My goal tonight is to lead us into the Word. The Spirit of God will use the Word that God has breathed out so that we can see more of Christ and more of, well, in our section tonight, the enemies of Christ, and that we would respond accordingly. I hope that our prayer time tonight will be filled with passion and filled with earnestness, filled with prayer for the lost, prayer for revival, prayer for our families, prayer for our neighbors. Be thinking about that. As you're hearing the Word being preached, as the Spirit of God is bringing people to your mind, be thinking, how can I pray for them in just a few minutes when we go to the room here? Maybe there's a family member, maybe there's a neighbor, maybe there's somebody you met long ago you don't even know their name or you forgot their name or you met them today on the street or whatever it may be be thinking about how we can pray for these men and women that God would would save them but we're in Philippians chapter 3 I have so enjoyed my time of study tonight for tonight Philippians 3 17 to 19 I trust next week as we look at verses 20 and 21 it will be all the more glorious as well. But I want to bring you a sermon that I have entitled Guard Who You Follow and Who Influences You. Consider the lost and ponder their coming doom. I want to read our scripture and then I want to preach it for us as we all study the word together. Follow with me in your own Bible, your own copy of God's word, Philippians 3, beginning in verse 17. Here's what God says. Brethren, join in following my example and observe those who walk according to the pattern you have in us. For many walk of whom I often told you and now tell you even weeping that they are enemies of the cross of Christ. whose end is destruction, whose God is their appetite, and whose glory is in their shame, and who set their minds on earthly things. When was the last time that you were greatly affected by the eternal destruction that every non believer will face. When was the last time that you were overwhelmed with sorrow? Or to use the language of Paul, tears, weeping. over the coming destruction and doom and judgment and punishment that every non-believer who has ever walked the face of this earth will receive. What kind of destruction is this? What kind of punishment is this? I want to set the stage for us in our study tonight by a number of thoughts that help us. Number one, every non-believer will face divine destruction. It's from God. It's not from Satan. It's not from fate. It's not from the demons. It's God's. Or second of all, it is an unstoppable destruction. It can't be stopped. Who is able to stand Psalm 130 puts it. Who can stand? It's like a little toddler who's standing at the bottom of the Niagara Falls, who's able to bear up under the weight of that massive, massive horseshoe of water that comes down. Or third, fiery destruction. Jesus spoke more than anybody else of the fiery nature of eternal hell. It is a place of fire. The Apostle John called it the lake of fire. It's conscious. In a sense, everybody in hell will be more awake and alert and able to remember more than they did in this life. Very awake, very alert. They will remember all the times they had to repent and come to Christ. It is a painful destruction. It's not a relief. It is a painful destruction. That is to say, hell is a place where it is filled with pain. Gnashing of teeth, Jesus called it. A place of pain. A place of weeping. It's relentless. It's like the rainfall in Houston. It just didn't seem to give up. It didn't seem to let up. It's like the hurricane that came, touched shore, Corpus Christi, came to Texas, and then it recently touched shore again in Louisiana. It's relentless. It doesn't give up. The wrath of God doesn't have one moment of ever letting up or stopping. The destruction of God next is infinite. That is to say, it cannot be measured. It can't be, there's no bottom. There's no, there's no, there's no end to this. There's no boundary to this. It's, it's like a, it's like a, it's like a little boat in the middle of the ocean. Every, everywhere you turn, there's no end in sight. And it is eternal destruction. Never comes to an end. Paul is weeping, I think, on his manuscript. You can almost picture the Apostle Paul as he's been pouring out his heart to this congregation that he loves. And I wonder if at this point in the manuscript, maybe that papyrus was a little bit moist because the tears were running down his cheeks and landing on the manuscript as he would write these words. The Apostle Paul wept for the loss. He said in Romans chapter nine, I have unceasing anguish in my soul for the Jews. David wept for the ungodly in Psalm 119. He said, rivers of water coming down from my eyes because they do not obey your law. Psalm 119, 136. Jeremiah was a man who wept because of the coming destruction on the wicked. Lamentations chapter 3 makes that clear. Jeremiah 9, he says, my weeping is like fountains of tears flowing with water because of the destruction of the ungodly. We think of Jesus. Luke chapter 19 verse 41, He comes riding to Jerusalem and He weeps over the coming destruction and the doom of those who reject Him. Paul and David and Jeremiah and Jesus are all wrapping their arms and their emotions around this very reality that every non-believer, every single non-believer, will face divine destruction at the moment of their death. Let us learn from these verses tonight