(Through the Bible) Philippians 3-4 — Chuck Smith

Rejoicing in the Lord Despite Circumstances

So, we turn now in our Bibles to Philippians chapter 3. Again, remember the background of this epistle. Paul is chained to a Roman soldier in Rome, in prison, writing to the Philippians. The keynote of the epistle is rejoice.

And he said, finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. You know, often times it is extremely difficult to rejoice in circumstances. In fact, I think sometimes it's impossible to rejoice in circumstances.

You know, I just did a dumb thing. I ran through a red light and hit somebody and I'm being sued for a million dollars. It's hard to rejoice in circumstances. But you can always rejoice in the Lord because He's above circumstances.

So, the exhortation in the Scripture is always that of rejoicing in the Lord. And Paul writes, to write the same things to you in deed is not grievous. In other words, here I am, I'm chained in prison, but I don't find it hard to write this to you.

I'm rejoicing here in the Lord. I'm sure he wasn't rejoicing in the circumstances themselves. They were rather miserable. But that does not stop you from rejoicing in the Lord. There's always cause to rejoice in the Lord.

False Teachers and Legalism

But for you, it is safe. Beware of dogs. Now, immediately after telling them to rejoice in the Lord, he's warning them about the false teachers. Paul had certain people that seemed to follow him wherever he went, trying to pervert that which he taught of the grace of God.

Especially the Jewish legalizers who sought to bring the people back to a legal relationship with God. Putting them under the law. Demanding that they be circumcised and they keep the law of Moses in order to be saved.

Which Paul called the perversion of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And it is interesting that these people usually referred to the Gentiles as dogs. That was a common name by which the Jews referred to the Gentiles.

The Gentile dogs. It was not a reference to a kindly family pet, but it was a reference to those mean, wild dogs that roamed Israel. Barking and snapping at everybody and belonging to nobody. And they were a sort of hated animal.

And thus, the name dog, the Jews began to apply to the Gentiles. It is interesting that Paul turns it around and uses it of those teachers that would seek to put the believers back under the law. Beware of dogs.

Beware of evil workers. Beware of the concision. The word concision comes from a Greek word which means mutilators. Paul is talking about their demands that the Gentiles be circumcised to be saved. And then he uses a contrasting Greek word and it is a play on Greek words.

If you read it in Greek, you can pick up on the play on words. Beware of the concision, for we are of the circumcision which worship God in the Spirit. Paul was constantly emphasizing that the physical rites had no value except there be a corresponding spiritual experience.

That the circumcision of the flesh accounted for nothing. What God was interested in is that my heart was circumcised. That I had a heart after the Spirit and not after the flesh. And though I may have a fleshly right, if my heart was after the things of the flesh, then what happened to me physically has no bearing upon my relationship with God at all.

The same can be said of any of the other rites that we have within the church. The rite of water baptism is really not a physical rite, but a spiritual experience. It's not the physical experience that says, it's the spiritual, the death to the old nature and the old man in my heart.

The reckoning of myself to be dead and living that new life in the resurrected Lord. And so Paul says, beware of those who would mutilate your body, for we are of those who are circumcised in the Spirit.

We worship God in the Spirit. Jesus said, God is the Spirit. They that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth. We worship God in the Spirit. We rejoice in Christ Jesus. And that is in the glorious liberty that we have in Christ Jesus.

That relationship that we can now have with God apart from the law. And we have no confidence in the flesh. Now Paul said in his Roman epistle, I know in me that is in my flesh there dwells no good thing.

I have no confidence in the flesh. Now Paul said, if anyone might have something to boast in the flesh, I am the one who would. Circumcised the eighth day of the stock of Israel. The tribe of Benjamin.

A Hebrew of the Hebrews. As touching the law of Pharisee. Concerning zeal, persecuting the church. Touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. Hey, this is a pretty good pedigree. I mean, if you can be saved by works, if you can be saved by your own efforts, if you can be saved by keeping the law, then Paul said, hey, I'm ahead of the pack.

I more than anybody else. I had everything going for me as far as righteousness from the law. You remember Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount, chapter 5 of Matthew said, except your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and the Pharisees.

