In Jason Dohm's sermon, 'The Thoughts and the Walks of the Mature,' he expounds on Philippians 3:12-19, urging believers to adopt a mature mindset and conduct. Dohm emphasizes Paul's acknowledgment of not having attained perfection, yet continuously pressing forward towards spiritual maturity. Believers are encouraged to emulate mature Christians like Paul, who serve as tangible examples of Christ-like living. The sermon warns against placing confidence in the flesh or earthly achievements, stressing the need for unified thought and action centered on Christ. Dohm highlights the importance of continual progress in faith, renouncing past failures and successes, and striving towards the goal of becoming more Christ-like. The dangers of following those who are enemies of the cross, whose end is destruction, are contrasted with the call to follow mature believers whose lives reflect a profound love for Christ. The sermon concludes with a call to identify and follow mature Christians as a means to grow in faith and Christ-likeness.

Philippians 3 verses 12 through 19. Verse 12, not that I have already attained or I'm already perfected, but I press on that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended, but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and Reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Therefore, let us, as many as are mature, Have this mind, and if anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you. Nevertheless, to the degree that we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule.

Let us be of the same mind. Brethren, join in following my example and note those who so walk as you have us for a pattern, for many walk of whom I have told you often and and now tell you even weeping that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ whose end is destruction whose god is their belly and whose glory is in their shame who set their mind on earthly things well God we continue to look to you for help. Oh Father we pray that you would continue to grant us the help of your Holy Spirit. I pray especially for my brother Jason that you would carry him along that he would he would know and tangibly feel the the help of the Holy Spirit to give him extra power, Father, extra wisdom, and extra love in his heart for us as he opens this word. Please be with us, O God, and bless the preaching of Your Word in Jesus' name.

Amen. The title of the sermon this morning is The Thoughts and walks of the mature. In other words, there is a way of thinking for those who have been brought to maturity by God. There is a way of walking, meaning a pattern of life, the pattern of your life. The mature have been made mature by God and the mature think in certain ways and they conduct their lives in certain ways.

Paul is setting himself forward as an example And he says there's more that think like him and walk like him, and that we should identify them and we should follow them. This is one of the ways in which we grow, is finding people who have grown. God has given growth to, and we're able to observe them. We're to be like Christ but we can't watch Christ. You can't watch Christ.

You can watch people that Christ has been working on and giving progress to. So that's really what our text is about. Last week, Paul set himself forth as a work in progress. So he wants you and me to know that he is not fully Christ-like yet. And so The motto for Paul is forward, forward, forward.

As much progress as he has made, and as favorably as he would compare to you and me, He is not done. God is still working on him. God is still conforming him into the image of Christ. There is work left to do, so he is pressing forward. He will not be slowed down by Yesterday.

The bad things from yesterday, the sins and failures from yesterday. Paul is not going to be slowed down by those things. If there are sins and failures, he's going to repent. He's going to turn away from those things and he's going to press forward. He's going to reach forward.

On the other hand, if there were spectacular things from yesterday, if God did spectacular things in his life yesterday and gave him grace and accomplishment and achievements and the ability to push forward the Kingdom of Heaven, he is not going to allow himself to be slowed down by that either by saying, well I have done enough. Yesterday was fantastic, I have done enough. Today I can just rest. For Paul, he only knows forward, forward, forward, and he wants us to think the same way. Paul really in today's text wants to pull us up to the same maturity of thought and patterns of life that the Holy Spirit has given to him.

This is about the fruit of the Spirit in the lives of those who have been brought to maturity by God and then the mature Paul, and those who are like Paul, reaching down to those of us who are still struggling to be more Christ-like and helping us in that push forward. So as we go to the text, let's go to the text in prayer. Our God, I pray that you would make us a people who have seen so much progress in our thinking. It was something very unworthy of you, and because of your grace in our lives, because of the work of your Holy Spirit in us, you have taught us to think differently. Your thoughts are higher than our thoughts, as high as the heavens are above the earth.

