Perfection - Denied but Pursued

Introduction and Prayer for Illumination

0:02 This sermon was preached on Sunday morning, November 1st, 1981, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. Few things bring greater delight to a true servant of God than to preach while seeing people with their Bibles opened on their laps and checking the statements of the preacher with the words of God himself. And may I urge you to take that posture this morning, opening your Bibles to Philippians chapter 3, and follow as I read verses 12 through 14. Philippians chapter 3, verses 12 through 14.

0:45 Not that I have already obtained, or am already made perfect, but I press on, if so be that I may lay hold on that for which also I was laid hold on by Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself yet to have laid hold, but one thing I do, forgetting the things which are behind, and stretching forward to the things which are before, I press on toward the goal unto the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Now let us ask God the Holy Spirit, who gave us these words, through the Apostle, to be present, giving us understanding as to their meaning and message to our own hearts. Our Father, we remember the words of your servant John the Baptist, who declared, A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven.

2:03 And believing that these words read in our hearing have come from heaven, that they originated in your own mind, and that by your power you so worked in the mind and heart of the Apostle, that he expressed in these words your very mind and will to men. But, O Lord, we acknowledge that apart from the Spirit's operation in our minds and hearts, giving us illumination, we will not be able to understand what you have given to us. Come then. Come by the Spirit and open our minds to behold wondrous things out of your law, even in our meditation in this hour. Hear our cry as we make our plea in the name of your beloved Son. Amen. Now we have arrived in our consecutive studies in Paul's letter to the Philippians, at verses 12 through 14, the verses that, will be the focal point of a careful examination in our time together this morning.

Context: Paul's Spiritual Autobiography and Warning Against Judaizers

3:25 Now these words read in your hearing comprise a distinct unit of thought by which the Apostle concludes the section which he began in verse 4, this section of spiritual autobiography, for you will notice that after verse 14 he returns to the us. Verse 15, Let us, therefore, as many as are perfect. And so verses 4 through 14 comprise that section of spiritual autobiography in this section of the epistle. Now let me remind you briefly of why the Apostle gave to the Philippians this choice bit of spiritual autobiography. It was not because he was self-centered and loved to talk about himself, he was very reluctant to do so, and in several places in Corinthians he says when he stoops to do so, he speaks like a fool, indicating that he regards a man who always talks about himself as a fool.

4:32 But he speaks about himself for the simple reason that his own experience of grace was so ordered of God as to exemplify and powerfully underscore the truths that he was asserting in this particular verse. This is a very popular context. In verse 2 he had issued the very sober warning with respect to the influence of the Judaizers. Beware the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of the flesh mutilators.

5:06 It was these people who sought to pounce upon the early churches and tell them that Christ was not enough, that they had to go on from Christ, Christ, to the perfection of Mosaic ritual and form and ceremony. And he warns them against the baneful influence of the Judaizers and then launches into this spiritual autobiography in verse 4 by which he demonstrates the fallacy of the teaching of the Judaizers. In that section you will remember he lists all of his own fleshly advantages in verses 4 and 5. Then he gives the following.

5:47 He gives the summary statement of his estimation of them in verse 7. And then in verse 8 he amplifies that estimation and buttresses it by a more expanded treatment of it. And then in verses 9 through 11 he sets out the wonderful blessings that come to the person who counts all fleshly advantages whether inherited or acquired by personal effort to be but dung in refuse. He tells us that such a person who counts them all but refuse to gain Christ and be found in Christ is the person who finds in that spiritual perspective and exercise the glorious reality of a perfect righteousness and the wonderful entrance into a life of communion with God in Christ. A communion which focuses upon Christ person which is experienced in the frame work of the fellowship of his sufferings being made conformed to his death and which will ultimately issue in all the consummate blessings that will come at the resurrection. Verse 11. Now then in verse 12 the apostle introduces a new unit of thought which concludes this biographical section.

