Shall we open our Bibles, please, to the
third chapter of Philippians, Philippians chapter 3.
At this time of year, we do some
reminiscing and some anticipating because of the change
in the calendar.
We look backwards and we look forward.
We look backwards perhaps with some regret.
1982 was kind of a bad year for
us.
Our grandchildren lost three of their six grandparents
in about ten months' time.
And we feel that.
We are among the survivors.
But we look backwards and I don't know
whether we should or not.
But there is a tendency to look backwards
at this time of year, especially before New
Year's Eve.
They generally, even the newspapers do it, they
take up the news stories of the year,
the most valuable person, and the best and
the most striking, the most arresting news stories.
It's a timeless summary.
They even give the weather summary for the
year.
They reminisce.
And there is that tendency, that human tendency
to reminisce and I guess there's really nothing
wrong with it if you don't do too
much of it, if you don't get occupied
with it.
But you have to look ahead as well.
And there is a verse in the third
chapter of Philippians that I think lends itself
very, very much to this thought in mind.
Incidentally, before I start reading here, the name
January, as you may know, the Romans gave
us our calendar.
And the name January comes from a two
-headed god by the name of Janus.
I don't know whether you've heard that before
or not.
But one head is looking in one direction
and the other head is looking in the
other direction.
Well now evidently this tendency to look backwards
and look forward when the year changes is
an old, old custom because it came from
the Roman calendar.
And so they gave us the name of
January for that two-headed god looking in
both directions.
It's fitting, if you don't mind the pagan
thought, we look both directions, only we've got
one head and we have to turn our
head.
And they also, I used to know more
of this than I do now.
It's amazing what I'm forgetting.
But the weekdays, for instance, are named after
God.
I don't know whether you knew that or
not.
Wednesday is Woden and Thursday is Thor.
Thor is the god of war.
And don't ask me what the others are.
But our calendar, no doubt, is just pagan.
That's all there is to it.
Now, I don't know how you feel about
it.
I'm going to be writing Wednesday on my
letters regardless of the fact that it was
named after Woden.
I'm going to write Thursday on my letters
regardless of the fact that it was named
after Thor.
I'm not going to let that influence me
at all.
And I'm not going to hesitate writing the
name of January on my letters because that
was named after Janus, the two-headed god.
But this is that time of year and
you can see that human nature has not
changed too much.
It's down through the years because the calendar
is an ovum.
It came from the Romans.
I don't know what time it began when
we used our present calendar, what time that
it was initiated.
But human nature hasn't changed.
There is that tendency to look backwards and
there is that tendency to look forward.
Paul did it.
Okay, Philippians chapter 3.
Though I might have confidence in the flesh,
if any other man thinketh that he hath
whereof he might trust in the flesh, I
more circumcise the eighth day, as is taught
of Israel in the time of Benjamin, a
Hebrew of the Hebrews, as touching the law
fairly concerning zeal of persecution in the church,
touching the righteousness which is in the law,
blameless.
But what things were gained to me, those
I counted lost for Christ.
Yea, doubtless, and I count all things but
lost for the excellency of the knowledge which
is Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I
have suffered the loss of all things, and
do counten but done that I may win
Christ, and be found in him, not having
mine own righteousness which is of the law,
but that which is through the faith of
Christ, the righteousness which is of God my
faith, now that I may know him, and
the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship
of his suffering, being made conformable under his
death, if by any means I might attain
under the resurrection of the dead.
Not as though I had already attained, either
were already perfect, but I follow after, that
I may apprehend that for which also I
am apprehended, that Christ Jesus.
Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended,
but this one thing I do, forgetting those
things which are behind, and reaching forth unto
those things which are before.
I press towards the mark for the prize
of a high-calling God in Christ Jesus.
Let us therefore, as many as be perfect,
be thus minded, and if anything be otherwise
minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.
Now, I'm sure that the Apostle Paul, when
he's speaking in verse 13, forgetting those things
which are behind, looking backwards, he's thinking about
all the things that he had to boast
about.
