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It All Comes Down To This One Thing
10 Plays2 years ago
Vernon jumps back to Philippians 3 to understand more of Paul's thinking and attitude for living. The most important focus in life is knowing Christ. But how do we know Him? What does that look like? Paul shares a powerful truth with the folks in Philippi and with us that will transform your experience.
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Transcript
Introduction to 'Walking Free'
00:00:02
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This is your host Vernon Terrell with Grace Ministries International and it's time for Walking Free!
00:00:22
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And welcome back, this is Vernon.
Exploring Philippians: Past Gains vs. Knowing Christ
00:00:24
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And I wanted to jump back into Philippians, a portion that I believe I skipped over as I'm reading this book and these passages, different things just kind of bombard my brain and my heart. And I start, I said, well, let's talk about this and that. And so it's not always in the exact order as it should be. But this, in Philippians three,
00:00:50
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just really spoke to me. I thought I'd just share it on the podcast and just talk about it. And you can pray and ask the Lord what he would have you to glean from this part of scripture. In Philippians 3.7, he begins, Paul begins and says, but whatever things were gained to me, these things I have counted as loss because of Christ.
00:01:17
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More than that, I count all things to be lost in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them mere rubbish, so that I may gain Christ.
00:01:37
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and may be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being conformed to his death if somehow I may attain to the resurrection from the dead
00:02:06
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That is a incredibly long sentence. I think my high school teacher would say, that's a run on, Paul. Break it up. But you know, there is so much in this sentence. And if we go back in verse seven, he says, whatever things were gained to me, and what is he
True Wealth: Knowing Christ
00:02:31
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talking about? Well,
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read the passages before when he talked about who he was in the flesh in his old life as this Pharisee, a Pharisee of Pharisees from the tribe of Benjamin just followed the law. In fact, in the eyes of the law, blameless status, position, heritage, history,
00:03:04
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probably made a good living, but all those things that were really so important to him, he has counted those things as loss because of Christ. You say, well, that's a bummer. Well, not really, because he has found something so much more. In fact, he says that in verse eight, more than that, I count all things to be lost.
00:03:35
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in view of this surpassing value. So he's got loss, but it's been replaced with this new value. What is the value? What's so valuable to him right now as he was writing this letter? The value of knowing Christ my Lord. Knowing Christ.
00:04:03
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And he's using the word where he doesn't know him perfectly yet, but he is knowing him. It's he's learning and knowing Christ and experiencing Christ. And, you know, as I have lived the 60 years, uh, and I guess what 45 of them as a Christian saved at 15 years old from an unsaved family.
00:04:32
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What I find is that the most important thing is not all the Bible that you know. That's important. It's not all the church services that you attend. That's awesome though. It's knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. Knowing him, experiencing him, it's participating with him.
00:05:00
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It's Christ in you expressing his life through you. That's how we participate, watching him work through you, through your incredible talents, your unique personality, through your words, through your actions. It's walking with him and knowing him. And Paul said, for whom? I have suffered the loss of all things.
Righteousness: Faith vs. Performance
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and I count them as rubbish so that I can gain Christ. I can gain Christ. I can gain as in profit. I am profiting. I am building wealth by knowing Christ, watching him work in me, for me, through me,
00:05:58
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And he says, you know what this wealth is that he's fighting and experiencing? It's verse nine. It may be found in him not having a righteousness of my own derived from the law. Do you know, we grow up and have grown up, at least on this Western culture, with such a performance mentality.
00:06:21
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that I need to do XYZ so I can gain whatever I'm trying to gain. I need to perform to win. And that's necessary, I guess. There is times in work you have to perform. We have performance appraisals, right? At work.
00:06:44
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And we need to meet certain goals and, uh, and perform certain tasks in a certain way, at a certain level to get certain pay. That's the system. That's just not God's system. I'm not saying that's look, that's part of work and that's part of, um, we have to understand that reality, but let's understand this reality.
00:07:10
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That's not the kingdom reality. That's not how you experience righteousness. Paul said, I don't have a righteousness of my own that I just earned from keeping the law. My righteousness that I have is through faith in Christ.
00:07:35
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the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith. That is not what we're used to, is it? That's not the performance reality that we deal with at work. But it is the reality of the kingdom of God. It's all on the basis of faith.
00:08:02
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And that's what it's all about. It's knowing Christ, knowing his love, experiencing the righteousness which he has granted and given to you by faith.
Spiritual Transformation through Resurrection Power
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Paul continues this run-on sentence, an awesome sentence in verse 10.
00:08:31
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of Philippians three, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection. That's what he's doing, that's what we should be focused on, knowing Christ and knowing him and the power of his resurrection.