Paul's Emphatic Negation of Perfection Attained

7:12 And I would suggest to you that in verses 12 through 14 there are given to us two basic units of thought. The first I am calling Paul's emphatic negation of perfection attained and then Paul's graphic description of perfection pursued. Now let's take up the first. Paul's emphatic negation of perfection attained.

7:42 Verse 12 begins with a negative. Not that I have already obtained. And then again in verse 13 we have a negative. Brethren, I count not myself to have laid hold.

8:00 And so in these verses we have what I have called Paul's emphatic negation or denial of perfection attained. I do not consider myself as one who has attained. I do not regard myself as one who has arrived. Now what precisely is it that he denies having attained or laid hold of?

8:30 He has already told us in the previous verses that when he counted all things lost it was for the sake of the knowledge of Christ. When he regarded all carnal attainments, his refuse, it was that he might be incorporated into Christ, that he might know in that relationship a perfect righteousness and an introduction into the knowledge of God in Christ. Well if he has all of these things, what is it that he does not yet have? Well he tells us in verse 12, look at the text.

9:06 Not that I have already obtained or am already obtained. I am already made perfect. What it is that he has not yet attained is that perfection of God's gracious working in him, a perfection which will not be realized until the resurrection from the dead. He has been laid hold of by Christ and marked for perfection.

9:39 Although he now has in Christ a perfect righteousness, and although he has in Christ this growing experimental knowledge of Christ in the fellowship of his sufferings being made conformed to his death, that which he does not yet have in his experience is perfection. He says I have not come to the place which permits me to say I have laid hold of the gold of perfection. Nor can God say of me as a builder who finishes his work, my work is perfect. And in the original the force of this comes through very powerfully when he says, brethren, I do not count myself yet to have laid hold, I have not attained the gold of perfection, nor have I been made perfect. I have not arrived at perfection, God has not accomplished in me his own work of perfection. I have not obtained it, God has not yet effected it in me. And again, there is a nuance in the original that makes me use the language of Paul's emphatic negation of perfection attained.

11:04 It's as though he says now regardless of what estimation you may have of me, and regardless of what claims these Judaizers may be making about themselves, and regardless of what they may be promising you, if only you will be circumcised and keep the law of Moses, I for myself, I Paul, I have not yet attained perfection. I have not yet been made perfect. So the first and obvious unit of thought in this section of the passage is what I have called Paul's emphatic negation of perfection attained. But then that which constitutes the greater bulk of the section, we have Paul's graphic description of perfection pursued. As clearly and as unmistakably as Paul denies any notion of having attained perfection, he also affirms that he seeks perfection with all of his being. Look at the vigorous language of the entire passage, verse 12. I press, if so be, that I may lay hold, and that word lay hold, we would use something

Paul's Graphic Description of Perfection Pursued: The Runner Analogy

12:30 if we were rendering it into a current Americanese, something far more vigorous than that, to seize upon, to apprehend. He says, I have not yet, but I press on, if I may seize upon something. Verse 13, I count not myself to have laid hold, but one thing stretching forward. Verse 14, I press toward the goal, unto the prize.

13:01 All of this language put together, pressing on, desiring to seize upon, one thing, forgetting the things behind, straining forward, I press on to the goal. Well, if you've been listening at all, you already sense that here we have vigorous athletic language. And in describing his pursuit of perfection, Paul has in his mind one of his favorite analogies or pictures of Christian experience, namely that of a runner in the Grecian games. Paul no doubt had seen some of the stadiums such as were to be found in Athens, very much like our own stadiums today, where you have an athletic field, and then you have tiered seats up at a sharp angle arranged in a circle or semi-circle, so that the people who sit there are relatively close to the action and all have unimpeded vision down upon the field. And to capture something of Paul's graphic description, what I want you to do with me this morning is to get into a time capsule. And we're going to go backwards 2,000 years. So strap yourself into the time capsule, and then we're going to push the proper buttons, and back we go 2,000 years to the period in history which Paul is reflecting upon

14:29 when he writes. Now one of the benefits of going back in the time capsule is that we can take some of the technological advantages of the 20th century with us. And along with our 20th century clothes, we're taking the most advanced 35mm camera with us. It has an automatic wind.

