If you would, you can go ahead and turn in your Bibles to Philippians. Just a brief note, this time and probably the next few times we're together before we're out here permanently with you all, we'll probably be filling in some gaps in Philippians, just looking to fill in those gaps that I haven't preached on here or elsewhere and saving the other 65 books for when we're out here together. So we're just going to be filling in the gaps this time and the next few times together. So if you would, we're going to be looking at Philippians chapter 3 verses 17 through 19 this morning. Philippians 3 verses 17 to 19. You may remember, but either way, in the beginning of chapter 3, Paul calls you to beware of a certain particular enemy of the cross, an enemy of the cross of Christ. He calls you to beware of those who put their confidence in the flesh. He's speaking there of the Judaizers, those who, as Paul tells us in Romans 9 and 10, those who sought their own righteousness by the works of the law, who did not seek the righteousness of God by faith alone in Christ alone. And the danger that they posed, why Paul was calling you to be aware of them, was not so much in the fact that they wanted to disregard the law, but that they distorted the true meaning of the law. That they wanted to set the law before New Covenant Christians as a way to attain to righteousness. So they were one of the great internal enemies of the gospel, of the cross of Christ. And by internal enemies, I mean those enemies that arise from within the church and operate within the visible church, as opposed to those external enemies that confront the church from without. Civil governments, organizations, whatever, that persecute and are enemies of the cross from outside the church. And in Philippians 3, in the passage we're going to be looking at this morning, Paul warns us about another internal enemy of the cross of Christ. One just as deadly to the souls of the saints as these legalists, as these Judaizers were in the first century. With those thoughts in mind, hear now the living and infallible word of the living and true God. Philippians 3 verses 17 to 19. Brothers, join in imitating me and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us. For many of whom I have told you and now tell you, even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction. Their God is their belly and they glory in their shame. with minds set on earthly things. Paul starts out, brothers, join in imitating me. And Paul's call here to you is rooted in the fact, rooted in the underlying truth that you are imitators by nature and by design. Imitation is what you do. In Genesis chapter 1, what does God say? He says He made you male and female in His image. You can think about walking in front of a mirror, looking at a mirror. What does the image do? It imitates. It does whatever you do. So certainly being made in the image of God means much more, but it doesn't mean less than the fact that we were made to imitate God. And we see this principle of imitation throughout the scriptures. Matthew 5, 43 through 48, we're called to imitate our Father in heaven by loving even our enemies, because that's what He does. He pours His rain on the just and the unjust, makes His sun to shine upon them, and as sons in the Lord Jesus Christ, we're to imitate our Father in heaven. Verse 48 there says you are to be perfect. as your Father in heaven is perfect. You're to imitate Him. 1 Peter 1, 16, you are to be holy as He is holy. You're imitators. You're images. And we know this principle. You've probably heard the old adage, more is caught than taught. It's applied often to parenting. We know it in our own houses. Our kids are always imitating. Sometimes for good, sometimes not so good. And why is that? Why is that principle more is caught than taught true? Because we're born from the womb created as imitators and we don't grow out of it. Our imitation may become more subtle, we may be able to exercise more self-control and wisdom as we get older, but we're still imitators. So the question is never if. The question is not if you will imitate, but the question is always who. Who will you imitate? And so that's, Paul knows this, and that's why he calls you Brothers, imitate me. Join in imitating me. Unless we think or forget, unless we think that Paul's setting up some newsstander, remember what he says in 1 Corinthians 11.1. He says, imitate me as I also imitate Christ. So Paul's call to imitate him is a call to imitate his Christ-likeness, which by grace was exemplary. To imitate the Christ-likeness of Paul, to follow after him, or to join in imitating him. And, Paul says, You are to keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us. And the word here for keep your eyes on in the Greek, it's a lot stronger than the basic word for just to look at. It really means to mark out, to fix your mind's eye upon. to scrutinize, to analyze. We could say it means to take note of and to study, to meditate on. You see, in the word here, for example, we're to fix our mind's eye on those who walk, who live according to the example. In the word