He boasts about them here for the purpose
of just showing what he was in the
flesh.
Circumcised the eighth day, the stock of Abraham,
the tribe of Benjamin, one of the favorite
sons of Jacob, and incidentally, not the son
of a concubine, the son of one of
Jacob's wives, and his favorite wife, Ephes.
And a Hebrew of the Hebrews, a distinguished
person, touching the law, a Pharisee.
Now, he could have added a lot of
other things, but he stopped to live here.
He could have added, brought up the feet
of Gamaliel.
He could have added that, and that was
really something.
Persecuting the church, and of all the things,
well, he mentions that in the next verse,
concerning zeal, persecuting the church, touching the righteousness
which is in the law, blameless.
He doesn't say sinless, he says blameless.
As far as the law was concerned, he
was such a diligent Jew that nobody could
point the finger at the Apostle Paul and
say, now you have broken the law.
He was blameless, not sinless, blameless.
That's the kind of man that the Apostle
Paul was.
He really had those things that could be
said about him that distinguished him from other
people.
He was a remarkable person.
Touching the righteousness which is in the law,
blameless, but not sinless, because he himself says,
in the seventh chapter of Romans, I had
not known sin, except the law had said,
thou shalt not covet.
Now that's the tenth commandment.
Now the Apostle Paul, pardon me, the Apostle
Paul could go through the ten commandments, clear
to the tenth commandment, before he got in
trouble.
Can you imagine that?
I don't have to go that far before
I'm in trouble.
But the tenth commandment was what convicted the
Apostle Paul that he was a sinner.
I have not known sin, except the law
had said, thou shalt not covet.
It seems like the law is like a
scorpion, the sting is in the tail, and
you can't get past that tail.
We have often said, and I have often
used it humorously, borrowing a little from Rudyard
Kipling, Raise there a man whose soul is
so dead, who to himself hath never said,
I wish I owned that car.
Well, we are covetous.
We're covetous of people, we're covetous of position,
we're covetous of money, we're covetous of people.
We're self-centered, and we want our own
way.
This is kind of a takeoff from our
message this morning.
We want our own way.
We're prejudiced on our own behalf.
We're egocentric.
Now, the Apostle Paul says, touching the righteousness
which is in the law of man.
Isn't that marvelous?
When you think of that man.
Now I can't, I don't think I could
say that.
I know I couldn't say that.
And I know I wouldn't have to go
to the tenth commandment before I could be
convicted.
As a child, I got in trouble with
the law through the fifth or sixth commandment.
Honor thy father and mother, for thy days
may be long upon the earth, for thy
God giveth thee.
And I didn't quote it correctly, not verbatim.
But I knew there were times when I
didn't obey my parents.
Evidently Paul had.
Evidently he had.
Now these are the things that distinguish the
Apostle Paul.
But he came and he was counting on
them for righteousness.
Touching the righteousness which is in the law.
Did you know the law furnishes a righteousness?
It does.
The law furnishes a righteousness before men.
But not before God.
Not before God.
By the law was the knowledge of sin.
Paul experienced that experimentally.
By the law was the knowledge of sin.
He knew he was a sinner by the
law.
Now, he didn't tell anybody that he coveted.
So he really stood head and shoulders, morally
speaking, legally speaking, about those that were around
him.
He was a remarkable person.
But he goes on to say he wasn't
interested in developing a legal self-righteousness which
made him admired, made an exemplary among Jewish
people.
No, he says, there's another righteousness, but I
want more than that.
And so he says, verse 7, But what
things were gained to me, those I counted
lost for Christ?
Yea, doubtless, and I count all things but
lost.
For the excellency of the knowledge of Christ
Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered
the loss of all things, and do count
them but dung or refuse, that I may
win Christ, and be found in him, not
having mine own righteousness which is of the
law, but that which is through the faith
of Christ, the righteousness which is of God,
my faith.
That's the righteousness that he wanted.
Now, in Christ he became a nobody.
In Christ he occupied exactly the same place
as you and I do.
The Apostle Paul did.
Not a whip above us, in Christ.
