Philippians. 3:15-21; 4:1-7

HI 3:15-21{HI 4:1-7{WE were seeing, beloved brethren, the way in which Christ being before the eye gives earnestness of purpose in running towards the glory.
Christ had laid hold on Paul for it, and he wanted to lay hold on Christ in glory. We were seeing too that this epistle looks at the Christian as traveling across the wilderness with everything at the end, but remember this, that, all through, the power of Christ's resurrection being in him, he had already the power in life, and wanted it in glory; and the practical effect was to make him run as a person who had only the, glory in view. One single object-winning Him-and being raised up himself into the glory.
That is what we are predestinated-to "to be conformed to the image of His Son; " not looking forward to being like Him when our bodies are in the grave and we in Paradise. True, "when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is;" "but our conversation" is now "in heaven;" our citizenship, though I do not much like the word. It means all our living relationships; as we say, He is an Englishman; that is what 'distinguishes him. What distinguishes us is, we are of heaven. So he says, "this one thing I do," running towards the place; it has determined my whole life; “I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling." The high calling means the -calling above. We can have no notion of perfection but as in that glory.
The moment I have seen Christ come down, obedient to death for me, there is nothing too great to expect as the answer to it, for all is the fruit of the travail of His soul.
The "earnest of His love" is nowhere in Scripture; it has been taken I think out of a hymn. The earnest of the glory we have-" The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts.” Paul felt the power of the glory on his spirit; and that is how we are to run,- but all Christians do not know it. If a man is a Christian at all he must know the cross as that through which he is redeemed; but he does not know that he is going to be with Christ in glory. The "little children " know that their sins are forgiven. This is the common knowledge of all. And the children know the Father-have the spirit of adoption. But the perfect in Christ, as they are here called, know the evil Of their own hearts far -better, and at the same time see the perfect love of God in giving Christ on the cross-love come down to the sinner in his sins. They see not only that they are forgiven, but that we are all done with as children of Adam. The little children have not that. They do not know that they are entirely set aside as to their Adam nature. The old nature is dead to faith, and "when Christ who is our life shall appear, then shall we also appear with Him in glory;" and faith has got the place now, " Herein is love with us made perfect., " because as he is, so are we in this world." There is the than perfect.
He says, ‘‘Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in anything ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you." He may be at the beginning, and you further on; if so, you ought only to show him the more grace; however, Christ has laid hold on him, and forgiven him his sins, and he will yet know another thing, even that he has died with Christ, that not only sins are forgiven, but that sin is put away by faith-that he himself is put away,—that self which troubled him a great deal more than his sins. They are to be likeminded, as those who know that they are associated with the second, Adam. Even if this is not seen by all, they are yet to go thoroughly together; God will reveal it to the others.
He then turns to the contrast, and, in doing so, puts himself forward in a remarkable way as their example., There are those whose " conversation is in heaven," and there are those who " mind earthly things; " the end of the latter is destruction; they are contrary to Christianity. It is now not a question of not seeing clear, but of having the Mind on earthly things. That is not Christ in glory; I cannot mind earthly things and Christ too. " The friendship of the world is enmity with God." " All that is in the world is not of the Father." The children are of the Father. When I was first awakened, I was astonished to find so much about the world in God's Word; but I soon saw, when I had to do with Christians, how it dragged them back, always soliciting their hearts.
He says those who mind earthly things are the -enemies of the cross of Christ. What was the cross? It had judged all this. I find the Son of God-the spring, and root, and plant, for all glory to grow on. The cross was all He got in this world. And what is the world? The world would not have Christ on any terms, so I have done with it. " The world seeth me no more; " the Holy Ghost is not come to be seen; " whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him, but ye know him, for he dwelleth with you; and shall be in you." That is how we know the Holy Ghost.
Evil and good came to an issue at the cross. It was the turning-point; it was where the two met.