here, it's speaking of a pattern. And really it means an impression, an impression made by a blow. You can think, right? We're familiar with animal tracks, dinosaur tracks, whatever that they find. There are these impressions. Kids, you may know what we're talking about. They're an impression made by a blow, and we can pour a mold into these, and we get an imitation track. We get something out of it. So we're to imitate, to keep our mind on those whose lives have this sort of impression, Paul says, that you have in us. And the us is Paul and Timothy. As Philippians 1 says, the letters from Paul and Timothy, but it's also from, he's speaking of Epaphroditus. In chapter two, verses 19 through 30, he sets up, Paul sets up Timothy and Epaphroditus as these Christ-like examples, describing them with words and phrases that link them to the Lord Jesus Christ, drawing attention to that fact. And so the call here, you see, this opening call is to, in a sense, pour yourselves into intentionally pour yourselves into this example, this impression. That your lives get poured into this, and so you get this imitation so that you become imitation. Of the Apostle Paul's Christ likeness. But why? Other than the obvious fact that we've already said that we're to imitate our father in heaven, why in context does Paul call you to imitate him? Remember that structure we talked about from Matthew seven, where a command is given and then reasons are given. So what's the reason Paul gives? He says, for many, for many, or we could say because, really, I mean, that'd be better here, because many of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. So you see, we're to imitate Paul, to know and to study those who so walk according to this Christ-like pattern because There are many who walk according to a different pattern. The titles of the sermons were to imitate Paul in this heavenly pattern that we'll look at more tonight because there are others who walk according to this earthly pattern. Remember, you are imitators. You will imitate. So if it's not Paul, if it's not this Christ-like heavenly pattern, then you will be tempted to You may fall into, you may go after those who walk according to this earthly pattern. And like we read in Matthew 7, there's only those two options. You're either walking according to the heavenly pattern or you're walking according to the earthly pattern. Now, who are these men? If we're not to imitate them, we need to know who they are. Well, we're going to look more at verse 19 here in a minute, but I want you to hear it again, and then you can either flip with me or listen to some passages from 2 Peter 2. So just listen here. Their end is destruction. Their God is their belly. They glory in their shame with minds set on earthly things. Now listen to 2 Peter 2, some passages. verses one and two. Peter says this. But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their sensuality. And because of them, the way of truth will be blasphemed. Look at verses 9 and 10. Then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, and especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority. Verses 12 and 15. But these, like irrational animals, creatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed, blaspheming about matters which they are ignorant, will also be destroyed in their destruction. Suffering wrong is the wage for their wrongdoing. They count it pleasure to revel in the daytime. That is, they just, as we're going to see, they glory in their shame. They sin in broad daylight, see nothing wrong with it. They count it pleasure to revel in the daytime. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions while they feast with you. They have eyes full of adultery, insatiable for sin. They entice unsteady souls, hearts trained in greed, accursed. Children forsaking the right way, they have gone astray. They have followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved gain from wrongdoing. And then lastly, verses 18 and 19, for speaking loud boasts of folly, they entice by sensual passions of the flesh, those who are barely escaping from those who live in error. They promised them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption. So I submit to you that Paul is speaking about, he has in mind these same false teachers that Peter and even Jude speaks about. These antinomians, these licentious libertines, anti, against, opposed, gnomian, gnomos, law, so they're anti, opposite, opposed to the law, and they're licentious. They have no moral restraint to their lives whatsoever. And they come in and they lead others off into destruction. And destruction is their end, you see. And why does Paul call them enemies of the cross? Well, they're enemies of the cross because they distort the selflessness of the cross. That most selfless act of self-denial in the history of creation, as Paul paints it in Philippians 2, 5 to 8, they distort that selflessness and that self-denial by their selfish indulgence. They also distort the work, the true work of the cross, the true nature of the work of the cross. They're those who say grace has made void