Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Our text for this morning comes from Philippians chapter three, the whole third chapter there, verses one through 21. If you're using one of the little blue Bibles supplied under the seat in front of you, you'll find that on New Testament page 151. Philippians three, verses one through 21. Surely you've had the experience of having to reboot something, or perhaps more than that, reinstall or restore something. Sometimes it might even happen from an upgrade. In fact, has this happened enough that you hesitate to click on upgrade? Doesn't upgrade sound great? But you think, eh. Last time I did that, the device acted for several months like it belonged to somebody else. It didn't want to do what I wanted it to do. Because what happens? For a variety of reasons, the device might revert to its default. And a default is what? It's the way that the programmers have programmed the thing to work. based on their estimation of what the largest number of the target audience is going to want, which is evidently not you. Because that's not how you want it to work. And you have to call somebody to come over to the house, or you have to Google for how to change your preferences to do how you want it to do when it has been restored to its default. We have a default. We're programmed a certain way. We were created to work well in a specific target environment. And that target environment is defined by the covenant of works. It's defined by the law of God. We were made for that environment. So we were made to respond well to that. Tell me what is required of me. so that I will know what to do, and then I will do that thing, and all will be well and right with the world. And that would work great, except we don't live in that environment anymore. Adam and Eve lived in that environment, maybe for a day or so. We don't really know how long it was. I tend to favor the arguments that it wasn't for very long, but that remains our default. And that creates a problem for us. And for those of us who have been brought to faith in Christ and we have entered into the covenant of grace, we experience an ongoing difficulty, a difficulty of recognizing the necessity of, and finding it difficult to do so, to overcome our default. We approach all our relationships this way. relationships maybe with someone we find attractive and hope that maybe we can convince them to find us attractive too if we can deceive them long enough. Or a new relationship at a new job with a manager, a boss, our co-workers. Maybe we move to a new neighborhood, we want them to like us. Every time we enter into a new relationship, this is what we're hardwired for. We want to figure out what will make you happy with me and then I'll kind of be that way and then we'll get along great. You'll like me. But especially in our relationship with God, we've come to know it won't work that way. And so we are ever endeavoring to overcome our default. Philippians chapter three is about that. We have Paul here wrestling with that necessity and that difficulty of overcoming that default setting. and instructing us in it as well. Before we read this instruction, then let's go to God in prayer and ask that he would help us, because we recognize it is difficult. Heavenly Father, help us to wrestle with your word and especially with our own flesh that defaults to a desire for works righteousness, a desire to get credit for our efforts. to have those recognized and admired. Help us to read your word aright, to understand it aright, and to apply it well to our hearts and lives. Indeed, we ask that you would do this for us by your Holy Spirit at work, by the word, in our hearts, and we pray it in Christ's name, amen. Philippians chapter three. Finally, my brethren, Rejoice in the Lord. For me to write the same things to you is not tedious, but for you it is safe. Beware of dogs. Beware of evil workers. Beware of the mutilation. For we are the circumcision, who worship God in the spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. Though I also might have confidence in the flesh, if anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh, I'm more so. Circumcised to the eighth day of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews. Concerning the law, a Pharisee. Concerning zeal, persecuting the church. Concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. But what things were gained to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed, I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish that I may gain 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, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being conformed to his death, if by any means I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already attained or am already perfected, but I press on that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended, but one thing I do. forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Therefore, let us as many as are mature, have this mind. And if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you. Nevertheless, to the degree that we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule. Let us be of the same