Fleeing from Enemies A

Christian sanctification is the pursuit of something outside myself.

Not something inside myself is the pursuit of Christ likeness and the more I know him and the more I am focused on him, and the more I am in communion with him. The more the spirit makes me like him. If so, you may have started walking in circles, passing the same landmarks several times.

Sadly, that is how to many people live their everyday lives. They lack direction and experience the same setbacks again and again.

Thankfully, if you're a Christian, you don't have to live that way today on grace to you.

John MacArthur continues a study that is showing you how to pursue clear, purposeful God honoring goals. His current series is titled reaching for the prize. If you have a Bible turn to Philippians chapter 3, and with the lesson. Here's John. Let's open our Bibles in the Philippians chapter 3 Philippians chapter 3 and we are continuing our look at this wonderful subject of pursuing the prize you know from this particular text at the heart of the section is found in verse 14, Paul says, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Paul says I pursue the prize. I press toward the goal we have noted all along that the prize and the goal is the same thing it is to be like Jesus Christ. That was the single focus of Paul's life back in verse eight he says.

I count everything else to be loss.

I have one great quest to know Christ Jesus my Lord, he says down in verse 13. One thing I do, and that one thing is for getting the other things I press on toward the goal. So we had a light focus of knowing Jesus Christ so well so deeply so richly that he was becoming like Christ that is the goal of every Christian's life. Number 11. Let me remind you that in all of the chaos, confusion, and all of the myriad of options and complexity of contemporary Christianity everything in our Christian experience can be boiled down to this. One great truth. The goal of my life is to be like Christ.

Everything else spins off of that all my servers all my relationships all my worship, everything spins off of being like Christ. If I am like Christ. I will worship God in the way he worship if I am like Christ.

I will serve God in the way he served God.

If I am like Christ, I will relate to people in the love in which he related to people in other words, the simple focus of my life is to be like Christ. That is why I must let the word about Christ dwell in me richly as Colossians 316 says that is why I must gaze of the glory of Christ.

Second Corinthians 318 so that I can be changed into his image. That is why Christ must be fully formed in me. Galatians 419. That is why I say I abide in him to walk the way he walked. First John two I'm to be like Christ. This is the goal of my life. So the goal of my life as a Christian is outside of me that is not in me is outside of me is beyond me. I am not preoccupied with myself. I am preoccupied with becoming like Christ and that is something that only the Holy Spirit can do as I focus on Christ.

I focus on him and the spirit transforms me into his image. As you well know, there are many devastating things that have encroached upon the pure understanding of this truth in the church, not the least of which is humanistic psychology, humanistic psychology has had a devastating effect on Christians and on Christian theology for a number of reasons, but one of these reasons is built into the very basic humanistic philosophy that man exists for his own satisfaction is the very bottom line in humanism that man to be happy. Must have all of his perceived needs and desires met and so humanism says that the goal of life is to have all of my wants fulfill all of my desires accomplished all of my needs met man will be happy. Say the psychologist man will be content man will be satisfied when his desires are met when his longings are met when his needs are met when he is fulfilled contemporary presentations of the gospel. This Humanistic Psychology and Philosophy Unwittingly and You Have the Good News of Self-Worth.

The Good News of the Value of US a Person. The Good News of Security.

The Good News of Significance. The Good News of Prosperity of Health, Wealth and Happiness.

The Psychological Gospel, the Prosperity Gospel, and Even Contemporary Sanctification Is Fraught with This Humanistic Needs Mentality That Sanctification Is a Process by Which All of My Needs Are Being Met so I Can Be an Effective Christian so That I Got a Problem in My Life I Have To Discover That Problem Iron out That Problem Solve That Problem. If I Have Someone Fulfillment of My Life. I Gotta Fill That Pocket with Fulfillment.

If I Have Dissatisfaction in My Life. I Got a Get Satisfaction in That Area. If I Am Not Able to Accomplish Everything That Is in Me All My Desires Are Being Met. Somehow I'll Never Be Fulfilled until All of Those Perceived Needs Are Met. That Has Encroached upon the Church in a Major Way so That Much of Preaching, Teaching, Writing Today Has To Do with Problems and Needs and Satisfaction and Fulfillment of One's Own Personal Desires. Tony Walter Is Written a Book Entitled Need the New Religion Need the New Religion.

