Today we're in chapter 3, we're going to look at verses 17 through 21 and it's basically a message that relates to Paul's encouragement to follow his example. So let's begin reading at verse 17. I'll read to verse 21, we'll get into our study. Philippians chapter 3 verses 17 through 21. Paul writes, brother, and join in following my example and note those who so walk as you have us for a pattern.  For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body, that it may be conformed to his glorious body, according to the working by which he is able, even to subdue all things to himself. And so Paul is continuing something he's already begun sharing about and that is, for the body of Christ to become mature in their walks with God. Now he used himself as a model of a mature believer, and he had exhorted people, and we've seen this already, to pursue the Lord with all of their strength, and that exhortation was actually setting a standard to be followed. Paul was indicating, and we saw this in chapter 3, that genuinely maturing Christians would do that. Distracted Christians would not. Paul was in a Roman prison, and even though he was in prison, he retained the sharpness of his vision. He wanted to know the Lord Jesus Christ, and he wanted to spend eternity with him. But strife and pettiness amongst the Philippians would dull their vision, and ultimately, because it's so sinful, it would render their ministry ineffective, and that's why he begins here, by urging them. He's urging them to use him as their pattern. He's encouraging them to follow his example. Now that is basically an aspect of discipleship. It's setting an example for others to follow. Every person in this room who's a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ needs a grab hold of what he's saying here at verse 17, when he says, join in following my example. That's a very important principle for Christians, because I believe a lot of people cop out in that. A lot of people don't really see the value of that, the value of being an example for the Lord Jesus Christ. You are a living letter known and read by all men. You are the only Bible that many people will ever read, and we need to understand and embrace that. A lot of times, we may get away with telling other friends or believers, you know, well, you know, just give me a break here, you know, give me some grace, and believers, undoubtedly, will give us a lot of grace, because we need a lot of grace. But the world is not as generous as believers. The world will see you, and they will see you as a person who claims to know Jesus Christ, and then they look at you to see whether or not the things that you say line up with the things that they know about Christianity.   No big deal, we understand. They're not going to do that. They're going to look at you, and they're going to say, that's a hypocritical thing. How can you say that you're following Christ and living in this way? And so Paul is making it very clear that we, as believers, are to have examples and to be examples, and he wants to be an example for them. He wants to set an example for them to follow. In Luke chapter six, verse 40, Jesus said a disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher. That's what you and that's what I as Christians are going to be. We're going to be like our teacher, and he's not speaking about some human teacher. Jesus is saying, if I am your Messiah, you're going to be like me. That's why the Word of God tells us that we're being conformed into the image of Jesus Christ. And so as the Lord Jesus Christ doesn't go on a Friday night party, you know, to dance or whatever, he doesn't do those things. Even so, we see him as our example, and we say, well, Lord, I want to be like you. What is it that you would have me to do? Father, I'm a bit bored right now.  What is it that I can do that isn't going to end up with me backsliding? And that's basically how I would pray as a young believer before I got married. Now I'm married. I can't backslide. Mary won't let me.  And you know, it's Friday, etc., whatever. I'd like to go out and do something. I had to learn. I had to begin to learn early to do those things that are pleasing to the Lord and to look for people in my life who could be examples of what it means to have joy and to walk in grace and to know what mercy is and how to love all of those things. I needed to find living testimonies. I needed to find people who could be good examples to me. And God over the years has been very gracious to give me a number of men. And I've had godly women in my life that I've been able to see and to say, that's a person who knows how to live for Jesus Christ. Well, we're supposed to be like Jesus. We we use him as our as our example. But we also have others that that we see in scripture that can be examples. When you read your Bible, you see stories of people of faith and how they lived. If you take notes, you see this in James chapter five in James five versus 10 in 11. We read brothers as an example of patience in the face of suffering. Take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. As you know, we consider blessed those who have persevered. He goes on to say you have heard of Job's perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy. So he says, use the prophets as example. And then he specifically says, look at Job. And we we already sang about Job. And we've heard about Job in the life that Job lived. A man who was a righteous man, even when God spoke concerning Job. He said, concerning him, I don't have a man like him.  Job was so righteous that he was concerned for his children. And in the event that his children may have done something wrong, Job would offer sacrifices even for his children. This is the kind of man Job was. And yet Job went through tremendous suffering. You read it in the book of Job. And you see that Job went through things to the loss of everything he owned materially to the loss of his own physical health. To the point where his own wife looking at him was bringing words of comfort by saying, curse God and die. What a great wife to have. Thank you very, very much, dear. I do appreciate your blessing and encouragement.  