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Good morning. Welcome to Christ
Reformed Church on this beautiful, sunny, warm Lord's Day. Amen. I have just a couple of
announcements that I would like to share with you, both of which
you can find on the back inside cover of our bulletin. First
and foremost, as you know, we are taking of the Lord's Supper
this morning. We just ask if you are not a
member here at CRC, that you speak to either myself or one
of our elders concerning your participation. We ask that you
be a baptized member in good standing of a Bible-believing
Protestant church. I'd also like to make mention
that as per normal, following our service, we are going to
have a fellowship meal. Everyone is welcome to come.
Please do so and enjoy fellowship and encouragement with our brothers
and sisters. But secondly, this Tuesday, May
6th, 7 p.m., I believe this is the first Tuesday of the month,
but we are having our men's and women's Bible study at our home. If you would like to know where
that is, please speak to myself, my wife, or any number of people
who knows where we live. But please consider coming and
enjoying that fellowship, as it is a good time together as
we study God's word. Let us now turn our hearts and
minds to silent prayer as we prepare for worship. Amen. Grace and peace to you
from God, our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ. Would you
please stand with me as we read our call to worship from God's
word, which we can find in Psalm 57, as we read verses nine through
11. The word of the Lord says, I
will praise you, O Lord, among the peoples. I will sing to you
among the nations, for your mercy reaches into the heavens. Be
exalted, O God, above the heavens. Let your glory be above all the
earth. Let us pray. Gracious Heavenly
Father, we thank you and praise you for this beautiful, warm
Sunday morning in which your people gather together to worship
you. We pray, Heavenly Father, that
you would fill our hearts and minds with the joy of your salvation,
that we might glorify you as per do your name. We pray, Heavenly
Father, that you would be with us, that you would encourage
us, strengthen us, that you would hear our cry. And we pray, Heavenly
Father, that all that we do and say and think would be for your
glory. Bless us this morning, for it
is in your precious name we pray, amen. Would you please stir with
me in our hymnal to hymn 253, There is a Fountain. ♪ And sinners' blood beneath their
foot ♪ ♪ Lose all their guilty stains ♪ ♪ Lose all their guilty
stains ♪ ♪ Lose all their guilty stains ♪ ♪ And sinners' blood
beneath their foot ♪ ♪ Who are dying, we rejoice to
see ♪ ♪ That our God today comes day ♪ ♪ And there on high as
twilight's day ♪ ♪ Wash all my sins away ♪ ♪ Washed off my sins away ♪ ♪ Washed
off my sins away ♪ ♪ And there have I, as wild as he ♪ ♪ Washed
off my sins away ♪ ♪ And since then ♪ me. I saw it in the rain. I saw it in the rain. I saw it in the rain. I see you. Amen. Please be seated. Good morning. You'll turn in
the bulletin to the Canons of Dort insert, where we'll be confessing
two articles this morning in the second head of doctrine dealing
with the death of Christ and man's redemption by it. So let
us confess our faith. And whereas many who are called
by the gospel do not repent nor believe in Christ, but perish
in unbelief, this is not owing to any defect or insufficiency
in the sacrifice offered by Christ upon the cross, but is wholly
to be imputed to themselves. So we continue in the L of the
TULIP acronym, Limited Atonement or Particular Redemption with having finished the U, dealing
with unconditional election and reprobation, where we saw that
God is absolutely sovereign in the salvation of human beings,
not man. And we've seen lately, in dealing
with the second head of doctrine, that the absolute necessity of
the work of Jesus Christ to save us from our sins because of the
infinite offense against God's infinite majesty that we have
occurred because of our sin. Christ's work has that infinite
value needed to satisfy God's infinite justice. And last week
we also considered the preaching of the gospel as the means by
which God, primary means, which God uses to gather in His elect. Now in Article 6 here, It addresses
a straw man argument of the Arminians that the reformed deny human
responsibility. Their teaching was that the reformed
view of election destroys man's possibility before God. We also
see in this article dealing with the outward call of the gospel
that yes, some will respond in unbelief. We saw that under the
first head of doctrine dealing with those who are reprobate,
they will not believe. And yet they are responsible
for that unbelief. Now an unregenerated person loves
their sin and hates God. We see in Psalm 53 1, the fool
says in his heart, no God. And we see in Romans 1 that they
suppress the truth about God in unrighteousness. Now no unbeliever
on the day of judgment will be able to say, well, I wanted to
believe. I wanted Christ and his righteousness, but the work
of Christ was not sufficient for me. No, that is not true. They love their sin and they
hate God and would not want to believe because they are unregenerate. They are dead in sin. Now the
general proclamation of a particular gospel, the outward call, goes
out to all human beings, elect and reprobate alike, and all
are commanded to repent and believe. But only the elect, by the grace
of God and the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit, will believe.
