The Surpassing Value of Knowing Christ

The Cost of Discipleship and the Call to Count the Cost

Of the Lord Jesus Christ and his earthly ministry was that true discipleship to him comes at great cost. True discipleship comes at great cost. In Matthew's gospel, Jesus said, if anyone wishes to come after me, he must first deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.

For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?

This teaching is so important that Matthew, Mark, and Luke all include it in their gospels. Scripture, time and time again, it tells us, it instructs us, it shows us that true discipleship can cost us.

It can even cost us everything. Jesus also said in Luke 14, 26, a great passage on the cost of discipleship, he said, if anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.

No, Jesus is not saying that we have to have just disdain for family and despise them. He clearly taught us to love one another. But what he is saying is that these relationships, even amongst family, they should pale in comparison to our loving devotion to him.

And this is a really strong statement. Jesus even includes spouses and children in this. Discipleship to Christ can cost us family relationships. Discipleship to Christ can even cost us our own lives.

Jesus, in this portion, he gives several illustrations and he gives a stern warning that if you're going to consider the cost of discipleship, it's wise to do so beforehand. Before you commit to following him, count the cost.

He ends this discourse saying, so then, none of you can be my disciple who does not give up all of his own possessions. So all things that we would hold dear to us, not just our physical possessions, but possession of status and the respect of men, religious achievements, our own righteousness or perceived righteousness, our own deeds, our own obedience to God's law.

And in a matter of just a few verses, the Lord Jesus says that it will cost us all that we own. It can cost us relationships. It can even cost our own life for the sake of following him. He instructs us to deny ourselves and take up our cross and follow him.

So I need to ask, what is the value of the thing that we gain when it could cost us family relationships, could cost us a relationship with a spouse, a child, all that we own? What do you gain when you are willing to give up your own life for the sake of following Christ?

Church history in tradition tells us that all the disciples, except John who was exiled, lost their lives for the sake of following Christ. Many missionaries and faithful servants throughout church history have not only suffered the loss of their life, but many of them joyfully lost their lives.

They joyfully lost their lives for Christ. How can this be? What is the value of what we gain? What could possibly be so strongly motivating to somebody that they would give up all things, even dying a horrific death at times, all their statuses, all their religious achievements for the sake of following Christ?

Well, we know that he promises the gift of eternal life to us, and it's good to desire eternal life, but do we see the intrinsic value of the person of the Lord Jesus Christ himself? Do we gladly give up all things that we have for the sake of gaining simply the person of Jesus?

I pose to you that if we indeed truly understand what exactly we gain in Christ, we too would gladly give up everything that we have so that we could gain Christ. To see this, I'd like to invite you back to Philippians chapter three.

If you have your Bibles, I'd love for you to see God's word with your own eyes. And as you turn there, Philippians chapter three, I wanna ask, the last couple weeks, what were some of the things that Paul once thought of as gain?

What were the accolades and the achievements and the statuses that Paul had prior to his conversion? And in Acts chapter nine, when the Lord Jesus confronts Paul on the road to Damascus and says, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?

What was the shift? What was the internal shift of Paul's affections? How did his view of self change? Philippians three, we'll start in verse three and we'll read through 11, but we'll just be looking at verses eight through 11 really today.

Please follow with me as I read. For we are the circumcision who worship in the spirit of God and boast in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh. Although I myself might have confidence even in the flesh, if anyone else has a mind to put confidence in the flesh,.

I far more.

Circumcised the eighth day of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews, and as to the law of Pharisee, as to zeal, a persecutor of the church, as to righteousness, which is found in the law, found blameless.

But whatever things were gained to me, those things I have counted as a loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be lost because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I suffered the loss of all things and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God upon faith, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his suffering, being conformed to his death, in order that I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

As you studied last week, you gained insight to what the unconverted Paul counted as gain in his own life. In fact, some of the reason for his confidence in his own flesh, or if anybody said they had reason for confidence, Paul said it was him.

He said, well, verse five, "'Circumcise the aid today of the nation of Israel, "'of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews, "'as to the law of Pharisee, as to zeal.'". How zealous was he in the faith?