00:08:53
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of his resurrection, he is risen, and because of that, so are you. You died with Christ, and you rose with him. Your old man, old self, is gone, dead, buried, and your new self has been raised up in him.
00:09:22
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that I may know him, that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection. And again, he uses this word, which is kind of knowing in this beginning sense, coming to know him,
00:09:49
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and to really experience Christ. You don't have all the answers. You don't know Him fully yet, you will, but that I may know Him and continue learning. And you know the only way to know Him is to participate with Him. You know how you learn something, like learn a trade? It's by observing and watching and then doing.
00:10:20
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and participating with the Master. That's what this life is all about. It's knowing Him, walking with, experiencing Christ, working through you, experiencing His power, the power of His resurrection. That power has happened in you. Are you experiencing that power? Stop trying to make it happen.
00:10:52
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and allow it to happen because the resurrection has happened in you. And that's what Paul is doing here. He goes that I may know him and learn of him and experience him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his suffering.
00:11:14
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being conformed to his death, and then he says this, if somehow I may attain the resurrection of the dead. You know, that's not like, I hope so. It's like, he says, if somehow I may attain, that word attain is like a meetup. If somehow, that word somehow is like, I know, I mean,
00:11:41
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I know it's going to happen and it's a very high probability. I just have no clue how it's going to. And he's saying like, I don't know how this works, but if however it works, I'm excited to meet up at the resurrection from the dead.
Pressing Forward: Forgetting Past Failures
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I mean, we don't know how this thing works when we die and when we're transformed to see him in all his glory and we're fully transformed from our mortal body to a heavenly body. That is mind-blowing. But he says, my point is I've suffered all this loss and I am focused
00:12:33
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on this new value proposition of gaining Christ, of being found in him and being found in him not having a righteousness of my own from the law and from performance, but that which is through faith in Christ. Are you experiencing and finding your righteousness? That righteousness which came because of your faith, are you experiencing that?
00:13:06
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Are you focused on just knowing him and that power of his resurrection in you? Are you participating in the fellowship of his sufferings? And that is part of the deal. It's part of the humbleness. It's part of that humble, gentle walk that we've talked about.
00:13:35
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And then he says, not that I have already grasped it all or have already become perfect. He goes, I don't have all the answers here, but I know the one who does. I'm not doing it perfectly on this planet, but I press on. If I may also take hold of, I love this.
00:14:01
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that I may take hold of that. And this take hold of is again, like in the games, the public games and the prize. He says, if I can just take hold of, and it's like I'm really going for it.
00:14:21
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for that which I was even taken hold of by Christ. He wants to take hold of that righteousness which he already has because Christ has already provided that in him by faith. He wants to take hold of his righteousness and experience that righteousness that he already has in Christ. He's gonna press on, he's not doing it perfectly, but he presses forward
00:14:52
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to take hold of it because he's got it, it's his in Christ. He goes, brothers and sisters, I do not regard myself as having taken hold of it all yet. But one thing I do, here's what I'm doing, forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead.
Pursuing the Spiritual Goal: Christ's Righteousness
00:15:20
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forgetting the mistakes that I've made, forgetting, and you know what? If you're gonna really experience Christ, you need to be a very fast forgetter. And I like to say it this way, when I would work with inmates in the jail and I work with other folks, I use this F6, and let's see if I can remember it all.
00:15:44
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But the F6 says this, and I would tell the inmates, you need to learn more, some different F words. You can take that wherever you want. But I would say F6 is this. We need to fail forward faster, walking in forgiveness and freedom by faith. We're gonna fail, so we need to fail forward. So forget what lies behind and go forward. Fail forward faster.
00:16:14
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Don't just, don't lie and moan and groan in your failure. You failed, yes. Admit it, yes. If you need to make it right with someone that you hurt, make it right. Fail forward faster. Walking in his forgiveness because you're already forgiven. Don't beg for what you already have. Thank him for it.
00:16:33
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Fail forward faster, walking in his forgiveness and freedom. You're free. You're free in him. You are the righteousness of Christ. Go walk in that by faith. Why by faith? Because you don't feel it. It doesn't seem right, but it's true. Forgetting what lies behind. Reaching forward to what lies ahead.
00:17:02
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I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. I press on toward the goal. You know what the goal is? Seeing Jesus. Seeing Jesus. That's the goal. Therefore, verse 15, all who are mature, let's have this attitude.