What a wonderful thing to save.  Just die. Just, just die. And Job held on. And all of this he didn't, he didn't sin against the Lord. And yet as you look in the book of Job and you get almost to the conclusion and the Lord begins to speak to Job and begins to reveal himself to Job. The words that Job says have been in my heart for many years. I have heard of you with the hearing of my ear. But I'm, but now I see you with the scene of my eye. And he says, and I consider myself to be wrong. I abhor myself. And, and, and I mourn this reality in sackcloth and in ashes. I, I am sorry. But what I found fascinating is God's declaration concerning Job is that he's a righteous man. But Job says it's through the suffering and the things that I've gone through that I've come to really see you. I've heard of you. I walk by faith and not by sight. I trust you. But now I see you. I see you in the midst of my suffering. I see you for who you are. And so Job is used as an example. In James chapter 5 verse 17 he speaks of another man by the name of Elijah. He says Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. So he uses the prophets. He uses Job. He uses Elijah. So you have people of faith who are testimonies. All you need to do is read the book of Hebrews chapter 11. It's called the Hall of Faith. And you can see person after person listed there. People who were used by the Lord who had tremendous faith. Both Titus and Timothy are encouraged to be good examples. In Titus chapter 2 verses 6 through 8 Paul said encourage the young men to be self-controlled. In everything set them an example by doing what is good. In your teaching show integrity. Seriousness and soundness of speech that cannot be condemned. So that those who oppose you may be ashamed because they have nothing bad to say about us. So he says to him in everything set them an example. In 1st Timothy 4 verse 12 he says to Timothy don't let anyone look down on you because you're young. Set an example for the believers in speech. In life. In love. In faith. And in purity. Timothy was a young man by Jewish standards. He was probably somewhere around 40 years of age. That's not young to many of us in this room. To me it's young. But to some in this room that's not very young. But in a society that placed a high value on age. Because there was a belief that with age came experience. And with experience would come wisdom. And if you lived a life serving God and you grew to an older age. People would automatically assume that you also had wisdom with that experience. But Timothy was a younger man. Timothy may have been around 40 years of age. And so Paul is speaking to him and he's saying to him in a society that values age. You are at a disadvantage. But if you're going to have an impact on people that makes a difference. Then you're going to have to be an example set an example of a believer. And as they look at you they're going to see what a believer actually lives like. I was 20 years old when I gave my heart to Christ. I began to teach the Bible when I was 23. In September of 1973. My first people who would sit under my teaching. Were my parents. My dad and my mom. My sister Madeline and my sister Rebecca. And a neighbor down the street and her husband. That was that was the first people who would sit under my teaching. So I was teaching two younger girls younger than I. But I was teaching my dad and I was teaching my mom. And I was teaching some neighbors who were close to their age. I'm 23. And these other people in their 40s. How does a young man my age minister to older people. By being an example. By having faith and having love and walking in the spirit. By by being sober even for the age of 23. By having an awareness that that eternity stands before them and stands before me. And so without a desire to become popular or to use my humor or whatever to try and draw them in to be followers of me. I wanted them to be followers of Jesus Christ. I wanted them to know what it was like to follow the Lord. And therefore I was very sober and that's what you do. The very first Bible study that I ever taught. The very first one that I ever sat down to open the word. My mom would tell you this how this happened. But it was at my parents house. We invited some friends over for a Bible study. My mom came walking in as they were there in the den. She was a great hostess so she brought in a tray and it had some coffee and it had some some desserts and mama was placing them down as a hostess so that they could drink coffee and they could eat the desserts and all. And I remember turning to my mom and again I was 23 years old and I turned to my mom and I said mama that's a good thing. It's good to have those desserts but we'll have them after the Bible study. Because we're not going to have anything to distract us from the word of God. Because I've always believed that if you're going to hear the word of God you need to listen to it with reverence. You need to give it your full attention. And so that was an act of sobriety of soberness. Because I wanted to communicate from the very first Bible study that I ever talked to this day that when we open this word this is God's holy word. This isn't just a time where we're drinking coffee eating some donuts and talking about Jesus. This is something that is holy and sacred. We're opening the word of God and God wants to speak to our hearts without distraction. And that's how it works and that's how it should work. And that's what Paul was saying to Timothy. He says to Titus you need to be an example. But to Timothy he says this is the kind of example you're going to be. You're a young man. How are you going to win the hearts of those who are older? How are you going to win their hearts for Jesus Christ if you act like a child? So act like a man. Act like a mature man. Put these things on so you can have an impact. And that's how it works. Even here in