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Amen, thank you, Kristen. We're
in Philippians chapter three this morning. While you're turning
there, let me read you a thank you note. It says, Great Old
Baptist Church, we all wanted to thank you so very much for
providing us a wonderful meal after the service. Your kindness,
support, and love is truly appreciated during this difficult time. It
will always be remembered, the old family. And we are continuing
to pray for them. And I hope you are. Philippians chapter three. I told Brother Hayter's Sunday
School class this morning, I stepped in to teach that class this morning. I'll tell you, the message that
Brother Fillion gave last Sunday night was a wonderful message.
I probably won't look at Philippians chapter 2 the same way after
that message. It's one of those messages that
just connects the dots for you as you begin to just understand
what the Scripture is teaching, and I think that what he brought
out, the examples of The Mind of Christ was a wonderful exposition. And what that did was, I don't
know about you, but sometimes when I hear a message or a thought
or something, it just kind of pulls me back into the book where
it was preached. And my mind has been in Philippians
this week. And then on Friday, I went to
a preacher's fellowship, and the guy spoke in Philippians.
And I thought, man, we are in Philippians. And so this morning,
we're in Philippians, all right, Philippians chapter three. I
had a hard time really Coming up with a title for this, I've
kind of settled on it, but I'm not sure that I totally like
it, but this is my title this morning, Can You Spiritually
Count? Can you spiritually count? And I think it's important for
us to understand what Paul is doing here in these 10 verses,
because I believe he is coming to a conclusion. And he uses
this word count in a very effective way. And I want us to look through
the, obviously through Holy Writ, inspired scripture through the
pen of Paul, an understanding of how we should approach life.
And really what it is, it's everyday Christianity. If we can fully
embrace what he's teaching us here, and we can, if you will,
organize in our minds the principles that we even heard last Sunday
night and plug them in together, I believe that it would be transformative
in our Christian walk. Philippians chapter three, beginning
in verse number one, it says, finally, my brethren, rejoice
in the Lord, right? The same things to you. To me
indeed is not grievous, but for you it is safe. Beware of dogs,
beware of evil workers, beware of the concision. For we are
the circumcision which worship God in the spirit and rejoice
in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh." Though I might
also have confidence in the flesh, if any other man thinketh that
he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more. Circumcised
the eighth day of the stock of Israel, the tribe of Benjamin,
the Hebrew of the Hebrews, as touching the law, Pharisee. Concerning
zeal, persecuting the church, touching the righteousness which
is in the law, blameless. But what things were gained to
me, those I counted lost for Christ. Yea, Delis, and I count
all things but lost for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus
my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and who
count them but dung that I may win Christ and be found in him,
not having mine own righteousness. which is of the law, but that
which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which
is of God by faith, that I may know him and the power of his
resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being made
conformable unto his death. Father, I pray that you'd work
in our hearts this morning. I pray that you would teach us
through the ministry of the Holy Spirit and through the perfection
of your word this morning. I pray that we would understand
Paul's purpose and his drive and his
really the principles that you are giving through his pen and
father I pray that we'd walk from this place understanding
our Savior and loving him more we ask these things in Jesus
name amen David Russell who I don't know who David Russell is but
he is quote he is cited with this quote I think it's a pretty
good quote the hardest thing to learn in life is is which
bridge to cross and which to burn. Which bridge to cross and
which bridge to burn. Paul burned some bridges in his
life because he understood who Christ was. The first thing we
see is the confidence of Paul. Let me give you the three points
really we're gonna drive home here in this message this morning.
We have the confidence of Paul. We have the counting of Paul.
and we have the conformity of Paul. He says this in the very
beginning, he says, finally. Now, I believe what Paul's doing,
and we always make the joke here that he says finally, then he
preaches another two chapters, all right? He was a Baptist,
there's no doubt about it, all right? But what he's doing, really
this word finally is he's drawing a conclusion. And he is really
taking what he's been talking about in verses chapters one
and two, and specifically I think the mind of Christ that was very
eloquently put Sunday night, and he's saying okay, based on
this, let me flesh out for you the conclusions that we should
come to, the things we should understand. He says, my brethren,
rejoice in the Lord, to write the same thing to you. Now, it
could be this, that he's sending Timothy and Epaphroditus with
his desires. And by the way, we don't have
everything that Paul communicated to these churches, because not
everything that Paul communicated to these churches was holy writ.
