Keep Pressing on Toward the Goal

Philippians 3:12-16 ESV

“Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. Only let us hold true to what we have attained.”

When we first believe in Jesus Christ to be Lord and Savior of our lives, it doesn’t stop there. We don’t “get saved” and now we are “good to go,” end of story until we go to heaven one day. Our faith in Jesus Christ must be ongoing. For literally John 3:16 should read “that everyone who is believing in him may not perish.” It must be an active ongoing faith that is lived out in our lives in practice. For the Scriptures teach that faith which is genuine is faith which is lived out in practice in our lives (Romans 6:1-23). 

And this is what Paul was describing here. For not one of us will be absolutely perfect and complete in Christ until Jesus returns and he takes his bride to be with him for eternity. For that is when our salvation will be complete and our marriage to Christ will be spiritually consummated, and not until then. And we will only go to be with him for eternity if we are living out that faith in our daily lives, in practice, via walks of obedience to our Lord in holiness and in righteousness and no longer in sin.

But lack of perfection is never to be used as an excuse for continued, deliberate, and habitual sin against the Lord Jesus. And yes, sin is sin no matter what the sin is. But our Lord “drew a line in the sand,” so to speak, when he divided the “left from the right,” in essence. For the Bible teaches that if sin is our practice, and if righteousness and obedience to the Lord are not what we practice, that we will not inherit eternal life with God. So it isn’t that we will never sin again, but we are not to habitually sin against God.

And when Paul said that he was forgetting what was behind and that he was straining forward to what lies ahead, that didn’t mean that he forgot everything from his previous life, for he gave testimony often to his former life and how Jesus Christ had rescued him from that life of sin and gave him a new life to be lived for the glory of God in obedience to the Lord and to his commands (New Covenant). But it did mean that he put his old life behind him to follow Jesus in obedience and to follow him in His ways.

And that meant that Paul didn’t go back to how he had lived before. He was not someone who continually and habitually and deliberately repeated over again the same sins of his former life. But what did he do, instead? He pressed on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. He moved forward in his relationship with Jesus Christ, and he followed the Lord wherever he led him, and he did as the Lord commanded him to do, and he set the example for us in holy and righteous living.

So, our faith in Jesus Christ must continue steadfast until the very end in walks of surrender to Christ and in obedience to his commands and in holy living, and not in sin, if we are to have salvation from sin and eternal life with God. For if sin is what we practice, we will not inherit eternal life with God, regardless of what faith in Christ we have professed with our lips. For Jesus said that not everyone who says, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven but the one DOING the will of God the Father (Matthew 7:21-23).

[Matt 7:21-23; Matt 24:9-14; Lu 9:23-26; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14,24; Rom 12:1-2; Rom 13:11; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; 1 Co 1:18; 1 Co 15:1-2; 2 Tim 1:8-9; Heb 9:28; 1 Pet 1:5; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-17; 1 Pet 2:24; Tit 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 3:6,14-15; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15] 

Oh, to Be Like Thee, Blessed Redeemer 

Lyrics by Thomas O. Chisholm, 1897

Music by W. J. Kirkpatrick, 1897

Oh, to be like Thee! blessèd Redeemer,

This is my constant longing and prayer;

Gladly I’ll forfeit all of earth’s treasures,

Jesus, Thy perfect likeness to wear.

Oh, to be like Thee! full of compassion,

Loving, forgiving, tender and kind,

Helping the helpless, cheering the fainting,

Seeking the wandering sinner to find.

O to be like Thee! lowly in spirit,

Holy and harmless, patient and brave;

Meekly enduring cruel reproaches,

Willing to suffer others to save.

O to be like Thee! while I am pleading,

Pour out Thy Spirit, fill with Thy love;

Make me a temple meet for Thy dwelling,

Fit me for life and Heaven above.

Oh, to be like Thee! Oh, to be like Thee,

Blessèd Redeemer, pure as Thou art;

Come in Thy sweetness, come in Thy fullness;

Stamp Thine own image deep on my heart.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrYhiK2nQBg 

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