Pursuing Christ

[0:00] The following sermon is made available by Lakeside Bible Church in Cornelius, North Carolina.

[0:15] For more information about our church or to find more recorded sermons, please visit us online at lakesidebible.church. We'd also love to connect with you on social media.

[0:25] You can find us by searching Lakeside Bible NC on Facebook and Instagram. For specific questions about the Bible or our church, please email us at info at lakesidebible.church.

[0:40] Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect, but I follow after if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.

[0:53] Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended, but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

[1:12] 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.

[1:23] Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing. Throughout our study of the book of Philippians, I've on occasion have mentioned the three tenses of salvation.

[1:38] Do you remember those? Well, since the entire third chapter of Philippians chapter 3 is about salvation, Paul touches in one way or another on each of these three realities of the Christian life.

[2:10] And after defining true conversion in the first 11 verses of the chapter, he moves to discuss the believer's sanctification in verses 12 to 16.

[2:21] So we're moving past the past tense of salvation, the moment of conversion, and now he's dealing with specifically this progressive sanctifying process of the believer.

[2:34] And I want to draw your attention specifically to the first statement in verse 12. Would you look at it with me? Paul says, It's not as though I had already attained this, either were already perfect.

[2:48] And here's why we know that Paul is moving from conversion and justification in verse 12 into sanctification. Because he says clearly, The thing to which I'm referring, I have not yet obtained.

[3:02] And I have not yet apprehended. I've not yet been made perfect. That glorification that is coming for me one day, I have not yet attained it.

[3:14] So when we study this verse, we understand that Paul is not talking about not attaining salvation. He's talking about not yet reaching a state of perfection.

[3:26] The Bible clearly teaches that salvation is a present possession. And it is eternally secured for any individual that will place saving faith in Christ alone.

[3:38] The salvation and eternal life that God offers is not a potential salvation. It's a definitive salvation.

[3:51] When we come to Christ in faith, we don't place our faith in him in hopes that he will save us. We place our faith in him with the definitive promise of God that he will save us.

[4:03] It's our present possession eternal life is in that moment. Let me point you to a couple scriptures. In John chapter 10, Jesus said, My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.

[4:17] And then he says, I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, and no man will pluck them out of my hand.

[4:29] In other words, Jesus is saying, If you will come to me in faith, this eternal life that I offer you, you will receive. It's guaranteed. It's a definitive promise. You will never perish.

[4:41] Not only will you never perish, but there's no person on this planet that can strip this salvation away from you. You are secure in my hands. This life that I give is a definitive promise, not a potential promise.

[4:56] So when Paul says in verse 12, I've not already attained what I'm talking about. I've not already been made perfect. He's not talking about conversion. He's talking about the sanctifying process.

[5:08] It's important. If the Judaizers were right, that one could earn salvation through good works and religious commitment, there would never be a way to truly know if you had been good enough or if you had been committed enough.

[5:25] Salvation would not be a present possession. It would be a potential hope. But God has told us clearly that he offers salvation not on the basis of our performance, because as Isaiah said, our righteousness to him is like filthy rags in comparison.

[5:45] But he offers salvation on the basis of his own love and grace. And he's told us in his word that we can be absolutely certain that salvation is ours if we trust Christ.

[6:00] John wrote in 1 John 5.13, These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.

[6:11] You can know today absolutely for certain that eternal life is yours. And it's not a question as to whether or not you're good enough, as we've studied the last few Sundays.

[6:23] It's a question on do you know Christ? Not do you know about Christ, but do you know him? Have you experienced his saving power by casting 100% of your faith on him for salvation?

[6:38] Well, Paul's approach to the issue of sanctification here in righteous living is different than he approaches it in other letters. Rather than providing a list of do's and don'ts, he deals with sanctification in these verses as a matter of the mind and heart.

[6:57] And he does that by continuing on in his testimony. Now, he had already referenced in verse number 8 that he knew Christ personally. Look at that. He's speaking of his conversion. He says, Yea, doubtless in verse 8, I count all things but loss for the surpassing value or worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.

[7:19] He had already known Christ personally. In sanctification, in these verses, he was seeking to know Christ progressively. So in verse 10, he proclaimed the benefits of knowing Christ as being receiving Christ.

[7:33] Power over sin as receiving also partnership with Christ in suffering and loss, and then the eternal life that only Christ can give.

[7:44] And for Paul, this sets in motion a cycle. Because he had experienced Christ in salvation in verse number 10, he immediately felt the satisfaction that can only come from Jesus Christ.