He was persecuting the church. And as to the righteousness which is from the law, he says he was found blameless. You see, Paul's confidence of where he stood with the Lord was based on this list of accolades.

His heritage, his privileged status as a Jew, these things were what he held on to as gain. But when Christ called Paul to himself, there's this just radical reorientation of Paul's affections and what he now holds dear.

Verse seven, he writes, "'But whatever things were gained to me, "'those things I have counted as loss "'for the sake of Christ.'". Paul's entire list, all these things that he had counted as gain and favor with the Lord, now he says all of those things he counts as loss for the sake of gaining Christ.

Verse eight, he kind of continues this thought. He says, "'More than that.'". So building off what he just said in verse seven, not only is this list of achievements loss for the sake of Christ, he adds, he says, "'I now count all things to be loss for the sake of Christ.

"'Things past, things present, things future, "'all things are loss.'". His possessions, his relationships, any personal achievement, all of his religiosity, all of it. I'd like to point out one thing to you.

Not everything on this list in and of itself is a bad thing. Certainly persecuting the church, incredibly wicked, but Paul points out his Jewish heritage. His Jewishness in and of itself, it's not a bad thing.

It's actually good. Romans chapter three, Paul even reminds his readers that there is great advantage in his Jewishness. He says, it's great in every respect. He says, the Jews, they received the oracles of God.

So they had this tremendous advantage. They had the Old Testament scriptures because, and the blessing of this is what? Well, they had the truth about salvation. So what Paul is saying to the Philippians is all things that were held more dearly than the value of Christ, all things that would have offered any sort of hope in being justified before God, these are the things that are loss.

The very things that he would have thought would have assisted with his right standing with God were the very things that were actually keeping him eternally apart from God because of the hope that he had placed in them.

But now, Paul gladly says, it is all loss. Why is it all loss? Because the surpassing value of knowing Christ. He gladly gives up all things because there is a surpassing and exceeding and infinite value in knowing Christ.

And note what Paul is not fixed upon here. He doesn't say that the surpassing value of eternal life. He's not just fixed upon eternal life. Paul's excitement in giving up all things is that he has gained a person.

He's gained Jesus Christ. And not only this, they're surpassing joy in knowing Christ. More than that, I count all things to be lost because of their surpassing value of knowing Christ my Lord. Realize what Paul is not saying here.

He isn't saying knowing about Christ. He isn't talking about knowing about Christ. It's not mental assent to facts that saves anyone. James reminds his reader, he says, you believe God is one, you do well.

The demons also believe and shudder. Listen, you believe in God? Well, good, demons believe. They also agree God is one and they shudder. It's actually evidence that they do know God. They know positionally where they're at.

So it's not just a head knowledge. A .W. Tozer had it right. He says, the devil is a better theologian than any of us and is a devil still. It's not just head knowledge. The depths of academic and theological knowledge without any sort of personal experiential knowledge in relationship to Christ makes us no more saved than the pagan who's never heard of Christ.

I dare say the pagan has lesser judgment because at least they haven't heard the truth and rejected it. Need I make my point more clearly that intellectual knowledge is not what Paul is speaking of? I remind you, the warning that Christ gives in Matthew seven to those who are deceived thinking that they are in right relationship with him.

He says, not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to me on that last day, Lord, Lord, in your name did we not prophesy and in your name cast out demons and in your name do many miracles.

And then I will declare to them, I never knew you. Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness. These who are going to be deceived on the last day certainly thought that they knew the Lord. They certainly knew about him because they're claiming that their religious deeds were done in his name.

So clearly they knew about Christ, but what did Jesus say to them? He says, I, I never knew you. Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness. You know, Jesus gives us a lot of insight into the characteristics of those who do know him in this passage.

He says, not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter, but who does he say will enter? Those who do the will of his father. Those are the ones that enter. The one who's disobedient to his father, Jesus says, I never knew you.

Those who truly know Christ are also known by Christ. They're also known by Christ. In John 10, Jesus says this. He says, I am the good shepherd and I know my own and my own know me. Even as the father knows me and I know the father, I lay down my life for my sheep.