There are other letters that have been written, that were
written. In fact, even the New Testament references some letters
that were not Scripture. How do we know it's Scripture?
Well, because when the church received a document, a letter,
an epistle from one of the apostles, the Holy Spirit that was in their
heart certified that this was the Word of God. It was not,
well, I wonder if that is or not. They knew. They knew immediately
and they knew by the working of the Word of God. And the Word
of God has stood the test of time. And so it could be that
he sends Timothy, because we know he does this, he's gonna
send Timothy and Epaphroditus to the church there at Philippi,
and it could be he says, listen, I want you to tell them this
and this and this and this. And so now the Apostle Paul,
when he's writing this epistle that is holy writ, he says, listen,
I'm gonna write, it doesn't bother me, to write to you what you're
gonna hear from the lips of Timothy and Epaphroditus. And he says
this, he says, to me indeed is not grievous, He's saying, I'm
not reluctant. It's kind of like the person
that says, listen, I am so sorry for being a bother. I'm so sorry
for, you know, bringing this up or to say this, right? And
the person's like, oh, no, no, no, it's not a problem at all,
right? This is what Paul's saying. Listen, it doesn't bother me.
I have no, I am not reluctant to repeat to you in written form
because of the inspiration of the Holy Spirit what maybe even
Timothy and Epaphroditus are gonna say it doesn't bother me
to repeat myself again. We see he's a Baptist. All right,
and he says this for you it is safe What's fascinating about
this word safe is it actually means to trip up to overthrow,
to cause to fall or stumble. That's the main word. But there's
a negative particle in front of it which reverses or gives
us the opposite of that word. So what he's saying is this.
He's saying, listen, what I'm writing to you doesn't bother
me to repeat this. I'm not reluctant to do it. Why?
Because I'm gonna write it to you, it's gonna cause you not
to fall or stumble. In fact, it's gonna give you
stability in your Christian life. It's gonna bring firmness in
what we understand is truth. What does he say? He says, beware.
This is the Greek word blepo. It means to look. What he's saying
is this, is that we are to pay attention. We are to be continually
on the lookout for what he's about to identify. Paul is writing
to the church at Philippi, a Gentile church, and really they're dealing
with the Judaizers. What are the Judaizers? The Judaizers
were mostly Jews. There was probably even some
Gentiles that got sucked into it. And what they were wanting
to do is they were wanting to add works to faith. One preacher
one time had a lady come and argued with him about faith and
works and she said this, she said, well I really feel like
salvation is like a rowboat. And one or is works and one or
is faith. If you just row with one you'll
go in circles, but if you row with both you'll get to heaven.
And the preacher said there's only one problem with that, no
one gets to heaven in a rowboat. It's not true. Our works have
nothing to do with our eternal security. And the Judaizers here
were infiltrating the church and they were trying to say,
oh, hold on, you gotta take Christ and faith and you gotta add Jewish
traditionalism, specifically circumcision. They're saying,
oh, if you're not circumcised, the sign of the old covenant,
then you can't be a part of the new covenant. And Paul is dealing
with that extensively in his writings. And even in Philippi,
that's what he's dealing with. And so he says, hey, be continuously
on the lookout for what? Dogs. I don't know about you. I don't necessarily mind dogs,
all right? My wife hates mean dogs. When we were teenagers here in
this church, and I liked her, all right, from a young age,
we used to do a Wednesday visitation. And it was a team visitation. And I know where my wife's love
line is, right? And she loves me up to the point
that a dog attacks. And then she's gonna abandon
me, right? I learned this very early on
and I still chose to love her. We're walking up to this door
and I don't know why the youth pastor allowed us to go together.