and be sobered. Let's be sobered as we pursue Christ and as we follow Him together. And as we realize in the words of the Apostle Paul in verse 18, that there are many who are in this category. There are many who are enemies of Christ, many who are enemies of his cross. Now, let me just give a little bit of background by way of bringing us up to speed in Philippians 3. Remember, Philippians chapter 3 is the foundation of the gospel. It's the very cement foundation of the gospel. It's like the theological non-negotiables. In verses 1 to 6, Paul brings out the infiltration of false teachers that have crept into the church. And then in verses 7 to 8, he says, I reject all self-righteousness, all of my own merits. It's rubbish. It's garbage. It's trash. And then he says, but verse nine, here's how I can be accepted by God, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God, which comes on the basis of faith. And then in verses really 10 to 16, Paul talks about the pursuit of the Christian. Verse 9, he is saved by being righteous. Verses 10 to 16, now here's the walk of the Christian who is following God. Now in this final paragraph, verses 17 to 21, it's really kind of a summarizing paragraph. in the main body of Paul's letter. It's a summarizing paragraph where Pastor Paul is warning. He's admonishing. He's exhorting the congregation, really this, be careful who you follow. Be careful who influences you. Be careful who you emulate. We all follow someone. We all follow someone or something. And so the question is, who influences us? That's what Paul is getting at in this paragraph. So what I want to do is I want to work through this with you. And from these verses, I want to show you just a couple of very personal words of pastoral counsel from Paul to every, every one of us, not just the church in Philippi, but as New Testament believers, these are words from the Holy Spirit to us. as well. Two very personal, very pastoral, very passionate words from the Apostle Paul. This is like Pastor Paul pleading with his congregation. This is Pastor Paul exhorting his congregation. I want you to hear these couple of things. Number one, and you have it in your outline, number one, watch who you follow. Watch who you follow and pursue hard after holiness. We think of how David taught Solomon, his son. We think of how Abraham taught Isaac and how Isaac taught Jacob. We think of how Moses discipled Joshua. We think of how fathers are to set the example for their children and disciple their children. We learn from just reading the Bible and examining the Bible that so much of godly living is often caught more than it can only be taught. So much of godliness is much more than just mere head knowledge. It's examining, show me how to do this. Let me watch you. Let me learn from you. Let me follow you. Let me watch what you do and then do as you do. This is why Paul in Titus chapter 2, this is why Paul says, I want the older women. To, to proactively pursue and intentionally initiate the young women in the churches and, and, and, and to teach them and encourage them to help and instruct them on loving their husbands. And on loving their children, Paul says, and on being pure and being workers at home and being submissive to their husbands and living godly lives. Why? Because they could read books all day long. but putting it into practice can be very difficult. What does it look like in my context at home? Paul is writing to the believers in Philippi and he's exhorting them. He is pleading with them. You see in verse 17, brethren, they're converted, they're Christians, they're saved. Brethren, I want you to join in following my example. I want you to join in following my example. It's actually a Greek word that Paul made up. Paul made up this Greek word here. It's found nowhere else in Greek literature. And the best that I can do with the definition, with the meaning of this word is this. Join together in being fellow imitators of me. That's the idea. In other words, there's no individualism. You got to join together and you're being imitators. It's the Greek word mimic. You're, you're, you're mimicking me. You're, you're, you're, you're living your life after me. And you do it in the context of being together as the body of Christ. I want you to join together in following my example. I want you to follow me. Paul's not arrogant. He'd be the first guy to say, I'm the worst of sinners. He'd be the first to say, I am not a man who has reached perfection. He already said that. But he said in 1 Corinthians 11 1, as I follow Christ, you follow me. Follow me. This is what pastors are to do. This is what elders are to do. They are to set the example of godliness so that the congregation can see and follow them and model their lives after them. And then in an amazing way, look at verse 17. Paul says, and observe those who walk according to the pattern you have in us. I want you to observe those. Paul uses a Greek word. It's where we get our English word, scope. I want you to scope them out. It's not just, hey, find somebody that looks good, who seems to be religious. No, he says, I want you to scope carefully. I want you to look very, very carefully. I want you to watch for them. I want you to learn from them. I want you to imitate them. I want you to thank God for them. Observe those who walk according to the pattern you have in us. Thank God for them, find them, emulate them. And really in one sense, as