the law. But what did Jesus say? He said, I came not in my work to abolish the law, but to fulfill the law. Paul says grace does not make void the law, but it rather establishes the law. They distort the nature of Christ's work. They're enemies of the cross. And then thirdly, they distort the nature of the God of the cross. They want to divide the undivisible God. They want to speak only about his forgiveness and his mercy, acting like he is not infinite, eternal and unchangeable in his holiness and righteous injustice and love. They deny that God is who he is. Because we know that God is who he is and he is all that he is. Unchangeably so. He is love. And what are the two great commandments? Love God and neighbor. His law is rooted in his nature. It can't change. Not in its essence. They distort the nature of the God of the cross. And notice this. Paul tells him in tears. He says, I've told you often and now tell you even with tears. Some translations, it says that I tell you weeping. As he speaks about these people, Psalm 119, 136, the psalmist says that rivers of water run down my face because men do not keep your law. Ezekiel 9, 4, we read about people crying and sighing over the abominations done in Jerusalem. But Paul's tears here preeminently, most certainly, have to do with the danger that these people pose to his beloved Philippians. He is concerned for their souls and where they could end up if they go after such people. If they live such lives after the earthly pattern. That they could be plucked like sheep by these wolves entering in. I'm going to tell you, it breaks my heart at getting to know you more and more and growing in love for you to look out at any of you and think or try and picture any of you being led astray. It should grieve all of us as we look at one another, as we look at the children in the congregation. to think that any could end up being led astray by such wicked and blasphemous people. And Paul didn't go around grieving like all the time, he was a joyful man. But when thinking about such things, he's moved to tears. And you may not have to be moved to tears, but when you think about such things or you grieve, When you see men, women not obeying the law of God, we're talking about Christians here, remember internal enemies. When we see abominations in Jerusalem, does it grieve us? And if not, why? We gotta ask ourselves, why? Do we really love the Lord? It should move us when we think about such topics. Paul knows the dangers that these people face, that his flock faces, his beloved Philippians. And so he pulls no punches. He pulls no punches in describing them and speaking about them. And he begins with their end, you'll notice, setting their end at the forefront. He says their end is destruction. And this is no mere destruction. OK, this is where this is no mere destruction. From the face of the Earth. This is not annihilation. Where the wicked are merely destroyed and then cease to exist. Forever. But this destruction that Paul speaks about is what in Second Thessalonians one he calls. Everlasting destruction. And some of you may have heard of Ted Donnelly and his book on heaven and hell. And as soon as I came to this, I just remember and I had to pull it out. I'm going to share parts of it with you. His chapter on everlasting destruction and what it is. according to the scriptures, not according to the fanciful medieval imaginations of people and devils and pitchforks and all of that, but according to the scriptures, what is everlasting destruction? And what are the implications of that that can be drawn from how the scriptures describe hell and everlasting destruction? And Donnelly says, first off, everlasting destruction is absolute. Poverty, it's absolute poverty. He gets this from it being called utter darkness. You think about the creation account. In the beginning, God created heavens and the earth. And in the earthly realm, there was just utter darkness. And then God brought the light and then creation developed. So in a sense it's this de-creation, this absolute poverty of everything but utter darkness. And I know some of you know Josh Smith. I remember him telling me this story one time of going caving. And they're in this cave and the guide tells them to cut out their lamps. He just said he's never experienced darkness like that. And the guy then struck a match, and he's like, it's the entire cave just lights up. And the guy told him that if they would have remained in that darkness for whatever period of time it was, they could have done permanent damage to their eyes. Because the eyes would have strained so hard, grasping at any ray of light, that they could have permanently damaged them. So that is utter darkness. He speaks about it as being the absolute removal of any ounce of joy. Unbelievers experience immense amounts of joy in this life. We passed on the other night, going to the dukes, people hitting golf balls up at this. People experience all kinds of joys in life. None of it. The removal of every amount of joy. Every amount of common grace and common goodness that anybody has toward one another, none of