[7:56] But then immediately, a dissatisfaction settles into his heart. Because he wanted to know Christ more. And it sets in motion this cycle that exists in the heart of every believer I believe.

[8:08] Look at what Paul says in verse 10. He says, Then look down at verse 12.

[8:22] He says, Not that I've already attained this sanctification. Either we're already perfect. But I press on. I follow after. So you can sense in salvation, Paul was totally satisfied in Jesus Christ.

[8:35] And then because of that satisfaction, he couldn't get enough. And he said, I just want more of Christ. I want to know him more. I want to know more about him. I want to know how I can please him.

[8:46] I want to experience his power more and more and more. And then each step of this progressive sanctification, as Paul would know Christ more, as he would understand the scriptures more, he would be satisfied in Christ and then immediately dissatisfied again.

[9:02] Because he just wants to know more. That's indicative of the life of a true believer. That once we experience what Christ offers in salvation, we just want more and more and more of him.

[9:15] And so Paul's testimony here in these verses is really a testimony of this cycle. And it's an encouragement for us to jump into the cycle ourselves.

[9:27] To be satisfied in Christ and then to be dissatisfied with how little we know about him and how little we experience his power. And just to want more. And in wanting more, pursuing him, following after, pressing on, as Paul says.

[9:46] Jesus said in Matthew chapter five and verse six in the Beatitudes, in his Sermon on the Mount, he said, blessed are those which do hunger and thirst after righteousness.

[9:56] Well, what is righteousness in the scriptures? Righteousness comes from Christ. We can't be righteous on our own. It comes through his power.

[10:07] So when Jesus says, blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, it's not just a blessing on those who want to get their life together. It's a blessing on those who want to know me and want to know my righteousness and want to know my power.

[10:20] And then he says, blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be satisfied, he says. They shall be filled. It's a promise that God gives.

[10:32] What a glorious promise that is. That as we sense the dissatisfaction of this world and we sense the dissatisfaction of this life and we sense the dissatisfaction of our present walk with Christ, that when we hunger after him and we thirst after him, his promise is, you will be filled.

[10:50] If I'm what you hunger for, I will fill you. As long as you're hungering and thirsting after this life and the sins of this world and what it has to offer, you will feel empty.

[11:02] But as long as you are hungering and thirsting after me, you will be filled. We've been singing this song the last few weeks, Jesus Strong and Kind. And I think it's the second verse that says, Jesus said that if I thirst, I should come to him.

[11:19] No one else can satisfy. I should come to him. For the Lord is good and gracious. He is strong and kind. And we rejoice in that truth.

[11:31] Well, let me quickly give you three things about these passages as Paul breaks it down for us. Number one, in verse 12, we see that sanctification is a purposeful call. It's a purposeful call.

[11:43] Look at verse 12 with me again. Paul says, not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect, but I follow after or I press on if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.

[11:59] Now the phrase I follow after is meant to open our understanding to Paul's intensity. The Greek term has references to war and the pursuit of victory in a battle.

[12:11] And Paul's point when he says, I follow after is this sanctifying process, this following after Christ and living a holy and righteous life is something that I'm fighting for in the way that a soldier fights to win the battle on the battlefield.

[12:28] It was his intensity. He said, I am fighting for this. I am fighting to be like Christ in this way. But since his salvation was already secure, what was the motivation for him to fight in this way?

[12:46] If he was already positionally righteous before God, what was the point in being so concerned with spiritual growth now? And that's a valid question.

[12:57] And it's one we have to be able to answer. And thankfully, Paul answers it in verse 12. Look at the second half of the verse. If that I may apprehend or lay hold of or achieve that, notice this, for which, that for which Christ has apprehended me or I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.

[13:19] What Paul is saying is this life of righteousness and sanctification is a divine call. It is the purpose of Christ in saving us to make us more like him.

[13:35] Paul's goal in life was consistent with Christ's goal in saving him. And what was Christ's goal in saving him? Romans chapter eight tells us. You know this first verse well that's helpful for us all the time.

[13:48] And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose. That is a reference to those who are saved, who have believed. And then he says in verse 29, for whom God did foreknow, he also did predestine.

[14:04] He's referring to believers, those who are saved. He also did predestine to do what? Be conformed to the image of his son. What was the purpose in Christ saving you?

[14:17] What's the purpose in God providing salvation to begin with? To make us righteous. To conform us to the image of his perfectly righteous son.

