Christian sanctification is the pursuit of something outside myself, not something inside myself. It is the pursuit of Christ-likeness. And the more I know him, and the more I am focused on him, and the more I am in communion with him, the more the Spirit makes me like him. Welcome to Grace to You, the Bible teaching ministry of John MacArthur. I'm your host, Phil Johnson.
If you were to ask a group of Christians the question, how do I grow in godliness, and take a poll of their answers, they'd probably give you a list of things to do, like reading your Bible, praying, worshiping with other believers. And all of that is right and good, but sometimes it's more important to know what not to do, what to stay away from at all costs. With that in mind, John MacArthur is going to look at what the Bible says about fleeing your enemies, helping you recognize the influences in your life that will keep you from becoming more like Christ. It's part of John's current study called Reaching for the Prize. And now here's John with a lesson.
Let's open our Bibles then to Philippians chapter 3. Philippians chapter 3. And we are continuing our look at this wonderful subject of pursuing the prize. You know from this particular text that the heart of the section is found in verse 14. Paul says, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
Paul says, I pursue the prize, I press toward the goal. We have noted all along that the prize and the goal is the same thing. It is to be like Jesus Christ. That was the single focus of Paul's life. Back in verse He says, I count everything else to be loss.
I have one great quest to know Christ Jesus, my Lord. He says down in verse Thirteen One thing I do. And that one thing is forgetting the other things, I press on toward the goal.
So he had a life focus. Of knowing Jesus Christ so well, so deeply, so richly, that he was becoming like Christ. That is the goal. of every Christian's life.
Now, beloved, let me remind you that In all of the chaos, confusion, and all of the myriad of options and complexity of contemporary Christianity. Everything in our Christian experience can be boiled down to this one great truth. The goal of my life is to be like Christ. Everything else spins off of that. All my service, all my relationships, all my worship, everything spins off of being like Christ.
If I am like Christ, I will worship God in the way he worshiped God. If I am like Christ, I will serve God in the way he served God. If I am like Christ, I will relate to people in the love in which he related to people. In other words, the simple focus of my life is to be like Christ. That is why I must let the word about Christ dwell in me richly.
As Colossians 3.16 says. That is why I must gaze at the glory of Christ, 2 Corinthians 3:18, so that I can be changed into his image. That is why Christ must be fully formed in me, Galatians 4:19. That is why, if I say I abide in him, I ought to walk the way he walked. 1 John 2.
I'm to be like Christ. This is the goal of my life.
So the goal of my life as a Christian is outside of me. It is not in me. It is outside of me. It is beyond me. I am not preoccupied with myself.
I am preoccupied with becoming like Christ. And that is something that only the Holy Spirit can do as I focus on Christ. I focus on him and the Spirit transforms me into His image. As you well know, there are many devastating things that have encroached upon the pure understanding of this truth in the church. not the least of which is humanistic psychology.
Humanistic psychology has had a devastating effect on Christians and on Christian theology for a number of reasons. But one of these reasons is built into the very basic humanistic Philosophy that man exists for his own satisfaction. It is the very bottom line in humanism that man to be happy must have all of his perceived needs and desires met. And so humanism says that the goal of life is to have all of my wants fulfilled, all of my desires accomplished, all of my needs met. Man will be happy.
Say the psychologist, man will be content, man will be satisfied when his desires are met, when his longings are met, when his needs are met, when he is fulfilled. Contemporary presentations of the gospel have sucked up this humanistic psychology and philosophy unwittingly. And do you have the good news of self-worth? The good news of the value of you as a person, the good news of security, the good news of significance, the good news of prosperity, of health, wealth, and happiness, the psychological gospel, the prosperity gospel. And even contemporary sanctification is fraught with this humanistic needs mentality.
That Sanctification is a process by which all of my needs are being met so I can be an effective Christian.
So if I've got a problem in my life, I have to discover that problem, iron out that problem, solve that problem. If I have some unfulfillment in my life, I've got to fill that pocket with fulfillment. If I have dissatisfaction in my life, I've got to get satisfaction in that area. If I am not able to accomplish everything that is in me, all of my desires aren't being met somehow. I'll never be fulfilled until all of those perceived needs are met.
That has encroached upon the church in a major way.
So, that much of preaching, teaching, writing today has to do with problems and needs and satisfaction and fulfillment of one's own personal desires. Tony Walter has written a book entitled Need the New Religion. Need the new religion. In it he says this, it is fashionable to follow the view of some psychologists that the self is a bundle of needs and that personal growth is the business of progressively meeting these needs. Many Christians go along with such beliefs.