And now the whole question is, Am I with the world that turned Christ out, or with Christ whom the world turned out? - There is nothing like the cross. It is both the righteousness of God against sin, and the righteousness of God in pardoning sin. It is the end of the world 'of judgment, and the beginning of the world of life. It is the work that put away sin, and yet it is the greatest sin that ever was committed. The more we think of it, the more we see it is the turning-point of everything. So if a person follows the world he is an enemy of the cross of Christ. As Christians we have to look into it, how far this vain show puts a spider film over our hearts, so as to hinder us from seeing. If I take the glory of the world that crucified Christ, I am glorying in my shame. Where is a man at home? In his Father's house, not in the dreary desert, he has to cross in going there.
The meekness of the path we saw in the second chapter; here we have the power and energy that deliver from the world that "would hinder our being like Him.
"Who shall change our vile body "-the body of our humiliation, not vile morally. I have Adam's body now, I shall have Christ's then. All our living associations are where He is. As Savior He will come and accomplish all in changing our body, and conforming it to His glorious body. The price has been paid, but the final deliverance of what has been paid for is not yet come. '" He that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God," but we have not yet got it. We are waiting till He comes- to get it. Ah! Beloved brethren, if our -hearts really felt that God is going to-make us like Christ, if we practically believed that He is going to bring us as brethren to be with and like Christ-well, we should have altogether another thought about the world, we should be perfect then, pressing towards the mark.
If I die meanwhile I am always confident. I do not want to die; I want mortality to be swallowed up of life; but if death comes it does not touch my confidence; “absent from the body, present with the Lord."
He first speaks of the hope; that is what. I want. - Then he looks at the two things that are man's portion: “it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment." As to death it is gain to me, for to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. But what about the judgment? It is a solemn thing. It is "the terror of the Lord." I think of the poor things not converted, and I "persuade men." It makes him think not of himself but of other people, though he says," we must all appear "-that is, be manifested,-" before the judgment seat of Christ. We persuade men, and are made manifest to God. The day of -judgment had its effect on him; it made him feel now the effect of the presence of God, as he will do in the day of judgment. It keeps my conscience awake and alive; it is a sanctifying power, not a terrifying one. Divine power will take us; as Adam had Eve presented to him, Christ, being God, presents His Eve-His Church-to Himself', as second Adam.
Persons have asked if this is present or future, —" that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection." It is the present power of looking at it objectively. "He that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure." It is the present effect of having the eye fixed on Him and waiting for Him. Final redemption will come, and make good,-as to the body, what is true now of the soul. He will make us like Him in the Father's house; and, what I feel is so blessed, He will have us there without even the need of a conscience. Here I must always have my conscience on the qui vive if not I am at once caught in a snare of Satan. There I shall not want it, where all around will be blessedness. We shall have the Holy Ghost then too, and His whole power spent in enabling us to enjoy the glory. Now "the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us," but much of the power is spent in making the ship go.
As a matter of fact a number of us have cares, and trials, and temptations; God has thought of all that; He has counted the very hairs of our beads, and given us something that takes us out of them all. He thinks of the weather for us even: " Pray ye that your flight be not in the winter." Nay, even a sparrow falls not to the ground without your Father. God thinks of everything, and gives us complete superiority over everything.
It is blessed to see that the apostle goes from the most exalted thoughts of the revelation of God to the commonest things a saint has to push through. From things so exalted he turns to two women who were not getting on well together. So it is to-day. There is no forgetfulness in grace. It takes up to the third heaven, but goes down to the smallest things. Even when a runaway slave is in question, the delicacy with which Paul deals with-it has been admired in all ages.
What was Christ's comfort on the cross? He could not tell the poor thief that he was going to Paradise without telling him that He was going there too: "To-day shalt thou be with me in Paradise." So Paul, when thinking of the women who labored with him, says, " whose names are in the book of life." God being there there were divine affections; we are put in the place of divine affections.
There is nothing I feel more in going out to visit, than the desire that Christ should be so there, that the thing should come out that would come out of Christ-not my own thoughts. We do not know half how blessed it is to have the mind of Christ; but the mind of Christ was to go down to the cross.