mind. Brethren, join in following my example, and note those who so walk as you have us for a pattern. For many walk, of whom I have told you often, now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is their shame, who set their mind on earthly things. For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to his glorious body according to the working by which he is able even to subdue all things to himself. Thus far the reading of God's holy, inerrant, and life-giving word. May he add his blessing to the reading and to the preaching of it. Last week I notified you of my intention to start this week a new series on Galatians. And you might think I don't know my Bible very well. I missed. This is not Galatians, this is Philippians. In the course of the whole scripture, they're close. I got close, but I missed. This is Philippians. Why are we in Philippians? I wanted to be in Philippians chapter three this morning and to preach on this chapter by way of introducing Galatians. This sermon kind of fits a longstanding joke that my father has. If you don't know, my father was a pastor for over 40 years, and I worked with him for some time next door offices, and so we would talk about preaching and things. He liked to say, you know, I've got a great sermon. I just need a text for it. Which is not the way you're supposed to do it. But we're kind of there this morning. I wanted to preach an introduction to Galatians. Wanted to kind of preach on the theme of Galatians before we actually started in. And I thought to myself, well, I could read the whole of Galatians as the text. It's not real long. But as I really thought, I thought, you know, but it's long enough, it's going to get tedious. And if I also have to preach a sermon on it, that's going to get too long. If I choose a portion of Galatians, then am I preaching that out of order, or do I preach it again when we get there? I'm not sure. So I went looking for where might the theme of Galatians be clearly set down for us at some other place in scripture, and this is where I landed. That's why we're in Philippians chapter three. By the way, next week will be intro to Galatians part two. We still won't be in Galatians. We'll be considering these same issues through the lens of the sacraments. Here's something beautiful. We get to celebrate both sacraments next Sunday. So I'm planning a short sermon because we're spending a lot of time with other things next week and that will be wonderful. I hope that the theme of Galatians is already familiar, that it's thematic of my ministry with you ever since I've been here. And now I want to preach on that theme, and then we're going to preach on that theme again by way of the sacraments next week, and then we're going to delve into Galatians, and we're going to see the theme again and again and again and again. What does Paul say here, Philippians 3 verse 1, Paul knew that his own ministry and his writing was repetitive. He repeats himself. He says, that's okay. I do not find it tedious. Don't worry about me. I'll write it again because you need it again. In his introduction to Galatians, in his commentary on Galatians, Martin Luther spends some time identifying several kinds of righteousness. There's a civil righteousness. There's kind of a societal normative righteousness for us to live together. There's just a kind of moral righteousness, even a legal righteousness that comes from the Ten Commandments that is good and perfectly righteous. And then he differentiates all of those kinds of righteousness from one other righteousness, namely what he calls a passive righteousness, that is a righteousness that you don't do. You're passive. He calls it also the righteousness of faith, calls it also Christian righteousness. This one is different than all those other righteousnesses. And so having set that one out apart, then Luther writes this. This righteousness is a hidden mystery. The world is not aware of it. What's more, Christians themselves don't understand it fully and they can hardly take hold of it in their temptations. Therefore, it is necessary to teach it and practice it continually without any let up. I agree. So that's what we're going to do. Before diving into Galatians proper, I want to give this overview for us to consider why was Galatians written? And I don't mean to answer that question in the way you might have it in the intro to the book in your study Bible, where it's going to be addressed who was Paul, who were the Galatians, what was historically going on, why did he write this letter. I mean more broadly. Why do we have it? Not everything Paul wrote was preserved as scripture because we don't need everything that Paul wrote. Some things were historically confined to a particular issue and did not need to be preserved for the church throughout the centuries. But this was. Why do we have Galatians? Why did this need to be scripture? And the answer to that broadly is that the book of Galatians addresses a perennial problem that has plagued the church in every age. Consider even before Galatians was written. in the gospels before the gospel could even be proclaimed because the gospel is the good news about what Jesus has done, and he