So high are your thoughts above our thoughts. We want your thoughts. Please pull us up to your thoughts. God, our ways, we know what we were when you intervened in our lives, called us out of darkness into light. We see Christ in the Gospels and the beauty of His life and how different we are from that.

We want to be pulled up and conformed into His image. God please come and help us. Use these words to change us. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen. So we have five verses here.

At least for the first three I'd like to just go verse by verse. Hopefully you've got your Bibles open to Philippians chapter 3 and you've got your finger in our text. I'd like to begin by just re-reading verse 15 and then talking just about that verse. Paul writes, Therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind." And if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you. So in this verse, Paul is setting forth having unified mature thoughts.

If you have a handout and you're filling in blanks on the handout, it's unified mature. Or, fill in the blanks. Having unified mature thoughts. This is what Paul wants for the Lord's people. He wants the Lord's people to think the same way about these things.

The verse begins with the word, therefore. In other words, Paul is saying, because of all that I just said, let's all unify around this mature way of thinking. Now, What way of thinking? What maturity of thinking is Paul calling us to? It's everything that is said in this chapter so far.

In verses 1-6, Paul renounces any confidence in the flesh. If you're just boiling down verses 1-6 to something simple, that's it. Paul walks away from confidence in the flesh. He doesn't have any confidence in anything that he has the ability to produce in himself. He has walked away from that.

He says, I have no confidence in the flesh. If anybody can have confidence in the flesh, it's me, but I don't have confidence in my flesh because I've learned that there's nothing solid there. There's nothing good in me. And so, maturity of Christian thought begins with walking away from confidence in the flesh. In verses 7-11, Paul says that he has made everything else secondary to gaining Christ.

In other words, Paul says that he's happily counted everything else to be nothing, to be rubbish, in order to gain Christ. Paul has made the Lord Jesus Christ his all in all, so that everything else is garbage. So this is part of mature Christian thinking. Not only having renounced any confidence in the flesh, but having walked away from everything to make Christ all in all. Christ is the sinner.

Christ is everything for Paul. What I've described so far from the beginnings of this chapter, Renouncing confidence in the flesh is saving repentance. We think of repentance as walking away, turning away from our bad things. That is true. We must turn away from our wickedness, from the bad things in our lives.

But Paul goes way beyond that to say, he has turned his back on his good things. Meaning, the best things that he is able to produce on his own, he has renounced any confidence in that. This is saving repentance. Not just walking away from your bad things, but walking away from the things that you are proud of to say, even the things that I am proudest of are not enough for me to have a standing before a holy God. They are not enough.

This is repentance. And faith is to take all of our trust, all of our hopes, and to divert them away from anything else and to place them on Christ. To say away with everything else in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him not self-righteousness but the righteousness that comes from embracing Jesus' righteousness on my behalf. The first part of this chapter is a call to the repentance and faith that saves. This is how we are brought into Christ and gain an interest in Christ's righteousness.

By turning our back on the righteousness that comes from law keeping. You have to turn your back on the righteousness that comes from law keeping. The Bible teaches that that is really filthiness. We think of it as righteousness, but God is so unlike us. He is so undefiled and holy that our law keeping is filthiness to Him.

We have to turn our back on it and make Christ everything. Make Christ person everything. Make Christ work everything. And then finally in the last verses that we were studying, verses 12-14, Paul makes it clear that he isn't complete. To renounce confidence in the flesh, and to make Christ your all in all is not the end.

It's actually the beginning. It's the starting line, not the finish line. And then we have to walk in that. We have to grow in that. We have to make progress in that.

We don't consider ourselves to have arrived, but it's forward, forward, forward for us, just like it is for Paul. Brothers and sisters, these are the fundamentals that Christians must unify around. Are you with me? Are you following me? These things, renouncing any confidence in the flesh, and making Christ all in all, his person and his work, all in all, and then not being satisfied with that, but forward, forward, forward, always pressing forward, always reaching forward, not allowing yourself to be slowed down by what happened yesterday or last week or last month, but always forward.

These are the fundamentals that Christians must unify around. This is the like-mindedness that Paul is calling us to. Identifying these things as fundamental and essential should unify Christians. It should result in a holy like-mindedness. And then when we are unified around those things, we can be patient around the other things.