You see that? He says, his sheep know him and he knows them. Not only that, it's his sheep that he lays his life down for exclusively. He continues, but do you not believe me because you are not, I'm sorry, but you do not believe me because you are not my sheep.

My sheep, they hear my voice and I know them and they follow me. You see what he points out again? That his sheep know him. The evidence of this is that they follow him. Jesus says this also of his sheep.

He says that I give them eternal life and they will never perish ever. No one will snatch them out of my hand. His sheep know him. They're known by him. They follow him. It's his sacrifice of his own life that benefit his sheep only.

So why does Paul so gladly give up all things? Because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus as his Lord because knowing Christ is to gain the fullness of Christ. And what Paul has done is he's described treasures that he has gained in Christ after suffering a loss of all things.

So for those of you that keep notes, we'll be examining the surpassing value of five treasures that Paul lists that we gain in Christ. The treasure of union with Christ, the treasure of Christ's righteousness, the treasure of experientially knowing the power of Christ, the treasure of fellowship with Christ in suffering, and finally the treasure of the final resurrection.

And as Paul is about to introduce us to these treasures that we possess in Christ, he takes one final shot at his past accolades. Look with me again at verse eight. More than that, I count all things to be lost because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord for whom I suffered the loss of all things and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ.

So Paul, he has this escalating disdain for everything that he had previously held as gain. He finally says he counts it all as lost for the sake of Christ. Everything that was lost, it's just rubbish to him.

And I don't wanna breeze past this. Word Paul uses here actually is more kind of describing like vile waste of some sort. It can be used to describe table scraps and even dung. So Paul's view of all these things in the past that they are no more valuable than table scraps or dung.

That's how low he's viewing these things. The very thought of holding anything more dear than Christ was absolutely repulsive. It was sickening to him now, which again is why Paul said he's considered all these things as rubbish so that he may gain Christ.

Union with Christ: Being Found in Him

Verse nine, and to be found in him. Paul now shifts his focus to the treasures that he has gained in the person of Christ. So the first treasure he speaks of is the treasure of his union with Christ. The treasure of his union with Christ, to be found in him.

What Paul expresses in this statement, it's a deeper truth about knowing Christ. To know Christ is to be found in Christ, to be unified with him. Paul in his epistles uses the phrase in Christ, in him, in the Lord Jesus Christ, in the Lord over 200 times.

It's one of Paul's favorite phrases. What he speaks of is the spiritual identity of every single believer. That we are in Christ, we are intimately and we're eternally united to the Lord Jesus Christ.

In Paul's epistle to the Romans, he explains in great detail how exactly we are united to Christ. All people in their natural condition, they share the same federal head. What do I mean by federal head?

Well, Romans five tells us that Adam is our representative. He's the representative to all humanity in this way that since Adam sinned, all his seed, all of us share in Adam's guilt of sin. So Adam's a representative of the human race, Romans 5, 12.

Therefore, just as through one man's sin entered into the world and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned. Because Adam sinned, sin came to us all, death came to us all.

So Paul's purpose in pointing this out is just as sin and death spread to all men because of Adam, those who are justified by faith, they have a new federal head in Christ Jesus. Paul explains that Adam was a type of him who was to come, obviously Christ.

So just as sin and death entered the world through Adam's disobedience, through Christ's obedience, now life and the result of justification is in all those whom Christ is representing. Who does he represent?

Well, he's representing only the redeemed. So no longer is someone in Adam when they're redeemed, they're now in Christ. And because they're in Christ, they share with Christ in his victory. So turn with me in your Bibles to Romans 6, back to the left a little bit.

Romans chapter 6, I'd love for you to see this with your eyes. Romans 6 says that the believer is baptized into Christ. It says that the believer is baptized into Christ. What Paul is not talking about here, he's not talking about any sort of water baptism that would unify us with Christ.

But what he is speaking of is the reality of our union with Christ. So Paul uses the word baptizo, which simply just means immersed. And he paints this picture, this spiritual picture of the state of anybody in Christ.

And he mentions two realities. Union with Christ is both, we're unified with Christ in his death and his resurrection. Our union with Christ is to be unified with him in death and resurrection. Again, he's not speaking of water baptism.