Philippians in chapter 2 we noted in verses 19 through 22 that he spoke of Timothy being an example. And we saw Epaphroditus in verses 25 through 30. And so people are called to be good examples. Now in this passage Paul is actually exhorting the Philippians to follow his example. This isn't the only place that Paul ever says that. In 1st Timothy 11, rather 1 Corinthians 111 he says follow my example as I follow the example of Christ. That's a very powerful thing by the way to tell people use me as your example. I don't know too many people who can do that. I most certainly wouldn't say use me as your example. I wouldn't take that upon myself. But the Apostle Paul could. Paul could say use me. We'll see that later on. He even reiterates that in more powerful way as we continue our study later on. But use me as an example. True story of a Lutheran minister who was incarcerated during World War II in a concentration camp. And not only did Hitler destroy six million Jews but Hitler also rested quite a number of others who were non-Jewish and millions who are not Jewish died in concentration camps. This Lutheran pastor was one of the individuals who was incarcerated. And as he was in this camp went about his ministry because he saw the camp as being a place that God had called him to serve. And so he would serve in the camp. There was a communist who was also in the camp an atheist. And this Lutheran minister would approach this guy as he did his ministerial rounds and would share with him about Jesus. And even had asked him would you open your heart to Christ and give yourself to him. And the communist said I'm an atheist. I don't believe in God. I don't believe in your Jesus. I don't believe in your body. I don't believe in any of that. Leave me alone. But this Lutheran minister would go around in minister and continue to do so through his entire incarceration. Winter hit. And when winter hit it was very severe. And in these camps you really didn't have anything that was your own. That was your possession. You would have a cup that was given to you and you would use that for your food but you also use that for your body needs. And so it was something that you would use. That was one of your possessions. You also might have a blanket or something that was your threadbare that you could use to warm yourself.  And it was freezing. And as he was ministering to people he came up to this one man who was freezing to death. And without thinking took his blanket off of himself and put it on this person who was freezing and ministered to him. And as he did so and cared for this guy he continued his rounds and this communists happened to be there watching what was taking place. When he walked up to the communists he shared with them and he said will you not receive Christ. And the communists looking at him said what is Christ like. And the Lutheran minister thought for a moment and he said he's like me.  That's the power of a testimony. When people see the goodness of the gospel lived out. When people are actually serious about what Jesus is all about. It touches lives. And it causes people to be aware that there is a God who transforms. And so Paul says imitate me insofar as I imitate Christ. Imitate me also. And that's what he's saying in verse 17. Join in following my example. Following my example. But he goes on and he says and note those who so walk as you have us for a pattern. Now teachers don't simply explain things. There are many people that are very good at explaining. They can take a passage. They can give you the original language. They can give to you history related to that. They can give you information that is true and right. But teachers don't simply give history and explanations. Teachers don't simply speak. The message they live out the teaching. The message is something that first pours through the life of the of the teacher and then is handed to somebody else. Paul said it like this when he was speaking to the Corinthians. He said that which I received I also delivered unto you. I came to me and I give it to you. It is sifted through my life and I hand it over to you. And so we don't simply explain we live out the messages. And this message is lived out before people. In Hebrews 13 verse 7 it says remember your leaders who spoke the word of God to you. He says consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. Watch them closely and see how they live and watch how God blesses them and use them as a pattern. And so that's what he's speaking about. Now notice how he says note those who so walk as you have us for a pattern. Now when he says that he goes into verse 18 to say for many walk of whom I have told you often and now tell you even weeping that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ. And so this is a warning. It's a warning to be careful of those who come into the church as teachers. He's saying false teachers are to be rejected and they are not to be tolerated teaching during the early church. It's so much different now 2000 years later during the early church. The church often would meet in in various places but didn't really have established places of worship. They met often in houses. And so itinerant people people who would move from place to place often would come in and say I am so and so I'm a teacher of the Bible and I'd like to have an opportunity to share with the congregation. You may or may not know this perhaps you don't some of you would. Many of you probably don't know this but we have on occasion people who will write me letters and say my name is brother so and so I'll be in your town and I'd love to come and share from your pulpit. And they do that fairly often. They'll write me sometimes on Facebook you know when someone wants to be my Facebook friend once in my friend they'll write me a letter you know well I've got this ministry you know and I'd like to come to your church and then I write back listen Rawls you know you've got your own church you know stay over there. But they do they will they will and I've had people check