a little footnote, Christian biographies are a great help right here. Find those who have set the example of godliness and be like them. You find them. There's too many to count, too many to lift. One that has recently come to my heart and my mind is Joseph Aline, a man, a Puritan man, a preacher, a man who was imprisoned for the gospel, preaching the gospel, a man that I ordered every biography, which is only three, online that I could find of him, and I read them, and he's become sort of a friend of mine to live my life like a godly person. Mentor would live his life and model it for me. Heroes. Think of discipleships. Think of mentors. That's what Paul's getting at in verse 17. Observe those. Find those in your midst, verse 17, who are walking according to the pattern that you have in me. And I want you to live like them. I want you to live with them. I want you to observe them. Life on life. Togetherness in the body of Christ. What a fitting way for us to even take a step back and say, am I doing this? Are you doing this? Are we doing this? Who is someone at Christ's fellowship that in verse 17 you could say, I'm observing somebody who's walking according to the pattern of godliness. And I'm scoping them out. I'm watching them. I'm learning from them. I'm being discipled by them. I'm growing as I observe them and as I model my life after them. I think, by the way, there's something important here. I think we can biblically conclude from this verse and many others that Paul's writing to the particular local church in Philippi I think the application is such that we should primarily invest in the local church that we are serving in. The people that we are members together with. Now this doesn't mean that we can't have friendships outside our church. It doesn't mean that we can't have Bible studies outside our church. But I think that Paul's writing to this local congregation and he specifically and particularly is bringing out the fact that you need to find those and scope them out among you. In other words, our primary sphere of disciple-making and being disciplers ought to be the context of the local church that we serve in as members. You think, well, how do I do that? There's a little box in your outline there. How do we do this? Well, number one, we could pray for a discipler. Pray for a mentor. Or maybe even on the flip side, seek someone out to disciple. There's a sense in which we can be disciples. I can be learning and I can be a disciple maker. I can be somebody who comes alongside of a younger believer in the faith and teach and help them grow. We also, second, want to look for a humble, Christ-focused person. And then third, we could come together and ask good questions and seek to learn from them. Observe how they think, how they talk, how they respond, how they live. Again, much is taught that cannot be... much is caught that cannot be taught. Again, I mentioned it earlier briefly, but I want to state it again. It's like what, what the apostle Paul says to the older ladies in Titus to consider initiating and pursuing and reaching out to maybe a young mom who's at the church, who, who needs encouragement or who needs discipling or who needs prayer. Maybe it's going to their home and teaching them or praying with them or sharing scripture with them or encouraging them. talking about discipline or discipling the kids or submission to the husband, how to trust Christ, how to overcome fears, how to overcome worries and anxieties. Or for us as men. How, how can we seek others out whether it's the singles or whether it's the teenagers or whether it's those that are not yet married or those that are married. And we can teach by example to make ourselves available as well for these kinds of things. It's time consuming, but a wonderful priority in the life of a Christian. We want to be joining together. As Paul said it in verse 17, to be following his example, joining together to be following his example. So Paul gives this church that he loves this first personal word, watch who you follow, watch who you follow and pursue hard. after holiness, but, but right on the heels of that, he's going to give the reason. And it's the second heading in your outline, weep for the lost and consider their conduct and destruction. It's like, it's like one of my heroes, Joseph Aileen, who wrote this emotionally burdened exhortation to the lost. He said, what? Will you run into everlasting burnings with your eyes open? It's like Paul saying that in verse 18 and 19. Look at what Paul says, verse 18. For many walk of whom I often told you and now tell you even weeping. Before we even get into all the details, let's just observe the text. Just observe it. Look at the words that are there. Number one, notice the word many. What a sobering word. Many. For there are many, end of the verse, who are enemies of the cross of Christ. Many. There are many who are enemies. There are many who will say on that day, Lord, Lord. There are few that are saved, Jesus said. There are many who are on the broad road that leads to destruction. There are many all around us like this. There are many antichrists that have appeared, 1 John 2. There are many rebellious men, Titus chapter 1. There are many that are enemies. Many. And then the second little word here, walk. It has to do with their conduct. It's easy to profess something with your lips. But Paul says the way that they live their life, their conduct, the