Not a whip.
You and I occupy the same place in
Christ, the same righteousness as ours.
It's imputed, but it's ours.
God looks at it, I stand just as
tall as the Apostle Paul, righteously speaking.
In the mind of God, so do you.
It's the righteousness that God furnishes, that is
imputed to me, and to you, in Christ.
Now Paul says, I would rather be a
non-entity, so to speak.
Of course he wasn't.
Pardon me.
Than to have my own righteousness.
He speaks about being in Christ.
Be found in him.
You couldn't see the Apostle Paul for Christ.
He's in Christ.
He says, that's what I want you to
see.
When you look at me, in Christ.
And be found in him, not having mine
own righteousness, which is of the law, but
that which is through the faith of Christ.
The righteousness which is of God, by faith.
That's the righteousness that he wanted.
That's the righteousness that he had.
That's the righteousness that you and I have.
I think I've shared with you a story.
I've told it so many times that I
don't know where I've told it, but I
want to tell it to you.
And again, I must say, I've told you
before, don't stop me.
Years and years ago, I had the privilege
of listening to Dr. William J.
Pettengill, one of the co-authors of the
Scripture of Life.
Grand old man.
Heard him in Salt Lake City, and they
employed one of the largest churches in Salt
Lake City to house the people that came
to hear Dr. Pettengill.
And I was in the audience.
And Dr. Pettengill was talking along this line
one night, and he says, I want the
people in this room that feel that in
God's sight you're just as righteous as Christ.
Put your hand up.
Well, I put my hand up.
Five or six other people put their hands
up.
People looked at us.
If looks would kill, we'd have been dead.
In God's sight, just as righteous as Christ?
Well, I put my hand up.
I had to.
Dr. Pettengill says, now put your hands down.
Now he says, I want to see the
hands of the people in this auditorium who
feel that in God's sight they are not
as righteous as Christ.
And there was a sea of hands all
over the place.
Sea of hands.
He looked around over the audience.
He says, put your hands down.
You're wrong.
That righteousness is yours, and that righteousness is
mine.
Equally, we stand in the good name of
another.
Paul says, that's the righteousness that I want.
I don't want to be distinguished for what
I am in myself, in my law keeping.
The only distinction that I want is to
be submerged in Christ.
And all that you see when you look
at Paul of Tartus is Paul, the apostle
in Christ.
Now, I think that this is what Paul
is referring to in verse 13, of which
we've been speaking.
Brethren, I count myself not to have apprehended,
but this one thing I do, forgetting those
things which are behind, and reaching forth unto
those things which are before.
He would not be occupied with his past
life.
He would not take pride in his accomplishments.
Now, you might be surprised that the 11th
and 12th chapters of 2 Corinthians in this
respect, because I always felt that the apostle
Paul, we're talking a lot about the apostle
Paul tonight.
So, I'm just going to ask you to
turn to the 11th and 12th chapters of
2 Corinthians.
I don't know whether I've ever taken this
up here or not, I doubt it.
So, this may be new, a new thought
to you, I don't know.
But I used to think that the apostle
Paul, and I'm going to read this because
it's so instructive.
He is competing, in the minds of these
Corinthian peoples, with some that claimed that they
were really somebody in Christ.
And the apostle says, now look, he says,
I brought you the gospel.
He says a little more than that.
These people incidentally were Jews.
I'll show you that in a few moments.
He says of these people, in verse 13
of the 11th chapter of 2 Corinthians, for
such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves
into the apostles of Christ.
And no marvel, for Satan himself is transformed
into an angel of light.
Therefore, it is no great thing if his
ministers also be transformed, as the ministers of
righteousness whose sins shall be according to their
works.
I say again, let no man think me
a fool, if otherwise, yet as a fool
receive me, that I may boast myself alone.
Now I used to hold this against the
apostle Paul in my early days.
He does boast.
But now you would say, well now this
militates against what we read there in Philippians
3.13, forgetting those things which are behind.
But I want to put this in proper
perspective.
I want to put this in its context,
so that we'll understand why he's doing what
he's doing.