14:48 You can shoot pictures off in a fraction of a second, and we have a lovely zoom lens that can take the action from the field and bring it up close. So we're in our time capsule now, and we have our camera and all of our gear, sitting in our laps, and we push the right buttons, and we go back, in a matter of seconds, right back to the first century, and there we are, sitting amidst thousands of people in one of the large stadiums, say, in the city of Athens. And as we sit there, we now have our camera in our lap and out of the gear bag, and we have the zoom lens on, and we know it's all loaded with the proper kind of fast film. And by the way, our camera goes up to one one-fifteen-hundredth of a second in speed, so we can really capture the action. And so we get everything all adjusted, and we notice that the race is about to begin down in one end of the field, and the length of the course is approximately the length of a two-hundred-and-twenty-yard dash, about an eighth of a mile. And we see the runners lined up, and a string is stretched in front of them at the beginning of the race. They didn't have pistols.

15:57 Remember, we didn't carry one of those with us in our time capsule. We have our camera, but we have no pistol to get the starter. And so the starter is there with the ribbon stretched across the starting line, and the race will begin when he drops the ribbon. And now that we're all focused in, we're determined that in the course of that race, we're going to take ten pictures of the runner who is third in from the left.

16:21 He's the one we focused upon, and we want that as a memento of our visit two-thousand years back in the time capsule to the stadium there at Athens. And so we've got everything all focused. We've checked all our meters and everything, and we know we're going to get perfect shots. And so the race begins, and we start clicking, one, two, and we pan the action all the way through the race right up until the person who wins that race lays hold of the pole at the end of the race where the umpire or the judge stands ready to confer the wreath of victory upon the head of the winner.

17:00 Well, after we've taken our pictures and the race is over, we get back in our time capsule, press the right buttons, and here we are back in New Jersey in the twentieth century, 1981. We send our pictures off to the local photomat or our local camera shop, and they come back, and then the day comes when we spread them out on the table, and we want to see how our sequence of pictures of that runner came out. And we line them up, all ten of them, and we're so pleased we have to fight a terrible spirit of pride that we really took ten lovely pictures. And we're sort of reaching around, patting ourselves in the back, and we line them up in order of sequence from the beginning of the race to the end.

Characteristics of the Runner: Fixed Eye, Head, and Body Posture

17:43 Then we begin to analyze what we see. And the first thing we notice, as a common denominator in every single picture, remember we had a zoom lens that brought that runner right up into sharp focus so we can see details about his whole person. We notice that from the very beginning of the race, when the ribbon was still stretched across the front of the runners, right until the last two frames when we catch him in sight of the post which is the goal, beside which stood the judge who had the wreath of victory, that his eye had a peculiar gleam in it from the beginning to the end. And as we trace the pictures the pictures across, it becomes evident to us that there's a peculiar something about the eye of the runner. And we can't figure it out until the last two pictures in which framed in our picture we see him close enough to the goal, the finish line, the post which he would run and stretch out and touch as the victor. And we see a direct line between the gleam in his eye and the post. Now that's the first thing we notice about our runner.

18:56 And that's exactly what Paul tells us in the text. Look at it. The gleam in his eye in this pursuit of the Christian race. He gives an indefinite description of it in verse 12.

19:12 Not that I have already obtained but he doesn't tell us obtained what. Or am already made perfect and he doesn't tell us in what sense made perfect. But I press on if so be that I may lay hold on that whatever it is for which I was laid hold on by Christ Jesus. Here is an indefinite description of that goal.

19:39 But what is indefinite in verse 12 is made definite in verse 14. I press on toward the goal unto the prize of the high commandment of God in Christ Jesus. And here we have in verse 14 the specific description. It was the goal unto the prize of the high commandment of God in Christ Jesus.