it. Every ounce of dignity and value that anyone has, impoverished, gone. Donnelly says this, he said, it's everything good taken away and everything bad let loose. Everlasting destruction is absolute. Poverty. And it's also agonizing pain. Everlasting destruction is agonizing pain. Scriptures speak about it as a lake of fire. And they speak about it as everlasting fire. And here's what you need to realize, even thinking about this. The hell that now is does not even compare to everlasting destruction. Why? Because the souls of the wicked, just like ours, will be reunited to body. And so this everlasting fire, this everlasting destruction will be not of soul only, but of soul and body. I mean, we've all touched like a hot oven or something amazingly hot. You draw your hand back. The pain is unbearable. And Donnelly says, think about that over the entire body and never being able to draw a hand away. He calls it the terrible counterpart to the burning bush, that bush that was burning yet never consumed. The pain is unimaginable, but it's not just the physical pain. The scriptures call it weeping and gnashing of teeth. Speaking about these emotions of just utter grief and sorrow. You've been that sorrowful where it hurts. Anger, the blood pressure rises and it hurts. This is the emotional state, the everlasting emotional estate of the unrepentant. So everlasting destruction is absolute poverty. It's agonizing pain. It's angry presence. We're all familiar probably with hearing hell described as eternal separation from God. But we need to understand that this is not speaking about geographical separation. God is everywhere. He cannot be escaped. He's in hell. But we're all familiar with relational separation. You can be in a car next to somebody, just had a horrible fight, relational separation, and yet you're stuck together. There's no geographical separation. It's tense, and it's awkward, and it's unpleasant for everybody. It's not gonna be unpleasant for God, but angry presence. There is no escape from the presence of God. Unbelievers think, oh, I'm going to hell with all my friends, where God is not. They don't get it. So absolute poverty, agonizing pain, angry presence. And then finally, he calls it an appalling prospect. And this he's just speaking about its absolute, unending, everlasting nature. This poverty, this utter darkness, this utter lack of any joy or goodness, this burning of the body and soul, this angry, wrathful presence of God will never end and there is no escape. There is never a get out of jail free card offered. It will never end and there is no escape. So having first declared their end, he goes on to describe them. He says that their God is their belly. Their God is their belly. And this was a saying in Paul's day, it was a way of speaking about those who were ruled by their bodily desires. Those who were ruled by their bodily desires. Isaiah 56, 10 and 12 speaks about these people as those who love to slumber. Those who, like greedy dogs, never have enough. Those who fill themselves with intoxicating wine and drink. In 2 Peter, we read about they're those who are sexually immoral, you see. So it's not merely that they struggle with, say, gluttony or drunkenness or sexual immorality or laziness. It's that these things characterize their lives, their pattern, their lifestyle is characterized. They are gluttons, drunkards, the sexually immoral, sluggards. They're those, Paul says, who glory in their shame. This shows how it's a characterization of their life. They glory in their shame. Paul says in Romans 6.21, speaking to believers, he says, what fruit did you have in those things of which you are now ashamed, now ashamed? These glory in their shame. They delight in their sin. They rejoice in those things of which they ought to be ashamed of. They don't grieve over their sin. They glory in it. No remorse. And they're those with minds set on earthly things. is their minds are fixated, they're set upon the things of this present life. The things of this present life. And this is certainly including these bodily desires, these lusts of the flesh, but it's expanding that, really drawing in what John in 1 John 2 calls the lust of the eyes. Speaks about the lust of the eyes. I'm going to read this to you from Ecclesiastes 2. more unfamiliar part of the scriptures, but Solomon describes what the desire of the eyes is. Listen to Ecclesiastes 2, 4-10. This is Solomon, I made great works. I built houses and planted vineyards for myself. I made myself gardens and parks and planted them in all kinds of fruit trees. I made myself pools from which to water the forest of growing trees. I bought male and female slaves and had slaves who were born in my house. I had also great possessions of herds and flocks, more than any who had come before me in Jerusalem. I also gathered for myself silver and gold and the treasure of kings and provinces. I got singers, both men and women and many concubines, the delight of the sons of man. So I became great and surpassed all who were before me in Jerusalem. Also, my wisdom remained with me. And here it is. And whatever my