Verse three, he says, do you not know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? So here's the reality. If you're in Christ, you're united with Christ, you're also united with Christ in his death.

Continuing on, therefore, we were buried with him through baptism into death so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with him in the likeness of his death, certainly we shall also be with him in the likeness of the resurrection.

Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be done away with so that we would no longer be slaves to sin. So you have died with Christ. Just as he died, we too have died to sin.

Sin is no longer master over us. For he who has died has been justified from sin. He has been declared righteous. He's been justified before God. So now, verse eight, if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again.

Death no longer is master over him. For the death that he died, he died to sin once and for all. But the life that he lives, he lives to God. So because you're united with him in both his death and resurrection, Paul says, even so, consider yourselves dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus because we're baptized into Christ because we, as Paul says, we are found in Christ.

We're found in him. Here's the treasure. You are dead to sin and you're alive to God in Christ. Paul says in Galatians, I have been crucified with Christ and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.

So you are forever united to the Lord Jesus Christ. You're found in him. When he says he is found, this could be understood as being proven to be. He has been proven to be without question in Christ, united forever with the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Imputation of Christ's Righteousness

The second treasure that Paul identifies that he has is Christ's righteousness. Turn back with me to Philippians three. The second treasure that we possess in Christ is the imputation of his very own righteousness.

Verse nine, and be found in him not having a righteousness of my own, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God upon faith. In our union with Christ, we share in his death and resurrection.

How?

Because we've been justified. In other words, we have been given that declaration of righteousness. And he's not talking about practically moral here. That is a way that we would use the word righteous at times, but what he's really talking about is a judicial stance, a legal standing, being justified, being righteous.

God being holy and just, he demands perfect righteousness. And anything short of his perfect righteousness, it's not acceptable. So listen to what Paul says again. Not having a righteousness of my own, which comes from the law.

Why can't righteousness come from obedience to the law? Romans 3 20, because by the works of the law, no flesh will be justified in his sight. No flesh will be declared righteous. For through the law comes the knowledge of sin.

Paul in this critical part of Romans, after two and a half chapters of indicting the whole human race, he reminds his reader one last time, no person will ever be justified by the law. The law actually condemns us.

It reveals to us our sin. No one can obey the demands of the law perfectly. In fact, in Galatians, as Paul is correcting the Judaizers error, they're preaching that, well, you're saved by grace, but also by the law.

And that's how anybody must be justified, specifically circumcision. And he reminds him, anyone who does not abide by all the law stands condemned. Therefore, we all stand condemned because we've all transgressed God's law.

No one is righteous.

No, not one.

So do you see the glorious treasure that this is? To have a righteousness, an alien righteousness, applied to you that's satisfactory to the demands of the law. In the second half of verse nine, Paul delights in this fact.

He says, a righteousness which is through faith in Christ, a righteousness which is from God upon faith. The righteousness that is acceptable to God can only come from God. If his standard of perfect righteousness, if his standard is perfect righteousness, only the perfect righteousness of Christ is satisfactory.

And what Paul says is through faith, again, through faith, because of Christ, he himself is now justified. He's declared righteous. Well, how is this? He says, by the means of faith. When God declares a sinner as righteous, this isn't by any worth of the sinner.

It's not done by the actions of the sinner. It's not done by a choice. It's purely by the gift of God's sovereign grace. But the means in which he always distributes to us that declaration of righteousness is through the means of faith.

Saving faith, this has always been the means anybody's been justified. Galatians, Paul reminds the church in Galatia, Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as what? As righteousness. Our justification, it's a gift.

But again, this gift has been and always will be applied through the means of faith. And faith is not a work. We can't misunderstand that. Faith is not a work. But faith is still a gift from God. So God being just, however, he didn't leave sin unpunished.

And as the Lord Jesus himself bore the penalty for all that would believe, says Christ redeemed us by the curse of the law, having become a curse for us. And just as his righteousness was applied to us, our sin was now imputed to him.