"Rejoice in the Lord alway." Who was a fit person to say that? The man who had been in the third heaven? No. The man a prisoner at Rome. That was rejoicing always; as we have in the Psalms, " I will bless the Lord at all times." When I get the Lord as the object of my heart, there is more of heaven in the prison than out of it. It is not the green pastures and waters of quietness that make him glad. " The Lord is my Shepherd," not the green pastures, though green pastures are very nice. And even if I wander • from them, it is "He restoreth my Soul."' And if death is in the way, I am not afraid for " Thou art with me." And though there are dreadful enemies, there is a table spread in their presence: Now he says, "My cup runs over." He carries him through all the difficulties and trials of his own feebleness. 'Ala! he says, “surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever."
The man who trusted in the Lord, the more trouble he was in, the more he proved that all was right. Paul says, I know Him free, and I know Him in prison. He was sufficient when he was in want, and sufficient when he abounded. So he says, "Rejoice in the Lord away."
What could they do with such a man? If they kill him they only send him to heaven; if they let him live, he is all devoted to lead people to the Christ they would destroy.
It is more difficult to rejoice in the Lord in prosperity than in trials, for trials cast me on the Lord. There is more danger for us when there are no trials. But delight in the Lord delivers us altogether from the power of present things. We are not aware, until they are taken away, how much the most spiritual of us lean on props. I mean we lean on things around us. But if we are rejoicing in the Lord alway that strength can never be taken away, nor can we lose the joy of it.
" Let your moderation be known unto all men:" Do you think -people will think your conversation, is in heaven if you are eager about things of earth? They will only think 'so if there is the testimony that the heart does not stick up for itself. “The Lord is at hand:" All will be set right soon. If you pass on in meekness, and subduedness, and unresistingness, how it acts in keeping the heart and affections right; and the world can see when the mind and spirit is not set on it. So he says, let it be "known unto all men."
" Be careful for nothing." I have found that word so often a thorough comfort. Even if it be a great trial, still " be careful for nothing." Oh! you say, it is not my petty circumstances-it is a question of saints going wrong. Well, "be careful for nothing." It is not that you are to be careless, but you are trying to carry the burden, and so you are racking your heart with it. How often a burden possesses a person's mind, and when he tries in vain to cast it off it comes back and worries him! But " be careful for nothing" is a command, and it is blessed to have such a command.
What shall I do then? Go to God. " In everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God. ' Then in the midst of all the care you can give thanks. And we see the exceeding grace. of God in this. It is not that you are to wait till you find out if what you want is the will of God. No. “Let your requests be made known." Have you a burden on your heart? Now go with your request to God. He does not say that you will get it. Paul, when he prayed, had for answer, " My grace is sufficient for thee." But peace will keep your heart and mind-not you will keep this peace. Is He ever troubled by the little things that trouble us? Do they shake His throne? He thinks of us, we know, but He is not troubled; and the peace that is in God's heart is to keep ours. I go and carry it all to Him, and I find Him all quiet about it. It is all settled. He knows quite well what He is going to do. I have laid the burden on the throne that never shakes, with the perfect certainty that God takes an interest in me, and the peace He is in keeps my heart, and I can thank Him even before the trouble has passed. I can say
Thank God, He takes an interest in me. It is a blessed thing that I can have this peace, and thus go and make my 'request-perhaps a very foolish one-and instead of brooding over trials that I can be with God about them.
It is sweet to me to see that, while He carries us up to heaven, He comes down and occupies Himself with everything of ours here. While our affections are occupied with heavenly things we can trust God for earthly things. He comes down to everything. As Paul says, "without were fightings, within were fears. Nevertheless God, that comforteth those that are cast down, comforted us." It was worth being cast down to get that kind of comfort. Is He a God afar off, and not a God nigh at hand? He does not give us to see before us, for then the heart would not be exercised; but, though we see not Rim, He sees us, and comes down to give us all that kind of comfort in the trouble.