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"And be found in Him..."

Text: Philippians 3:9

TOTAL IDENTIFICATION WITH CHRIST

Paul’s goal was very clear right from the start. He was not stopping at having found salvation in Christ. He wanted to have a sense of total identification with the Lord Jesus Christ.

“And be found in Him, not having my own righteousness,
which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ,
the righteousness which is from God, by faith.”

Philippians 3:9

1. “And be found in Him”

a) Paul found (Greek “heurisko”) salvation in Christ.

b) Now he wants to be found “In Him”.

i) This takes the idea beyond the concept of being saved by Christ.

ii) It speaks of identification with Christ.

iii) Paul wants to discover further what it means to have Christ living in him.

2. “Not having my own righteousness which is from the law”

a) Paul was trained to keep the law.

b) He had diligently kept the law.

c) This was his “practical and personal righteousness”.

d) This was not what he desired to possess.

e) This personal righteousness brought him nothing.

3. “But that which is through faith in Christ”

a) Christ had imputed righteousness to Paul when he first came to faith.

b) Paul believed that there was more to this than the proclamation that he was justified by Christ.

c) He wanted to explore the concept of imputed righteousness further.

i) Faith must be exercised.

ii) Christ’s righteousness must be brought to bear in his personal life.

4. “The righteousness which is from God, by faith”

a) The doctrine of imputed righteousness must not be “theoretical”.

b) Paul desired to see faith exercised and applied in real-time and in real life.

c) This was the dynamic righteousness that Paul sought through faith in the Lord.

d) He was prepared to make any sacrifices to obtain further experiences of the righteousness of God.