hadn't even done it yet because it's Jesus who's interacting with the rich young ruler. When does the rich young ruler come and ask Jesus, what must I do in order to be saved? That's our perennial problem. That's our default right there. Tell me what to do. Not long after the closing of the canon, we even begin to see, well, more than hints of it within the canon of the New Testament. A variety of mystery religions and Gnosticism arose in the church. a system of salvation that said you need this secret knowledge that only we can give you in order to be saved. And you can attain that secret knowledge if you join with our group and then you do the things that are necessary to prove your commitment and so on, to ascend the ladder rung by rung to greater levels of prominence in our religion. And as you ascend to these greater levels of prominence, you get to descend into deeper and deeper knowledge by which you can be saved. Now, if you're thinking, that's an ancient mystery religion? It sounds like the modern Masonic temple. Well, you're not wrong. It's still with us in some ways. Not long after, in the early centuries of the church, the idea of baptismal regeneration began to be taught. that you can be saved through the outward performance of the religious rites of the church. If the priest pronounces the right Latin words the right way and blesses this water and pours it on you, well then, that will save you. And of course, Rome, rather than repenting of such things, graduated, as it were, into the full-blown medieval church of Rome that objected to the proposed reformation of the church in the 16th century, rejected to the doctrine of justification through faith alone, by grace alone, in the work of Christ alone. They rejected this and objected to it on the grounds that if we assert the imputation of Christ's righteousness to the believer, then you rob that believer of motivation to obey. Rome said you can't tell them they're saved no matter what, then they're gonna go live like the devil. Implying what they really do believe that the only reason, the only motivation to obey is fear. You have to tell them God is a boogeyman and he's gonna get you if you don't obey, otherwise they won't obey. implying a system of salvation that means if you obey, then that is how you're saved. That's how you avoid the boogeyman. Obey. Do what you're supposed to do. And that is the only way to be okay. Sound familiar? It's our default again. Not long after the Reformation, one who is called a Puritan, at least you can find his works published by Banner of Truth in the Puritan paperback series, when Richard Baxter argued against the imputation of Christ's righteousness to the believer on the same grounds that Rome had argued against the Reformers. You can't say that, because if you do, people won't obey. Not long after Richard Baxter, the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland labeled the gospel, according to Paul, antinomian, against the law. Said to pastors in its midst, you cannot preach that. That is against the law. And they expelled those called the merrow men. If you know some of that history. track with that, if you don't and want to know, I would love to talk to you about that. Comes even into our own day, and I hesitate to name names because it's just uncouth, but a shepherd must warn the flock of where there is danger. Doug Wilson. in Moscow, Idaho, the Federal Vision and Canon Press, New St. Andrews College there, John Piper and Desiring God Ministries, John MacArthur, in some ways grace to you, Ministries and the Master's Seminary, each of these in one way or another, some more overt and plain, some more subtle and it's, uncertain what it is trying to be communicated there, but all of these in one way or another require obedience to the law in order to finally be saved. They may state well the doctrine of justification by faith alone, but then you find out they mean initial justification This is how you get in. This is how you're made right with God in the first place. But then you must prove faithful in order to remain in grace, in a state of grace, in the church, and remain faithful to the end, which if you do, you will then be finally justified. We have a second justification that isn't by faith alone. You have to add your works to it. This is an ever-present temptation for all of us. And so Paul says, Philippians 3.1, I write the same things to you. He also says in verse one, rejoice in the work the Lord has evidenced in you. No, that's what the Pharisee said, right? In Jesus' parable of the Pharisee and the publican who both come in prayer before God. And what does the Pharisee say? I thank you, oh God, that I am not like other men. He thought he was being humble. All praise to God for what he has done in me. But Jesus indicates, if your focus is what is in you and how you are better than other people, that is not what justifies you. It's the other man, the publican, the despised man, the man who taxes his fellow Jews on behalf of the horrible dog Romans who've invaded us. That's the one who, depending on nothing in himself, but just says, have mercy on me. Because all I can do is just say, I need for the mercy represented