In It He Says That It Is Fashionable to Follow the View of Some Psychologists That the Self Is a Bundle of Needs and That Personal Growth Is the Business of Progressively Meeting These Need. Many Christians Go along with Such Beliefs. Further, He Says One Mark of the Almost Total Success of This New Morality Is That the Christian Church Traditionally Keen on Mortifying the Desires of the Flesh on Crucifying the Needs of the Self in Pursuit of Christ Likeness Has Eagerly Adopted the Language of Needs for Itself. We Now Hear That Jesus Will Meet Your Every Need As Though He Were Some Kind of Divine Psychiatrist or Divine Detergent, and As Though God Were Simply to Serve Us." Now This Kind of Need Mentality Leads to a Man Centered Theology. A Man Centered Salvation and a Man Centered Sanctification so That the Goal of Christian Living Has Become for Many Christians, Getting My Needs Met Being Fulfilled.

Being Happy Having a Good Self-Image, a High Standard of Self-Worth Etc. Etc. Resolving All My Conflict, Eliminating All My Problems and I Am Focused on That the Satisfaction of My Perceived Need Is the Goal of My Salvation, and the Goal of My Sanctification. That's Not True That Is Diametrically Opposed to What the Bible Teaches the Satisfaction of Human Need Is Neither the Goal of Salvation, nor Is It the Goal of Sanctification. It's Not the Goal of Either the Goal of Salvation Is That You Might Be Conformed to the Image of God's Son. Thus That's the Goal of Sanctification. The Goal of My Life Is Not to Make Sure I'm Satisfied, but to Make Sure God Is Satisfied.

That's the Goal of My Life. We See Humanistic Needs.

Psychology Has Become Because I Christians Need Theology and so You Have a Man Centered Sanctification Instead of a Christ Centered Sanctification Man Become Central Rather Than Christ. This Is a Major Change. All You Need Do Is Look Back. For Example, to Someone like AW Toes or Who Simply Said Faith Looks out Instead of in and the Whole of Life Falls in the Line" Faith Looks out Instead of in and the Whole of Life Falls in the Line.

Christian Sanctification Is the Pursuit of Something outside Myself, Not Something inside Myself Is the Pursuit of Christ Likeness Is Not a Matter of Assessing Me. It Is a Matter of Knowing Him Deeply. And the More I Know Him and the More I Am Focused on Him, and the More I Am in Communion with Him. The More the Spirit Makes Me like Him, the More I Focus on Myself, the More Distracted I Am from the Proper Path Now in the Christian Life. We Are Pressing toward a Goal. That Goal Is Not the Satisfaction of My Own Needs. That Goal Is Not the Satisfaction of My Own Desire for Greater Significance That Is Not the Goal of My Life. The Goal of My Life Is to Be like Christ. Now Me Approach This from Another Angle As Well.

I Have Never Met a Successful Person an Effective Person and Impactful Person in Any Realm of Enterprise in the World Who Was Not Committed to Reaching Goals. The People Who Impact the World, Our Pursuers, Their Winners, Their Competitors. They Know What It Is This That Is to Ignore Personal Comfort to Reach a Goal outside Themselves. They Make Incredible Sacrifices for the Wrong Reasons to Reach the Wrong Goals, but the People Who Impact Society. The People Who Affect Society. The People Who Leave an Imprint on Society Are Not the Kind of People Whose Lives Are Consumed with Making Sure Their Own Needs Are Met, Even from a Human Viewpoint, to Say Nothing from a Spiritual Viewpoint Those in the Spiritual Dimension, However, Who Leave an Impact Are Equally Competitors. Winners I Don't I Don't Think People Really Understand That I Have Read Enough Biographies of Famous Christians I Have Heard Enough Messages and Lectures I Have Read Enough Articles I Have Visited Enough Places in the World to See the Memorabilia of Famous Christian Leaders to Know This. There Are No Hidden Secrets about an Impactful Life Is the Direct Result of a Maximum Effort to Reach a Spiritual Goal and in the Process. Ignore Your Own Personal Situation Is Amazing What Great Preachers, Great Theologians and Great Missionaries Have Suffered in the Process of Reaching a Spiritual Goal and They All Have One Thing in Common. It Was of Little Concern to Them to Consider Their Own Human Condition. Apart from the Fact That They Considered It Theologically. There Was of Major Concern to Them That They Follow Christ Pursue Christ. There Are No Secrets Effective Lives Belong to People Who Pursue Goals That Are outside of Themselves and They Pursue Them Almost Blindly. The Same Is True Spiritual the People to Live in Impact on the Church in the World Are Those of a Spiritual Goal on Which They Are Focused at Goal of Being like Jesus Christ. They Pursue That with Little Thought of the Conditions of Their Own Human Life. That's Paul. That's Paul.