You shall in no wise enter the kingdom of heaven. Now, Paul was a classic example of what Jesus was referring to. As far as the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, Paul added. He had done everything that he was supposed to do according to the law to be righteous.

In fact, he had gone beyond. He was a Pharisee. He persecuted the church as far as his zeal and according to the righteousness that is in the law, he was blameless. But still, that is not enough to bring a man in entrance into the kingdom of heaven.

Now, here they were going around and trying to tell the Gentile believers that you had to keep the law to be righteous. Paul said, no, I came out of that. I had it made as far as the law is concerned.

Then this monumental statement. But what things were gained to me, those I counted loss for Christ. All of this background that put me in a high standing as far as the law is concerned, I counted loss for Christ.

Yea, doubtless. And I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. Paul the Apostle was on his way to Damascus to persecute the church. He had papers from the high priest that empowered him to throw in prison those who believed in Jesus Christ.

And as he headed out towards Damascus, he was going out with threatenings of murder against the believers. But while he was on his way, just before arriving in Damascus, about noontime, there came a light from heaven brighter than the noonday sun.

Paul fell on the ground. And there the Lord spoke to him and said, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And he answered, Who art thou, Lord, that I may serve thee? And he said, I am Jesus. It's been hard for you to kick against the pricks.

And there Paul was converted. He met Christ on the Damascus road. And suddenly, upon meeting Christ, all that he counted as important to him up to that point in his life, all of his religious credits, all of the religious background, he said, loss for Christ.

Because this is going to bring him an estrangement from his cronies back in Jerusalem that he's been going around with. Paul is writing this epistle to the Philippians some 30 years after the Damascus road experience.

He's referring to it, the things which were gained to me, I counted loss for Christ 30 years ago on the road to Damascus. But then Paul updates his experience. And he said, yea, doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Jesus Christ.

In other words, I experienced it 30 years ago and I had a turnaround in my life and all of the past legalism and legal relationship with God and all of those endeavors in my own flesh, the works of my flesh, I counted loss.

Now I do count them 30 years later. I still count them loss. A lot of people testify of an experience that they had in Christ years ago. Oh, I had such a glorious experience. The Lord met me in such a powerful way.

And I just dedicated my life completely to the Lord. I was so moved, I was so touched by the Spirit of God upon my life. But unfortunately, since then, a lot of those things that they counted loss at that point, they've picked back up so that they're encumbered again.

You see, past experience is only valid if it is translated into the present. If the past experience has not been translated into the present, then it really has no value at all. There's really no value to saying, I counted those things loss for Christ 30 years ago if in the meantime I've picked them back up and I'm encumbered with them again.

Always, we must be able to translate the past experience into the present relationship if it is to be a valid experience at all. Otherwise, the experience is invalidated. I really am not so interested in what happened to you 30 years ago, 20 years ago, 10 years ago.

I'm interested in what is your relationship tonight with the Lord. That's what's important. Experiences are good. I would thank God for the experiences, but they're not valid unless they are translated into the immediate present relationship.

Righteousness Through Faith in Christ

And I do count them but loss. It's still going on. The past is translated into the present. I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. I love that phrase, the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus.

I think that we have to be the most blessed and privileged people in the world. You know, there are many people in the world tonight who have never had the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord.

People lived and died without ever having heard of Jesus Christ our Lord. Not only do we have the excellence of the knowledge of Jesus Christ, but we have the privilege of gathering together and studying the Word of God together.

What some people wouldn't give for the opportunity of gathering with us. He said, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things. Indeed, Paul did. He was totally, completely ostracized by those who were once his compatriots.

Those whom he once shared with. When he received Jesus Christ, as far as they were concerned, he was dead. He no longer existed. But he said, those things which were so important to me, those things for which I lived, I do count them but refuse that I may win Christ and be found in Him.

Not having my own righteousness which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith. Now, Paul had excelled in the righteousness in the law. He said he was blameless.

But he said he cast that over for the knowledge of Jesus Christ. He counts all of the works of the past just wasted effort, refuse. My desire is to know Him and be found in Him. Not having my own righteousness, my works through the law, but now the righteousness which is of God by faith.