this out I've had people who have said we would like where we're a band we would like to come to your church. We want to have two white limousines we want a certain kind of water we want to have certain rooms and certain hotels we want two thousand dollars up front and we want to sell our product I mean this on and on and then they close the letter by saying we'd love to come and I said of course you would I'd love to go along with you you know drink some of that water and make some of that money. But that's what they do and and so sometimes people will actually contact you because they believe that you're going to make them rich and even during the early days of the church there would be people who would enter in and they would bring a message that was not consistent with the true gospel of Jesus Christ and that's what Paul is talking about it happened in the early church John in second John verses 9 through 11 says this John writes whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God he who abides in the doctrine of Christ has both the father and the son he goes on to say if anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine do not receive him into your house when he says do not receive him into your house he's speaking of the church don't welcome him to come to the church nor greet him don't bless him for he who greets him shares in his evil deeds don't be handing them opportunities to minister their error is what he's saying in the church because what it's going to do is it is going to affect the believers in their walk and so Paul is speaking about that with great concern now notice how he says it many walk of whom I have told you often now I want you to see his heart and now tell you even weeping they are the enemies of the cross of Christ what a powerful statement by the way do you know that the church today doesn't even understand what that means I am telling you the church does not understand there are many people in the body of Christ who are not are not really aware of what the Bible actually teaches for a variety of reasons perhaps they go to churches that don't teach there's a variety of reasons they don't pick up the Bible and read it themselves and so they're not aware what the Bible says and because they're not aware of what the Bible says or because they don't value the word of God they think it's a collection of man's opinions and myths and stories and it's just good philosophy and all even though they profess to be Christ the Christians they don't really have a relationship with the Lord and they're not hungry for his word so they're not taught it they don't pick it up and read it they don't meditate on it they don't memorize it they don't live it it doesn't really mean that much to them when they see somebody who's very passionate about truth very often what they do is they get turned off they think man this person's too too serious this person is too I don't know it's just too passionate about things and I come on lighten up when our church first began 29 years ago I was teaching a Bible study in Ontario in the little place that we used to to median it was on Vine Street in the city of Ontario church of God seventh day and as I was teaching somebody walked up to me after the study I knew who he was he had planted a Calvary Chapel ministry no longer was pastoring but he came and spoke to me and he says David and I said he said yeah and he goes it was a good study I said well thank you he goes but you're so serious and I smiled at him and I said the gospel is serious the gospel is serious you know eternity is serious heaven is serious hell is a real place too and so when you open up the word of God you ought to be serious about it you ought to be so reminded about it you ought to really believe what it says is true and you ought to preach it in that way but not everybody has that kind of feeling about it he says many walk of whom I've told you often and I'll tell you even weeping Paul had a heart for the lost but his heart was more for the Lord and because he wants God's truth to go out properly and to know that false teachers were creeping in undermining the work of God it broke his heart and he says and I weep over this one of the things that you can really see about your life is what makes you cry that helps you what makes you cry what are the things in your life that will make you weep what is it when somebody says oh you're ugly that make you cry you know somebody says you're stupid that make you cry you know whatever what is it that makes you cry and here's something for you can you cry over the lost can you cry when somebody is teaching error and undermining the grace of Jesus Christ does that affect you does that cause you grief in your heart you see when I was a young believer I made the mistake of thinking everybody felt like I did I really did and so I would come up and I would say watch out for this and watch out for that and you gotta watch out for these people knock it on the door and you gotta be careful with those people at 10 speeds nice bikes but their doctrine's bad and I would say that I would stand up and I'd say you know I was watching somebody on TV and this guy says he's a healer and yet he's saying what Lord what what what and I'd say you know what you gotta ask God to heal his ears I mean if he can't hear and I would say things like that I was real passionate about this man people got mad they would get up and they'd walk out they were angry how could you say that about brother so-and-so and I would go are you kidding me I had a lady in this very church when we used to meet here before we built that sanctuary years ago really long before we built that sanctuary and I teased my wife and I have a tendency of teasing Marie she knows it's okay it's all in good fun I would never denigrate her on purpose or make her look bad everybody who knows me knows how much I love her this lady grabbed me right outside this door and she says to me I want you to know you offended me today I said really in what way and when because I