eyes desired, I did not keep from them. I kept from my heart no pleasure. So in sum, what Solomon is speaking about and what Paul is speaking about, setting our mind on earthly things in light of what Solomon said, would be to inordinately value or pursue possessions entertainment, or status. Those are the things Solomon speaks about, the lust of the eyes. So Paul is saying that these false teachers that he's got in mind, they're known by their fruits. They're known by these lives, this inordinate value and pursuit of earthly things. The lust of the flesh, you see, they prefer the gain, and the pleasure of all of these things over the gain and the pleasure of Christ and heavenly things. So these are the enemies of the cross that Paul is so concerned about. But I don't want us to lose the kind for the species. And what I mean by that is these people in Paul's day These ones that Peter and Jude speak about, they're simply, they're a specific manifestation of a more basic kind of enemy of the cross. And the more basic kind is just simply a professing believer who lives just like an unbeliever. It's a Christian. who lives just like the world. That someone who other than their verbal profession in Christ and their attendance to church is indistinguishable from those in the world. And so the basic warning is to beware of professing Christians who live just like the world. They will tempt you. They will lead you astray. They're dangerous, and they're dangerous. Why? Why are they dangerous? It's because the seeds of all of these sins still remain in our own hearts. Because we still struggle with the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes. We can be led astray by them. That's Paul's point. And so the converse of the call of verse 17 to imitate Paul and keep our eyes on those who so walk is to not imitate, not follow after those who walk according to this earthly path, to keep our eyes on them, to mark them, to note them. You see, And that requires that we pay attention to the lives of others. And again, we're speaking about the church, especially your leaders, but any around you. Do the lives of the people that you interact with and see, do they reveal a lifestyle in a pattern of lusting after the flesh, of gluttony, drunkenness, in sexual immorality, in laziness. Do the people around you, do their lives reveal this inordinate value in pursuit of possessions, in entertainment, in status? That's not a call to become an ultimate skeptic, right? of your brothers and sisters, right? We're always called to remove the log from our own eyes before we look at the sins and rebuke the sins of others. But it's a call for the sake of our own souls and the souls of others to pay attention, to keep our eyes out, to be on alert for these patterns. He says you will know them by their fruit. Fruit takes time. But once you know, Jesus says, you don't go to a thornbush for grapes. Once you know it's a thornbush and there ain't no grapes coming from it. But then also, by implication, it's going to be a call to keep an eye on our own lives. Again, the seeds of the sin remain. to keep an eye on our own hearts and make sure that we're not becoming one of these people, that we're not leading others astray by our lives and by our examples. And so as your future, Lord willing, spiritual physician, if you will, you've got to ask the questions, are any of these sins yours? Are any of these symptoms noticeable in your own life? These sins, these patterns really of gluttony, of drunkenness, sexual immorality, laziness. And now those last three are pretty basic, basically understood, not hard to understand. We know what drunkenness is. We know what sexual immorality is. Sex outside of a marriage. A male and female marriage. We know what laziness is. But I did want to describe gluttony because it's one that's just hard to define. We're not clear on it. And if we're to avoid it, we need to know what it is. In Augustine, some others were helpful. Augustine says this. that food itself, food itself is not the problem when it comes to gluttony, but rather how we seek it, for what reason and to what effect. Others say this, gluttony is not about too much food, but about too much attention to food, you see. It's using food in a way that dulls us from the spiritual and distracts us from God. We could say it's an inordinate love for food or drink. It's seeking inordinate satisfaction from food or drink. We could say it's the sinful use of food and drink. And that's why I wanted to clear this up, because when we see this, we understand that gluttony is more about one's heart, it's a heart issue, more so than it is about physical appearance or about actions per se. It's about one's relationship to food, okay? As I was reflecting on this, what I realized is that when I was in the best shape of my life, I was a glutton. When I was in the best shape of my life, I had the most sinful relationship with food I ever had. It's all I thought about. It's all I pursued. The healthier the food, money was no, it didn't matter. It's all I thought about all the time. Best shape of my life, and yet my God was my