That righteousness which is imputed to those who believe. That righteousness that Abraham had when God imputed his faith for righteousness. Now, I can endeavor to be righteous before God by my own works and efforts.

I must first of all set the standard what constitutes righteousness. What is right and what is wrong. And having determined then what is right and what is wrong, I may then seek to always do that which is right.

Work hard at doing that which is right. And at best, I can develop a self-righteousness. The effect of it usually on the individual who has attained such a thing. I keep the rules. I never do anything wrong.

I always do what's good. I'm a doobie, you know. Just living by these righteous standards. The effect upon the individual is usually pride and the developing of a judgmental attitude. As the Pharisee who went in before the Lord and said, Father, I thank you that I'm not as other men.

I'm not an extortioner and the other things. God, I thank you I'm so good. That pride and self-righteousness. But then worse than that, this judgmental spirit because suddenly, you see, I'm on a little spiritual pinnacle and I can begin now to judge everybody else who doesn't live by the same standards of holiness by which I live.

How can they say they're a child of God? How can they say, you know, here I am in my little pompous righteous throne judging everybody else who isn't living by my standards? It can be a very dangerous thing.

On the other hand, I can recognize that I have a problem with sin, with myself, with my flesh. I can be honest with myself. When I've been upset because that is against my rules, never be upset. And so I am upset.

I have to lie to myself and say, well, I really wasn't upset. You know, I was just indignant. And you can become a phony because, you know, you set your own standards. You live by your own rules. But when I take the righteousness, which is by Christ, it's an honest life.

I can say, hey, I'm not perfect. But I believe in Jesus Christ with all my heart. He's my Savior. He's my Lord. And God then imputes to me or accounts to me righteousness. On my account, God writes, righteous.

Now, the problem of being righteous by my efforts and by my works. I may be doing great. I may have lived all of my life up to this point by the rules. Never violated. Sailing along in good shape and there is across my name righteous.

But tomorrow, some nut pulls in front of me on the freeway and then pokes and traps me. And I may shake my fist and honk my horn and say, get off the road, you fool! You know? All of my good record down the tube and the righteousness erased.

Blew it. Oh, what a shame. Here my entire life, I've never done anything wrong. Been going by the rules up till now. You see, there'd be no security in that kind of righteousness at all. At any moment, I could lose it.

But not the righteousness which God has accounted to me through my faith in Jesus Christ. Because I may blow my horn and shake my fist, but the Spirit will say, hey, don't you remember you got a fish emblem on the back of your car?

What are you going to do when you pass the guy? And I may pull over the side of the freeway and decide not to pass him so that I won't be a bad witness, you know. And bow my head and say, God, I'm sorry.

That isn't a real representative of you. Forgive me, Lord. And you see, the angel doesn't have to erase the righteous and then rewrite it or whatever. It just stays there. It's a righteousness through faith in Christ.

My faith in Jesus doesn't waver. My actions, they may. But not my faith in Him. And the righteousness is accounted to me by my faith in Him. And so, it's an established righteousness. No wonder Paul opted for the new righteousness.

Though he had done pretty good up to this point. Don't know what's going to happen tomorrow. So, hey, I'll jump this ship and get on this one. And I'll gladly throw overboard the old life with the struggle and the effort in my flesh in order to live this new life after the Spirit.

Believing and trusting in Jesus Christ to do for me what I really can't do for myself. And to be found in Him. Not having my own righteousness which is of the law, but the righteousness which is of God through faith.

Probably the best illustration I've heard of this particular passage is the story of the young girl who came from very poor circumstances but was diligent and worked hard to work their way through college.

And now she was in her senior year. They were going to have the senior prom. And she was so excited over the fact that she had been able to labor and work and make her way through college and was going to be graduating.

So she decided that she would make for herself a new dress for the senior prom. Now because she had spent all of her money on tuition and just getting by on her books and everything else, she really didn't have much money.

She couldn't buy a dress. But she really didn't have much money to buy very good material. But she went down to the dime store and picked out the best that she could afford. Bought a simplicity pattern.

And laid the thing out. Carefully cut it out. But she really had never sewn anything before. And so, you know, the trial and error method, the redoing of a lot of the seams and all. And the hem wasn't really straight.