That was probably an oversight. But we get up on the house, we
get up to this house and I knock on the door. And immediately
we hear this guttural growl, and from around the side of the
house comes this pretty big Doberman pincher. I mean, big dog, right? And he's standing, we're up on
the step there, and the front porch, and he's down on the sidewalk,
and he's just doing one of those nasty, really big dog growls. And beside him is this little
yappy dog, right? And the little yappy dog is over
the top, right? I mean, just, I mean, just going
at it. And he's just like, you know? And Chris, I could immediately
feel that Kristen was, well, her spirit within her is melting,
right? And I looked at her dead in the
eyes and I said, do not run. Now, I had hurt my ankle in basketball. I think I had separated the growth
plate. And so I had this walking boot cast. So not only was, you
know, I was a victim here in this situation. I couldn't even
hobble quickly and I looked at her and said, don't run. And
so we start down, we start down off that porch, and I put her
in front of me, and that Doberman is walking behind growling, he's
putting his nose right in the back of my thigh. Like I can
literally feel his nose right in the back of my thigh, and
he's just growling, and he is right there with me. And the
little yappy dog, right, is down at my ankles just going crazy.
Well, about halfway down the driveway, she had had enough. And she just took off and left
me in the dust. I mean, just took off on a dead spray. And
I knew, I'm in trouble at this moment, right? So I turned around
and I went, ah, like this. And they both backed up, those
dogs. And then I'm hobbling, trying to get out of the driveway. And that little yappy dog latched
onto my good leg on my ankle and bit me, all right? The Doberman
didn't mess with me, all right? So dogs, I think, I've never
understood why someone can die from a dog. I know, maybe I'm... Now, a wolf? Yeah. But a dog? Look, just take your hand and
ram it down their throat. They've only got one thing they
can kill you with, and that's their mouth. I'm going to save someone's
life here today. Lose your arm, but don't let
them get a hold of your neck. All right, but what are we talking
about? Was he saying this? Was he saying, hey, beware, look
for those nasty little canines? No. If we understand the culture
of this moment, the term dog was used by the Jews to reference
Gentiles. All right, to reference Gentiles.
In fact, one of the commentaries that I referenced says this. It says that the Jews considered
dogs to be the most despised and miserable of all creatures.
All right, and used this word to describe the Gentiles. But
here, Paul is not saying beware the Gentiles. Paul is now switching
the statement and he's using the term dog to reference the
Judaizing Jews. He's saying, hey, beware of these
Jews and their dogs. Another description I thought
was good from a commentary said this. It said, perhaps the Jews
use this designation because of the herds of dogs that's proud
about eastern cities, without a home and without an owner,
feeding on the refuge and the filth of the streets, crawling
among themselves and attacking the passerby. Paul uses the term
here of those who prowl around the Christian congregation seeking
to win converts. And that's exactly what these
Judaizers were doing. They were coming into the church
and then they were leading born again believers away from the
truth and adding works to faith. So he says beware, beware of
dogs. Then he says beware of those
that are evil workers. He says, beware of evil workers.
So be continuously looking on the lookout for those that would
work evil. You know, God has not called
us to be a people of evil works. He's called us to be a people
of good works. The lines in the scripture are
very clear. The Bible tells us exactly what the works of the
flesh are. It tells us exactly what the
works of the Spirit are. He classifies them for us. In our world of tolerance today,
We've allowed this worldly concept to filter into the church, and
we have this idea like it doesn't really matter if somebody's involved
in that. It's all right, we just kinda, you know, well, they're
just, you know, that's just who they are. No, if they're saved,
if they're born again, if they have Jesus Christ in their heart,
if they're empowered by the Holy Spirit, then they are to be agents
of good works. They should not be agents of
evil. And so the apostle Paul says,
beware of these Judaizing dogs that would love to come by and
to wound, that would love to come by and to prowl or prey
on the weak Christians of the church. He says, beware of those
that are working evil. But he also says what? He says,
beware of the concision. Now this is a little bit of a
play on words because he's gonna reference circumcision in the
next verse. This word concision has the idea or communicates
the idea of mutilation. The idea of mutilation. He's
talking about these who are saying that circumcision is a requirement
for heaven. He specifically, really, we use
this last reference here to give us context and understanding
of even the dog reference, evil workers, and now these that are
given to this mutilization or this incision is the idea. And
so he says beware, right? He goes on, in verse three he
says this, for we are the circumcision. Now that's a fascinating statement.