But the unbelieving are still responsible for their unbelief
because they willingly reject Christ. And then on the flip
side, in Article 7, as many as truly believe, God's elect will
respond to that gospel call with true saving faith. and are thus
saved from their sin and destruction, Christ's death being for them
in their place. And all of this, of course, solely
by the grace of God that is given to them in Christ, which flows
out of their eternal election and God's decree to save them
in Christ. Nothing is attributed to any
merit of their own. And this simply is a reiteration
of the reform slogans of the solas or the alones, that it
is by grace alone, through faith alone, because of Christ alone,
and to God alone be the glory that we are saved. Amen? Amen. Amen. Would you once again turn
with me in our hymnal to hymn 148, How shall the young direct their
way? Hymn 148. you love. O let me not from you
depart. To know your will and keep from
sin your word I cherish in my heart. Amen. Would you please Gracious Heavenly Father, again,
we both thank you for this beautiful day and this beautiful salvation
through Jesus Christ, our Lord, that you have given to us. We
thank you, Heavenly Father, although it is difficult to understand
the doctrine of election, we thank you, Heavenly Father, from
before the foundation of the world had been created you have
by your decree chosen some unto salvation. We thank you that
before we had ever heard of the name of Christ, you sent your
son by the covenant of grace that he might purchase our salvation. And we thank you for the spirit's
work that worked in us through regeneration that opened our
eyes to the reality of Christ as Lord, need for repentance
and for faith. We thank you. We thank you, Lord,
that although they are difficult to understand, they are nevertheless
biblical and true. And although we would like to
think that we have a part to play in our salvation, we contribute
nothing to the sinfulness that made your coming into this world
necessary. We pray, Heavenly Father, that
that would be both freeing and encouraging. Because as we will
see this morning, your word rather reassures us that although many
of us feel this great pull within us to work, to somehow earn salvation,
because we're under the impression that we somehow need to make
ourselves more lovable before you, or this work that you have
done in us more acceptable, we can rest and be assured that
it is through the finished work of Jesus Christ that saves us,
apart from any merit or work of our own. And we pray, Heavenly
Father, that as we come humbly before the sacrament of the Lord's
Supper, that you would reassure us that you would strengthen
us and that you would allow us by your grace and your mercy
to rest in your compassionate, loving arms, freeing us from
the unbiblical idea that we need to somehow earn your love because
it's just not possible. We pray, Heavenly Father, that
in this freedom that we have through your work, that we would
nevertheless strive to be all that we can be in Christ, that
we would learn our confessions, what the scripture teaches, that
we would read theology, even if we read through it rather
slowly, that we might grow, that we would find it a delight within
us to pray together and at home, to read your word together and
to read it at home, to think high and lofty thoughts, both
together here on the Lord's Day and at home. We pray, Heavenly
Father, that you would drive us to the grace that is sanctification,
this work that you do in us that helps us grow, that gives us
this passion to read and to understand. And we pray that it would be
for your glory and your glory alone, that we would be able
to point back to how you have taught us and to give you glory
and not the astuteness of our own minds. We pray, Heavenly
Father, this morning for the sick, the hurting, We pray for
both those who are amongst us and those who could not be here
this morning. And we pray, Heavenly Father,
that, Lord, you would reassure us, that you would comfort us.
We pray, Heavenly Father, that we would not be fixated on this
thing that we can't control or perhaps help, but upon you, the
author and the perfecter of our faith. We pray, Heavenly Father,
that we would be fixated on the reality that you are the great
physician and that we need you. We pray that being sick, as difficult
as it is, would be a reminder that we are in need of your grace
and your mercy. We pray that it would be humbling,
but we pray, Heavenly Father, that you would heal us, that
you would encourage us. I pray, Heavenly Father, that
if we as a church, Lord, look to grow united together through
Christ and his purposes that we would put it upon our own
minds and shoulders and hearts, Lord, to regularly pray for one
another, that we would remember to call one another or email
or send text messages. But we pray, Heavenly Father,
that we as a church, united through the blood of Jesus Christ, would
affectionately love one another both here and out in this world
that you have put us in. Lord, help us to love one another
well. We pray Heavenly Father for our
marriages this morning. We thank you for them. We thank you, Lord, that you
have given us our spouses. We thank you, Lord, for those
looking to be married. And we thank you, Lord, for those
who are dreaming about being married. And we pray, Heavenly
Father, that you would work within our marriages. We pray that you
would help us to love one another well, to serve one another well,
to faithfully pray for one another well, that we frankly would enjoy
one another's company, that we would have fun together, that
we would have soft hearts towards each other, that we would be
teachable with one another, that we would pray together and talk
about the things of God together. But we pray, Heavenly Father,
that you would guard our minds and our hearts from those things
that the world so readily offers us that will not only lead us
astray from your sweet fellowship, but from the love and affection
of our spouses. Protect our hearts, protect our
marriages. We pray, Heavenly Father, that
we would find it to be the joy of our delight just to check
in with each other. That when our spouse is gone,
Lord, we would think affectionate thoughts about them and thank
you for them. Even when things seem so difficult, we know biblically that you use
difficulties to sanctify us, and therefore even our marriages
as difficult as they will be at times is a sanctification
tool. We pray Heavenly Father that
we would never lose sight that it was your sovereignty that
provided our spouse and that you have called us before your
presence to love them and to love them well, that we might
glorify you. We pray Heavenly Father for those
amongst us who has children or grandchildren or great-grandchildren
We pray, Heavenly Father, for those who are married and are
wanting to be married, who look forward to the day of having
children. We pray, Heavenly Father, very
simply that you would protect our covenant children, Lord.