don't want to offend you when you spoke about your wife in the way that you did I said oh I said is this your first time here she says yes I said I would think so I said because everybody in this church knows how deeply I love my wife I said but if it offended you and I made you angry I'm sorry I didn't intend to I said where do you come from what church do you usually go to she goes I go to the church of religious science I said that's a cult now I gave you something you can be mad at me about because it is because it is and see now now I'm nicer now than I'm old because when I was young it's it's it's this is what it says and let's do I'm still that way I just try to be nice when I say it I smile more but the bottom line is can you and what this is really an important question can you weep can you weep when you hear error does it affect you when you hear somebody say I was so in the spirit that I walked off the edge of the platform hovered in the air God suspended gravity and then allowed me to come standing back on that platform does that offend you that's when a well-known speaker said that church just cheers believe in that God suspends gravity for this man and I I weep I say this is wrong you take an advantage of people you're robbing them in the name of Jesus Christ how dare you do that and it gets you upset because these innocent people are being ripped off and Paul would weep and that's what he's saying here he says I say this to you even weeping their enemies of the cross of Christ and what do you do rather than exposing them you get influenced by them so use me Paul says as an example and those who have embraced the doctrine of God use them as examples but don't use these false teachers as examples you see deception is present there are already notice how he says many walk of whom I told you there are great number of deceivers in Titus chapter one verses ten and eleven uh... paul said there there are many in subordinate both idle talkers and deceivers especially those of the circumcision whose mouths must be stopped who's up subvert whole households teaching things which they ought not for the sake he says of dishonest gain the apostle peter in second peter chapter two verses one through three said there were also false prophets among the people even as there will be false teachers among you who will secretly bring in destructive heresies even deny the lord who bought them and bring on themselves swift destruction and many will follow their destructive ways because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed by covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words for a long time their judgment has not been idle their destruction does not slumber they will make merchandise of you they will tell you deceptive words deception deception is not always addition adding something to the gospel of grace sometimes it's subtraction it's not saying that which should be said that's why teaching the whole counsel of god is so important now notice how he says in verse eighteen of whom i have told you often i have warned you and i've warned you again i have continuously warned you about the bad influences that can be in your life i'm certain that paul would even name names that he would mention them by names in second timothy chapter two verse sixteen through eighteen he said to timothy avoid godless chatter because those who indulge in it will become more and more ungodly their teaching will spread like gangrene among them are haeminias and phyletes who have wandered away from the truth they say that the resurrection is already taken place and they destroyed the faith of some paul did not have a difficult time when he had to naming names and he said watch out for these people now here he is referring to those who live lives that deny the power of jesus christ they could be some who profess to know the lord but they don't live for him in tinnus one sixteen paul said they claim to know god but by their actions they deny him jesus and matthew fifteen seven through nine speaking in this way he said hypocrites isael was right when he prophesied about you these people honor me with their lips but their hearts are far from me they worship me in vain their teachings are but rules taught by men so who are they it's not really clear some think that he may be referring just to the carnality of some of those who are true believers he had already spoken concerning some in chapter one giving a description of them and he had said in verses fifteen through seventeen they were filled with envy strife selfish ambition and insincerity but he also mentioned false teachers in chapter three verse two when he said beware of dogs beware of evil workers beware of the mutilation those i mentioned to you could have been those who were mixing the grace of god with the law of god and bringing people into bondage what he's doing is he's warning against those who do not follow his example and as i mentioned he said i tell you this even weeping i have deep emotion and i have strong tears and i warn you avoid these influences as a pastor teacher i can tell you something i can tell you that as a young man as a young man when the lord saved me if i may give you a brief testimony just for a moment he gave me a passion for something it's a passion that's never left me it's been modified over time in a sense that it's been shaped and matured but it's been a hunger for truth i don't know if i've ever told you this let me say it briefly here when i first got saved i hadn't been a christian more than three weeks maybe a month some jojoba's witnesses came and spoke to me and uh... gave me some of the material and one of the things they gave to me spoke about the trinity and said that the material said that the trinity was a babelonian concept that is not found in scripture some of you may be familiar with that perhaps you've spoken to jojoba's witnesses that's what they'll tell you that's what they told me i was twenty years old now to put it in some context need to know that from the time i was fifteen