in the sacrifice of the lamb to be for me. That's the one who goes home justified, not the other one. So Paul writes, rejoice in the Lord. Not in yourself, not in your works, not in your achievements, not in anything even that God has accomplished in you. but in the Lord, rejoice in the Lord. In verse two, he mentions evil workers. Who are these? Context will help us. Paul says, beware of dogs. This is the way the Jews spoke of Gentiles. Not very flattering, they didn't mean it to be. They were dogs, why? Because they were uncircumcised. That makes them unclean before God, they cannot come to the temple. Only ceremonially clean Jews can come into the presence of God and there worship him. So beware of dogs. The Jew would have heard that means Gentiles. And the latter part of the verse, beware of the mutilation. Now, wait a minute. What does he mean by the mutilation? Now he means the Jews. He means those who mutilate the body by circumcision. Well, that's not a way of talking about circumcision the Jews are very happy with, but that's who he's talking about. Now then, who are evil workers right in the middle of this? These are not workers of evil, those who do evil things. Because circumcision is not an evil thing in itself. That's who he's talking about, people who circumcise themselves and take pride in that circumcision. The circumcision is not the problem. That's something God commanded them to do. That's a sign of the covenant of grace that he gave to Abraham and said, you have to keep this covenant. That's not the problem. What is the problem? Why does he say evil? It's because they're working. They're evil workers, not because their works are evil, but because works are evil. wherever they are counted upon. He's talking about Jews who count on their own circumcision, their own obedience to the command for their standing with God and teach others to do likewise. Paul says that's evil. To work, even when the works are themselves good, to work, for your standing before God, that's evil. Watch out for them, Paul says. And then he says in verse three, the irony here is just amazing. Paul says, for we are the circumcision. Who's we? Paul is a Hebrew. He tells us a Hebrew of the Hebrews. He's an Israelite. Does he mean we, the Hebrews? We, the Israelites? We, the descendants of Abraham? He does not. Paul is a Pharisee. He's part of the conservative group among the Jews, those who believe in the inspiration of scripture and the resurrection from the dead. They believe in supernatural things, as opposed to the Sadducees, who disbelieve in all of those things. Does Paul mean we, the Pharisees, the conservative wing, the right group? He does not. We are the circumcision. Who? Who worship God in their spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus. He means we, the Christians. and have no confidence in the flesh. In fact, we have so little confidence in the flesh, some of us haven't even been circumcised. Some of us are still Gentiles. We, the Christian church, we are the circumcision. Those of us who, not all of us are even circumcised, but we are the circumcision. Isn't that crazy? By the way, I have to say this, I can't avoid it. If there is such a thing as replacement theology, if it is just to call the theology that the Christian church is the same church with Old Testament Israel, if it's just to call that replacement theology, then Paul teaches it right here. We are the circumcised, who? The group that trusts in Jesus Christ. Some are circumcised, some aren't. That's who the circumcision is. Christian church is the circumcision. And that launches him then into the next eight verses, verses four through 11, where he makes it clear that we must trust in Christ and only in Christ, Christ alone, nothing else. We have to be willing, indeed, to repudiate all other attainments, attainments of every kind. Whether they might be attainments of our background, our upbringing, our status that comes from our birthright, we are probably not real likely to be proud of our family status. I don't find myself particularly tempted to be proud of the fact that I'm an Edie. Nobody's ever heard of us. For you two, probably, if, you know, to find a famous relative in which you might take some pride, you're probably, you know, talking about a fifth cousin 16 times removed or something, right? My mother's maiden name is Wallace. I'm told I'm related to William Wallace. It's pretty distant, though. And I don't expect you to be impressed. But we might be tempted to be proud that we're Americans. that we enjoy freedom and democracy and those kinds of things. We didn't have anything to do with that. We're just born here. Or if it's some sort of educational or professional attainment that might make more sense for us to take pride in or some moral attainment, we look around and think, well, we're obeying the law a little better than they are. I'm not perfect, but at least I'm not That way, let me tell you, everybody can do that. A pastor back in Omaha who had so much to do with God laying his call to me to enter the pastorate, told of one who was coming to the church for a while. He would come every week or a couple of weeks or something, he'd just show