He's talking again to a Gentile church, and he's saying this,
we are the true worshipers of God. And he's talking to Gentiles
that were not circumcised, but he says we are the circumcision. Now remember, if you're not aware
of the Old Testament and the significance of that, when God
gave the Abrahamic covenant to Abraham, he promised that through
the seed of Abraham, the Messiah would come, by which all the
world would be blessed. Just because a person was a Hebrew
or a Jew did not mean that automatically they went to heaven. They still,
the Old Testament saints, still got saved the same way New Testament
saints did. It was in the finished work of
Jesus Christ. His death, burial, and resurrection.
The difference is they believed in the promises to come and we
look back and believe on the promises that were fulfilled.
They were looking at the cross, we are looking back at the cross.
Now, as a sign that they had believed the promises of God,
the sign of the covenant, the Abrahamic covenant, was circumcision. That was the sign. The new covenant,
which is the New Testament, is the circumcision of the heart,
which is made available through the presence of the Holy Spirit
that comes to dwell within us. And that dwelling of the Holy
Spirit is the baptism of the Holy Spirit, which takes place
the moment someone accepts Christ. It's not some second echelon
of spirituality. It's not some elite plateau of
spirituality. It's not like you get saved and
then after you have perfected yourself and you've become an
elite Christian, then you get the Holy Spirit or you get more
of him. No, the moment we're get saved, we are all baptized
into one body by one spirit, the Bible says. That's the baptism
of the Holy Spirit. All of us get all of the Holy
Spirit. We get all of God. He doesn't get all of us because
we have to learn to submit to him in our daily living, right?
And so he's saying, he's looking at these Gentile believers who
are saved and he says, listen, you are the true people of God. You are those that have been
circumcised in the heart. You are the true worshipers of
God. He goes on, which worship God
in the spirit. Worship God in the Spirit. This
is the determining factor. Listen, this morning, if you're
watching online or you're here in the building, and you've never
accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior, you are not worshiping
Him. You can't worship Him. Because
you cannot worship God unless the Holy Spirit dwells within
you. And the Holy Spirit will not dwell within you unless you
have accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Savior. what separates
us from the world, what separates us from the sons of Satan, what
separates us from the carnal or the natural man, what separates
us from the old nature is that the Holy Spirit lives within
us and we are new creatures in Christ. And now we can worship
God in spirit and in truth. This is not an action, This is
a, it is not just a point in time action, it is a presence,
it is a, I'm trying to think of the word that I'm trying to
communicate here. It is a state, it is a state of being. The moment
we get saved, the Holy Spirit comes within us and now we can
worship God in spirit. Not because of something we have
achieved, but because of his, Dwelling presence within us.
Not only does he say that they were the circumcision which worship
God in spirit He says and rejoice in Christ Jesus. Hey, here's
what we know. We know this It's not because
we are somebody it's because Jesus Christ is everything It's
because we recognize this that Jesus Christ is the one who's
offered to us salvation that he's the author and the finisher
of our faith right of our hope and that it wasn't us. Listen,
we're not on some path of perfection here. This is not some class
of reformation. This is not some study in how
we can discipline ourselves and become religious. No, this is
about a relationship with a Savior who died for our sins, and we
rejoice in that Jesus Christ finished His work. And he did
it because he loved us. And I love this statement here,
he says, and have no confidence in the flesh. No confidence in
the flesh. You know what Paul's saying?
Paul's saying, I have no, absolutely no confidence in the flesh. I have no persuasion of the flesh.
He says, the flesh has not been the one that's persuaded me to
this. He's saying this, it's not the flesh that has brought
me salvation. It's not my desires or my determination
or my own discipline. No, he said, I have no confidence
in the flesh. And I think it's important for
us to understand that when it comes to our salvation, it's not of
man, it's of God. You don't get to heaven because
you're a member of a church. You don't get to heaven because
you're a good person. You don't get to heaven because your granddaddy
was a preacher. You don't get to heaven because
you were raised in a Baptist church, you wore Baptist diapers.