till i was twenty i was into alcohol and and and drugs really didn't read that much i did read on occasion some comic books but i really didn't read real books because they were boring my last few months before i got saved i started reading and i started reading various books that were they were pretty good but i was just getting back into the habit of reading so i was really basically very naive and and uh... untutored i mean i graduated high school with a d minus average i just didn't do any of the work i just barely made it out and so i had very little experience reading anything and especially things related to the bible and now i'm just a few weeks old in the lord and i've got jojoba's witnesses speaking to me and they bring this material and give it to me and they tell me what i've been taught is error because because you know god is not some three-headed god you know they got this the christians got this from babelon and and you read the material it seemed to make sense and so for some time not a long time for some time i began to think well they must be right and christians are wrong now i never became a jojoba's witness but i just didn't have an idea about the trinity whether that's true the word is never found in scripture those kinds of things and so what happened to me is i put that doctrine on uh... off to the side and for the next two years i kind of like just never really knew whether or not there was such a good thing as a trinity so i got out of the service and when i got out of the military i spent two years in the army when i got out of the military i was at my house i was running a house with a friend of mine in wittier and and here comes some jojoba's witnesses and they knock on the door and uh... they came walking uh... to the door knocked on it i opened the door i said hello how are you they said hi we're you know witnesses for jojoba's kingdom and just want to talk to you a little bit about god and jesus and and and i by that time it had kind of figured out well i think they're wrong about this and so the first thing i say to them is uh... oh yeah i'm a christian or are you i said yes and i believe in the trinity i i said it on purpose you know and and and and i'll come the outcome the razor blades you know all really and they start slicing me up and the woman uh... who is talking to me says to me uh... you know it's it this is what it says in god's word and say god word says this and then she'd say god's word says this and i'd say but wait a minute i know that jesus christ is god in the flesh well i'm sorry but god's word says this and she kept saying that to me so my response to that was i know i've been taught the truth i just don't know how to defend it so i said to her and her friend i said can i talk to you again and they said oh yes we'd love to now they thought i was a fish on the line and so i said great come back next week and so they said we'll be back and i went to the only christian bookstore i knew it was in anaheim so i drove from wittier to anaheim i went in and bought a book called the kingdom of the cults by walter martin and i went home now you have to understand i had smoked so much pot i had lost my memory maybe and i haven't done it since except for medicine so my memory had been restored walter martin's book has about a hundred or so pages on jehovah's witnesses and i read it and memorized great portions of the arguments that walter martin had and i was ready so when they came to the house the next week which i found interesting because the girl who was talking to me asked me what's your name and i said david and she said what's your last name i said rosales she says oh so she leaves and the next time she brings a mexican girl with her like i'm supposed to say oh my people it is true i couldn't believe that but they come and they sit down and she says have you considered what we said and i said indeed i have i said every time i said something you said the bible says she says well all of our beliefs are in the bible i said so tell me when where the bible says that jesus christ is michael the archangel where does it say that she says well the name michael means who is like i said i didn't ask you that i already know that i said where does the bible say that jesus christ is michael the archangel where does it say that well it doesn't i said oh what and i started going through all of their doctrines with her and i said last time you were here you said the bible says and now you're not saying the bible says and the reason you're not saying it is because the bible doesn't say that now let me tell you what the bible says and that's when i began to discover that maybe god had put something in my heart to share with people i could tell you this i could say to you that if i were not a pastor i would be an apologist because that's really where my interest is apologetics and if you were in our early church services years twenty nine years ago i did a lot more apologetics than i did bible studies because i was caught up with what do the mormons teach what do the johovis witnesses teach how does this work in our lives and over the years i came to realize that i can't go up and pick a fight every time i teach i have to bring them through the word of god but my idea has always been related to what is called systematic theology what does the word of god say about this subject and there's a passion that is in my heart that i hope is in all of us for truth what does the word of god say see there's hardly anything that is more difficult for me than when i have shared with somebody and they've given me a question or said something that i had no answer for but rather than just saying who cares i would go and research it and i would prepare and the next time they came over i'd say you asked me what this says and what this means and this is what it means so i wanted to have an answer see this is from scripture paul said i weep because they are enemies of the cross of christ i weep because many are going out undermining the message of grace and salvation