20:11 The goal being that which I attain. The prize being that which the judge confers. And he says in this graphic description of his earnest pursuit of perfection that he always had a gleam in his eye. At any point along the race it was this fixation of the eye upon the goal and the prize that was there at the goal that was ever before him.

20:43 In the language of a hymn we often sing one of the stanzas captures this. Am I a soldier of the cross? They view the triumph from afar and seize it with their eye. How do you seize anything with your eye?

20:59 Well the apostle did. He seized the goal with his eye. And as we look at the photographs we notice that gleam and fixation of the eye characterized him at every stage in the race. Then we notice something else as a common denominator from the beginning of the race to the end and it was the fixation of the head.

21:22 In every single photograph we notice the head does not move two degrees left or right. In every photograph the head was straight on. There was no keeping the eye upon the goal while turning the head to cast one eye upon the crowd. There was no taking the eyes off the goal in order to turn the head behind and say, Whoo, boy, look how far I've come already.

21:50 Man, this is great. I've accomplished it. By the time he'd say that the race would be over and he would lose. When you say, Where is that in the passage?

21:59 Well, look at it. He tells us in verse 13, Brethren, I count not myself yet to have laid hold, but one thing. The I do is in italics. There is no verb in the original.

22:14 One thing. Forgetting the things which are behind and stretching forward. Forgetting the things that are behind. In other words, any backward look that would break his stride or lessen his speed was out of place in such a race.

22:36 Now, there is a biblical doctrine of looking back and remembering. And I'm not going into it this morning. But there is also a biblical doctrine of holy forgetfulness. And the runner must block out from his mind any looking behind, either remembering all or coming out of the starting line.

22:56 Why in the world did I stumble? If he spends all his time remembering how he stumbled coming out of the starting, he'll never make up the time that he lost and win the prize. Nor can he afford the luxury of saying, Whoo! What a start I had in that race.

23:12 But I came out and at ten yards I was five. He can't stop to congratulate himself. So he dare not look behind the starting line, nor can he look back to congratulate himself for success along the way. We notice in every frame the position of the head was fixed straight on.

23:39 And then the third thing we notice is what I'm calling the general posture of the body. Each photograph, though it shows the arms and the legs in differing positions, one thing is evident. You never find an arm out here. Nor do you find a leg out here or out there.

24:01 In every single photograph, whether we see the arms here, here, here, here, or as he approaches the post, whether the arm is stretched out like this, one thing is evident. Every bit of motion captured in our photographs of the arm, the shoulders, the torso, the legs, every bit of motion is concentrated towards the goal. And where do we find that in the text? We'll look at it.

24:31 One thing, stretching forward would be a literal rendering of that word. As surely as he runs with a posture of forgetting the things that are behind, he runs with a posture of stretching forward. And then he uses this word, I press towards the goal. That's what we see in our pictures.

Application 1: A Powerful Warning Against Religious Smugness

24:59 Those three dominant characteristics of this runner. And in this way, Paul sets forth for us his own graphic description of his personal pursuit of perfection. Now having opened up the leading lines of thought in the text, now I want to take the rest of our time this morning to bring home to our minds and hearts what all of this says to us. What were the Philippians to understand in this final bit of spiritual autobiography?

25:39 What did it say to them in the context of Paul's pastoral concern with respect to the influence of the Judaizers? What then does it say to us, sitting here almost 2,000 years after it was originally written? Well, this is one of those texts that one could literally use as the basis of two or three sermons without straining or beating things thin at the edges at all. And I've had to exercise a tremendous discipline upon my own mind and spirit in selecting what lines of truth and application to open up.

26:17 But let me suggest this morning that first of all, this text issues a most powerful warning. It issues a most powerful warning. And you say, Pastor, I don't find any warning. I just find someone negating any idea that he's perfect and then describing that he's seeking perfection.

26:40 How do you find a warning? Now remember the context. Paul did not write these words simply for filler, simply to let the Philippians in as it were on his own inner workings. Everything is calculated to buttress the warning.