00:17:31
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And if anything, you have a different attitude, God will reveal that to you as well. So let's just have this attitude that, you know what? We don't have it all figured out, but we know that Christ has made us righteous by faith. I have his righteousness and I want to
00:17:49
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experience that righteousness and take hold of that righteousness. How? By knowing Christ, learning Christ. Allow, and the best way to know Him and learn of Him is to experience Him in your walk. How do you do that? You walk by faith. You move forward. You love. You walk as holy because you're holy. You walk as righteous because you're righteous. You walk kind because you're kind.
00:18:18
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You don't walk and make it happen to make you more holy. You thank God that he's made you righteous and holy and you walk in that because you are. Have that attitude. Have the attitude of pressing forward, not looking at your past and looking behind.
00:18:40
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but pressing forward. And by the way, pause for a moment. There are times that we need to pause and take a look at our past because it's just hurting us. We've got unresolved issues and we need to pause and look back and deal with it. You need to deal with it and feel it and understand it and often forgive the hurt and the trauma. But there's a point.
00:19:09
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when you need to say, Father, thank you that you've made me righteous, you are my healer, you are my overcomer in me, you've made me an overcomer in you, and I'm gonna take steps forward, trusting you as my life. Have this attitude of moving forward, dealing with what you have to deal with, but don't let it chain you up
00:19:35
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You break the chains with forgiveness. You break the chains of the enemy by understanding the truth because it's the truth that sets you free. You know it and you believe it and you begin to walk in it by faith. Even when your feelings are just pummeling you saying you're nothing. That's not true. It is true. Walk by faith.
00:20:03
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asking God to give you his power, the power of his resurrection, to walk and work through you. And then he says, however, verse 16, let's keep living, and here's the New American Standard translation, however, let's keep living by that same standard to which we have attained. You know that word standard's not even
00:20:30
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in the text, they added that to give context. And let's take that word, it's not in there, so let's take it out. However, let's keep living by that to which we have attained.
00:20:48
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Let's keep living by that same thing to which we have attained. What have you attained? You have attained by faith his righteousness. So let's keep living and walking by that which you have already attained. You have attained
00:21:14
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his righteousness. It came suddenly, unexpectedly, when you received Christ. So let's keep living by that. And you know what? There's a lot of folks who live that way, who live righteously and humbly. They walk in humility. They walk in their righteousness. They walk in love. They walk in kindness.
00:21:45
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And he even says in verse 17, brothers and sisters, join in following my example. If he just said he's not perfect, he doesn't have it all figured out, but he's moving forward, walking in love, walking in power, walking in the power of the resurrection, embracing the suffering that comes with it, knowing that Christ is with him in the suffering, he says join in following my example and observe those who walk.
00:22:14
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According to the pattern you have in us. And he says reality check.
Warnings Against Gospel Distortion
00:22:21
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There are many who walk and I've often told you, and I tell you, even as I weep, it just really breaks his heart that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ. Here's what.
00:22:35
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He says about them whose end is destruction, whose God is their appetites, and whose glory is in their shame, who have their minds on earthly things. There are those who walk after the flesh. There's some who give you the lie that it's all about performance, that God doesn't really like you and you need to make him like you. There are those who turn the gospel of Christ into a money machine.
00:23:05
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And yes, it does take money to run any ministry, but they focus on building their wealth on the backs of unsuspecting others. He says, you know what? They're the enemies of the cross of Christ. You know his example.
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and you know those who walk humbly in love, and those who are concerned for the well-being of others. Follow those examples, and beware of the others whose God is their appetite, whose glory is in their shame, who have their minds on earthly things.
Heavenly Citizenship and Transformation
00:23:50
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For our citizenship, in verse 20, is in heaven,
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from which we also eagerly wait for a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform the body of our lowly conditioned into conformity with his glorious body by the exertion of the power that he has even to subject all things to himself. He is the sovereign God.
00:24:21
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That is our Lord. And that, by the way, is who lives in us. And one day he will take this human body, lay it to rest, and transform us into this heavenly body. The same body
00:24:49
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that he transformed at the resurrection when he was raised from the dead. We're gonna have a heavenly body. Isn't that gonna be amazing? So I wanted to encourage you today, back to verse 16, to keep living by the same to which you have attained.
00:25:17
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Know your righteousness. Thank God for the righteousness and the holiness and the power that He's given you by faith. And now live by that. Don't short circuit your own experience by going back to the performance, by going back to the law. Live by the power of His resurrection in you.
Living by Faith and Embracing Resurrection Power
00:25:47
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And when you fail, deal with it quickly and press on toward that goal of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. And when you have that attitude in you that Paul had, that's when you will be not talking anymore, but that's when you will be walking.
00:26:14
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You've been listening to Walking Free, a production of Grace Ministries International in Marietta, Georgia. For more information, go to our website at gment.org. That's gminc.org.