When we unify around these things, we can be very patient with each other about the other things. It's not that they're not important, but they're not these. In fact, Paul is so confident that these things that he has been laying out in this chapter are fundamental to real Christianity that he confidently asserts that If you are immature in thinking about these things in any way, God is going to set it straight. God will reveal these things to you. Go looking for a promise in Scripture that God is going to reveal and make clear to all Christians everywhere other nuances of the faith or Scripture.

I can't think of any, but God makes a promise here. If you're immature and you're thinking on these things, God is going to reveal even this to you. God will take fuzzy thinking on these things and make it straight if you really are in Christ. So can you be a Christian and still put a level of confidence in the flesh? That's a good question, right?

Can you be a Christian and still put a level of confidence in the flesh? That's a good question, right? Can you be a Christian and still put a level of confidence in the flesh? Paul has told us that we shouldn't. And the answer is yes, but not for long.

Can you still be a Christian and treasure things other than Christ? Paul has told us that he walked away from it all in order to make Christ his all in all, His everything. So can you be a Christian and still treasure things that aren't Christ? Yes, but not for long. Can you be a Christian and think you've arrived and be slowed down by the things that happened yesterday, or last week, or last month?

The answer is yes, but not for long. Because God is bringing His people to maturity. If you are in Christ, then His Spirit dwells in you, and He will not leave you in that place for long. He will work on you. When our thinking isn't what it ought to be about having a level of confidence in the flesh, God is going to put His finger on that and you can believe it.

The indwelling Spirit of God will deal with that sooner or later, but probably sooner. If Christ has been your all in all, but you've left your first love and you've begun to treasure things other than Christ and give them a place that they shouldn't have if the Spirit of God really dwells in you. He is going to deal with that sooner or later, but probably sooner. He is going to begin to Put pressure, apply pressure, bring discipline into our lives because He loves us. If you think you've arrived, if you think you've done enough because of spectacular things that God has been doing in your life, so you just begin to rest, the Holy Spirit indwelling in you, if you really are in Christ, the Spirit is going to begin to deal with you on that.

Sooner or later, but probably sooner. God is a faithful God. God is a disciple making God. We were called to make disciples, but God is is the great disciple maker. And he has not left us alone for those who are really in Christ, for those who have really forsaken a righteousness of their own, which is through the law, and embraced the righteousness by faith in Christ, then He has given you His Spirit.

And the Spirit goes to work. The Spirit goes to work. And in these areas, in our imperfections, in these parts of our thinking, thinking about confidence in the flesh, thinking about the value of Christ versus the value of other things, thinking about whether we are what we ought to be or whether we need to push forward the spirit works there. The spirit goes to work there. Verse 16.

Verse 16. Nevertheless to the degree that we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us be of the same mind. In this verse we have Paul exhorting us to the using and advancing of our attainments. So again, if you're taking notes on the handout and you're filling in the blanks, The blank here is attainments. Using and advancing our attainments.

This verse speaks to the importance of doing something with what God has taught us. Does this need to be said? It's important that we do something with the things that God teaches us. We are to be a doer of the Word. You have attained a certain level of maturity in Christian thought, great, live it out.

This is what Paul is saying. Whatever level of maturity you have attained in Christian thought, now live it out. Walk by that rule. Paul says this, to the degree that we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule. God has given you some light.

Walk by the light. He is giving you the light to show you how to live your life. So we take the light, we walk by it, and this is how you get more light. You want to know more? Walk according to what you already know, then you will know more.

Then you will be ready to receive more. Now, the word walk appears here in verse 16. It will appear again in verse 17. And it will appear again in verse 18. In the Greek, however, the word translated walk in 16 is different from the word translated walk in 17 and 18.

So it's the same in 17 and 18, but it's different here in 16. Here's the primary meaning of the Greek word that is translated walk here in verse 16. To proceed in a row as the march of a soldier to go in order. I'll read that again. This is the primary meaning when it's translated walk here.