He says, I say again, verse 16, let
no man think me a fool, if otherwise,
yet as a fool receive me, that I
may boast myself a little.
That which I speak, I speak it not
after the Lord, the Lord didn't tell me
to say this, but as it were, foolishly,
in this confidence of boasting, seeing the many
glory after the flesh, I will glory also.
For you suffer fools gladly, seeing yourselves alive.
For you suffer if a man bring you
into bondage, if a man devour you, if
a man take of you, if a man
exalt himself, and the man smites you on
the face, I speak of concerning reproach, as
though we had been weak, albeit wherein, and
he is bold, I speak foolishly, I am
bold also.
Now Paul is going to do some boasting.
Now the reason that he's going to do
it is because he was held in low
esteem by these Corinthians, by Jewish false apostles
who came in and wanted to take over,
that they might indeed line their own pockets
perhaps, extend their influence through these Corinthians Christians.
And Paul says, now look, if I've got
to compete with these people, I'll do it.
I'll do it.
I'll boast.
I feel like a fool for doing it,
but I'll boast.
If that's what it takes to get your
favor, I'll boast.
So he says in verse 21, I speak
of concerning reproach, as though we had been
weak, albeit wherein, and he is bold, I
speak foolishly.
He feels like a fool talking this way.
I am bold also.
Are they Hebrews?
Now this gives us a clue as to
who these people are.
Are these Hebrews?
Are they Hebrews?
So am I.
Are they Israelites?
So am I.
Are they the seed of Abraham?
So am I.
He's boasting here.
Are they the ministers of Christ?
I speak of the fool.
I'm more.
In labors more abundant, in stripes above measure,
in prisons more frequent, in death off.
Of the Jews five times received I forty
stripes, save one.
Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was
I stolen, thrice I covered shipwrecks.
A knife in the day, I have been
in the deep, in journeyings often, in perils
of water, in perils of robbers, in perils
of mine own countrymen, in perils of the
heathen, in perils of the city, in perils
of the wilderness, in perils of the sea,
in perils among false brothers.
In weakness and painfulness, in watchings often, in
hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold
and nakedness, beside those things that are without,
that which cometh upon me daily, in care
of all the churches.
Who is weak and I am not weak?
Who is offended and I am not?
If I must need glory, I have a
glory in the things which concern my infirmities.
If I must need glory, that tips us
off as to what he's doing here.
If I've got to do it.
That's the way he's saying it.
If I've got to do it.
I'll do it.
Now he says as he goes on, The
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
which is blessed forevermore, knoweth that I lie
not.
He in Damascus, the governor, under Aretas, the
king, kept the city of the Damascenes with
the garrison desirous of apprehending.
And through a window and a basket, I
was let down by the wall and escaped
his hands.
It is not expedient for me, doubtless, to
glory.
He's having a hard time doing this, but
he's doing it.
I will come to visions and revelations of
the Lord.
I knew a man in Christ.
He speaks in the third person here.
I knew a man in Christ about fourteen
years ago, whether in the body I cannot
tell, or whether out of the body I
cannot tell, God knoweth.
Such a one caught up to the third
heaven, and I knew such a man, whether
in the body or out of the body,
I cannot tell.
He's speaking about himself.
Because it's his body that he's talking about.
God knoweth.
How that he was caught up in the
paradise and heard unspeakable words, which is not
lawful for a man to utter.
Of such a one will I glory, yet
of myself I will not glory, but in
my infirmity.
For though I would desire to glory, I
shall not be a fool, for I will
say the truth, and now I prepare, lest
any man should think of me above that
that he seeth me to be, or that
he hearth of me, lest I should be
exalted above measure.
Through the abundance of the revelations there was
given me a thorn in the flesh, and
that of Satan to profit me, lest I
should be exalted above measure.
Now, isn't this humble upon the part of
the apocryphal to say, lest I be exalted
above measure, God gave me this thorn in
the flesh.
And it was a dreadful thing that interfered
with his service.
