus road. That's recorded in Acts chapter nine.

And it's after that encounter, nothing would ever be the same for him and with him. In that verse nine, there are two different righteousness being mentioned. Notice again with me, being found in him, not having my own righteousness. So there Paul is talking about his own righteousness, which is from the law.

And then he's going to mention another righteousness that's different than that. But that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith. There is one's own righteousness, which is from the law. And then there is the righteousness which is from God by faith. And Paul came to understand that his own righteousness was bankrupt in terms of securing right standing for him before God.

And every person has a righteousness. And you must be enabled by God to see it as Paul sees it. Paul saw it is insufficient. It was not able to bring him into a right standing with God. He needed a righteousness outside himself. What was deficient about Paul's righteousness? What was deficient about Paul's righteousness was the demands that God places upon sinners. God demands a perfect righteousness.

You say, well, perfection? That's exactly what he, you mean not God doesn't grade on a curve? No, he doesn't grade on a curve. You mean 98 percent isn't as good as an A? No, 98 percent is an F. Right?

In these terms. So God demands a perfect righteousness. And all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.

We're all sinners. None of us have a perfect righteousness. And the beauty of the gospel is that God has provided in his son the righteousness which he demands of you and me. Jesus Christ came to this world, lived a perfect life, and earned a perfect righteousness. Now he didn't need to earn a perfect righteousness because he was perfectly righteous. But he earned a perfect righteousness for sinners in our place.

He did that in our place. A perfect righteousness. And that's what we must have. You say, well, isn't that a little demanding for God to demand a perfect righteousness? Well, let me ask you, what would a perfect God expect? What would you expect a perfect God to demand of you? A perfect God, a perfectly holy God, a perfectly righteous God is going to demand perfection, holiness, righteousness from you.

Nothing less. Now, Paul was enabled by God as a result of the regenerating work of the Spirit of God to renounce his confidence in his own righteousness. And thereby to rely totally and completely upon the righteousness of God by faith. This righteousness is not earned. It is granted.

It is imputed. It is credited to the account of sinners. And therefore, old friend, this morning, you want to be in Paul's company in that day.

You want to be found, as Paul says, to be found in him. Not having my own righteousness, it's bankrupt. That won't credit me anything. That won't do me any good.

That'll damn me to hell. You don't want to be found in your own righteousness. You want to be found clothed in the perfect righteousness and clinging to Jesus Christ and him alone. Question, what does that righteousness produce? What did it produce in Paul, formerly Saul of Tarsus?

Well, let's let the text answer the question. My eighth observation of this text is a new life ambition, a new life ambition. Notice verse 10, he says, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being conformed to his death. Paul now has a new life ambition.

And what is that? It is pursuing Christ. The pursuing of Christ, the ambition of every born again believer. And that extends not only throughout this life, but it extends into the life to come. You say, what are we going to be doing for all eternity? We're going to be learning about Christ. We're going to be learning about Christ, more of him and many things as well.

So, again, it's a good evaluation question to ask. Is that your ambition? Is that your pursuit? How much of your time in 2023 was given to this ambition, this goal, this seeking after Christ? You say, well, do I get to count the times I was in church?

Absolutely. If you want to, you want to get that meticulous about it. Well, do I get to count the time I spent in the car getting to church? Well, if you'd like to do that. That's that's effort and ambition.

That's I'm not I'm not trying to get legalistic about this, folks. OK, but sometimes we diminish the discipline that we've made to be with the people of God in corporate worship on a regular basis. And that is not that that is not that is not nothing that's significant. We're not to forsake the summoning of ourselves together as a manner of some is. This is a place, a unique place, a God blessed, ordained means of God for your growth and development in your pursuing of Christ.

So, yes, but many other things as well. I say that to say this to you, I talked to a man recently and he was professing to be a Christian. And I when someone tells me that I don't begin to probe and ask, are you sure?

But I asked this question. I said, well, then what church do you go to? He said, well, I just I'm not into religion.

I don't go to church. I said, well, listen, take this for what it's worth. I heard a man say one time it's always a good way to kind of put a little buffer in there.

I heard a man say one time if a man's religion won't take him to church, it's doubtful it'll take him to heaven. I said, yeah, I'd probably chew on that a little bit. That's all I said.

Here's a way of saying hard things and, you know, making them a little more palatable. He didn't get angry with me. And then I invited him to our church.