26:58 Beware of the dogs. Beware of the evil workers. Beware of the flesh mutilators. Don't let anyone come along and tell you Christ is not enough.

27:10 For you see in a real sense the Judaizers were offering a way of perfection by the law. In Galatians 3 and verse 2, Paul writing to the Galatians had to say, verse 3, Are you so foolish having begun in the spirit are you now perfected in the flesh? And the in the flesh perfection in the context has to do with this very thing of the teaching of the Judaizers that if you were to be a complete Christian, if you were to realize your full potential, there had to be circumcision and an embracing of the entire mosaic ritual. And you see in a real sense, if perfection is to be found in ceremonies and ritual, it can be attained in this life. For if you've had the right things done to you, and you're engaging in the right activities, then you've become perfect. You see, whenever religion becomes a matter of having the right things done to you and being in the right place at the right time saying the right words, then you can attain to perfection.

28:32 All you need to do is look at your checklist and say, have I had everything done to me that I'm supposed to? And am I doing everything that the perfect man or woman is supposed to do? If so, then you can sit back and say, I have attained, I've laid hold, I've reached the goal, now all I need to do is tread water. The Apostle Paul says, no, no, Philippians, whatever estimation you may have of me and whatever the Judaizers may tell you, listen to what I have to say.

29:08 I have everything that the Judaizers are pushing upon you. I counted all of that but dung that I might gain Christ. Having gained Christ, in no way do I think that I have attained to all of the blessings for which I have been apprehended by Christ. I will only know those in the day of the resurrection I will only attain to them when I come to the perfection of body and the perfection of spirit.

29:41 And so the Apostle would warn us, beware of the subtle Judaizing influence of feeling that if you've undergone the right rituals and you're doing the right things, you've attained enough and the prize is in your hand. And it need not be circumcised, circumcision, and keeping special feast days and fast days and dietary laws. You say, well I've professed Christ, I've been baptized, I've come to church twice on Sunday, once on Wednesday, I've arrived. That's a subtle form of seeking perfection by doing.

30:25 And perfection by ritual. The Apostle Paul amidst all of his endeavors, all of his faithfulness to the means of grace, he in this passage graphically describes his own consciousness that he's not arrived at perfection and yet he pursues perfection with every fiber of his being. So it issues a warning to us, a warning with respect to any religious instruction which inevitably leads us to smugness, laxity, and complacency. Such teaching cannot be of God.

Application 2: Vital Principles of the Christian Life

31:09 Cannot be of God. But then in the second place, the text not only issues a most powerful warning, the text embodies several vital principles of the Christian life. And for the first of these I'm indebted to Robert Rainey and his commentary, or really sermons on Philippians in the Expositors Bible. Sometimes one reads literally dozens, if not hundreds of pages, rooting around for insights and comes up dry, but then after spending hours rooting around, one comes up with a statement that makes all of the inquiry and pursuit worthwhile.

31:48 And this was the case in preparing for this morning's exposition. Now will you notice these principles of the Christian life embodied in the text? And the first is this. Neither the prize nor perfection are attained in this life.

32:04 Neither the prize nor perfection are attained in this life. Granted, Paul is giving autobiography. He is not saying no one has attained, no one has arrived, no one has yet been made perfect, but surely the argument is conclusive. Who among us would dare to say there has ever been anyone in the history of the Christian church who was marked by greater heavenly-mindedness than Paul?

32:34 By greater degrees of grace than Paul? Who was marked by greater advancement in likeness to Christ and zeal in the service of Christ than the Apostle Paul? And yet it is this man who says, I have not attained, I have not been made perfect, I have not yet laid hold of that for which Christ has laid hold of me. And we learn from this that neither the prize nor perfection are attained in this life.