He asked the Lord three times, verse 8,
for this thing I besought the Lord thrice,
that it might depart from me.
And he said unto me, My grace is
sufficient for thee.
For my strength is made perfect in weakness,
most gladly therefore will I prefer, rather glory
in my infirmity, that the power of Christ
may rest upon me.
Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, and reproaches,
and necessities, and persecutions, and distresses for Christ's
sake.
For when I am weak, then am I
strong.
Now, he is telling us what God had
to do to him to keep him down.
Now, this is a revelation.
Paul had the same flesh to deal with
as you and I did.
Exactly the same flesh.
And this man had been given such responsibility
by God, he held such a high place,
coughed up to the third heaven if you
please, whether in the body or out of
the body, he couldn't tell.
Incidentally, that should solve a few problems for
us, knowing what we're going to be like
after we leave this world.
We're not even going to miss the body.
As far as you and I are concerned,
we're going to function, and our thoughts are
going to be such that we won't know
whether we're in the body or out of
it.
So, don't worry too much.
Now, he says, I had to have this
happen to me.
Sometimes I worry why I'm so healthy.
I don't have these revelations anyway, but this
man had to have this to hold him
down.
Imagine that the Apostle Paul would admit that.
I had to have it.
God gave it to me.
You wouldn't think it was you, the Apostle
Paul, but he had to have it.
Now, he goes on, verse 11, I am
become a fool in glorying, ye have compelled
me.
There's the secret of the whole thing.
You made me do it.
I feel like a fool.
But you dote on celebrities to the degree
that I had to make myself a celebrity
to get along with you.
To keep your respect.
Isn't that too bad?
I don't know how you feel about this,
but this is the greatest rebuke that I
can see for the Christians.
That the Apostle Paul would have to resort
to tactics like this to keep their goodwill.
Because the other, those apostles were coming in
and trying to take over the converts of
the Apostle Paul.
They were Jews, you know, as we've already
mentioned.
Are they Hebrews?
So am I.
Are they Israelites?
So am I.
And he goes on and tells a lot
of things that they didn't suffer.
That he did suffer.
Now, I don't know whether this will put
Paul's boasting in the 11th and 12th chapters
of 2 Corinthians in proper perspective or not
with you.
But it was a good many years before
I realized the stature of this man.
And here we begin to understand when we
come down to the 11th verse of the
12th chapter and become a fool and going,
he has compelled me.
For I have to have been commended of
you.
That's what I, that's the treatment I should
have gotten from him.
So what do I have to do?
Build up my own stock so you'll listen
to me?
Oh, this is, this is tremendous when you
start to think of it.
What an indictment against those Christians.
Paul does it.
You know, I'm glad he did it.
Because it gives me an insight on what
this man went through.
In order that you and I may have
it on.
It, it, it, it, uh, this isn't the
Bible.
It's part of the Bible.
And I'm glad it's there.
But don't ever think for a moment that
Paul was a braggart.
He only did this.
To hold his position with the Corinthians.
He thought so much of them.
Isn't it too bad when you have to
resort to that sort of tactic?
I think the Apostle Paul, now going back
to Philippians, I think that he meant exactly
what he said.
When he says there in, in the third
chapter of Philippians verse 13, Brethren, I count
myself not to have apprehended.
But this one thing I do, forgetting those
things which are behind.
That was his true ambition.
To forget the things that were behind.
The things that he could post in.
I want to put them out.
But there is another ambition that I have.
Reaching forth unto those things which are before.
Now, you and I cannot follow the Apostle
Paul here in forgetting those things that are
behind.
But I just want to talk about a
few things that you and I need to
forget.
One of them is our failures.
We can be so occupied with our failures
that it can be an absolute hindrance to
our going on for the Lord.
Most of us cannot live up even to
our own expectations.
I think we're probably, we're harder on ourselves
than anybody else.
And we do, we do take ourselves to
task.
Now, our failures can be a real detriment
or they can be a real help.
If we can profit by them.
If we can profit by our mistakes.
But to be preoccupied with those mistakes.
Indefinitely.
I know a meeting.