way that they are walking, the way that they are living, It reveals who they really are. Far more than a profession, the fruit of their lives is very revealing. Not just are there many, but they are walking this way. And now notice this third observation. Paul says, of whom I often told you. I often told you. This teaches us that every faithful pastor must preach and teach and disciple and mention that there are many who are enemies of the cross of Christ. Yes, the job of the preacher is to teach and encourage. It's also to warn and to protect as well. The job of the pastor is to warn, and Paul's going to take on that role here. I've often warned you. I've told you many times when I was with you of these enemies of the cross of Christ. But let's not think that Paul has truth in his head, but he's emotionally detached. He warns about error, but he weeps over those who hold to it. You know, in a place like ours where We love the truth. We're committed to the truth. We'll live and die for the truth. We can't ever be stoic regarding the lost. In a sense, we can't be too proud to weep. Really, may God help us if we are too comfortable in our own personal salvation that I don't weep over the innumerable multitudes of souls that are headed for the eternal fires. I have a book on my shelf, words to winners of souls by Horatius Bonar. Look at this in your outline. Horatius Bonar said, he that saved our souls has taught us to weep over the unsaved. Lord, let that mind be in us that was in thee. Give us thy tears to weep. For Lord, our hearts are hard toward our fellows. We can see thousands perish around us and our sleep never be disturbed. No vision of their awful doom ever scaring us. No cry from their lost souls ever turning our peace into bitterness. Oh, how we can be cold toward the lost. Oh, love can be lacking. Deep love. Love strong as death. Love such as made Jeremiah weep in secret places for the pride of Israel. And Paul speak even of weeping of the enemies of the cross of Christ. Oh God, teach us to weep. And Paul says, I tell you weeping. Notice this verse 18, they are enemies, not of Paul. Always, they're not your enemies. They're not my enemies. They might burn you. They might behead you. They might hate you. They might punch you. They might spit in your face. They're not your enemies. They're enemies of the cross of Christ. They're enemies of the cross of Christ. Paul's like, there's no resentment. There's no anger. There's no bitterness. There's no hostility. They're not my enemies, but they're Christ's enemies. So, so Paul says, so therefore we must go with love and preach to them. If you're like me, maybe you say, well, God, I need to cultivate this kind of heart. God, how do I cultivate this tender heart that weeps over the lost? A couple of thoughts in your outline. Number one, consider the eternality of God's hell. Get away for an hour or two and have nothing on your mind, but the eternality of hell. Think on it, pray on it, ponder it, consider it. Reflect on it, muse on it, think about it. Number two, consider the power of Satan's deception. Number three, consider the tragedy of selfish living. And finally consider the imminency, the nearness of judgment day. Now in verse 19, And really, we can fly through these. These are obvious. Verse 19 is going to give characteristics of the ungodly. There's a number of them that he's going to mention. And by the way, let me just summarize it briefly by saying the obvious. Philippians is a little letter that says that the true Christian is consumed with Jesus Christ. I just want Christ. There's something glaringly missing from these four phrases describing the lost. There's nothing about Christ. There's no thought of Christ. There's no concern of Christ. There's no love for Christ. There's no obedience for Christ. What is missing in the description of the loss, but Christ. So verse 19, notice how he begins whose end is destruction. Notice he begins with hell. It's not annihilation. That's an unbiblical doctrine. The Bible does not teach that. It's a Greek word that means eternal punishment. Same word in Matthew 25, 46. You've got eternal life right next to eternal punishment, parallel. As long as heaven endures, hell endures. What is it? It is unending. It is conscious torment. It's like being always perpetually perishing, but never ending. It's like being always dying, but never dead. It's like always being condemned, but never being consumed. That's hell. It's the second death. It's the everlasting lake of fire. It's eternal punishment. It's contrasted with eternal life for God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him will not perish. Same word will not be destroyed, but have eternal life. What is Paul doing? Paul says, Church, be careful who you follow, because if you follow the ungodly, you need to be warned. You need to be warned that their destruction is inevitable. Number one, their destruction is inevitable. Number two, their God is pleasure. You could almost write in parentheses, that's our society. Actually, literally in the Greek, their God is their belly. Their god is their belly. I don't think it only means gluttony. That could be included. It's self-indulgence. Self-indulgence. Whatever feels good, I plunge myself into it. And I satisfy my craving. What's Paul saying? Their God is their personal pleasure. Their God is their personal comfort, giving into the constant craving of satisfying self. By the