Here's an unfolding of the Greek word behind it. To proceed in a row as the march of a soldier. March of a soldier, to march in ranks, to march in rank and file, to go in order. And so it's a corporate walking. It's walking in ranks, walking in line, and it's orderly.

So the calling here is for Christians to attain to a level of maturity where we're walking like soldiers march together orderly in ranks. So together we've renounced confidence in the flesh. Together, we have taken Jesus as our all-in-all. Together, our motto is forward, forward, forward. Making progress.

You know the expression. You've heard this expression. He marches to the beat of a different drummer. It usually means something good. He's his own man, he's individual, he kind of has his own style and flair.

Christians, especially in these fundamental things, have the same drummer. We are not to all march to a different drummer. When it comes to these fundamental things of the Christian faith, it is more like marching in ranks. We walk according to the same rule. And here it is, the fundamentals of this book.

No confidence in the flesh, Christ is our all in all, and we must keep making progress until God stops giving us breath to the very end. These are fundamental things from us. We are not at liberty to march to a different drummer in these things. We advance in ranks in these fundamental things of the Christian faith. Finally, we have the repetition of Paul's call to like-mindedness.

Now flip back to chapter 2. I'm just pointing out that he's doing it again. He did it in verse 15. He said be like-minded. And now in verse 16 that we're looking at in detail, he said be like-minded.

But he's already said it in Philippians chapter 2 verses 1 and 2. Therefore, if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy fulfill my joy by being like-minded. Having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. And then he says, that's Christ's mind. That's the mind we're trying to be like-minded around.

We all are to have the mind of Christ who threw away selfish ambition and served. That's the like-minded he's calling us to be. So Paul, If you didn't get it the first time or the second time, he's back for the third time to say, Brothers and sisters, share a mind on these things. Be like-minded. Think the same way about these things.

Paul so clearly wants us to be unified around the central truths of the Gospel, unity among brethren is so important to Paul. That's why I keep saying it over and over and over again. Verse 17. Philippians 3 verse 17. Brethren, join in following my example and note those who so walk as you have us for a pattern.

In this verse, Paul is exhorting us for the following of the mature so if you're taking notes in the handout filling in blanks it's mature following the mature Paul plea is pleading with his brethren who is that that's me that's you if you're If you're a brother or sister in Christ, then Paul is pleading with us. Brethren, follow my example. And The people who walk like me follow their example. Paul is not putting him forward as the only example of Christian maturity. He is saying, no, Christian maturity looks alike in the mature.

That pattern of life looks alike in the mature. So, follow me, and there are people who walk like me. Follow them. They are given to you as a pattern. The first thing that should be said here is that Paul says this repeatedly.

Look at chapter 4 verse 9. So I'm just stealing a little thunder from chapter 4 by pointing ahead to say, this is not the last time Paul is going to say this in Philippians. In Philippians 4 verse 9, Paul says, the things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do. So, I've been teaching you, you've received things from me, you've heard things from me, and you've seen things in me do that. So Paul says this repeatedly.

He says it twice in his letter to the Corinthians as well. Listen to this. 1 Corinthians 4, 15 and 16. Just listen, because I'll be moving faster than you can flip. It's 1 Corinthians 4, verses 15 and 16.

Paul writes to the Corinthians, For though you might have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet you do not have many fathers for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel therefore I urge you imitate me imitate me I'm your father in Christ I have begotten you through the gospel look at my life and do what I'm doing. I urge you to imitate me." And then he brings it up again in 1 Corinthians chapter 11 verse 1. Listen to 1 Corinthians 11 verse 1. Imitate me just as I also imitate Christ. So again lest we get the wrong idea that Paul is saying I am the standard so look at me and follow me because I'm the standard he's saying no I have a level of maturity that is beyond yours and as I follow Christ, follow me.

Christ is the standard and I've made more progress towards the standard and I'm living and breathing. You can see me, you can watch me, so watch me, and do the things that I'm doing because I'm chasing after the standard and I've made it further than you so far, so follow me. That is the point, Not that Paul is setting himself forward as the standard. Imitate me as I imitate Christ. The second thing that should be said is that Paul has aimed at this on purpose.