I know a meeting, I'm going to tell
you this.
I'm not going to tell you where the
meeting is.
There was a brother in that meeting years
ago.
It was a young brother at the time.
And it came time to give thanks for
the emblems on the table.
And he gave thanks for the cup before
they had given thanks for the bread.
Now he threw that meeting into a little
bit of chaos.
Somehow it escaped him.
Or he didn't say what he meant to.
But he gave thanks for the cup first.
What would you have done?
Would you have passed it?
I don't know what was done because I
wasn't there.
Perhaps some other brother graciously gave thanks for
the bread.
And then they took the bread first.
But the man's voice had not been heard
since that day.
He would not forget the things that had
happened.
We make mistakes sometimes.
But God does not want us to be
so preoccupied with those mistakes that we shut
up for the rest of our lives.
Forgetting those things which are behind.
And you and I need to forget our
failures.
We need to forget our blasted hopes as
well.
Disappointments not necessarily our own fault.
The failure of others.
And we need to forget those failures.
They are failing creatures just the same as
we are.
And we should forget the faults of others.
I was impressed with a lodge order.
I'm not in favor of lodges.
Secret orders.
But one of them has got a saying.
I don't know whether it's the Masons or
not.
I'm not going to try to raise their
salt.
But they have a saying in that lodge.
We write the faults of our brothers upon
the sand.
I thought, that's nice.
They're not all bad, are they?
The trouble of it is, those nice things
that would make you admire those people substitute
for the things of God.
And that's not right.
I thought, that's nice.
I like that.
We write the faults of our brothers upon
the sand.
It can be easily brushed out.
So we need to forget the things that
are behind.
Perhaps the things that have been done even
against us.
The failure of others.
We need to forget adverse and uncontrollable circumstances
that come into our lives.
They're permitted by God.
They don't need to throw us forever.
Paul says, I want to forget what's behind
me.
And I know what he's talking about.
I'm talking about what you and I can
forget.
We're not in his class.
We don't have that problem that he has.
But we do have problems.
And certainly, this is one of them, to
forget our own faults, and not brood over
them forever, and to forget the faults of
others as well.
And then certainly we need to forget our
accomplishments, don't we?
We certainly need to forget our accomplishments.
Paul counted his accomplishments as a religious zealot
to be but refuse in comparison with his
position in Christ.
He did not want distinction.
He wanted identification.
And there's a difference.
He wanted to be identified with Christ.
He did not want to be distinguished above
any other Christian.
As far as the righteousness that fit him
for the presence of God, we have exactly
the same righteousness.
I don't know whether we've risen to that
or not.
We should.
Now, our accomplishments can be troublesome.
They can occupy our minds.
And we should hold them lightly.
Because sometimes the seeming accomplishments are not the
accomplishments that they seem to be.
If God has used us, thank God for
that.
But don't become preoccupied with that sort of
thing.
Because it will cause us to rest on
the oars.
It will cause us indeed to stop.
And there's no stopping us.
As far as you and I are concerned,
there is no stopping us.
I use a little bit of Ruth by
way of personal testimony when people ask me
if I'm retired.
I use this.
I use it more on one occasion.
It's effective.
I say, no, I can't retire.
You can't retire?
You're 74 years old and you can't retire?
I said, look, when do you tell people,
when do you quit telling people that God
loves them, that Christ died for them, and
then go to heaven when they want to?
When do you stop doing that?
Now, there is no stopping for a Christian.
He does not reach that part of his
life where he can rest on the oars
and rest on past accomplishments.
If he does, he's missing a blessing.
You and I, God's people are like a
tree.
We're told that we're like a tree.
I think that's Isaiah 65, 66, something like
that.
And the tree never stops growing.
It never stops growing.
The fish never stops growing.
The longer you live, the bigger you get.
You and I should be exactly that way.
We should never stop growing.
But we should not be occupied with our
accomplishments.
Because if we do, we'll stop growing.
Now, we should not be occupied with our
sins.
Because God has given us a way to
get rid of them.
And to get rid of the consciousness of
them.