Further he says One mark of the almost total success of this new morality is that the Christian church. Traditionally keen on mortifying the desires of the flesh, on crucifying the needs of the self in pursuit of Christ-likeness. has eagerly adopted the language of needs for itself. We now hear that Jesus will meet your every need. as though he were some kind of divine psychiatrist or divine detergent.
and as though God were simply to serve us. End quote.
Now this kind of need mentality Leads to a man-centered theology, a man-centered salvation, and a man-centered sanctification.
So that the goal of Christian living has become for many Christians getting my needs met, being fulfilled, being happy, having a good self-image, a high standard of self-worth, etc., etc. Resolving all my conflict, eliminating all my problems. And I am focused on that. The satisfaction of my perceived need is the goal of my salvation and the goal of my sanctification. That's not true.
That is diametrically opposed to what the Bible teaches. The satisfaction of human need is neither the goal of salvation nor is it the goal of sanctification. It's not the goal of either. The goal of salvation is that you might be conformed to the image of God's Son. Thus, that's the goal of sanctification.
The goal of my life is not to make sure I'm satisfied, but to make sure. God is satisfied. That's the goal of my life. But you see Humanistic need psychology has become quasi-Christian need theology, and so you have a man-centered sanctification instead of a Christ-centered sanctification. Man becomes central rather than Christ.
This is a major change. All you need to do is look back, for example, to someone like A.W. Tozer, who simply said, faith looks out instead of in, and the whole of life falls into line, end quote. Faith looks out instead of in, and the whole of life falls into line. Christian sanctification is the pursuit of something outside myself, not something inside myself.
It is the pursuit of Christ-likeness. It is not a matter of assessing me, it is a matter of knowing him deeply. And the more I know him, and the more I am focused on him, and the more I am in communion with him, the more the spirit makes me like him. The more I focus on myself, the more distracted I am from the proper path.
Now, in the Christian life, we are pressing toward a goal. That goal is not the satisfaction of my own needs. That goal is not the satisfaction of my own desire for greater significance. That is not the goal of my life. The goal of my life is to be like Christ.
Now let me approach this from another angle as well. I have never met a successful person, an effective person, an impactful person in any realm of enterprise in the world who was not committed to reaching goals. The people who impact the world are pursuers. They're winners. They're competitors.
They know what it is, and listen to this. to ignore personal comfort. To reach a goal outside themselves. They make incredible sacrifices for the wrong Reasons. to reach the wrong goals.
But the people who impact society, the people who affect society, the people who leave an imprint on society are not the kind of people whose lives are consumed with making sure their own needs are met. even from a human viewpoint. to say nothing From a spiritual viewpoint. Those in the spiritual dimension, however, who leave an impact are equally competitors, winners. I don't think people really understand that.
I have read enough biographies of famous Christians. I have heard enough. Messages and lectures. I have read enough articles. I have visited enough places in the world to see the memorabilia of famous Christian leaders to know this.
There are no hidden secrets about an impactful life. It is the direct result of a maximum effort to reach a spiritual goal and, in the process, ignore your own personal situation. It is amazing what great preachers, great theologians, and great missionaries have suffered in the process of reaching a spiritual goal. And they all have one thing in common. It was of little concern to them.
to consider their own human condition. Apart from the fact that they considered it theologically. It was of major concern to them. that they follow Christ, pursue Christ. There are no secrets.
Effective lives belong to people who pursue goals that are outside of themselves. And they pursue them almost blindly. The same is true spiritually. The people who live in impact on the church and the world are those who have a spiritual goal on which they are focused, that goal of being like Jesus Christ. They pursue that.
with little thought of the conditions. of their own human life. That's Paul. That's Paul. He says I'm not interested in anything else.
Verse 8. I consider everything else a loss. All I want is one thing. I want the prize, verse 14. That's what made him great.
It was that ability to be so totally focused on a goal, and that's what we're talking about. That's what we're talking about. We all are called to pursue the goal. And again, the goal is to be conformed to the image of God's Son. We are pursuing that, let me say it simply, as our total Christian duty.
Can I simplify the whole Christian life for you? The whole Christian life can be boiled down. Pursuing Christ's likeness. That's it. That's it.
If that helps you clear up the fog, then that alone is a great service to your spiritual progress. What are the necessary elements in doing this?
Now that'll bring us to our text, verse 17. What are the necessary elements? We've already gone through the rest of the chapter. That was just a review. What do we have to have?
What will help us in pursuing the prize? Number one. We suggested last time that we must follow after examples. We must follow after examples. That was point one in verse 17.
Brethren, join in following my example and observe those who walk according to the pattern you have in us. Remember, I told you that Paul says, Look, you've got to have somebody to show you the path.