He Says I'm Not Interested in Anything Else. Verse Eight I Consider Everything Else. A Loss All I Want Is One Thing I Want the Prize. Verse 14. That's What Made Him Great It Was That Ability to Be so Totally Focused on a Goal and That's What We're Talking about. That's What Were Talking about. We All Are Called to Pursue the Goal and Again the Goal Is to Be Conformed to the Image of God's Son.

We Are Pursuing That. Let Me Say It Simply Is Our Total Christian Duty to Simplify the Whole Christian Life Orient the Whole Christian Life Can Be Boiled down, Pursuing Christ Likeness to That's It, If That Helps You Clear up the Fog Than That Alone Is a Great Service to Your Spiritual Progress. Now One of the Necessary Elements in Doing This, Then That'll Bring Us to Our Text Verse 71 of the Necessary Elements We've Already Gone to the Rest of the Chapter That We Just Review What Do We Have To Have What Will Help Us in Pursuing the Prize Number One We Suggested Last Time That We Must Follow after Examples We Must Follow after Examples That Was .1 in Verse 17 Brother and Join in Following My Example and Observe Those Who Walk According to the Pattern You Have in Us. Remember I Told You That Paul Says Look, You've Got to Have Somebody to Show You the Path Now Listen Again to Me Repeat This Truth That I Mentioned to Christ Is the Perfect Model Christ Is the Pattern of Perfection.

But Paul and Others Are the Pattern of the Pursuit of That Perfection I See in Christ What I Want to Be but I Cannot See in Christ How to Get There, Why Because Christ Didn't Follow Some past the Perfection It Was Always Perfect BC so If I Look at Christ, I See What I Am to Be and If I Look at Paul and Other Believers. I Can See How to Move That Direction. As I See Those Who Are Able to Deal with Temptation and Sin in the Pursuit of the Practice Will Paul Says You Need an Example. You Need Someone to Follow. You Need a Model so Follow Me, and Those Who Walk According to the Pattern That You Have Seen in Us. In Other Words, Get Some Models and Follow the Snow Right into the Heart of Discipleship. That's What Were All about.

We Need a Human Pattern to Follow. Beloved, Here Is the Essence of the Matter of Church Leadership. What Is Church Leadership. I'll Tell You Simply What It Is.

It Is Not Just Speaking the Word and Preaching the Word Is Being the Model That People Can Follow in the Pursuit of Christ Likeness. That's the High Calling That Cycle. That Is Why Leadership in the Church Is so Highly Regarded in the Scripture, and That Is Why a Person's Life Has To Be above Reproach and Blameless Because That Person Is the Pattern of Pursuing Christ Likeness. The People Are Asked to Follow and Then They Follow Him and Others Follow Them and Others Follow Them and That's How the Church Function.

That's Why When a Person Fails to Be the Pattern Isn't Enough for Them Still to Be the Preacher Because Now Use the Whole Thing Right down the Middle and You Got a Preacher Who Is in the Pattern and All You Have Are Words but Nothing Is Demonstrate. So Paul Says Look in This Pursuing of the Prize. Follow the Proper Example Find Those Godly Pastors and Leaders Who Are above Reproach Is Lives Are Blameless, Who Are Walking the Way a Believer Should Walk or Being Obedient Are Not Perfect, but the Direction of Their Life Is Right There Pursuing the Prize and Follow Them Not Look That over There's a Negative Side That Takes Us to Point to Not Only Are We to Follow after Examples, but to We Are to Flee Enemies Where to Flee. Enemies Paul Is Always Concerned about This.

Look at Verse 18.

For Many Walk, of Whom I Often Told You, and Now Tell You Even Weeping There. The Enemies of the Cross of Christ. I Want to Say Saying Follow My Example and the People Who Live the Way I Live in the Pursuit of the Prize You Follow Us Because so Many Others, Are the Enemies of the Cross of Christ Is Everything. Watch out You Don't Follow Them. That Said, in the Pursuit of Christ Likeness. There Are Some to Be Followed.

Listen Carefully and There Are Many to Be Avoided. He Narrows It down. He Says Follow Me. Verse 17 and Those Who Follow the Pattern That I Have Set and Then He Says Many Are the Enemies of Christ.