You don't get to heaven because you follow the sacraments. You
don't get to heaven because you have Bible memorized. You don't
get to heaven because you are a moral person. You don't get
to heaven because you're an American. The only way to get to heaven is to be gloriously saved and
born again through the blood of Jesus Christ. He says, I have no confidence
in the flesh. Can I say here and say, I just wanna stop here
for a moment and say this. Paul is dealing with his salvation,
he's gonna go ahead. This passage though is gonna transition into
his sanctified living. And so therefore, because Paul
gets there by verse 10, I think it's a worthy application in
this moment to say this, that even for the Christian that is
saved, we still cannot put any confidence in our flesh. We can't
put any confidence in our flesh for our salvation, and we cannot
put any confidence in our flesh for our service or our sanctification. John chapter 6 and verse 63 says,
it is the spirit that quickeneth. The flesh profiteth nothing.
The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, they are life.
Paul said this in Romans, Romans 7 and verse 18, for I know that
in me, that is, in my flesh dwelleth no good thing, for to will is
present with me, but how to perform that which is good I find not.
In Romans chapter eight, verses eight and nine, it says this,
so then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. Those
that are unsaved cannot please God. But ye are not in the flesh,
he said, but in the spirit, if so be that the spirit of God
dwelleth in you. Now, if any man have not received
the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. He's saying, listen,
the only reason that we can now please God is because the Holy
Spirit lives within me. This is what Galatians is teaching
in chapter five, beginning in verse 13. For brethren, ye have
been called unto liberty. Only use not your liberty for
an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another. This
I say then, walk in the Spirit, And ye shall not fulfill the
lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth, it desires
against the spirit, and the spirit desires, it lusts against the
flesh. And these are contrary the one to the other, so that
ye cannot do the things that ye would. Now the works of the
flesh are manifest. Which are these? Adultery, fornication,
uncleanness, lasciviousness. Here's what he's saying, he's
saying, listen, it's not our flesh that saved us, and I'll
tell you right now, if you're gonna serve God, we cannot do
it in the flesh. He continues. Paul takes this
understanding of no confidence in the flesh, brings it right
into how he is reasoning. Listen, Christianity's not blind
faith, there's reason. Someone says, well, you just,
boy, you've put all your faith and hope in just some shot in
the dark. No, I haven't. There's reason. You show me how one man can fulfill
all the Old Testament prophecies just in his first coming. What's
the probability of that? I'll tell you what it is. It's
supernatural. It's real. It's miraculous. It defies the human understanding. Why? Because it's beyond something
that man can do. Jesus Christ was exactly who
he claimed to be. And so there's reason, there's
thinking. Even Isaiah said, come now, let
us reason together. What is the reasoning? Well,
Paul says this in verse four, though I might have confidence,
though I might also have confidence in the flesh, if any other man
thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh,
either more. First, there's a comparison. He says, let me tell you something.
If there's any person living, right? And he's speaking to the
Judaizers. He said, if there's a Judaizer that thinks that they
can trust in their flesh, let me tell you something, I can
trump it. If there was anyone, he said, I'm looking at these
Judaizers and I'm telling you right now that I was better at
their false religion than they are. There was a time where they
couldn't even shine my shoes, I was such a good Judaizer, is
what he's saying. He goes into his credentials.
Circumcised the eighth day, that's important. If you're not circumcised
the eighth day, you're outside of the law of God. Paul was circumcised,
even his parents were following the law to the letter. to the
nth degree from the time that he was an infant. It goes on,
not only just the eighth day. He says, of the stock of Israel.