And that's simply by confessing them, owning them,
judging them.
And you and I can do that.
God has wanted us to do that.
And our failure, the sins that beset us,
the failures that we have experienced because of
sin.
And that, I think, probably the worst one
is unbelief.
We reproach ourselves for it.
But we need to forget those things that
are behind us.
Even in 1982.
We need to forget them.
We need, like the Apostle Paul, to press
forward toward the mark for the prize of
the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
Reaching forth unto those things which are before.
Forgetting those things which are behind.
Reaching forth unto those things which are before.
What are those things that are before us?
Well, our service to the Lord.
God has given us a sphere of service
to the Lord.
Our gift in the assembly.
God has related us to each other.
And the best possible figure is that of
a body.
And the body, each part of the body
is necessary for the health of the whole.
We might think, well now, I don't know
what part of the body I am.
But we are a part of the body.
And the health of the whole body is
dependent upon the working of each and every
single part.
And certainly, reaching forth to those things which
are before has to do with our service
to the Lord.
Now, we can reach forth to the things
which are before in regard to the coming
again of our Lord Jesus Christ.
We can love his appearing.
And that will certainly inspire Christ-like living.
He that hath this hope in him purifies
himself.
And I can't think of any incentive in
reaching forth to the things which are before,
I can't think of any incentive to produce
righteousness in the Christian rather than to think
of the fact that he's going to soon
be standing before the Lord Jesus at the
judgment seat of Christ.
Really, it will have a very salutary effect
in our lives to remember that within a
few moments we might be standing in the
presence of our Lord Jesus.
We can love his appearing.
And what will that produce?
Do you remember that what is produced by
loving, if we love the appearing of the
Lord Jesus Christ, do you remember what Paul
says about that?
What is it produced in you and me?
The crown of righteousness.
Why?
Because we're really looking for his coming.
We're going to merit the crown of righteousness.
It's going to produce a righteous life.
And we look for those things.
We stretch before those things.
Stretch forth for those things.
And certainly, I suppose that many of you
have said, well, perhaps in 1983 the Lord
will come.
Have you put that on your Christmas card?
Maranatha, he's coming soon.
And certainly that will produce a very, very
wonderful effect in our life, reaching forth to
those things that are before us.
And then, of course, we should be reaching
forth for the approbation of the Lord when
we are at the judgment seat of Christ
because we're going to be there.
And we should remember that there will be
some that will be ashamed at the judgment
seat of Christ.
And that's no place to be ashamed, really.
We ought not to be ashamed at the
judgment seat of Christ.
John speaks of, he didn't want to be
ashamed of his children in the faith.
Corinthians speaks about suffering loss.
There will be some shame and connection with
the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
And we should keep that in mind as
we look forward to the things that are
before us.
So as we approach 1983, there's much to
be done for the Lord.
There's no reason to rest on the oars.
We should keep our eyes forward and upward
to the coming again of the Lord Jesus
Christ, being aware of the recompense of the
reward because he never fails and he never
lies.
Certainly this should be a real reason to
look forward to the coming again of our
Lord Jesus Christ.
And it should be a great year because
we've got the Lord.
We haven't exhausted this subject, believe me.
But reaching forth under those things that are
before us, the incentives for service, the enablements
for service, the strength for service, the guidance
in service.
We can make a whole message out of
that alone in our service for the Lord.
But it's a year of opportunity and we
should never, never fail because of what has
happened in 1982.
Shall we bow in the word of prayer?
Father, we do thank thee for thy word
and pray thy blessing upon it to our
hearts.
We thank thee for a man like the
Apostle Paul.
Lord, we thank thee that he was what
he was because he followed Christ.
Even in this third chapter of Philippians he
mentions that fact a little farther down in
the chapter.
That they were to follow him as he
followed Christ.
We know that we can follow our blessed
Lord Jesus.
And we pray that this year will be
a productive year in our lives.
Keep us from making excuses for ourselves.
But that we might indeed serve our Lord
with renewed zeal, we ask that we give
thanks in his name.