belly. So gluttony is a heart issue, you see. And we have to ask, are our minds, are we slipping into our minds becoming fixated on the things of this present life? And think about possessions. And I was just thinking about this from conversations over the week. We've got a congregation full of people who love guns and books. There's probably a lot of other things, and I love guns and books too, so save your stones and don't throw them at me yet. My point is just this. that those things we value and love, and I'm going to make a clarification. I'm not saying sell your guns and books and stuff. I don't want to do that either. But it's those things we value and love that are often that slippery slope that we're going to fall into and fix our minds upon. I'll just be honest. There's times where I fall into this sin with books. Like I'm wanting this book. I'm convinced that I'm going to learn great things from this book. I'm convinced it's going to be a help to you and ministry to you. And all of those things are right and true. And yet I become so fixated on it that I can't stop thinking about it until I press the buy button. That's sin. We got a congregation full of people that are into sports, love athletics, love games. Keep our eyes on those things. And how do you know then? Because it's not always obvious. How do you know if you're crossing the line into sinfulness? Well, you can think about this. What do you think about most when you have spare time, like when you don't have a particular task to focus on? Like you're at work, you're thinking about work or whatever. What are you consumed with in your mind? What do you value most? And that's shown by your actions toward the thing. What do you pursue most diligently? What do you give your expendable resources to? The majority of your expendable resources. Not the ones that go to your bills or necessary expenses. But what do those go to? And what satisfaction do you get from those things? And this is the clarification I wanted to make, is that this does not all mean that you can't enjoy food and drink and sex within marriage and rest. And I was struck the first time somebody told me, they're like, God didn't have to make those things enjoyable and pleasurable. He could have just made food just purely for refueling the body. Sex purely for procreation. Rest purely to recharge. And yet in his goodness, he made every single one of those things enjoyable and pleasurable. So we can and we should, in gratitude, enjoy those things. We can pursue and value things. We can save up money and buy a gun or whatever, book, whatever. The problem is when we desire and pursue these things more than His kingdom and His righteousness. When we inordinately value and pursue these things. You see, and so this warning against such, it's deadly serious. Matthew Henry said this. It's striking. He said this, if we choose their way, we have reason to fear their end. If we choose their way, we have reason to fear their end. So if you notice yourself falling into these sins, and you're not repenting of them, in that moment, you have every reason to fear, rightly so, the end of these enemies of the cross. That's why you must repent. If you find yourself sliding, If you find yourself like Peter, who stepped out of the boat and began to sink in unbelief, if you find yourself sinking in those sins, then you're to cry out like Peter, Lord, save me. And you're to know that he's willing and he's able. He died, Paul tells you, to crucify the world to you and you to the world. He's the great shepherd who literally will leave the 99 to come for you in your struggles with these sins. And he is mighty and powerful to forgive. And he will. You're promised he will. So repent from them and turn to him. And if you sit here this morning and you recognize yourself in this description, it's hate you. I don't know the Lord. This is my mind. This is my life. Then you need to hear the gospel. You may think, my God, what an everlasting destruction. But you need to understand the gravity of sin. It is sin against an infinite and holy God, and so it is just. And so the question is not why this everlasting punishment. The question is why are any spared? Why the gospel? Why your son? It's because we're told that God takes no delight in the destruction of the wicked. The gospel is offered, come to me, he says. Come. Drink of the waters of life. That's his offer to you. Let's pray. Our gracious God and father. These are heavy matters that we have in your word, but we thank you so much for them. We thank you that you send such warnings. That when we could walk to the edge, Lord, and fall off, you call us back, you strike us with fear. Good fear, helpful to us, good for us. to draw us back and to turn our hearts to the glory of the gospel, the beauty of Christ, forgiveness of sins in him and life everlasting. Father, we pray that you would use this word in our hearts today to guard us, to keep us on guard. To encourage us and motivate us to imitate the Paul, the Apostle Paul, as he imitated Christ. This word bear fruit in our lives to your glory. We pray in Christ's name. Amen.