You know what he's saying? He's saying, both of my parents
are Jews. He said, I wasn't in some way assimilated into the
culture of the Jews. He said, I wasn't married into
it. He said, not only was I circumcised
the eighth day, but I'm on the stock of Israel. He goes on,
of the tribe of Benjamin. That's important. The first king
came from the tribe of Benjamin. Benjamin was a tribe that stuck
with Judah during the split of the kingdoms. He's saying, I
wasn't even a part of the 10 tribes that left and were the
northern kingdom. I was a part of the kingdom of
the tribe of Benjamin, who stayed with Judah, of which became the
true and real kingdom, of which became the king, David, right? And Solomon came from, of which
God gave the Davidic covenant to that. It's the other tribes
that split off of Benjamin and Judah. Not only was he of the
tribe of Benjamin, he's a Hebrew of Hebrews. He's saying, listen,
Hebrew was Paul's native tongue. Unlike some of the Israelites,
he did not adopt Greek customs. He knew thoroughly both the language
and the customs of the people of God. He was a Hebrew son of
Hebrew parents in every single way. He goes on and he says this.
as touching the law of Pharisee. He said when it came to the Judaizers'
law, he's saying not just the law that was given by Moses,
but all of the extra laws that were put on. I was a part of
the sect that was the most stringent and the most strict. I was of
the sect that was called the Pharisees. That's impressive
when you think about man's opinion or man's credentials. Then he
talks about three things he's chosen. He said, concerning zeal,
he said, not only was I all that, but I was zealous. And here's
how I proved my zealousness. He says, I persecuted the church. Touching the righteousness which
is in the law, blameless. He said, listen, I kept, all
right, I kept the Judaizers way of life. Now we realize this,
no man could keep the law of God. The only one that could
keep the law of God was Jesus Christ. But according to the
way the Judaizers thought in their paganism, in their works-based
salvation, Paul said, according to their perspective, I'm blameless.
There was nothing that any other Pharisee could point at Paul
and say, this disqualifies you from being a part of our Pharisee
sect. No one could do it. He was blameless. Look what it says. Now I love this part. Sometimes people try to explain
this in this idea that Paul said, you know, all of that I was and
all that I had done, it was a loss. As though when he when he evaluated
the value of that, he had to put it in a negative column as
though it was some sacrifice in that moment. That's not what
he's saying. I don't believe he's saying this,
boy, I'll tell you what, I was somebody, boy, I sure missed
those days. That's not what he's saying. You know what he's saying? He's saying this, listen, I looked
at all that I was and all that I had and the prominence and
the position and the power that I had within the Judaizers religion,
and he said, I realized this, that it was worthless. I counted
it lost. He's saying this, he said, I
realized that it had no spiritual value. Compared to what? He said, I
counted a loss for Christ. When Paul began to realize and
began to rationalize and when he began to reckon the value
of all that he was in his sin and all that he was as a Judaizer,
and then he began to understand who Christ was, he looked at
this stuff from the world and his past life and he said, man,
I don't want any of that, I want Christ. I believe this. I believe that every Christian
has to come to this point where there is this consideration in
their heart and mind. I think the New Testament speaks
of this in the book of Hebrews when reminding us of the testimony
of Moses. It says, By faith Moses, when
he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's
daughter. Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people
of God than enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. Esteeming
the reproach of Christ greater riches. Think about that. Esteeming
the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in
Egypt, for he had respect under the recompense of the reward.
By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king,
the pharaoh, for he endured as seeing him who is invisible.
You know what Moses did? Moses came to the same conclusion
that Paul did, and that was this, that all of the riches and all
of the wealth and all of the power and all of the prominence
of Egypt and this world and religion is not worth anything compared
to what we have in Christ. Can I say this? There's a lot
of Christians that haven't come to that conclusion. Now, you're
saved by faith. You've put your faith and trust
in Jesus Christ, but you're still holding on to some mistaken,
delusional value of this world. You think that this world, that
there's something there. And you know where it's communicated?