and mercy that is found in jesus and it was already happening in his day and so he said i want you to know these things these people's influence on you will dull your longing to be with jesus and will be a distraction because believers are too long to be with jesus and by the way um... the world doesn't understand that that you would actually long to be with jesus christ my son david when he was a little boy witnessed he he he was a kind of little guy who would actually witness he's always had a boldness in his personality and and i saw him as a three-and-four-year-old do things that i that i would kind of smile in my heart i remember somebody coming to my door and my four-year-old david used to be right next to me and i answered the door and the person was speaking to me about something that was salesman david looked up at him and says are you a christian david asked the salesman are you a christian and the little the guy looked down at my son and he smiles and says yes i am and he looks at me like okay i got him off my back and david says what church do you go to i mean that was that was david he would do it in in the store there was a kid across the street his name was tommy tommy was a year older than karin karin's a couple years older than david tommy had a crush on my daughter but david knew that i didn't want her even at the age of eight or nine or however old she was i forget at this time you know i wouldn't want her to be going out with someone who didn't know the lord david knew that so you know what david did david told tommy you can't be with my sister and tommy said why because you're not a christian and david baptized him in the neighbor's pool i mean that's what david used to do i'm not kidding you we were i'll give you another david story we were on a plane we were on a plane flying home from room we had gone to israel stopped in rome were coming home david and one of his friends were in the back of the plane speaking to an italian man and david comes to where i am says dad you gotta come we're leading a guy to christ david's just a little boy i said oh this ought to be fun dad you gotta come all right i go to the back of the plane there's this very handsome businessman italian businessman you know what david says to this man while i'm standing there he says dad we're telling him about jesus christ now this is what my son said he said but he tells me he's a catholic dad he believes in the virgin mary he's gonna go to hell isn't he and the guy's looking at me what do you say that isn't my style i don't do that i looked at the man i looked at my son and i said son if this man doesn't know jesus christ this man is going to hell and i said excuse us and then i looked at the man and i said you know excuse my son he's trying to share with you about his faith in jesus i said and i don't want him to be offensive to you he says no that's okay that's all right i don't mind talking about religion i said really where are you from and he says i'm from rome i said you ever read the letter that was sent to your city he goes what letter is that the book of romans and i started sharing with him out of the book of romans god's plan of salvation and so i have a lot of little stories like that where we've been placed in positions but the bottom line is is the desire to see people actually know god does it make you weep when they don't or does it matter or does it matter have have we the church gotten to the point where we say go to hell that's okay i don't want to offend you now we have to love people enough to tell them the truth we have to not offensively paul said have i therefore become your enemy because i tell you the truth we need to tell the truth it's in the word of god and paul said these people and i tell you weeping are enemies of the cross of christ you see when david one time was talking to the neighbor across the street he told the neighbor i want to go to heaven david was witnessing the neighbor came across to talk to marie and said i'm worried about your son i think he's suicidal no his father is his father is raising that no he said i think he's suicidal and marie goes why why are you saying that because he told me he wants to go to heaven because in his mind only depressed people think about heaven but what david was trying to do was to get this man to think about heaven and see there's something inside of us something deep within us i don't know when when you get sold out to the lord it's hard it's hard to just live an ordinary life it really is because you see people as eternal you see them either going to become something incredible in christ or something that is lost forever you begin to see that and paul that was his heart having a hope of heaven now these people are not heavenly minded because their affections are carnal and earthly and notice as i mentioned already they are referred to as enemies of the cross of christ it's possible that they're saying that you don't need to live a crucified life but paul has already been saying that that jesus christ embrace that cross to the point of death he died on that cross and and his desire he said in chapter three verse ten was to know him and the power of his resurrection he wanted to be conformed into his image and see these people were influencing we're not living a crucified life so what is he saying well the result verse nineteen well whose end he says is destruction whose god is their belly whose glory is in their shame who set their mind on earthly things and so he gives to us the result their end is destruction that were destruction means total loss it speaks of utter ruin the outcome of their lives a fruit of their lives is ruin and rejecting a life dedicated to the lord understanding his death doom he says is inevitable he says their god is their belly when he says that their belly that's another way of saying they live according to their carnal appetites they deny the complete work of the cross they deny the the need of a crucified life they live according to their own appetites and in denying the