The Word Many to See at the Beginning of Her Safety. Not A Few Minute They're Everywhere Now, Beloved, Here's the Challenge in the Church, Listen Carefully, Here Is a Challenge Especially in a High Profile Media Society like Ours. Do You Realize the Exposure That Bad Examples Get Today You Realize the Exposure That Enemies of the Cross of Christ Find for Themselves Today. The Radio, Television, Books and so Forth.

You Have To Be Very Careful and Very Discerning Not to Follow, and Someone Who Is Masquerading As a Friend and Is Really an Enemy of the Cross. So in Verses 18 and 19. I Want to Focus on.

This Introduces Us to the Enemies of the Cross of Christ. Nothing to Suggest to You Here That the Implication of the Text Is That These People Are Not Stated As Enemies They Don't Come down the Road Saying We Are against the Cross Were against Christ. We Deny His Work on the Cross We Deny Salvation by Grace through Faith, Etc. They Don't Do That. They're Not Subtle. Anybody Does. That's Not a Threat Right but These Are People Who Say They Are the Friends of Christ and the Cross of Christ, Who Advocate Christ, Who Identify with Christ Whose Names Are on the Church World Who Want Spiritual Leadership. But They Are the Enemies of the Cross of Christ There Very Subtle. It Takes Discernment to Recognize Beloved. This Is Such a Ringing Constant Theme in the New Testament That You Almost Feel like You're in a Revolving Door on the Subject. Jesus Said It. Beware of Those Who Come to You in Sheep's Clothing and Inwardly They Are Wolves Later on in Matthew 23. He Described Them Again. He Was Concerned about the False Teachers the False Leaders. The Antichrists in Chapter 24 You Find It All through the Book of Acts, the False, As against the True, the Simon Magnus Is the Ely Misses the Sorcerers That Whoever They Are, the False Claiming in the Name of God to Cast out Demons Later on the Book of Acts, You Find It in Paul's Epistles As He Warns, for Example, Stay Away from Endless Genealogies Stay Away from Speculation Stay Away from False Teachers. No Sound Doctrine, Pure Doctrine, Avoid the Jangling's and the Haranguing's of Those Who Are Not True Teachers. Peter Gives an Entire Epistle Second Peter to the Unmasking of False Teachers. Jude Is Concerned about It. John Is Concerned about in His Three Epistle Is All through the Scripture We Must Beware of the Enemies Who Masquerade As Friends. That's the Idea Here. He Has To Tell the Philippians That They Are Enemies of the Cross of Christ Because They're Very Subtle and Frankly Folks, the Church Lacks Discernment. I Continue to Be Absolutely Astounded at the Stuff and That the People That Christians Will Follow Because They Are so Undeserving. If You Have a Lack of Precise Biblical Teaching As We Do Today.

If You Have a Lack of Precise, Clear Doctrine As We Do Today You Have a Lack of Precise, Clear Thinking and Have a Lack of Precise, Clear Thinking, You Cannot Have Discernment and so People Are like the Minds by the Widespread Exposure of Those Who Intrude with Our Enemies of the Cross of Christ, Knows Rebecca. Verse 18 a Little More, Particularly at What He Says for Many Walk Walk Being the Idea of Daily Conduct, Manner of Life Course of Living. This Is There Pattern. He Says Many Walk, of Whom I Often Told You Some See This As a Reference Back to Chapter 1 Verse 28 Where He Mentions Not Being Alarmed by Your Enemies or Your Opponents, but That Doesn't Seem to Be the Best Interpretation of That Phrase. The Fact That He Says, of Whom I Often Told You Probably Refers to Times When He Was with the Philippians, and He Was Repeatedly Telling Them about People Who Would Come along Outwardly Identifying with Christ. But Who Would Be Enemies of the True Gospel.

Paul Was Ever and Always in a Warning Mood. You Remember Back in Acts That Very Familiar 20th Chapter Where Paul Gives so Much Teaching on Ministry. He Says in Verse 31 to the Ephesian Elders Be on the Alert, Remembering That Night and Day for a Period of Three Years. I Didn't Cease to Warn Each One with Tears.

What an Amazing Statement for Three Years, Night and Day.