So we get his righteousness. He gets our sin. And he was crushed on our behalf to satisfy the demands of the law. Charles Spurgeon says this, and it's always helpful for me. God looked at you, I'm sorry, God looked at Christ as if he were you so that he could look upon you as if you were Christ.

I think that's really helpful. God didn't simply look past sin. He's just, remember? He didn't look past it. It was punished in Christ. And because he was offered and found to be satisfactory in his atonement, his righteousness through faith is now credited to us.

So positionally, in Christ, you stand completely and totally righteous, acceptable to him in all ways on the basis of his son. So do you see how priceless of a treasure this is? The psalmist says, Lord, if you were to count our sin, oh, who could stand?

But with you, there is forgiveness. Then he encourages Israel to wait on the Lord.

Why?

Because in the Lord is loving kindness, abundant redemption, and he says a redeemer for Israel, a redeemer for us. That's why Paul so gladly forsook all of his achievements. It's just rubbish. It only actually further condemned him.

It was keeping him further from Christ. But now, he possesses the perfect righteousness of Christ. The third treasure that Paul recognizes is that experientially, he knows the power of Christ. Verse 10 says that I may know him and the power of his resurrection.

He already spoke to the surpassing value of knowing Christ, but he adds, not only knowing him, but knowing the power of his resurrection. And as we talked earlier, just as knowing him is relational and it's experiential, so is knowing the power of his resurrection.

It's not knowing about the resurrection, certainly. We looked at this in Romans chapter six. Since we are in him, since we're united to him, we share not just in his death, but we share in his resurrection.

The same power that rose Jesus from the dead is now the same power in us. Romans 8, 11. But if the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his spirit who dwells in you.

This power, it's actually, it's indwelling us. The Holy Spirit is indwelling us because we're unified with Christ. We have the same power within us. Romans six reminds us that we're dead to sin. Now, we're alive to God in Christ.

And it's in light of this reality that since we died with him in his death, we're alive with him in his resurrection. And because of this reality, now he gives us this command. He says, do not let sin reign in your mortal bodies.

The power of the resurrection that we have in us is the power that allows us to live in accordance with his will. Because of this reality, Paul says, you have been freed from sin and enslaved to God. You have your benefit leading to sanctification in the end eternal life.

So this power has not only the power to give eternal life, but it accomplishes our sanctification. We gain the treasure of having the same power of the resurrection in us that's inwardly allowing us to have victory over sin.

It allows us to now obey the very law that we couldn't keep. The same power of his resurrection is the power in you that's conforming you to the image of Jesus Christ. As we're progressively sanctified, we're being more and more made into the image of Christ.

So do you see the treasure that that is? The very law that we couldn't keep, now we're empowered because of the power of the resurrection we have that power in us that's allowing us to now obey. The fourth treasure that we possess in Christ is fellowshipping with Christ and his suffering.

Verse 10, that I may know him and the power of the resurrection and the fellowship of his suffering being conformed to his death. It comes to no surprise for any of us that know our Bibles that we as Christians, we are no strangers to any sort of suffering.

We're no strangers to suffering. Jesus reminds his disciples, he says in this world you will have tribulations. That's the reality of it. We just examined, yes, we have this kind of joyful aspect that we share with Christ in the victory of his resurrection but we would be short-sighted to breeze past what Paul's saying here, that we are conformed to his death.

What does he mean by being conformed to his death? Just as Christ endured death and pain and ridicule and suffering beyond all imagination, we would be foolish to think we also might not expect the same.

If we're united to Christ, the man of sorrows acquainted with grief, we would be foolish to think that we would be exempt from any sort of sorrows and grief ourself. Second Timothy 3 .12 says this, indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.

All who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. The treasure here is this though, in light of this reality that you will suffer and be persecuted for following Christ is that you will always have fellowship in your suffering not just with anyone but with the Lord Jesus himself.

What a treasure that is that we have fellowship with him in suffering. We're not alone anymore, we're not alone. Your trials, your suffering, your grief, it's not something that you ever bear alone again.

You'll never bear it alone again. Isaiah wrote 700 years before Christ, he spoke of Christ's coming, he says, behold, the virgin will be with child and she shall bear a son and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which means what?