But it was a good effort. She gave it her best. It was surely the best that she could do. And so she put it on and she walked out in the dorm to where the other girls were. And she said, Look, girls, this is my new dress for the prom.

I made it myself. And they were kind to her. They said, Oh, that's nice. But they did notice the imperfections in it. And did feel rather sorry for her. But they recognized that it was the best that she could do.

About that time, Lady Bountiful walked in the door. And she saw this young girl modeling her dress and she said, Would you mind going with me? And the young girl went outside and there was a limousine chauffeured.

And they went down to I. Magnin's and the valets or the chauffeur took the car off. But they went in and so the models started coming in with all of these beautiful dresses, showing them off and doing their little stances and all.

And a model came in that had a dress that was absolutely gorgeous. She just sort of caught her breath when she saw it. It was just such a glorious gown. Lady Bountiful, being very astute, noticed that she gasped at that one.

Called the model over that they might look at it more closely and feel the texture of the material. And obviously she was very impressed with it. But as the model was turning around her, I caught the ticket with a price tag.

$4 ,295. And she thought, Oh my, I didn't dream anything could cost that much. But Lady Bountiful, noticing her interest in it, said to the clerk, Wrap it up and have it sent to the car. When she got back to the dorm, she went into her room and she carefully unwrapped this dress, put it on, it fit perfectly.

Now she walks back out where all of the girls are waiting. And she said, Look girls. And as they gasped in amazement at the glory and the beauty of the dress, she said, This is something that I could never have purchased for myself.

It's something that I could never have made for myself. But it was given to me by Lady Bountiful. So Paul, he had done his best to clothe himself in righteousness by works. But then he came into that glorious knowledge of Jesus Christ.

And no longer, he said, to be found in my own righteousness which is of the law, my own making, my own work. But I'll gladly exchange that for the glorious righteousness which God has accounted to me through my faith in Jesus Christ.

The righteousness which is of Christ through faith. Something that I could never purchase for myself. Something that I could never do for myself. With all of my efforts, I could never come up to that.

And yet, that is what God has imparted to me through faith, my faith that He has given to me in Jesus Christ. Paul goes on, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection. And at this point we all say, yeah, yeah, yeah, power, I want power.

I'd like to know Him and the power of His resurrection. Give me the power, you know. And we're so power hungry. Paul didn't stop there, did he? And the fellowship of his sufferings. Wait a minute, Paul, I want to get off at the last stop, you know.

I don't know about this suffering bit. I like the power. But I don't like the suffering. Don't you know that Christians don't have to suffer? Fellowship of his sufferings. Our flesh always rebels against suffering.

The disciples found it difficult to handle when Jesus started talking about the suffering that He was to experience. And Peter cried out, Lord, be that far from Thee. And Jesus said, get Thee behind Me, Satan.

You offend Me. It was the natural cry of man. Spare yourself from suffering. But Paul is willing to follow Jesus to the cross. I want to know Him. I want to know Him completely. Yes, the power of the resurrection.

But you know, you can never know the power of the resurrection until you first of all know the cross. Jesus wasn't resurrected until He first went to the cross. The resurrected life always follows the crucified life.

The power of the resurrection follows the fellowship of the suffering and the cross. So yes, I want to know the power of the resurrection. But if I'm to experience that, I've got to first of all experience the fellowship of the suffering, the death on the cross, the death to my old self, my old nature, being made conformable unto His death, if by any means I might attain to the resurrection of the dead.

But how can you attain the resurrection of the dead unless you first of all died? You see, Jesus could not experience the power of the resurrection until the cross. The cross was essential and necessary for Him to experience the power of the resurrection.

So it is true with us. I am crucified with Christ. Now I can experience the power of the resurrected life. And many people have never experienced the power of the resurrected life because they have shied away from the fellowship of the suffering and of the crucified with Christ life.

I want to hang on to the flesh. I don't want to see it nailed to the cross. I want to hold on to the things of the flesh. But you'll never know the life of the resurrected Christ until you've experienced the fellowship of the sufferings.