[14:28] So when Paul looked at sanctification, the pursuit of righteousness, he viewed it as a divine call that went part and parcel with the divine call to salvation. In other words, every person that is a believer has the call of God, the purposeful call of God to live a righteous life.

[14:47] And this is logically consistent with the doctrines of sin and salvation. Think about it. In conversion, we recognize the holiness of God set against our sinful condition.

[15:01] And we realize that it's our sin that separates us from God. So if it's our sin that separates us from God, and if the purpose in Christ dying on the cross was to provide an atonement for that sin and to provide reconciliation to God the Father, why would we not desire to continue in righteousness after salvation?

[15:27] It only makes sense. Paul wasn't pursuing a righteousness to earn his salvation, but he recognized a holy life as a divine call on all those who have already received salvation.

[15:41] Listen, we have a divine call of God to pursue holiness. And it should be our lifelong pursuit. God is not content for Christians to have a careless attitude toward righteous living.

[15:59] In fact, the command of the scripture is that we follow God's pattern of righteousness, which is a perfect pattern. Remember what Peter wrote in 1 Peter 1.

[16:10] He says that we are to gird up the loins of our mind, to be sober and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you. And then he says the way that we do that is as obedient children, not fashioning ourselves according to the former lust in your ignorance, but as he which has called you to salvation is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of life.

[16:37] Because it is written, be ye holy for I am holy. It's a divine call. It's a call that we must take seriously.

[16:49] And the question for this is what is your spirit toward this call? Are you more like the liberals or the libertines that would say I'm positionally righteous before Christ?

[17:03] That means I can just live the way that I want and just ask forgiveness and everything's good. But that's not the spirit of a Christian at all in the scripture. The spirit of a believer is that we pursue Christ.

[17:14] We are not content with our sin. We want to leave that behind. What's your spirit towards righteousness? It's not that you're perfect and not that you expect to be perfect, but do you want to be?

[17:28] Do you desire to please the Lord in that way? Do you desire to pursue holiness in that way? That was Paul's heart and it was the whole purpose of him bringing up those words in verse 12, that this was a divine call of God and it was a call of God that he was going to pursue with all of his might.

[17:45] So we see a purposeful call. Secondly, we see a passionate pursuit. Passionate pursuit. Look with me at verse 13 and 14. He says, brothers, I count not myself to have apprehended.

[17:58] I'm not there yet. He's reemphasizing again his own deficiency. But this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, reaching forth under those things which are before, I press toward the goal of the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

[18:17] It's a passionate pursuit. Something he was pursuing with all of his might. Now, in verse 12, it reveals the purpose in pursuing righteousness.

[18:30] Verses 13 and 14 show us the procedure that we're to follow in pursuing righteousness. What's so helpful about Paul's approach here is that he keeps the focus on our mindset rather than on a specific list of sins to avoid and works to embrace.

[18:50] Now, he could have just given a whole list of things that the Philippians needed to do in order to please God and a list of things they needed to avoid in order to please God.

[19:01] And it wouldn't have been wrong for him to do that. He did that in several other letters. I think that the reason that he didn't is because what they were dealing with in terms of the Judaizers, it would have seemed like it was no different than what the Judaizers were saying.

[19:13] So he leaves off the list for a moment and I think he does it helpfully. Instead of giving a list of rules, Paul zeroed in on what is the root of all outward behavior.

[19:25] You know what it is? The attitude of the heart. The root of everything we do, the root of everything we say, the root of everything we think is the attitude of the heart.

[19:37] So instead of giving a whole list of things that these Philippians needed to do and a whole list of things that they needed to avoid, Paul zeroes it into a singular focus and he says, just pursue Christ.

[19:47] If you will just pursue Christ and pursue him passionately, all the other things will fall into place the way that they need to. Focus on Christ. Jesus said in Matthew 15, that the things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart and they defile the man.

[20:06] And then he says, for out of the heart proceeds evil thoughts and murders and adulteries and fornications and thefts and false witness and blasphemies. And again in Luke chapter six, Jesus says, a good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth that which is good.

[20:22] And an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth that which is evil. For of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh. The truth is what is within you will eventually work its way out.

[20:35] So fill your heart with Christ. Focus your attention on his word. Focus your attention on who he is and what he desires. Fill your heart with him.

[20:46] Fill your heart with his truth so that what proceeds out of your heart is grace and truth and righteousness and love and all of the things that exist in Christ Jesus. Forget the list and just focus on Christ.