33:07 Now why do we need to know that? Because if we are true Christians, obtaining the prize and realizing perfection have become matters of passionate concern to us. Any Christian who is not naturally vulnerable to perfectionist teaching has something defective in his soul. It is only the person who is dead in earnest about being what he knows God wants him to be who finds any teaching on perfectionism attractive.

33:44 Because it says, look, here is a framework of teaching that will answer to your deepest longings as a Christian. Would you like to be free from the struggle with indwelling sin? You say, oh God, yes. Yes, Lord.

33:58 Would you like to have such uninterrupted communion with Christ as the angels enjoy? You say, Lord, I'd give my right arm and my left leg for that. And that's why you and I need to understand if we are true believers the great principle of this text. Neither the prize nor perfection are attained in this life.

34:19 But now the second, and you must never divorce this first from the second nor the second from the first, neither the prize nor perfection will be attained at the resurrection unless they are earnestly sought in this life. You see? Don't divorce the first from the second nor the second from the first. Neither the prize nor perfection will be attained at the resurrection unless they are earnestly sought now.

34:50 Look at the language of the text. Not that I already obtained or am already made perfect and since I can't be, why bother? No, no. But I press on if so be that I may lay hold of that for which I was laid hold of.

35:06 By Christ Jesus. I do not count myself to have laid hold. But one thing, forgetting the things that are behind, stretching forward to the things that were before, I press on toward the goal unto the prize of the high or the upward calling of God in Christ Jesus. The man who negates any suggestion that he's attained perfection tells us he's seeking it with all his heart and thereby we learn this great lesson.

35:39 Neither the prize nor perfection are attained in this life. Neither the prize nor perfection will be attained at the resurrection unless we are seeking them in this life. And then there's a third great principle of the Christian life that's here in our text and it's this. Seeking the goal and the prize is neither selfish nor mercenary.

36:02 Seeking the goal and the prize is neither selfish nor mercenary. Some object and say, well, if you have any view of the Christian life that uses the word prize, you've got a mercenary concept. Well, then you better accuse Paul of that. He said, I'm doing all of this in order that I may what?

36:24 Attain the prize that is in conjunction with the goal. Well, how do we know it is neither selfish nor mercenary? Well, the goal is the very goal for which Christ laid hold of me. Not to seek it is to negate the very purpose of grace.

36:46 He says, my goal is this. I want to lay hold, seize upon, set down upon the thing that Christ had in mind when he seized upon me in his grace. That's not mercenary. That's simply reflecting that our hearts are sensitive to the purposes of grace.

37:09 And what about the prize? Well, notice how he describes it. It is the prize of the high calling of God that is found in Christ Jesus. In other words, it is the prize that is inseparably linked to the divine calling and it is found only in the sphere of union with Christ.

37:33 Now, it is God's calling that holds forth the prize, puts me in the race towards the prize, and brings me at last to the goal where the prize is received. How can that be mercenary? It's all of God. Because he has called me to his own glory and virtue.

37:56 And it comes to me only in that sphere in which all spiritual blessing comes. It is in Christ Jesus. So, there is nothing mercenary about it. It's the reward of grace.

38:07 And there's nothing selfish about it. It is simply reflecting that my heart is imbued with the very purpose for which Christ laid hold of me. So, child of God, don't let anyone ever bully you into feeling unspiritual. Because with all your heart you have your eye fixed upon the goal unto the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

Application 3: An Accurate Description of a True Christian

38:31 But not only does this text issue a powerful warning, not only does it embody several vital principles of the Christian life, but thirdly and finally, this text presents a most accurate description of a true Christian. This text presents a most accurate description of a true Christian. What is a true Christian? Well, according to this text, Paul says two things about a true Christian.

39:01 Number one, a true Christian is a person who has been captured by Christ. A true Christian is a person who has been captured by Christ. Look again at verse 12. If so be that I may capture, may lay hold, on that for which also I was laid hold on by Christ Jesus.

39:28 And here Paul describes his conversion. As an activity of Christ upon him, likened to that of a thief who mugs somebody in the night. That's the sense in which it's used in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. It's used in the Gospel of Mark, this verb, to describe what a demon does when it takes hold of a human being and possesses him.