up at the office. And my pastor would try to counsel him. At one point he said, you know, He was engaged in a lot of fornication and that with not members of the opposite sex. But he said, at least I've never committed adultery. There's never been a married man. You know, so it just, at least I'm not whatever that is. Everybody can say that. Everybody can find somebody else that's more worse than they are. It just doesn't help. What is Paul doing here in these early verses, this early part of this passage? Verse four, he says, if anyone thinks that he might have reason for confidence in the flesh, it's at the end of verse three, then he says, I also might have confidence in the flesh. If anyone else thinks so, I more so. And what's he doing here? He's taking away the criticism that we might have when we hear someone claim that something is not important. And we suspect that they're only saying that to try to convince themselves of it. Because they don't have it. Right? There's that other kid in your fifth grade class who says, video games are stupid. It's way more fun to play with the string, the cat's cradle thing with your sister. Well, if you know that he's, you know, from a poor family or his parents just are Luddites, you know, and so they don't believe in technology and so he does not have video games. He's never played a video game. He knows it's the popular thing and he doesn't like feeling unpopular. That's why he says video games are stupid. Well, then you don't countenance that, right? You're just trying to talk yourself into that so you don't have to feel so bad. But if this is the kid who you know has more than everybody else, he has an old Atari, and he's got Nintendo, and he's got Sega, and he has more game cartridges for each of them than everybody else in the class has total, if that's the kid that says, video games are stupid, well, then you think, maybe they are. Maybe he knows something we don't know. Maybe if you've got enough of him, you get tired of him. Maybe I should try this cat's cradle thing. I guess I never have. Could be more fun than Donkey Kong, really. Right? It just sounds different coming from somebody who has it all. That's Ecclesiastes, right? King Solomon telling us over and over again, I've had everything. I'm telling you, there's no profit in any of it. You can believe him when he says it because he tried it. He's not just trying to make himself feel better. And Paul does that with status and with morality. You think you're really something in this category? I'm even better. You think you've attained something there? I've got more. The righteousness that comes from the law? I'm blameless. I have nothing to fear from you if you want to bring me before the Sanhedrin and accuse me of something. I have no idea how much you'd have to pay for false witnesses to claim that I did something the Sanhedrin can convict me of, because everybody knows better. I am the poster child of righteousness. I'm on all the billboards. You can't convince the Sanhedrin I did something wrong. They know better. That's who I am. So when I say I'm rejecting all of that, and that's all a bunch of garbage, you can believe me. I'm not just saying that to make myself feel better, because I don't have it. I do have it. I'm the best. And it's nothing. Paul here also makes clear, as Paul so often does in his writings, that this is a mutually exclusive choice. Verse 8. I count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish that I may gain Christ. And he goes on. You see the mutually exclusivity of it. It is either Christ and that's all or everything. You can't keep some of everything and have Christ. It's all of this. and no Christ, or it's none of this and just Christ. That's the choice. Paul is like one who has labored long and hard to hone his skill in a particular athletic pursuit and has gained world-class ability there so that he at long last has earned the opportunity to fulfill his dream and represent his country at the Paralympics, where he will compete in some event especially designed for the blind. In a couple of months, before it's time to fly to whatever city is hosting the Olympics and the Paralympics, his doctor says to him, the tests are in. It turns out you are a perfect candidate for this new treatment and I am positive I can restore your sight. Now this man has a choice. Pursue my dream and go as a blind man to the Paralympics and compete and try to prove myself or give that up and receive my sight. I cannot have both. Because if the doctor restores my sight, I'm ineligible. And if I want to be eligible, I have to stay blind. I have to choose. That's what Paul's saying about himself. I have worked very hard to achieve what I've achieved, but I came to the place where I recognized I had a choice to make. I can retain that. And I can keep my face on all the billboards of most righteous Pharisee in the world, or I can burn that down and say, all my hope is in Christ and Him only. One or the other. And we have to count, Paul says he had to count all of his righteousness, all of his best deeds. He had to really believe what Isaiah had written that all our best deeds are like filthy rags. Because you can't leave