Now here's what I mean. It would be one thing if the Holy Spirit had gone to work on Paul, and three decades later he can say, I've made lots and lots and lots of progress in the faith so that you can now look at me and you can follow the patterns of my life and it will help you make progress through. All that is true, but Paul goes beyond that. Meaning, he is self-conscious that God is making him into a pattern to be followed. It's not just that God happened to do that over a period of time and now he can say follow me.

Paul has aimed at being an example and a pattern. I want you to see this. Turn to 2 Thessalonians. It's just a few books on. It's Philippians, Colossians, 1st Thessalonians, 2nd Thessalonians.

2 Thessalonians chapter 3. Remember, 2 Thessalonians was written by Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy. So these three evangelists and church planners have been to Thessalonica. They've preached the gospel, people have been converted, a church has been formed, and now they are writing multiple letters back to this church. Look at 2 Thessalonians 3 verses 7 through 9.

Paul and Silvanus and Timothy write, For you yourselves know how you ought to follow us, for we were not disorderly among you, nor did we eat anyone's bread free of charge, but worked with labor and toil night and day that might not be a burden to any of you, not because we do not have authority, but to make ourselves an example of how you should follow us." So Paul and Silvanus and Timothy had lived with the Thessalonians in Thessalonica and they had the authority to say we're here as preachers, you should support us as preachers. But they passed over that. Why? Because they wanted to set a pattern of working hard to support yourself. They went out of their way.

They made decisions about what they would do next, knowing that young Christians, less mature Christians, needed a pattern to be able to follow. It would have been fine, lawful, and okay for the Thessalonians to support him for his preaching and teaching there. But Paul was very aware that the less mature need the mature as a pattern of life to be seen and observed and followed. So he made different decisions about how he would live there. So first, Paul says this repeatedly, follow me.

And secondly, Paul has aimed at this on purpose. He's been very self-conscious that God is raising him and others like him to be a display of a pattern of life of maturity, so that the less mature have something to see and follow that helps them make progress. The point is this. God through His indwelling Spirit has worked in the lives of His people to bring them to maturity, and we should note them. In other words, we should look and identify those that God through the working of the Spirit has brought to maturity and then we should follow them.

We should observe their lives and then we should follow them. God has intended that. Listen to John MacArthur. This is a note from the MacArthur study Bible. I think John MacArthur could not have hit the nail more on the head.

Listen to this note. Since all believers are imperfect, they need examples of less imperfect people who know how to deal with imperfection and who can model the process of pursuing the goal of Christ-likeness. To that I say a hearty amen. In other words, the mature aren't the perfect people that you go and be like. All Christians are imperfect.

But the Holy Spirit has been working on them longer and more fruitfully. And so they are less imperfect. And so God has given this gift to us that there are less imperfect people than us who have been dealing with their imperfections longer and learning how to deal with those imperfections in their chasing after conformity to Christ. And so we can look at them and be helped. Back to Philippians.

And our last two verses. We'll take 18 and 19 together. Philippians 3 verses 18 and 19. For many walk of whom I have told you often and now tell you even weeping that they are enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who set their mind on earthly things." Here in this verse we have the contrast, those who are walking in the other direction. So if you're filling in blanks on the handout, it's contrast walking.

The contrast, those who are walking in the other direction. Paul is just set before us, himself and those who think like him and walk like him, as examples that we should follow. Now he talks about the complete opposite, the polar opposite of that. The reason Paul wants the mature identified and their walks, their patterns of life followed, is that there is another group who are walking in exactly the opposite direction and they're going into destruction. If you follow them, you follow them into destruction.

So it's possible not only to follow the mature, and because of that make progress. There are people who are claiming to be Christians, they are among us, they have a profession of godliness, but they are walking, their patterns of life are in the other direction from the mature. They are actually going into destruction. If you follow after them, you follow after them into destruction. Paul says he has spoken of this often and he is speaking of it again now weeping.