39:55 He says that's what it meant for me to become a Christian. I was running it bravely and at breakneck speed in the direction of hell. A deceived, self-righteous Pharisee thinking that I could stand in the day of judgment accepted before the court of God and the law of God on the basis of what I inherited from my ma and pa and what I had done as a zealous Pharisee. Everything he describes in verses 4 and 5.

40:26 He said I was going at breakneck speed in the direction of self-destruction and hell itself. You know what happened? You know what made me a Christian? The Lord Jesus put forth an arm of omnipotent grace and seized me and turned me around and set me pursuing other goals with equal and even greater fervor and zeal.

40:54 He describes his Christian experience, his conversion experience, under the figure of being captured or apprehended by Christ. And though the circumstances are different in every case and in the case of the apostle this was made evident in the very dramatic way in which the Lord arrested him by a voice from heaven in a blinding light. Though the circumstances differ and in few cases are they so dramatic as in the case of Paul. The principle is still the same.

41:35 No man is a Christian unless Jesus Christ arrests him. Ah, but someone says it wasn't that way with me. I became a Christian when I was seeking the Lord and I was praying that he would be pleased to...

41:49 My friend, listen to me. Why were you seeking the Lord? If he hadn't stretched forth the fingers of omnipotent grace and bent your heart to seek him you'd have gone to hell. Hell cursing him.

42:06 I sought the Lord and afterward I knew it was he who sought me seeking him. It was not so much that I on thee laid hold as thou dear Lord on me. You see a Christian is not someone who has, quote, decided for Christ. Quote, made his decision.

42:29 Oh yes, there is decision. You're not a Christian if there hasn't been decision. To the extent that faith is a decision to throw the weight of the soul upon Christ as he's offered in the gospel to give oneself up to Christ to his grace and his government. Oh yes, there is decision in every true conversion.

42:50 But not every decision is a true conversion. One cannot ascend to the facts of the gospel and make a decision but ultimately, my friend, the question is this. Have you been apprehended by Christ? Has he laid hold upon you?

43:06 Not just a few notions about heaven and hell and the cross and death and the world to come. He said, if so be that I may apprehend that for which I as a person was apprehended of Christ. When the Lord saves a man or a woman he saves the man or the woman. He lays hold of the whole person.

43:29 Has he done that for you? That's the description of a real Christian. A true Christian is a person who's been captured by Christ but then the second element of the description of a true Christian in the text is this. A true Christian is a person who having been captured by Christ strives to capture all that God has purposed for him in Christ.

43:52 That's a true Christian. How can I tell if I've been captured by Christ? The evidence will be this. That you are striving to capture all that God has purposed for you in Christ.

44:05 Look at the language. Look at the language. He said, I have not yet laid hold. I've not yet been made perfect.

44:12 I press on, if so be that I may capture that for which I was captured. And what is the thing for which he was captured? Well, you say to serve Christ as a missionary and an apostle, yes. But in the context this has not primary this does not have primary reference to his service.

44:35 It has to do with that which he flushes out in full in verse 14. He was captured by Christ that ultimately he might be totally conformed to the image of Christ at the resurrection. Whom he did foreknow he did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son. And that's why the scripture says the whole creation awaits the day of the manifestation of the Sons of God the day of resurrection when perfection will be realized in the glorified body of every saint joined to his perfected spirit.

45:12 Not that we shall be elevated to Godhood, no. But we shall realize the full potential for which God originally created and for which he recreated us in Christ Jesus. And since God has purposed us for perfection and total conformity to Christ wherever he seizes a sinner he puts in the heart of that sinner a longing to capture everything for which he was captured. And that's why we have this vigorous language one thing forgetting the things that are behind stretching forward I press towards the goal.

45:53 Now I'm fully conscious that in any given point in the life of any Christian that perspective may be obscured greatly by the pressure of the world. It may be greatly weakened by the power of indwelling sin. And there may be times when it's barely discernible. I'm fully conscious of that.