the stuff behind and then be constantly looking back with this wishful glance. Oh man, that was so great. I really wish I didn't have to choose between. I mean, this is clearly better. Obviously, if I have to choose, this is better, but oh man, that's awesome. Such a bummer that I had to let that go. That's not Paul's attitude. He says, not only have I let all those things go, but I count it like garbage. And this is not the kind of garbage that you might be willing to dig through. This needs to be the kind of garbage that, you know, when you realize you've thrown that thing away that has been sitting on the kitchen counter for weeks, and nobody knows what it is, and you finally decided, I'm sick of looking at it, so you throw it away, and about 10 minutes later, you're like, I know what that is. We need that. So you go back to the trash can and you pop the lid open and you see all of the processing of raw chicken that has happened since you threw it in there and you decide, we don't need it that much. That's the kind of garbage it needs to be to us. My own righteousness and my own achievements, those things I worked so hard for. I am not digging through that. I don't want that again, otherwise we're like Lot's wife who looks back at what she's leaving behind. Paul recognizes that this pursuit of leaving all else behind and trusting only in Jesus is not quick, nor is it easy. As he moves on into verses 12 and following, here's the Apostle Paul, who knows he's writing scripture, and he says, not that I have already attained. I just said I left it all behind and counted as rubbish, but now I have to admit, not all the way. I haven't really completely achieved that yet. Don't think that I'm perfect in this. But I do press on. I keep working toward that goal, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ has already laid hold of me. It's Christ who lays hold on us and changes us so that then we want the same thing he wants, the same reason he laid hold of us. What is that? That he might glorify God by conforming us to his image. We say, that's what I want too. And that's what I strive for. It's a striving not for my own achievement, not to achieve my own righteousness, but evermore to really hate all of my own stuff and really cling only to Christ. That's what I keep trying to get to and to achieve and to reach for and to grasp, is that perspective, that mindset, that understanding, that real affection of the heart. to despise my self-achievement and prize Christ only. That's a lifelong struggle. Want some encouragement though? Notice how Paul talks about this in verse 13. I do not count myself to have apprehended, but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind. What's behind? Everything. That's our so-called successes. It's our failures too. Just forget all of that. That's water under the bridge. I'm reaching forward. The Greek word indicates this reaching to take hold of, this grasping. I want that to reaching forward to those things which are ahead. What we strive for is something that we are certain to achieve. That is our future. That is what is ahead. It is not in doubt. This is not a reaching to grasp because if we don't reach hard enough, we'll fail and we won't grasp it, right? That puts us right back in that default mode again. I have to try for this hard enough or else I might fail. Paul says, what I'm reaching for, what I'm straining for, the thing that is my desire to achieve, it is what is ahead of me. That is what will be. That is what Christ has laid hold of me for. He won't fail. He'll do it. Paul writes elsewhere that we strive because it is God who works in us both to will and to do. And then look at this encouragement. Verses 15 through 17. Therefore, let us, as many as are mature, have this mind. And if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you. Nevertheless, to the degree that we already attained, let us walk by the same rule. Let us be of the same mind that is with one another. Brethren, join in following my example and note those who walk as you have us for a pattern. Note the underlying description here of the community of faith. When we all leave behind our own attainments, then we're no longer in competition with one another. Neither in kind of achievement, nor in the degree of success in achievement. Because we're all saying whatever I've achieved is garbage. I just want Christ. Same as you. There's no more of prizing my kind of achievement over yours. Yeah, I know. You have an amazing voice, and I can't carry a tune in a bucket. But if you've ever seen me teach Sunday school, And, you know, I'm teaching Sunday school, let's be honest, it's really kind of more important. Nor the degree. You're like, you know, like Wobegon kind of teacher, like pretty okay kind of teacher, but I'm really good at it. We don't have to do that, we're freed from that. Because everybody says the same thing. And we can be patient with those who are less mature. in this. What's Paul saying in verse 15? Let us, as many as are mature, have this mind, and if in anything you think otherwise, well, you're a moron. No, God will reveal this to you. It's all God's grace. If you're further behind in this race, if