I haven't seen him yet, but. Paul makes mention of his testimony in verse 12. He says, not that I have already attained or am already perfected, but I press on that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. And most of you sitting here know the testimony of the apostle Paul recorded. His salvation experience is recorded in Acts Chapter nine. He gives his testimony on several occasions later on in the book, once before King Agrippa. He was he was an enemy of Christ. He was a Christ hater. Listen to what he told Agrippa in Chapter 26. Many of the saints I shot up in prison, having received authority from the high priests, and when they were put in and when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them.

And I punished them often in every synagogue and compelled them to blaspheme and being exceedingly enraged against them, I persecuted them even to foreign cities. That's what his testimony was. Now listen, this is what happened to Paul the apostle. Paul was on his way.

To Damascus. To lay hold, to apprehend those who were of the way. But was laid hold of, apprehended by him who is the way. That's what happened to him. He was apprehended. He was laid hold of.

That's a word in the Greek that speaks of taking hold of by force. That's a pretty good description of what happened to him if you read Acts Chapter 9. Now listen to me.

What happened to Paul happens basically to every born again Christian. You must be taken hold of by God. You must be apprehended.

You must be arrested. You must see yourself passive in this. Salvation is of the Lord. God is the initiator. But don't doubt your salvation if your salvation isn't as dramatic as Paul's was.

I mean, this is about as dramatic as it gets, isn't it? I hear people sometimes even apologize for their testimony. Well, I don't have a testimony like this person. I just grew up in a Christian home and raised by Christian parents and made a profession of faith when I was a child. And I grew and grew and grew and God gave me an assurance of salvation.

Listen, God took hold of you as a child. Not as forcefully, not as dramatically as he did Paul. But it's the same operation of the Spirit of God.

It's different. Salvation is a divine rescue. Salvation is a divine apprehension. And the question is this morning, has he laid hold of you? Have you been apprehended by Christ? And if you're following with me and you're being honest with this passage of Scripture, the question then is, how would I know? How would I know if I've been laid hold of by Christ? How would I know if I have been apprehended by Christ?

Well, let me ask you this. Has your life been redirected? Has your life and its goals and ambitions changed? Because the Bible says, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation. All things pass away and behold, all things become new. And an apprehended man begins to live by as an apprehended man.

An apprehended man lives an apprehended life. You say, well, what do you mean by that? I mean this by that. If Christ has laid hold of you, he's not going to let go of his grip upon you. When I have occasion to correspond to some of our folks by email or whatever, I often close in the grip of grace. That's how you came to Christ. That's how you stay in Christ. You're in the grip of grace. God will never let go of you. He's going to keep you by his power.

An apprehended man lives an apprehended life. It produces, as it did in Paul, a single-minded zeal and ambition. One thing I do. One thing.

Forgetting those things that are behind and pressing, pressing on. It's the picture of a runner straining. Paul didn't do anything half-hearted. The same zeal he had as a Pharisee is manifested as a believer. He is zealous. He is after it, if we could say it that way.

And that's what ought to characterize us. Paul wanted to lay hold of that, he says, of that. What is of that for which Christ Jesus has laid hold of me? What's he striving for? What's he pressing on towards?

Holiness, Christ-likeness. What is the prize that he speaks of? It's Christ. That's what he's after. In an unrelenting way, he's after. He talks about the upward call. It's God who's calling us and working in us, both to will and to do according to his good pleasure. I'm so encouraged when I think about the fact that from the moment he and his hand apprehended you and me, if we're in Christ, from that point forward, we're a prisoner. We're a bond slave of Jesus Christ. He purchased us. We belong to him. He paid too great a price to let you go. He's got a hold of you and he's never going to let go. And we are held firmly in his grasp. That's good news, isn't it?

So as I conclude, if Christ has arrested you, as he arrested Paul the Apostle, he did that in order to make you like his son. That's the goal. That's the pursuit.

That is the reason for pressing on. And if that's the case, let us not rest until we become more like him. May that be our ambition. May that be our goal this year.

May that be something that we can, in some regard, measure and have some sense, you know what? I'm not all that I want to be. I'm not all that God has purpose for me to be. But thank God I'm not what I used to be. And thank God, little by little, I'm making progress.

I'm moving more and more toward Christ-likeness. Let us pray. Father, thank you for your word.

Thank you for its power. Thank you for its ability to correct and convict and to instruct us in righteousness. Thank you for Christ and for setting him before us as you set him before Paul the Apostle and changed his life so dramatically. Father, would you come to anyone who's a stranger to your grace today and open their eyes and help them to see. Help them to see the futility of trusting in anything of themselves. Help them to see the beauty of Christ and help them to cast themselves upon him who I know him, who knowing him brings eternal life. We ask in Jesus' name. Amen.