way, we can't forget. In the ancient world, many of the Roman pagan gatherings, often these parties were known to involve gluttony, sexual immorality, and all kinds of sensual pleasures. Paul says, beware. Their God is pleasure. The appetites and the desires dictate and rule their lives. Sexual indulging, sensual indulging. Their God is pleasure. The wicked, the enemies of Christ are described. First, their destruction is inevitable. Number two, their God is pleasure. Number three, their boasting is shameful. Here you could write social media. They glory in their shame. Actually, one commentator said this, their prestige is in their disgrace. Jeremiah said, they don't even blush over sin anymore. Now that's how bad we've gotten. When was the last time you and I blushed over sin? We just so often fall prey. We don't want to, but we fall into this numbness of the society around us that Jeremiah said they've forgotten how to blush. They boast of that which they should be ashamed. They not only carry out their sinful deeds, but they brag about what they do. It's like they broadcast it. They tweet it. They put it on their Facebook wall. They put the picture on Instagram. They capture the video on Snapchat, whatever it is. Glory in their shame. And finally, Paul says their mindset is worldly. Verse 19. They've set their mind on earthly things. Not just a thought, but their way of thinking. Their way of thinking. It's not godly. It's earthly. It's worldly. It's temporal. Their mind is so set and fixed and anchored to this earth, to the here and now. It's like I live for the now. It's YOLO. You only live once. So do what feels good. And I think Paul's writing this, and I think Paul has a broken heart. In fact, I know he does because he's weeping. He's weeping when he writes this. congregation, this is us pre-conversion. This is the neighborhood in which we live. This is the city in which we live. This is the country. This is the world in which we live. Paul is weeping. He's not mad. He's mourning. He's not angry. He's emotional. He's not wrathful toward them. He's weeping. And so in your outline, there's this box. So what do we do when we've got this tender heart? God, God, give me this heart. God, I want to weep for the lost. God, I want to pursue the lost. God, I want to see them saved. What will we do when we gain this mindset? Number one, we will go out. Number two, we will speak out. Number three, we will invite in. And number four, we'll look up. Here's what I mean. Number one, you go out. Jesus said, go, therefore. Jesus said, Luke 14, go to the highways. Speak out. With the gospel. With God's holiness, man's sinfulness, Christ's atonement, response and repentance and faith. We go to them, we speak to them, we invite them in. Invite them, invite them. Jesus says it like this, call them, call them, invite them, compel them to come to the wedding feast so that my house may be full. Invite them. But number four, we look up. We trust in God all the while. We trust in God. We know He is sovereign. We know that God alone saves. May God help us that we would not be people who denounce, but we do not weep. We want to be people who warn. We must be people who warn. But may it be that we would do so with tears. We cannot speak against sin, but not sorrow over the perishing sinners. We want to be touched. We want to be affected with tears over the wicked. I think some of this can be summed up again in our friend Joseph Aline. And I want to end with this just to really kind of prepare us for our time of prayer. As we go to this room here in a minute, the prayer room and pray. Oh God, give us this heart for the lost. God, I repent of the littleness of my concern for the lost. God, help me to go out, help me to speak out, help me to invite in, help me to Look up and trust. So in closing, here's what Joseph Aileen would say. He would write to sinners and he would say, Oh, sinners cast yourselves into his eternal arms. Why should you die? Why will you forsake your own mercy? Will you perish when mercy woos you? confess and forsake your sins and you shall find mercy. Will you part with Christ and sell your soul to perdition, eternal destruction for a little ease and a delight to your flesh? or a little of the gain of unrighteousness, or a little alcohol, or a vain money, or ungodly friends? Why, these are the things that part between sinners and Christ. You hear the emotion, you hear the love, you hear the urgency in His pleading. May God help us that we would be like Paul and say, Oh God, I want to rejoice in the Lord, I want to trust in You, There are many enemies of the cross of Christ. Give me such a weeping heart that I would go to them with the gospel. As we see the broad road that they are on and that we would call them and compel them and plead with them and beg them to be reconciled to God. Father, let's let's pray. Father, thank you for the the clarity of this description, O Lord, of the enemies of the cross of Christ. Help us now as we have a time of prayer, as we seek you together, as we call upon your name, as we seek your help. In equipping us to share the gospel and giving us the courage to share the gospel, and as we totally Depend upon you, O God. Totally depend upon you to bring salvation and to open the heart of dead sinners to come to know and love and believe in Christ. Help us, God, that we would be a congregation of tellers of the gospel of Jesus Christ. In Jesus' name, Amen.