you're reaching forward but you have achieved less, God will bring you along. I don't have to worry about that. I don't have to look down my nose at you. I don't have to be proud of what he's done in me. That's the default again. But then comes sorrow, even unto weeping in these last few verses. where Paul makes clear that our error here is fatal. This is a very serious thing. Paul indicates in these last verses that retaining or reintroducing any legal footing is not just a simple mistake. That's an attack on the cross. might not sound like that. The one who's teaching it seems like a really good guy, much smarter than you and me. But any retaining or reintroducing a legal footing is actually an attack on the cross. That's a repudiation of the gospel. That's what it is. I was struck by a number of things as I read and reread the sermon from last week. I can safely applaud last week's sermon, because it wasn't mine. And I remember I read Thomas Chalmers' sermon. I was really struck by just these four lines. Retain a single shred or fragment of legality with the gospel, and you raise a topic of distrust between man and God. You take away from the power of the gospel to melt and to conciliate. For this purpose, the freer the gospel is, the better it is. The least shred of legality, and you raise a topic of distrust between man and God, which is exactly the goal, according to those who argue against the imputation of Christ's righteousness, right? You have to leave some doubt that the believer must work hard to overcome by their obedience. Otherwise, why would they obey? And Thomas Chalmers says, yeah, if you deliberately introduce this doubt into the relationship, then you deprive the gospel of its power to melt and conciliate, and that is the power that expels the old affections out of the heart. So your whole way of going about trying to get people to obey is going to backfire when you reintroduce the law that way. And Paul is saying it's fatal. They are enemies of the cross. Paul is evidently speaking of false teachers in the church, and probably Jewish ones. It's why he weeps over them. He cares about these men. He loves them. He hates he hates to write to the church in Philippi. They are enemies of the cross. He hates to say this about them because he hates that it's true of them. He doesn't want it to be true of them. And it has to cast back to the beginning of the chapter where the concern that he has is those who are evil workers and the works that they work or the works of Moses. They take pride in their circumcision and their obedience to the law, and they're trying to teach others to do likewise. These are the ones who now at the end of the chapter, he says, they're enemies of Christ. In Romans chapter 16, he writes similarly about those who cause divisions and offenses, contrary to the doctrine which you learned. He writes to the Romans, avoid them. For those who are such do not serve our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly. And by smooth words and flattering speech deceive the hearts of the simple." That description, they serve their own belly. I don't think that he means they're just in this, you know, to get rich and, you know, so they can become gluttons. He means what he says here in Philippians. Verse 19, their end is destruction, whose God is their belly, whose glory is in their shame, who set their minds on earthly things. That's setting their mind on earthly things, that's synonymous with their God is their belly. It doesn't mean gluttony, precisely, but that just stands for the whole idea of having an interest in outward and physical and earthly things. What are they concerned about? Are you circumcised or not? What did you eat? Is it on the list of banned foods? They're concerned about these outward things, these earthly things. That's where their focus is. How well are you serving the church? What are you wearing? What are you drinking? What naughty words did you say? Not that those things don't matter, but if we put our trust in being on the right side of all of those lines, that's what Paul is called working evil. That's what makes us enemies of the cross. And our end will be destruction. How might we focus given some indications, but I think as I was reading this past week from Luther's introduction in his commentary, something he wrote, I don't remember what it was, but he made me think of some of us who are very ardently engaged in good ways, good things to be engaged in. in some sort of political or social activism. We want to see things be better in our society. That's good. Christians ought to be so engaged. Something he wrote made me ask myself the question, how many of us who desire to see things going in a different direction in Denver, in Washington, in our society at large, how many of us if someone were to come and to thoroughly convince us that they could actually deliver on this offer. And they were to offer us everything that we want in that direction. You'll get the people you want in office. They will enact policies that will surprise you with just how fantastic they are. You didn't expect that much good out of them. And it will actually serve, against all hope, to actually