[21:01] There's two things he says in regards to this as a part of this procedure. In verse 13 he says that he has a singular focus. A singular focus.

[21:12] Paul sums up his entire life's purpose into one focus. To pursue Christ. Ultimately, Paul's mind wasn't focused on righteousness itself.

[21:29] It wasn't righteousness for righteousness' sake. His focus was on pleasing Jesus. When he said, this is my goal, it wasn't my goal is to read my Bible a certain amount of times a day and my goal isn't to pray a certain amount of hours a day and my goal isn't to avoid this list of sins.

[21:50] He zeroed it all in on just saying, my goal is Christ. My goal is Christ. And in my pursuit of Christ, I'm gonna study his word and I'm gonna pray and I'm gonna avoid sin, but I'm not focused on that so much as I'm just focused on Christ.

[22:03] He had a singular focus. The truth is that true righteousness will only come whenever our hearts and minds are focused singularly on knowing and pursuing Jesus.

[22:18] Verses 13 and 14, as I mentioned a moment ago, use words that in Greek would have illustrated to the Philippian readers a sprinter who would have run in the Isthmian Games or the Olympic Games of the time.

[22:33] Basically, Paul's saying just like a runner who has focused on winning the race, he was focused on knowing and pleasing his Savior. And it's not the only time he uses this illustration.

[22:45] In fact, if you're keeping notes, write down 1 Corinthians 9, 24 to 27 and reference it later. If I go there, I'll spend too much time on it. So I'm just gonna trust you to study it later. But his focus really had two features in this verse.

[22:58] Forgetting the past and looking forward to Jesus. Look at the first one in verse 13. This one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind.

[23:10] Have you ever watched videos on YouTube of showboats in races? You know what I'm talking about? Those who are running track and they at least think that they're way ahead of the other people.

[23:23] And right before they get to the finish line, they start to showboat a little bit. And here comes the scrawny guy that runs right past him to steal the victory at the very end. It's not that the other guy was faster. It's that he was more focused.

[23:34] He's more focused on the race. We've all seen videos like that. It doesn't just apply to running. I remember distinctively as I was studying this week, the, was it 2016, the Summer Olympics were in Brazil, in Rio.

[23:48] You remember all of the buildup in anticipation to the 200 meter butterfly men's final that had Michael Phelps. Michael Phelps was the United States phenom in swimming and he was chasing this world record gold medals, I think is what it was.

[24:06] And there was all this buildup to this specific race. The butterfly was one of his better races, but in 2012 in London, he had barely lost and taken second place to a guy from South Africa named Chad LaCleude.

[24:19] Do you remember? And there was all this buildup to this race in Rio. And if you remember, right before they all went out to their marks for this race in the final race, Michael Phelps was sitting down on his chair on a folding chair and Chad LaCleude was in front of him with his headphones on and he was shadowboxing in front of Michael Phelps.

[24:38] He was taunting him. And even the lead up to this taunting on this day was lots of media coverage where Chad LaCleude was, he was running his mouth, I beat him before I'm going to beat him again, and all that kind of stuff was coming out.

[24:48] Like he had built himself up huge. And there was all these memes, you can Google them today, there were all these memes of Michael Phelps where he had this death stare on Chad LaCleude like he hated his guts.

[24:59] It's so funny to pull him up online. Well, they come to the race, Chad LaCleude is in lane five, Michael Phelps is in lane six. The gun goes off and they jump in the pole and they go about it.

[25:12] Halfway through the race, they were pretty close. Michael Phelps was just ahead of Chad LaCleude, but they're right next to each other and here's what Chad LaCleude starts to do in the second half of the race. Every time he comes up for breath, he looks to his right or his left, I can't remember which side it was.

[25:26] He looks to his right to see where Michael Phelps was. He wasn't focused on the wall, which is where he was swimming towards. He kept looking at Michael Phelps. He was so concerned of beating Michael Phelps and then in contrast to that, the camera zeroes in on Michael Phelps and he couldn't care less where Chad LaCleude is.

[25:43] His eyes are focused ahead. Every time he comes up for breath, his eyes are looking at the wall every time and he ends up going and winning the race and Chad LaCleude didn't even finish in first, second, or third.

[25:54] He didn't even place and the point was he was focused and distracted or he was distracted by all the things that were around him. He wasn't focused on the goal. Michael Phelps was focused on the goal and it helped him to win the race but there's all these things that come into our lives that prevent us from focusing on the goal and Paul says it's all summed up in forgetting the past.