sufficiency of christ they develop their own way of salvation notice he says whose glory is their shame they glory in other words in what should cause them to be embarrassed this may be in reference to the fact that they were yielding to the right of circumcision and then he says they set their mind on earthly things that would sum up their teachings they're not divinely inspired and they don't direct their attention upward see paul is teaching them to direct their attention to the lord jesus christ for him to live is jesus christ see that's why when you're in the other sanctuary that's why when you walk in and you look at that dove that's up there we would see jesus that's that's what i want for you see i realize if you don't mind let me share this very briefly if i could do anything briefly when you walk into that sanctuary you see this scripture here i make all things new these these are scriptures that mean something to me that's why we put them up i want to remember that that god makes all things new he makes it all brand new my life is brand new and i and i'm blessed in that he makes all things over there we would see jesus when you walk into that sanctuary you walk into that foyer and you look up some people have a notices and they've been in the in the church for years and you have those pillars up there those four pillars we've had people say when did you paint this uh... years ago i never noticed it i know you gotta start looking up your redemption drives now i mean what else but when you go into there and you see we would see jesus that's what i want you to do when you come to this church i want you not just to see the worship team i don't want you just to see those who do the announcements the ushers i want you to see to see jesus christ that's why we have we would see jesus there and and when you leave and we remind you you're going into the mission field all you need to do is look at the signs as you're driving out a scripture and a reminder you're entering into your mission field we had an opportunity to gather get into the word to be equipped but we would see jesus he makes all things new and when we leave we go into a place that rejects him remember that and because that is the heart of this ministry we don't want to set our minds on earthly things we want to be heavenly minded people we are just passing through and we are in jesus christ we need to remember that now in conclusion he says in verses twenty and twenty one our citizenship is in heaven from which we also eagerly wait for the savior the lord jesus christ who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to his glorious body according to the working by which he is able even to subdue all things to himself so paul encourages them press forward gain jesus receive the prize we're like a colony living here a colony of heaven we are people who are just passing through group of people here part of your what we used to call your forever family we belong together for eternity that's why it's so important seeing that we're gonna spend eternity together that's why it's so important to learn to get along now because we're going to be together for a long time and so let's start getting together here while we're here that's what we do so we want to live lives that bring glory to the lord jesus christ you see ultimately we need to understand that heaven is our home it's a guaranteed place for us jesus want to prepare that place for us he said i will come again and receive you unto myself that where i am there you may be also so our citizenship is in heaven but we are eagerly awaiting the savior the lord jesus what's it gonna do he's gonna transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to his glorious body this body that we're wearing right now if you're young enjoy it enjoy looking down and seeing your shoes one of these days they will disappear i guarantee you this lowly body that's only really capable of living on earth will be one day transformed in the twinkling of an eye god will take this body and will transform it and immediately conform it and will be in the image of christ will we recognize one another yes i will walk up to you and you will walk up to me someday in heaven and i'll say to you whatever i choose to say at that moment it'll be nice because we're in heaven and if you want to sit down and visit for what would be called a thousand years you can can you imagine that can you imagine what it's going to be like no more weeping no more pain no diseases no sin no fear no horrible sense of oh i'm so ugly or i'm so fat because we're all going to be in perfect bodies except for all he says he already has it one of these days that's the hope that we have to be with jesus christ that's our hope you know sometimes we talk about the rapture as our hope no our hope is not the rapture our hope is jesus christ he's our blessed hope and he will conform us into his image and we will be with him and we will spend time with him and you're going to see people like joe but you're going to see people like abraham you're going to see people like moses and daniel you're going to see mary you're going to see so many people that you've only read about and when you look at them you're going to know them you're going to know who they are then you shall know even as you're known there isn't going to be a line of introductions we're not going to have these little little badges you know hi my name is david i don't need no stinking badges we're going to know each other and it's going to be so good and it all comes because of jesus it all comes because of him so paul why are you so uptight why do you weep because these people are enemies of the cross of christ because they creep in they undermine the work of god they steal the joy from the church and those who would get saved they want to keep them from being saved and it causes me to weep because they're god's enemies but you on the other hand you're being conformed into the image of jesus and never forget that and walk with him because our citizenship is in heaven