46:18 I not only live with my Bible I live with my own heart. But when you dig down through and find the real person you find however faintly that passion may be expressed at any given moment this is the mark of a true Christian having been captured by Christ. He strives to capture all that God has purposed for him in Christ. And he does so with the very motivation that dominated the apostle.

46:53 He was not doing this thinking that this would somehow earn him acceptance. This statement of striving for perfection comes after verse 9. That I may be found in him not having a righteousness of my own in connection with the law but the righteousness which is from God by faith in Jesus Christ. No, the motivation is not any notion that he can thereby gain acceptance.

Exhortation and Concluding Prayer

47:24 It is under the pressure of gratitude for the acceptance freely given in Christ that he longs to be totally conformed to Christ. My friend, is that true of you as you sit here this morning? If someone were to describe you could you accurately be described as a person who has been captured by Christ and whose life reflects a passionate longing to capture all that God has destined for you in Christ? Or would you be characterized as someone who has had enough contact with Christ to give you just enough religion to make you respectable but not enough to make you contagious or real? I fear there are all too many and I fear they are not all out there where there is poor teaching and lack of biblical preaching. I fear some of them sit here in Trinity Baptist Church and their names may be on the roll of this congregation. My friend, don't press this aside push it aside it is just so much preacher's rhetoric.

48:43 If you have not been captured by Christ with the evidence being that having been captured by Him you are seeking to capture all that God has purposed for you in Him you have no biblical grounds to call yourself a Christian none whatsoever! I earnestly plead with you to hold up the mirror of the Word to your own professed experience and remember that the hour is fast approaching when you with me will stand before the Judge and oh what a terrible thing to be found out of Christ in that day. What a terrible thing to meet an angry and a holy and a righteous God in the nakedness and unclothedness of our relationship to Adam and sin and have no covering in the presence of God. No one will be found in Him in that day but those who here and now manifest that they have been apprehended by Him. So I entreat you give yourself no rest until you know that you have been apprehended by Christ that you are in Christ and that you are pursuing

50:10 all that God has purposed for you in the Son of God. Not that I have already obtained was the final personal testimony of the Apostle in this context or am already made perfect but I press on if so be that I may lay hold on that for which also I was laid hold on by Christ Jesus. Brethren I do not count myself yet to have laid hold but one thing forgetting the things that are behind stretching forward to the things that are before I press on toward the goal unto the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. God willing next week we'll see the exhortation. Paul's a good preacher he gives his teaching and then he bases an exhortation upon it in verses 15 and 16. But may I entreat you this morning to reflect upon this text to examine your own heart to pray in the vital lessons of the Christian life which it sets before us.

51:22 Let us pray. Our Father we magnify your grace as manifested to your servant the Apostle Paul this man with large capacities to feel to think with great energies to act we thank you that you took all of those capacities and energies and in that amazing transforming seizure of the road to Damascus we thank you that you redirected it all to Christ and holiness and the kingdom of your own dear Son and we praise you that as we have drawn near this morning and listened to the beat of this man's heart as he expressed it in his pen to the Philippians that we have seen something of what true and vital Christianity is all about. Holy Father for those who sit here this morning to whom these words have been a strange tongue have mercy upon them give them no rest in form and ritual in mere external morality may they not rest until Christ becomes to them the altogether lovely one help us as your people our Father

52:48 we confess that so often our necks are turned in the wrong direction we fail to keep the goal in our eye we are hindered in our race because we mourn too long and too often the stumbling of the past for we congratulate ourselves with the progress of the past oh God help us that we with your servant Paul may be able to say this one thing oh God make us men and women of one consuming passion deliver us from that fragmentation of the energies of our hearts unite our hearts to fear your name and to run the race with patience looking unto Jesus the author and the finisher of our faith hear our prayer and seal the word to our hearts we ask in Jesus name Amen