[26:17] Forgetting the past. Some of us are so focused on past successes! that our life now is consumed with complacency.

[26:30] We live in all the things that we used to do for the Lord and we thrive on all the good old days of church and all the things that we used to do and what we do when we look at our life now is we just see complacency.

[26:42] We're satisfied with what we've done in the past and so instead of pursuing forward after Christ we just sit still hoping that our past achievements were good enough. Some of us on the other extreme are so mindful of our past failure that we're paralyzed and what's so wonderful about what the Bible tells us about God's grace is there is no sin in your life that he will not forgive.

[27:12] Think about Paul's life. He had an amazing list of accomplishments even after his conversion. Most people regard him as the greatest Christian to ever live and I hate quantitative statements like that but there's no doubt he was a model believer for us to follow and he had all these things.

[27:30] He could have said I started all these churches. I've suffered in all these ways and he would have been fine with what he had done in the past. He also had a full list of past failures that none of us have been guilty of.

[27:43] He was a murderer and he wasn't just a murderer he murdered Christians because they were Christians. He was a filthy sinful man but neither his past successes nor his past failures caused him to lay back in his pursuit of Christ.

[28:00] Forgot the things that were behind him. He didn't get distracted by what was on his left side or his right side. And then the second part is reaching forth. This word pictures a runner who's grasping ahead.

[28:11] It literally means to grasp. It's grasping ahead after the finish. He says not only am I forgetting what's behind I am focused on what's before. And the singular focus that he had was Jesus Christ.

[28:25] It wasn't just a singular focus it was a determined effort. Look at verse 14. Perhaps the most famous verse in the entire book. I press toward the mark or the goal is what that means.

[28:36] I press toward the goal for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. The prize and the goal wasn't an achievement or an accomplishment.

[28:50] The prize and the goal in verse 14 is Christ. That was his focus. That's what he cared about and that's what he pursued. And since that's what he was pursuing Christ he was willing to discipline himself in any way possible in order to properly pursue Christ.

[29:13] When a runner prepares for a race I've been able in my life to run two full marathons and both times it took several months six, seven, eight months of preparations to get ready for that.

[29:25] Which is why I don't do it very often now. It's a lot of work. It's very early mornings. It's getting up on some occasions at 3.30 in the morning to go for a 20 mile run so that I can be at work by nine o'clock.

[29:38] It's thinking about everything that I put in my mouth because the bad food could mess up my training and it could affect the way that I was trying to run and how I was trying to reach my goal and it was months of this.

[29:49] Months of this. The point was if I wouldn't have done the training if I would have not cared about my diet I would have never been able to run that race very well either one of them.

[30:00] Paul disciplined his body spiritually in regards to sin and in regards to religious accomplishment it wasn't for the sake of his salvation but it was because he was saved.

[30:10] He was determined he was determined to do whatever he needed to do. The struggle is we get to all of these gray areas in our life where we're not real sure if this is an exact right or wrong issue and almost always if our pursuit isn't Christ we lean toward the more sinful way of living.

[30:30] Even if it's not a sin the focus of our mind isn't Christ the focus of our mind is our fulfillment. Paul says I discipline my body and I pursue Christ with everything it's a determined effort.

[30:42] In any kind of achievement or any kind of goal that we ever have in life any difficult endeavor one has to determine if the reward is worth the effort.

[30:53] For the Christian Christ is the reward and there's no effort too great to keep us from pursuing him. I mentioned Eric Little and Chariots of Fire earlier.

[31:07] Eric Little really is a great hero of the faith if you ever study his life I would encourage you to do that read one of his biographies. He was known as the Flying Scotsman right Bob? He was the Flying Scotsman and he was a very very fast runner he was an even more committed Christian and he ultimately gave his life as a martyr basically in China on the mission field is where he ended up dying I think in the 1940s at the end of World War II he was in an internment camp there.

[31:35] But before that ever came about in the 1920s he was chosen to run for Scotland in the Olympic Games. Before he ever got to the Olympic Games there was a specific race when he was on the British team and they were running against France and I can't remember exactly the place Bob may remember but where they're running together and right at the beginning of the race might have been the 100 yard dash could have been the 440 meter actually right at the beginning of the race he tripped over another runner and he fell.

[32:03] He didn't just fall on the track he fell off the track and by the time he got back up to his feet all the other runners were about 30 meters ahead of him. Most runners today throw up their hands be upset at whoever tripped them and just went to wherever their coaches were.