Why is Paul weeping? He is either weeping for these enemies of the cross and he's grieved that they're going in their opposition to the cross they're going headlong into destruction and he is a man of compassion and so he's weeping because these people are destroying themselves. Or he's weeping for the carnage that They bring into the genuine people of God. Meaning, when there are people who make a profession of godliness, they say they are one of us, they call themselves Christians, but they walk in a way so as to make themselves an enemy of the cross, that wreaks havoc among the Lord's people." And he weeps at the havoc. The text does not say whether it's weeping for the people or weeping for the results of what their lives do among us.

So it could be either. But if you go to Acts chapter 20 verse 31, this is just a homework assignment for later if you want to, Acts chapter 20 verse 31, Paul has talked about savage wolves coming into the Ephesian church and he says, Don't forget for three years, night and day, I warned you about this with tears. Now in that case it's really clear. In Acts 20 Paul is not weeping over the wolves. All those poor wolves.

No, no, he's weeping about the ripping and tearing that wolves do among sheep. That's what I think Paul is saying here. Either interpretation is fine. It could be either or both. I think it is Paul weeping about what those who oppose the cross do among the Lord's people.

That's what I think it is. Now who are these people? Fundamentally, they are people who in their walk are enemies of the cross of Christ. In other words, stick your fingers in your ears, ignore what they say, look at their walk. What is their pattern of life?

Never mind what they say, what is their pattern of life? When you observe how they spend their time, what the affections of their heart are overwhelmingly pointed towards, what do you see? Now we want to pinpoint this more. We want to say, okay that's a little too broad for me, that's a little too vague for me. So let's narrow this down.

Is this the Judaizing legalists? Meaning we know that influence has been in the church. That influence shows up in the New Testament letters. Jews coming into the church to say, you have to focus on Moses, you have to engage in all the ordinances of the old covenants, and you cannot be saved unless you are circumcised. Paul has already addressed that in the letters.

We know that influence is part of the life of the Philippian Church. Is it these Judaizing legalists who want to drag us back into righteousness according to law keeping? Or is it the Gentile antinomians? Antinomian just means against law. We don't want any law.

We don't want any constraints. Grace is taking care of that. It no longer matters what we do. We can do anything and it doesn't matter because Jesus' blood cleanses from anything. So it doesn't matter what we do.

Even if we sin in the most horrible ways, it just doesn't matter. We know this influence was in the churches that came out of these pagan cultures. The perfect example of that is 1 Corinthians 5, where a man is living with his stepmother as if she was his wife. Things that even the Gentiles didn't do. That kind of open sinfulness and abandonment of any sort of trying to please the Lord through their lives.

So is it Judaizing legalists or is it Gentile antinomians who are named here as enemies of the cross of Christ. Now, I want to argue that Paul is purposefully vague here. Meaning, he is not going to satisfy my desire to pinpoint it to one or the other. Because, while they seem to be completely different they're actually both enemies of the cross of Christ. Paul will not pinpoint it.

I want him to and you want him to, but he refuses to because it's not them or them, it's them, all of them. And really, they go about it in different ways, but they're both enemies of the cross of Christ. The Judaizing legalists will not part with law keeping for righteousness. You can't be saved unless you are circumcised. You need to start doing all of the ordinances that are part of the old covenant.

And the Gentile antinomians want no participation in the cross. Yes, they want the results of Jesus' dying, but they want their participation in the cross to end there. Well, let me tell you, Paul will have none of that. In Galatians chapter 2, Paul says, I am crucified with Christ. It's no longer me, it's Christ living in me.

In Galatians 6, Paul says that I am crucified to the world and the world is crucified to me. When you become a participant in the cross of Christ, all that is wrapped together. You can't say, I like Jesus' blood covering me and cleansing me from my sin, but I don't really want to be crucified with Christ. I don't want to be crucified to the world, and I don't want the world to be crucified to me. Guess what?

It's one cross. You have it or you don't have it. These things go together. You have it all or you have none of it. Let's look at the four things that Paul says about these enemies of the cross.

Number one, their end is destruction. If in your walk, if in the patterns of your life you are an enemy of Jesus' cross, your end will be destruction. Turn to Matthew chapter 5. This is well-worn territory for us, but it needs to be gone over again now. Matthew chapter 7, verses 21 through 23, Jesus says, Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father in heaven.

Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name, cast out demons in your name, and done many wonders in your name, and then I will declare to them I never knew you depart from me you who practice Lawlessness this is exactly what Jesus is speaking of in Matthew chapter 7 Those who want to participate in the work of Jesus' cross and receive the cleansing, but they don't want the rest of the cross. They want to cut the cross right down the middle. They don't want to be crucified with Christ. They don't want to be crucified to the world, and the world crucified to them. No, they want the world, but the cleansing that comes with the cross.

It doesn't work like that. That's not the cross of the Bible. They want to make a profession, but live lawlessly. When you do that, you are just proving that Jesus doesn't know you. You are just proving that Jesus has never known you.

So it's not our profession, it is our walk. Judaizing legalists and Gentile antinomians, those who don't want to be governed, they want to throw off the law of God. They seem so different, but they share the same end. Some seem so precise about their lives. The Judaizing legalists, You look at them and you say, well, they're exemplary.

No, they're not exemplary. Their end is destruction. Their self-righteousness will drag them to hell. And they'll be right alongside those who gave themselves over to every kind of outward sin. They are not exemplary.

Because their hearts are far from God. Number two, their God is their belly. This means that they worship their appetites. Their belly calls for something, their belly craves something, and they have to worship it. They have to serve it.

They have to give it what it's asking for. With the Gentile antinomians, we see how their God is their belly. They have a craving and they just satiate it. They just satisfy the craving. No matter how sinful it is, it doesn't matter.

God's grace will cover it, so they just do it. This is how they think and speak of these things. But pride is an appetite. Self-righteousness is an appetite. One of the great barriers to people and salvation is wanting to preserve The ability to think well of ourselves, so Jesus is not having any of that To come and be saved You have to agree with God about you.

You cannot be saved until you agree with God about you. He doesn't think well of you because you're filthy. You're going to have to part with your well-thinking of yourself. If you can't do it, you can't be saved. This is what, this is the gospel of the Bible.

You cannot be saved and take your pride with you. You cannot be saved and take your self-righteousness with you. You have to part from it. Their God is their belly. Their pride must be worshipped.

Their self-righteousness must be worshipped. They cannot part from it. Number three, their glory is in their shame. Now again, with the Gentile antinomians, we say, I get it. Things that should make them blush even to speak of, they love and give themselves over to.

It's their glory. But for the Judaizing legalist, Their self-righteousness is a filthy rag. Isaiah 64, all of our righteousness is as filthy rags. They glory in those filthy rags. Circumcision!

The glory of circumcision! The glory of this outward thing that was only ever intended to be an outward sign of something inward. An inward change. But they glory in the outward part of it. Our righteousness is shameful.

Our righteousness should never be gloried in. Jesus' righteousness should be gloried in. Number four, they have set their minds on earthly things. Again with the Gentile antinomians throwing off any need for obedience, any thought that it matters what I do because Jesus has bled and died and covered all that, so it no longer matters whether I obey or don't obey, it matters not at all. We can see they're setting their mind on earthly things.

It's actually just a different form of loving the world. But it's a way to love the world and have your conscience not bother you so much. But the Judaizing legalists have their minds set on earthly things. Someone who is self-righteous, who has kept their pride, not been parted from their pride, also have their mind on earthly things. One of the things we've been doing on Sunday afternoons is reading Light from Old Times.

It's J.C. Ryle giving an account of the English martyrs during the time of Bloody Mary. 1555 was the year many were burned at the stake. They were burned alive, publicly burned alive for the Reformed faith. And here's what one of these men, Hugh Latimer, was one of these men who was burned in 1555, and he's talking about religion.

But a religion that loves earthly things in worship. Listen to what Hugh Latimer says, Where the devil is resident and has his plow going, meaning the devil is farming, where the devil is farming, sowing and reaping, there away with book and up with candles, away with Bible and up with beads, away with the light of the gospel and up with the light of candles, where the devil is resident that he may prevail up with all superstition and idolatry, sensing, he's talking about the burning of incense and censors, sensing painting of images, candles, palms, ashes, holy water and new services of man's inventing. Now this is a man who was burned alive for saying things like this. But the truth of the matter is, the religion that was being advanced by Bloody Mary was a sensuous worship. Meaning, the worship was about the things that you can touch and see and feel, and the affections of the heart never had to be anywhere near it.