It's communicated in the fickled perspective of the life actions
that you live. Paul's gonna flesh this out for
us here in this last verse. But realize this, none of that
mattered to Paul anymore. He saw no intrinsic value, no
spiritual value in all that he was. He walked away from it and
he didn't walk away from it dragging his lip going, boy, I was somebody
back then and now I'm just a nobody. No, he walked away from it saying,
man, I'll tell you what, I am so thankful. He maybe even skipped
away from it because he saw the true value of life was not in
the world or in religion. The true value of life was nothing
in comparison to all that Christ is and all that he's done. We
see this last few verses here of the conformity of Paul. He
says, of Christ Jesus my Lord. Now
this word knowledge through this text is the Greek word, the root
word would be gnosis. And we're gonna talk about that
in a second. But this is what he's saying. He's saying, listen,
I consider it all empty, all vain, all loss, all nothing compared
to this surpassing greatness of knowing Jesus Christ. Really
of experiencing Jesus Christ. He says, for whom I have suffered
the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may
win Christ. This word dung, it refers to
things, such things as half-eaten corpses. like lumps of manure
or human excrement, the portion of food rejected by the body
as unnourishing, or to the scraps or leavings of a feast, the food
thrown away from the table. That's what the picture of is
here. He's saying, listen, I look at all that that was and I consider
it to be nothing but dung. Why? That I may win Christ. This word win means to gain Christ.
You know what he's saying? He's saying this, he's saying
this matters nothing to me anymore, why? Because I lost that so that
I could actually gain Christ. Have you stopped to think about
our gain in Christ? who we are in Christ, all that
God has given us in Christ. Oh friend, it ought to drive
us, it ought to drive us to a worship of praise and adoration to think
that all that we have in Christ. Like this world doesn't matter. You realize this, you realize,
and everybody wants to talk about the 1%, right, the 1%. You've got to have millions of
dollars to be in the 1%. Let me tell you something. If
you know Jesus Christ as your Savior, what we have coming for
us will make the 1% look like they're paupers. And it's not just something that's
eternal. It is eternal. It's not something just for the
next dispensation, or the next dwelling, or the next existence.
It has a reality here. Here's what he says, he says,
and be found in him, to be found in him, not having my own righteousness,
which is of the law. He says, to be found in Him,
not having my own righteousness, which is the law, but that which
is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of
God by faith. He said, listen, I walked away
from all of this so that I could gain Christ, and now I'm found
of Him, not because I was somebody, but I am looked upon by the Father
because of Jesus Christ. I have access to the Father through
all that Jesus Christ has done for me. Okay, he's building,
he comes here to verse number 10. And he says that I may know
him. He says that I might experience
him. Oh friend, do you realize just
because of who we are in Christ, because of what Christ has done
for us, because of His sacrifice on the cross, because of His
sanctification that He offers to us, the justification of our
sins, because of all of this, we can now experience Christ. We can know Him on a personal
level, not just in the theologies, and not just in a theoretical
sense. We can have a personal relationship
to know Him. This is what Paul wanted. to
experience Christ. He says that I may know Him,
that I may experience Him, and then this is a parallel thought,
and that I may experience the power of His resurrection. Not
just experiencing Christ Himself, but experiencing the power of
His resurrection. The word know here Let me read
you what I found. It says, to know, to recognize,
to know personally through experience, to appropriate. The word often
implies a personal relation between the knower and the known, involving
the influence of the object of knowledge upon the knower. He
says that I may experience him experimentally. The aim of the
righteous just mentioned. This verse resumes and more fully
explains the excellency of the knowledge of Christ. To know
him is more than merely to know a doctrine about him. Believers
are brought not only to redemption, but to the Redeemer himself.
He says that I can experience the power of his resurrection,
assuring the believers, the power of the resurrection assures us
of our justification. Romans four and verse 25, who
was delivered for our offenses and was raised again for our
justification. The power of his resurrection.
It's the power of the resurrection that's gonna raise our dead bodies
and his coming. Lastly, he says that I may experience
the fellowship of his sufferings. These sufferings were not Christ's
substitutionary sufferings on the cross. Paul knew that those
could not be shared, but he did desire to participate with Christ
since he was one of his in suffering for the sake of righteousness.
Colossians chapter one and verse 24 says, who now rejoice in my
sufferings for you and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions
of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake which is the church. I could spend so much time here
and I don't have the time. The last phrase there says being
made conformable unto his death. To be conformed is to take on
the same form. Now some have said that this
is Paul saying he was gonna die in a similar way. It could be,
I think it's deeper than that. I think he's saying this, to
be conformed to the likeness of his death. namely by continued
suffering for his sake and mortifying the carnal self. The words becoming
like him translate. which means being conformed inwardly
in one's experience to something. In this case, to Christ's death.