Now listen again. Let me repeat this truth that I mentioned to you. Christ is the perfect model. Christ is the pattern of perfection. But Paul and others are the pattern of the pursuit of that perfection.
I see in Christ what I want to be, but I cannot see in Christ how to get there. Why? Because Christ didn't follow some path to perfection, he was always perfect. You see?
So, if I look at Christ, I see what I am to be. And if I look at Paul and other believers, I can see how to move that direction. As I see those who are able to deal with temptation and sin. In the pursuit of the prize.
So Paul says, you need an example. You need someone to follow. You need a model.
So follow me and those who walk according to the pattern that you have seen in us. In other words, get some models and follow them.
Now we're right into the heart of discipleship. That's what we're all about. We need a human pattern to follow. Beloved, here is the essence of the matter of church leadership. What is church leadership?
I'll tell you simply what it is: it is not just speaking the word and preaching the word, it is being the model that people can follow in the pursuit of Christ-likeness. That's the high calling. That's the high quality. That is why leadership in the church Is so highly regarded in the scripture, and that is why a person's life has to be above reproach and blameless. Because that person is the pattern of pursuing Christ-likeness the people are asked to follow.
And then they follow him, and others follow them, and others follow them, and that's how the church functions. That's why when a person fails to be the pattern, it isn't enough for them still to be the preacher. Because now you've split the whole thing right down the middle, and you've got a preacher who isn't a pattern, and all you have are words, but nothing is demonstrated.
So Paul says look in this pursuing of the prize, follow the proper examples. Find those godly pastors and leaders who are above reproach, whose lives are blameless. Who are walking the way a believer should walk, who are being obedient. They're not perfect, but the direction of their life is right. They're pursuing the prize and follow them.
Now, flip that over, there's a negative side, that takes us to point two. Not only are we to follow after examples, but too, we are to flee enemies. We are to flee enemies. Paul is always concerned about this. Look at verse 18.
For many walk, of whom I often told you, and now tell you, even weeping, they are the enemies of the cross of Christ.
Now what's he saying? He's saying, follow my example. And the people who live the way I live in the pursuit of the prize. You follow us because so many others are the enemies of the cross of Christ. He's simply saying, watch out, you don't follow them.
That's the idea. In the pursuit of Christ's likeness, There are some to be followed, listen carefully, and there are many to be avoided. He narrows it down. He says, Follow me, verse 17. and those who follow the pattern that I have set.
And then he says, many. Are the enemies of Christ? The word many, do you see at the beginning of verse 18? Not a few. Many, they're everywhere.
Now, beloved, here's the challenge in the church. Listen carefully. Here's the challenge, especially in a high-profile media society like ours. Do you realize the exposure that bad examples get today? Do you realize the exposure that enemies of the cross of Christ find for themselves today?
through radio, television, books, and so forth. You have to be very careful and very discerning. Not to follow someone who is masquerading as a friend and is really an enemy of the cross.
So, in verses 18 and 19, and I want us to focus on this, he introduces us to the enemies of the cross of Christ.
Now, let me suggest to you here that the implication of the text is that these people are not stated as enemies. They don't come down the road saying we're against the cross, we're against Christ, we deny his work on the cross, we deny salvation by grace through faith, etc. They don't do that. They're not subtle. Anybody who does that's not a threat, right?
But these are people Who say they are the friends of Christ? and the cross of Christ. Who advocate Christ, who identify with Christ, whose names are on the church roll, who want spiritual leadership, but they are the enemies of the cross of Christ. They're very subtle. It takes discernment.
to recognize them. Beloved, this is such a ringing, constant theme in the New Testament. that you almost feel like you're in a revolving door on this subject. Jesus said it. Beware of those who come to you in sheep's clothing and inwardly they are wolves.
Later on, In Matthew 23, he described them again. He was concerned about the false teachers, the false leaders, the antichrists in chapter 24. You find it all through the book of Acts. The false as against the true. That Simon Maguses, the Elemuses, the sorcerers, whoever they are, the false claiming in the name of God to cast out demons later on in the book of Acts.
You find it in Paul's epistles as he warns, for example, stay away from endless genealogies, stay away from speculations, stay away from false teachers, no sound doctrine, pure doctrine. Avoid the janglings and the haranguings of those who are not true teachers. Peter gives an entire epistle, 2 Peter, to the unmasking of false teachers. Jude is concerned about it. John is concerned about it in his three epistles.
It is all through the scripture. We must beware of the enemies who masquerade as friends. That's the idea here. He has to tell the Philippians that they are enemies of the cross of Christ. Because they're very subtle.