Or if by any means I might attain to the resurrection of the dead. Not as though I'd already attained. Either we're already perfect. It's sort of sad that so many people seem to feel that they've attained or they've achieved in their spiritual walk.

And they sort of sit on little pedestals. Little ivory towers. I've attained. I've achieved. Here I am, you know. Come and I'll teach you. Sit at my feet and learn. But Paul the Apostle said, look, I don't consider that I have attained.

I don't look at myself as being perfect. The work of the Lord is not yet complete in me. But I follow after. I'm pursuing in order that I might apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.

Now, Paul recognized something that is very important for all of us to recognize who have been apprehended by Jesus Christ. When the Lord apprehended us, and you can all look back in your own life to that point where the Lord apprehended you.

Where He said, I've chosen you and ordained you that you should be My disciple. And we turn to follow Jesus Christ. Now, when the Lord apprehended us, He had in His mind a plan and a purpose for each of our lives.

The Lord knew exactly what He intended for you to do. He had a work for you to fulfill. Paul said, I have not yet apprehended that for which I was apprehended. The Lord apprehended me, but when He did, He had a purpose in mind.

I've not yet accomplished that purpose. Now, the fact that we are sitting here tonight, we can all say the same thing. I've not yet apprehended that for which I was apprehended. The reason why we can all say it tonight is because we're all here.

Why did the Lord apprehend you? So that you could share with Him the eternal glories of His Kingdom. And so when He is finished with me here, this robe of flesh I'll drop and rise to seize the everlasting prize and shout while passing through the air, farewell, farewell, sweet hour of prayer.

And one day when I'm sitting, looking up in Jesus' face, just overwhelmed by His glory and love, I'll turn to the fellow next to me and I'll say, I finally have apprehended that for which I was apprehended.

This is what the Lord intended for me. To be with Him in His Kingdom. To share with Him His glory. Father, I would that those who You have given to me to be with me here would also share with me in the Kingdom.

That's why God apprehended you. He has a glorious plan and a purpose for your future. He has a plan for your life now. And we should be as Jesus who said, I must be about my Father's business. Anything I do for myself is a waste of time and effort.

I'm forestalling the plan of God. So what do I do? I forget those things which are behind. A lot of people make the mistake of trying to live in the past. And with a lot of people, there's just a lot of, you know, bad experiences in the past.

And the problem is that they're constantly going back and going over those bad experiences. And they're not really going ahead in life at all because they're so involved in the past. They really did me wrong.

I can't get over that. I can't believe what they did to me. I just can't rise above it. And living in the past and being destroyed in the past, they can't go ahead because they're looking backward. Living in the past, there's always that danger of discouragement which shuts off initiative for the future.

You know, the Lord may inspire you to some good work that He wants you to do. Many times, the worst thing you can do is share with your friends what the Lord's laid upon your heart to do. Because so many times they say, well, you really can't do that.

You see, someone else already tried that and it just doesn't work. And so they go back to the past and they pick up the failures of the past and they're discouraged to try anything in the future. And so looking back to the past, oftentimes we look at our failures and we're discouraged from trying to go on.

Hey, I've tried it before. I've tried it for so long. It just doesn't work. I just can't do it. You know, if I could, I would have done it a long time ago. And looking back, I'm discouraged from trying to go ahead.

Or on the other hand, the person looks back and glories in their victories of the past and they are resting on their accolades. You know, it's what I used to be. What I used to do. I hold the record, you know.

And my name is on the record books and all. And they're always looking at their past and doing nothing now. They're stagnating now. They go to the bars and drink light beer and talk about the touchdowns they used to make, you know.

Living in the past. The past glories. Television would cause you to think that that's all retired baseball and football players do. They just hang around the bars drinking light beer, you know. Talking about the past.

Pressing Forward Toward the Prize

And it's sad when a person is resting in the past. Not pressing ahead. The past has been glorious. It's been exciting to see what God has done. But you know, I'm more excited about what God is going to do.

So forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth to those things which are before. We haven't seen anything yet. Like the songs that mercy drops around us are falling, but for the showers we plead.

And rather than resting in the past what God has done, let's look forward to what God wants to do. We haven't yet scratched the surface of the work that needs to be done in the hearts and lives of people in Orange County, in Southern California, across the United States.