The worship was about candles and beads and censors. Brothers and sisters, if you've been thinking that Christians are between legalists and antinomians, think again. This is so commonly how we think it. Over here we have legalism, we have self-righteousness, we have maintaining pride, and thinking we can earn our place with God through our conduct. And over here, we have a cheap grace that just says, all I need is the blood of Jesus Christ, and then I don't even, I never have to obey God.

My heart never has to really love Him. I just have sort of an intellectual agreement to the things of the Gospel and that Christianity is in the middle there between the cheap grace and between the legalists. That's not what the Bible teaches. What the Bible teaches is that there is a narrow way and a broad way, and both legalist and antinomian are on the broad way that leads to destruction. In fact, Most of the people on the Broadway that lead to destruction are religious.

Most of the people on the Broadway that lead to destruction are law keepers. You can't think the narrow way are the people who care about keeping the law, and that's why it's so narrow because most people just want to do what they want to do. No, no, no. The narrow way is people who forsake that to have Christ to renounce any confidence in the flesh and have Christ be there all in all. There will be lots of law keepers found over here on the broad way that lead to destruction because they're trusting and they're law keeping and it will prove to be a fool's trust in the end.

Applications. I have three. Number one, ask yourself this question, am I absolutely immovably fixed on these fundamentals? Paul in this chapter has given us these fundamental things that are absolutely essential and fundamental to the Christian faith, am I absolutely and immovably fixed, fixated, preoccupied with these fundamentals? Renouncing any confidence in the flesh, Walking away from everything to have Jesus be our all in all.

And a mindset that says no matter what happened yesterday, today I'm going forward. There are more things that are important than these. Meaning, it's not right to say the sum of all that is important in the Bible is these things. It is not right to say that. There are other things that are important, that are worth fighting over, that are worth fighting for.

There is more truth in the Bible than just that, but there is nothing as important as these. Do you understand the difference? Some people say, we just are going to care about these things, We're not even going to care about anything else. As long as somebody's got a handle on these things and nothing else matters, I don't believe that. I believe that there's more truth in the Bible and that it's important truth and truth to be fought for.

But nothing rises to the rank of these things. Nothing rises to the rank of these things. I'm going to say that again. There are more things that are important than these. In other words, these aren't the only important things, but there is nothing as important as these.

We should be immovably fixed on these fundamentals. Number two. What is your walk saying? What's it saying? Not your mouth.

We know what your mouth is saying. You're at Sovereign Redeemer Community Church. It behooves you to say the right thing. We have a pretty strong church culture here where if you don't say things that are somewhat consistent with scripture, you're going to get the furrowed brow. So it's good for you to say the right thing here.

I'm not talking about what you say. What does your walk say? What do the patterns of your life say? Do they say you've renounced confidence in the flesh? Do they say that you've made Christ your all in all?

Do they say that you've made an everyday commitment to forward, forward, forward, making progress every day? Number three, finally, identify and follow the mature. Identify them. We're commanded to note them, to observe them, to mark them in one translation. And then to follow them.

I'm going to define the mature here in an odd way. It's those whose profound love for Christ oozes out of their life. That's who you want to follow. You can't define mature as someone who is most careful about the littlest things. That's not necessarily mature.

It might be a mature person who is really careful about even the smallest things. I'm not saying the mature aren't careful about them. I'm just saying that's not enough. It must be someone who's profound love for Jesus. You can tell that Jesus is their all in all, and that's coming out of their pores.

That's who you want to follow. They live like it. They live like they're all in all. Identify them. Follow them.

God, thank you for Working in the lives of your people over a long period of time, raising up so many whose love for you is so evident, help us to note them and to follow them, to have the patterns of our lives more closely aligned with the patterns of their lives as they follow your son. We pray in Jesus' name, Amen.