As Christ died for sin, so a believer has died to sin. He should exhibit
that cutting off from his formal sinful way by daily being set
apart for sin and living a new life by means of Christ's resurrection
power. This is what was being preached
Sunday night. Let this mind be in you. It was
the mind of Christ that took Christ from the glories of heaven,
rolled him in a servant's body to become obedient unto death,
even the death of the cross. And it is you and I who have
to conform ourselves, right? We have to be conformed by the
power of the Holy Spirit, and we have to yield to that, submit
to that, so that we live in conformity to his death. What does that
mean? That we have the mind of Christ. That we have the mind
of Christ. That just as Jesus Christ's death
was for the destruction of sin, so as we live our Christian life,
we mortify our flesh. What does Paul say? I die daily. I die daily. So my question this
morning, and Paul said it this way in Galatians 2.20, I am crucified
with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth
in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the
faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. Here's
the question, the question is this, can you count spiritually?
Is this where we are? Do we look at all that the world
has to offer, and all that the world has to push, and the philosophies,
and all the things of the world, and we say, well, I want to serve
Christ, but boy, I got this goal, and that goal, and this goal,
and that goal, and we're just on that fence, we're on that
seesaw, and we have not considered all these things lost yet. We
have not looked at them as they are, and they are worthless in
the economy of heaven, because we want this, and we want Christ.
And Paul says, no, no, all I want is to experience Christ, and
to experience the power of his resurrection, and to experience
the fellowship of his suffering, and to be conformed to his death,
meaning this, that my daily living, how I live every day as a Christian,
I am dying to the flesh. and living unto Christ. Boy,
I'll tell you, if we could get that, if we could understand
that, it would change us. It would change us. Father, I
pray you'd help us to embrace these truths. Help us to live
what is communicated, commanded, and instructed here in these
verses. Before I finish my prayer this
morning, maybe you sit here this morning and you say, Pastor,
I'm not sure I'm saved. We talked about worship, we talked
about having the Holy Spirit within
you, and you'd say, Pastor, pray for me. I'm not sure that I've
ever accepted Jesus Christ as my Savior. Listen, I'd love to
pray for you, and honestly, I wouldn't call your name out. My prayer
can't save you, but I'm gonna pray that God speaks to your
heart. If you're here this morning and don't know Jesus Christ is
your Savior, would you let me pray for you in the quietness
of this moment? Is there anyone like that that
would slip their hand up? Anyone at all? Christian, then, can
I ask you this question? Have you come to the same conclusion
that Paul came to? Can you count spiritually? I really think, I really think
that one of the reasons Paul was used of God in such a great
way is because of this passage right here. because he lived
his life seeing no value, no eternal value in what the world
had to offer. Not for his salvation and not
for his service. Father, I pray that you would
work in hearts as only you can. I pray you'd be with that one
that they didn't raise their hand but they don't know you
as their savior, that you draw them to you. We pray that you'd
work as only you can in Jesus' name, amen. Stand with me with
heads bowed and eyes closed as the piano begins to play. I don't
know how God spoke to your heart this morning, but I encourage
you to come. Take some time, do business with God. I'll say this, if we don't learn
by spiritual discipline to count the way Paul counted, when we
get to heaven and we stand before Jesus, we will have miscounted. When the service of our life
is placed before Christ and the fire of God falls upon it, will
it be gold, silver, and precious stone or wood, hay, and stubble? Paul said, listen, I've walked
away from all of that so that I can experience Christ. I've
walked away from all of it. In his heart and mind, there
was no value. There was no value in Judaism. There was no value in the world. He was singular in focus that
I may know him. In fact, later on in the passage,
he says, this one thing I do, forgetting those things which
are behind, pressing forward from those things which are before.
He said, I press for the mark of the prize of the high calling
of God in Christ Jesus.
Everyday Christianity
| Sermon ID | 12725345541856 |
| Duration | 47:09 |
| Date | |
| Category | Teaching |
| Bible Text | Philippians 3:1-10 |
| Language | English |
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