And frankly, folks, the church lacks discernment. I continue to be absolutely astounded at the stuff and at the people that Christians will follow. Because they are so undiscerning. If you have a lack of precise biblical teaching as we do today, If you have a lack of precise, clear doctrine as we do today, You have a lack of precise, clear thinking. And if you have a lack of precise, clear thinking, you cannot have discernment.
And so people are victimized. By the widespread exposure. of those who in truth are enemies. of the cross of Christ.
Now let's go back to verse 18 and look a little more particularly at what he says. For many walk. Walk being the idea of daily conduct, manner of life, course of living. This is their pattern. He says, Many walk.
of whom I often told you.
Some see this as a reference. Back to chapter 1, verse 28, where he mentions not being alarmed by your enemies or your opponents, but that doesn't seem to be the best interpretation of that phrase. The fact that he says, of whom I often told you, probably refers to times when he was with the Philippians. And he was repeatedly telling them about people who would come along outwardly identifying with Christ, but who would be enemies of the true gospel. Paul was ever and always in a warning mode.
You remember back in Acts, that very familiar 20th chapter where Paul gives so much teaching on ministry? He says in verse 31 to the Ephesian elders, Be on the alert, remembering that night and day for a period of three years I didn't cease to warn each one with tears. What an amazing statement. For three years, night and day, I warned each individual with tears about false teachers. False leaders, false doctrine.
And then he says, the only thing I can do is commend you to his word. Which will build you up. You're protected by the word. If you don't know the word, you're not protected. You're listening to Grace to You, the Bible teaching ministry of John MacArthur.
The title of John's current study is Reaching for the Prize.
Well, friend, John talked about discernment in today's lesson, and there's perhaps nothing more relevant for the church today. Discernment has never been needed more because there are so many false teachers out there, so many versions of Christianity that are on the market, so to speak. And John had some helpful thoughts about that. Let's hear them now. When people ask me what's the biggest problem in the church, I've often said the lack of discernment.
It's like having spiritual aids. You can die of a thousand diseases because your immune system doesn't function. And because the church lacks discernment, its immune system doesn't function. It can die of a thousand heresies. And you see that because there are a thousand heresies.
You can't even keep up with all the heresies. And they only can flourish where there is a lack of discernment, where people don't know what the Bible teaches, where they're weak in doctrine or weak in conviction. And the courage of those convictions, heresy flourishes.
So discernment is critical. Discernment is simply a word that means the ability to separate. and it means the ability to separate truth from error. the only way that that is possible, to separate truth from error, is for someone to know the truth. Discernment is not in itself an end.
It is basically a byproduct. The end is to know the Word of God. If you know what the Bible teaches, for example, about God, then You know when you see a heresy. If you know what the Bible teaches about Christ and somebody teaches something else, you know that's a heresy. If you know what the Bible teaches about salvation by grace through faith in Christ alone, Somebody teaches something different than that, another gospel, you know that.
But in every case, the ability to separate is predicated on the knowledge of the truth. And that is the only way that the church can be protected. And when you think about what Paul says to Timothy, guard the treasure. He says it in both epistles, in the first epistle and the second epistle, early in the first one, late in the second. Guard the treasure.
Guard the treasure. Well, that essentially is discernment, the ability to protect the truth because you know the truth. And if you know the truth, you can easily spot the error. It's again, it's like looking at a counterfeit bill. You can look at counterfeit bills forever and not know they're a counterfeit unless you know exactly what the real thing looks like.
That's right, friend. And to help you develop the kind of discernment John talked about, we want to send you a free copy of John's booklet titled Developing Your Discernment. It will help you make decisions and really navigate your spiritual life by drawing a clear contrast between truth and error, good and evil. Request your free copy of Developing Your Discernment when you get in touch today. call eight hundred fifty five GRACE, or let us know you'd like a copy when you visit gty.org.
The title one more time: Developing Your Discernment. Ask for it when you call 855 Grace or when you visit gty.org. And when you get in touch, be sure to tell us how John's series called Reaching for the Prize is motivating you in your walk with Christ. Or if John's recent lessons on financial anxiety helped you to stop worrying and live with more joy and gratitude. And if someone you know has come to faith in Christ through John's verse-by-verse teaching, We would love to hear about that.
Email us at letters at gty.org. Once more, that's letters at gty.org. or you can mail your note to grace to you. Box 4000. Panorama City, California.
91412.
Now for the entire Grace TU staff, I'm Phil Johnson. Remember, Grace to You Television airs this Sunday on DirecTV Channel 378. And be here next week as John MacArthur shows you how to recognize the influences in your life that can stunt your spiritual growth without your even knowing about it. It's another half hour of Unleashing God's Truth, one verse at a time, on grace to you.