We've only begun to see the work of God. We've only begun to see the glory of God poured out. Let's not just sit back and rest. Let's press forward to what God has for us in the future. Reaching forth to those things which are before.

I press. And the word in the Greek is agonizo. They say that in training for the Olympics you've got to go till it hurts and you have to work yourself through the pain. I mean, you've got to give it every effort working through pain.

Beyond the pain threshold. You run until you ache and you think you can't go anymore, but you keep going. You think you're going to drop, but you keep going. And there comes that second wind and then it seems like you can go forever.

But it's working through it. But it's agonizing when you're pressing towards the mark. I agonizo towards the mark for the prize of the high calling of God. Paul said, don't you realize that they that run in a race run all, only one receives the prize, so run that you may obtain.

There are a lot of people running the race just to say, well, I ran in the race. Oh, where did you place? Oh, I didn't finish it, but I ran in it. Paul said, one receives the prize, now you run to obtain.

In other words, give it all you've got. Press towards the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Let us, therefore, as many who would be complete, be thus minded. Let this be in your mind.

Let this be the same rule for your life. For getting the things which are behind, reaching forth to those things which are before, pressing towards that mark. Be thus minded. And if anything, you be otherwise minded, God will reveal this even unto you.

Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule and let us mind the same thing. Let this be your mind. Let's walk by these rules. And so the rule of the Christian life is for getting those things which are behind and pressing for those things which are before, or reaching for those things which are before, pressing towards the mark.

Enemies of the Cross and the Call to Self-Denial

Brethren, be followers together of me. So, let this be your mind. Let this be your attitude. Follow me. And mark them which walk so as you have us for your example. For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and I now tell you even weeping, that they are really enemies of the cross of Christ.

You know, there are a lot of people who talk a lot about Jesus Christ, but are enemies of the cross of Christ. That is, they want still to live after the flesh so bad that the idea of being crucified with Christ, the death of the old life, the death of the old man, the death of the flesh life, is irritating to them.

They don't want to hear it. They are enemies of that message. They want to tell you that you ought to be prosperous. You ought to be successful. You ought to be living in luxury. You are God's child. You ought to be indulging your flesh.

Whatever you desire, just ask God. Insist on God. Command God. Because you can drive a Cadillac. And you can live on Lido Island. And you can have these things of your flesh, you know. And it's an interesting period in church history where those who are indulging their flesh look upon it as spiritual superiority.

You know, if you only had enough faith. You could be jetting across the United States also in your own Learjet, you know. So, it's rather tragic because these people are opposed to the life of sacrifice, self-denial.

And yet, that's the first step that Jesus said was necessary to be a disciple of His. You've got to deny yourself and take up your cross and follow Him. And Paul said, follow me. You have me as your example.

The old life, you know, I counted loss. I want to know Him. I want to know the power of the resurrection, but yet, I want to know the fellowship of the sufferings and the cross. So, those things which were once gained, those things which were once so important to me, I counted loss and I forget those things which are behind because I'm pressing forth for those things which are before.

Now, follow me as an example. Live by this rule because there are those who don't live by this rule. There are those who are living after their flesh. They are enemies to the cross of Christ. Not to Christ Himself, but to that aspect of suffering with Him whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame because their minds are always on earthly things.

They are out there. There are many of them. In front of people, they can act very holy and sanctified and excited and exhilarated in the things of the Lord. But when they get away from the stage, they can have filthy mouths, they can tell dirty jokes, they are living a two-faced life.

They exist. They are there. Paul warns that they are there. They were there in Paul's day. They are there today. They really mind earthly things. Their mind isn't after the Spirit and after the things of the Spirit.

They are more concerned and interested in the types of cars that they drive and the things of the flesh and the earthly things than they are the things of the Spirit. Paul said, Our citizenship is in heaven from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile body or our body of humiliation that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.

Our citizenship, hey, let's not get, Paul said, too involved in the world. Let your every contact with the world be just as light as possible. Our citizenship isn't here. Abraham and those saints of the Old Testament, the Scripture said, confessed that they were just strangers and pilgrims on this earth.