reform the culture Things do a U-turn and really start to change. And people start saying, what happened in Colorado? All those things just flipped upside down. Look what's going on. But you get all this without Christ. How tempted would we be? might we discover that what we really want is all that stuff and we're hoping that Christ in the preaching of the gospel might accomplish it. But if we could have it without Christ, well, that's really the goal. How tempted would we be to take it? Are we really setting our minds on earthly things? It reminded me of a somewhat famous quote. from Donald Gray Barnhouse, one time pastor of 10th Pres in Philadelphia. He was asked once on CBS radio, can you imagine? They're not interviewing the pastor of 10th Pres on CBS radio. If CBS radio even exists anymore today, but he was on CBS radio and he was asked, what would it look like if the devil took control of Philadelphia? And he said, all of the bars would be closed, pornography banished, and pristine streets would be filled with tidy pedestrians who smiled at each other. There would be no swearing. The children would say, yes, sir, and no, ma'am. And churches would be full every Sunday where Christ is not preached. because the devil does not care how he keeps us from Christ. Fat and happy suits him just fine. And Luther writes quite powerfully about the way in which Satan presses the law upon us as a way to enslave us and rob us of Christ. He writes, that is why we vigorously repeat this teaching of faith or Christian righteousness, so we may constantly take refuge in it, and that we may clearly see that it exists far apart from the active righteousness of the law. Otherwise, we would never uphold the true doctrine, since the church came into existence from this doctrine alone. If not, we immediately turn it into dung. We become nothing but experts of church law, keepers of ceremonies, lawyers for the law, and papists. In consequence, Christ becomes so obscured that no one in the church is properly taught and established. Therefore, if we are going to be teachers and leaders, it is binding on us to be extremely careful in these matters and be able to draw a clear line between the righteousness of the law and the righteousness of Christ. And this distinction is easy to come out of the mouth, but very difficult to use and know it personally. When death approaches, or in other moments when the conscience suffers beyond pain, these two types of righteousness approach each other more than you would expect or want. Therefore, I urge you, especially those who will instruct and guide in matters of conscience as well as everyone else, you need to exercise all the time reading and studying, meditating on the word and in prayer so that when temptation comes, you will be able to teach and comfort your own consciences as well as those of others. Take people from the law over to grace, and from the active righteousness and its works to the passive righteousness, and have them receive it. In conclusion, lead them from Moses to Christ." That was a great quote. It is not the one I intended to read. But that's the one that's in the notes, so I'm not going to go looking for it. I don't know where that is. But it was clear and powerful. I think I wanted that quote in the introduction. We can try to be righteous through our own obedience, or we can lay hold of the righteousness that's given to us as a free gift. The righteousness that belongs to Christ, that he gives to us, that we don't do anything for, we just receive it. We can't cling to both. That's the theme of Galatians. And we need it, because we're constantly defaulting to, I want credit for whatever it is about me or that I've done. And we just constantly need to be disabused of that. Because this is why pastorally it really matters. Because when we come near death, or some other thing has made us afraid, or we are tempted to doubt, then the devil will be right there to press the law against us and say, you know, you've got everybody in your life fooled, but you know you're not what you ought to be. And that will enslave us to fear and death and even to more sin. It leaves us with no choice to sin. because it traps us in this place where I need to do better. And what does Paul call that? Evil workers. So we need to ever be reminded again and again, only Christ, always Christ, only Christ, he did it all, that's enough, everything else must be done away with. That's so instilled, so soaked into our soul that when we meet the difficulty and we feel that temptation, we can say with some hymn writer, not a great hymn writer, the rest of the hymn is no good, but these are great lines, right? Well may the accuser roar of sins that I have done. I know them all, and thousands more. Jehovah knoweth none. Amen. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your astounding goodness to us in the gospel of Jesus Christ. We confess we find it difficult to really believe. We can say it. That's easy. but to really live from a place of total confidence in him with no doubts at all, including a desire to be done with all of our own works and credit, that's hard. Will you help us with that? We pray it in Christ's name, amen.