I Warned Each Individual with Tears about False Teachers, False Leaders, False Doctrine, and Then He Says Only Thing I Can Do Is Commend You to His Word, Which Will Build You Your Protected by the Word. If You Don't Know the Word You're Not Protect a Practical Guide for the Christian Life. That's What John MacArthur Is Outlining Here on Grace to You Is Current Study Is Titled Reaching for the Prize, along with Being Grace to Use Featured Speaker for over 50 Years.

John Also Serves As Chancellor of the Masters University and Seminary. Now John Were Talking about Discernment and I Don't Think There's Anything More Relevant for the Church Today Because There's so Many False Teachers out There so Many Versions of Christianity That Are on the Market and Discernment Is Becoming More and More Necessary. So a Practical Question How Do You Sharpen the Skill. Obviously, You Need to Study the Bible, but beyond That, Is There Anything Involved. Yeah near Absolute Right When People Asked Me What's the Biggest Problem in the Church.

I've Often Said the Lack of Discernment. That's like Having Spiritual Aids. You Can Dive a Thousand Diseases Because Your Immune System Doesn't Function and Because the Church Lacks Discernment Its Immune System Doesn't Function It Can Dive a Thousand Heresies and You See That Because There Are a Thousand Heresies Right You Can Keep up with All the Heresies and They Only Can Flourish Where There Is a Lack of Discernment Where People Don't Know What the Bible Teaches Where There We Can Doctrine or We Can Conviction and the Courage of Those Convictions. Heresy Flourishes so Discernment Is Critical. Discernment Is Simply a Word That Means the Ability to Separate Enemies, the Ability to Separate Truth from Error. The Only Way That That Is Possible to Separate Truth from Error Is for Someone to Know the Truth.

Discernment Is Not in Itself and End It Is If It Is a Basically a Byproduct. The End Is to Know the Word of God.

If You Know What the Bible Teaches. For Example, about God, Then You Know When You See a Heresy or Know What the Bible Teaches about Christ and Somebody Teaches Something Else. You Know That's a Heresy. If You Know What the Bible Teaches about Salvation by Grace through Faith in Christ Alone Somebody Teaches Something Different Than That Another Gospel You Know That. But in Every Case the Ability Separate Is Predicated on the Knowledge of the Truth and That Is the Only Way That the Church Can Be Protected and When You Think about What Paul Says to Timothy Guard, the Treasury Says in Both Epistles. In the First Epistle the Second Epistle Early in the First One Late in the Second Guard, the Treasure Guard the Treasure Will That Essentially Is Discernment the Ability to Protect the Truth Because You Know the Truth and If You Know the Truth, You Can Easily Spot the Arts Again Is like Looking at a Counterfeit Bill You Can Look at Counterfeit Bills Forever, and Not Know Their Counterfeit Unless You Know Exactly What the Real Thing Looks like so Discernment Is Absolutely Critical and That I Want to Just Mention to You.

We Have a Booklet Titled Discernment Really an Important Little Booklet It'll Arm You with the Ability to See the Truth and Separated from Error. Here's the Good News Will Send It Free to Anyone Who Asks Just Call Right Go to the Website You TY.org. Let Us Know You Want a Copy of Discernment and Will Get It in Your Hands. Yes, This Booklet Is Free. Just Let Us Know You Want a Copy. It's a Quick Read, but It's Loaded with Practical Truth to Get Your Free Copy of John's Booklet Titled Discernment.

All You Have To Do Is Contact Us Today. Call Our Toll-Free Number 855 Grace or Go to Our Website TTY.org Again the Number Here 855 Grace and the Website TTY.org. The Full Title of the Booklet Is Discernment. Spiritual Survival for a Church in Crisis and in It John MacArthur Answers Questions like What Is Spiritual Discernment and Why Is There so Little Discernment in the Church Today. How Can I Be More Discerning.

This Booklet Will Be Especially Helpful for Christians Who Want to Make Sure They're Applying the Bible to Every Area of Life. Again, Discernment, Spiritual Survival for a Church in Crisis Is Our Gift to You. Just Call Our Toll-Free Number 855 Grace or Go to Our Website Why God Now for John MacArthur on Phil Johnson Reminding You to Watch Grace to You Television on Sunday. Check Your Local Listings for Station and Times and Make Sure You're Here Tomorrow.

John's Going to Show You How to Recognize the People and Doctrines That Will Stunt Your Spiritual Growth That's on the Next Installment of the Study, Reaching for the Prize. Join Us for Another Half Hour of Unleashing God's Truth One Person at a Time Here on Racing