[32:20] That's not what Eric Little did. He gets up as is portrayed on Chariots of the Fire fantastically and he begins to run and he ran as hard as he possibly could and not only did he make up the 30 meter difference between he and all the other runners but he went on to win the race and he was known for this particular posture in his running that when he was given maximum effort his knees were high they said that he was the ugliest runner to ever run.

[32:47] His knees were high he would throw his head back mouth agape and he would grasp like this as he was running. It was maximum effort. He gave maximum effort not only on the track and field but he gave maximum effort in his Christian life and that's exactly the picture Paul is painting here.

[33:07] When he says reaching forward he's maximum effort I'm doing everything I can to live the way that God called me to live. Not because I'm going to earn anything from God but because this is why he saved me.

[33:19] This is my purpose to glorify him and I'm going to pursue that with passion. And then finally quickly verses 15 and 16 we see a preemptive warning a preemptive warning.

[33:32] Look at verse 15. Paul leaves off the illustration now and he says let us therefore as many as be perfect that just means mature. He's referencing people that have experienced some spiritual maturity let us therefore be thus minded and if in anything you be otherwise minded God shall reveal even this unto you chastening allowing you to fall into sin and face the consequences of it God will deal with it.

[34:00] Nevertheless where to we have already attained to the point that we have grown in our spiritual maturity let us walk by the same rule let us continue on in it let us mind the same thing.

[34:13] He was reemphasizing the fact that our pursuit of knowing and pleasing Christ is a lifelong pursuit. And essentially what Paul was telling these believers to do especially the ones that had experienced a level of spiritual maturity he was essentially telling them not to rest on their laurels.

[34:32] Do you know that phrase? I don't think it's so popular now. It used to be maybe the late 1800s as I've tried to look up its origins. To rest on your laurels it's a nod to the Greek games in ancient Greece.

[34:48] What the runners would win what would be their reward at the end of the race was a laurel wreath that would be placed on their heads. The Romans eventually adopted this as well instead of just giving it to runners they gave it to generals that had won great victories in battle and they would come back and they would parade them through Rome with these laurel wreaths on their head.

[35:06] It represented victory. It was accomplishment. Not to rest on your laurels means not to be so infatuated with your past achievements that you no longer put forth any effort.

[35:19] And essentially what Paul is telling these believers is I know you've come a long way and the Lord's been good to you and he has sanctified you to this extent but don't rest on your laurels. Keep pursuing Christ.

[35:32] Now think about where Paul's at here. this is a man who at this point is in his 60s he has spent four years now in prison it's only a matter of time before he's beheaded.

[35:47] We know historically he gets out of this imprisonment two years later he's back in prison ultimately he's put to death beheaded. Now as a 60 year old man who had suffered in incredible ways and had amazing accomplishments in the Christian faith it was this man that was saying I keep pursuing Christ.

[36:08] I'm not settling and resting on my laurels. As Paul reflected on his suffering in Acts chapter 20 and as he even looked ahead to the suffering that he imagined he would continue to experience he said his one goal was to finish his race strong.

[36:27] Acts chapter 20 told the Ephesian elders he said none of these things move me. That's a reference to his suffering. None of these things move me. Neither count I my life dear so that I might finish my course with joy.

[36:42] He just wanted to run strong. He knew he wouldn't be perfect. He just wanted to pursue it with his life because it was God's call. And at the end of his life when he knew he was about to die he wrote to Timothy in 2 Timothy 4 and he said in looking back I have fought a good fight.

[37:01] I have kept the faith. I have finished my course. What a wonderful testimony that is. To understand not only our call to living a righteous life the passion to which we're pursuing but to see that at the end of our life we can look back and say I finished my course.

[37:26] I wasn't perfect but it didn't stop me from trying to be. And that in essence is the spirit of Paul's message here. God's not calling you to perfection he knows you'll never achieve it.

[37:41] What he's calling you to do is pursue him. And so the question for us today is are we pursuing him? Thank you for listening to this sermon made available by Lakeside Bible Church.

[37:55] Feel free to share it wherever you'd like. Please do not charge for it or alter it in any way without express written consent from Lakeside Bible Church. Don't forget to visit us online at lakesidebible.church or find us on Facebook and Instagram by searching for Lakeside Bible NC.

[38:12] If you live in the Charlotte or Lake Norman area we'd love for you to attend one of our worship services. We meet every Sunday morning at 10 a.m. in the gym at Cornelius Elementary School. We'd love to meet you.