God with us. Matthew introduces us to Emmanuel right away. Joseph is told that Mary's gonna conceive a son and his name will be Emmanuel. Well, he's here, he's coming, that's the message. And what does Emmanuel tell his followers right before he, right at the end of the book of Matthew?

He says, I am with you always even to the end of the age. This promise has been kept by God. We do have God with us. And he isn't just there in our time of blessings, he's with us in our suffering. When Paul suffered that messenger from Satan in 2 Corinthians 12, a thorn in his flesh, he prayed and prayed and prayed that this thorn would be removed.

And what did God do? He reminded him, he said, my grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness. No, Paul, I'm not removing this suffering from you, but my grace is more than sufficient for you in this.

Considering the sufficiency of God's grace, Paul recognizes in his own weakness, the power of Christ is dwelling in him. So Paul now finds contentment with his own weakness, with his insults, with distresses, persecutions, with difficulties for the sake of Christ.

How?

Because in his weakness, the indwelling power of Christ is actually magnified. As weak as we are, when we participate in his suffering, we have fellowship with the one that gives us power and grace to endure suffering.

That's an incalculable treasure of having fellowship with Christ in suffering. So Paul's brought our attention to the treasures we have in Christ, union with him, the imputation of righteousness, knowing the power of Christ and fellowshipping with him in suffering.

And our final treasure that we possess in Christ is the sureness of the final resurrection. Look with me at verse 11. He says, in order that I may attain to the resurrection of the dead. When Paul says the resurrection of the dead, he's describing the resurrection that occurs at the Lord's coming.

So we've seen the value of Christ already to justify us, to sanctify us. Now he shifts his focus to glorification when our bodies are even redeemed. Some of your translations, they may say, in order that I may attain the resurrection or so somehow attaining the resurrection or some of them, if by any means that I might attain the resurrection.

And this verse, it's drawn a lot of questions because it seems like maybe Paul's wrestling with the sureness of the resurrection. And what I'd pose to you is Paul is just simply being humble. There is not a question in Paul's mind of the final resurrection.

One commentator said this about Paul's choice of words. He says, his participation in the resurrection depends on God's favor, something that we shouldn't presume. He expresses humility and self-distrust, not doubt in the Lord.

On the human side, it is doubtful. On the side of the one working divine grace, it is certain. So I think he has it right. I think that this is an expression of humility from Paul. Paul spoke with a ton of confidence on this issue, actually.

If you, as we close, flip with me to 1 Thessalonians 4. Couple books to our right. 1 Thessalonians 4, verse 13. Paul says this, but we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope.

For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the words of the Lord that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will not precede those who have fallen asleep.

For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with a trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.

And so we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words. With sureness, Paul, he describes that the Lord will return for his own. He says that the dead in Christ, they're going to rise first, and then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with the dead in Christ in the clouds and meet the Lord Jesus in the air.

And the treasure in this resurrection, the end of verse 17, that we shall always be with the Lord. Comfort one another with these words. If the resurrection was not sure, there is no comfort at all in these words.

He was talking to a people that thought they maybe missed the resurrection, missed the day of the Lord. He's talking with clarity and with surety that this will come to pass, and that's the comfort. Do you see the intrinsic beauty and majesty of Christ?

Do you see the treasure of knowing Christ? Do you see the foolishness in holding on anything more dear to you than Christ? The folly of trusting your own righteousness, your own works, your own right standing before God.

Will you, like Paul, consider all things as loss for the sake of gaining Christ? Not the labor of my hands can fulfill thy laws demands. Could my zeal no respite know? Could my tears forever flow? All could never sin erase.

Thou must save and save by grace. Nothing in my hands I bring. Simply to thy cross I cling. Naked come to thee for dress. Helpless look to thee for grace. Foul I to thy fountain fly. Wash me, Savior, or I die.

The reality is this. If you hold on to one drop of self-worth, of your own achievements, of your own possessions, in hopes of being made right or justified before God, Christ is of no benefit to you.

Christ is of no benefit to you. He will stand over you as righteous judge and say, I never knew you. Depart from me, you worker of lawlessness. In Christ we have union with him. We have the power of the resurrection.