Again, that you would protect them from the lies and the schemes
of the evil one. We pray, Heavenly Father, that
our covenant children again, can be difficult, would grow
up under your sovereign loving hand to serve you all the days
of their lives. We thank you, Heavenly Father,
that you have given us the ministry of being under shepherds to our
children along with this covenant community. We pray, Heavenly
Father, that you would help us to realize that even when we
fail, there is grace and mercy abounding, that all we need do
is repent before you. And even if we need to repent
before our children, that we would freely do so and that we
would start again and again and again, lifting them up in prayer
and teaching them your statutes and commands that they would
see their need for salvation, but we pray heavenly father that
we would trust you with their salvation. And we would not feel
the burden of having to somehow get them quote unquote to believe. I pray heavenly father that you
would help us to teach them all that we can alongside the church
and that we would leave them at your loving feet. And I pray,
Lord, that you would protect us from shame and guilt and condemnation
when we look at how we've raised our children and we will sometimes
feel like failures. We pray this morning, Lord, that
you would be with our children. We pray that you would lead those
who have gone wayward to repentance and faith in Jesus Christ to
the praise of your glorious name. We pray, Heavenly Father, that
you would give our children teachable spirits, But although we may
not know everything they're looking to understand, we pray that you
would help us to find the answers. That we wouldn't feel guilty
about not having all of the answers. But we pray, Lord, that as we
raise these gifts that you have given to us, that we would not
give up. Help us to fight the good fight
of faith in raising our children And then give us the freedom
to be able to lay them at your feet as we trust you with their
eternal trajectory. We pray Heavenly Father that
as we go about the rest of this service that you would bless
us, that you would encourage us, that you would strengthen
us. And we ask Lord that no matter what is coming around this week,
we pray that you would prepare us by the work of the spirit
to handle that. Lord, as you have empowered us
to do so that even in that we would glorify you. We pray that
you would, that you would be with us. We ask all of these
things in your precious son, Jesus Christ name we pray. Amen. Would you please stand with me
now for the reading of God's word. We'll begin this morning in the
Old Testament in Leviticus chapter 12. We'll be reading together verses 1
through 8. Leviticus chapter 12, verses
1 through 8. The word of the Lord says, beginning
in verse one, then the Lord spoke to Moses saying, speak to the
children of Israel saying, if a woman has conceived and born
a male child, then she shall be unclean seven days. As in
the days of her customary impurity, she shall be unclean. And on
the eighth day, the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised. She shall then continue in the
blood of her purification 33 days. She shall not touch any
hallowed thing nor come into the sanctuary until the days
of her purification are fulfilled. But if she bears a female child,
then she shall be unclean for two weeks, as in as in her customary
impurity, and she shall continue in the blood of her purification
66 days. When the days of her purification
are fulfilled, whether for a son or a daughter, she shall bring
to the priest a lamb of the first year as a burnt offering and
a young pigeon or a turtle dove as a sin offering to the door
of the tabernacle of meeting. then he shall offer it before
the Lord and make atonement for her. And she shall be clean from
the flow of her blood. This is the law for her who has
born a male or a female. And if she is not able to bring
a lamb, then she may bring two turtle doves or two young pigeons,
one as a burnt offering and the other as a sin offering. So the
priest shall make atonement for her and she will be clean. May God add a blessing to the
reading of his word. And now would you turn with me
to 2 Corinthians chapter 11. 2 Corinthians chapter 11 and
we'll read together verses 22 to 33. Second Corinthians chapter 11
verses 22 to 33. Paul writes, are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they the seed of
Abraham? So am I. Are they ministers of
Christ? I speak as a fool. I am more,
in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more
frequently, in deaths often. From the Jews five times I received
40 stripes minus one. Three times I was beaten with
rods once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked,
a night and a day I have been in the deep. in journeys often,
in perils of water, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own
countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city,
in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils
among false brethren, in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often,
in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness,
Besides the other things, what comes upon me daily, my deep
concern for all the churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak. Who is made to stumble, and I
do not burn with indignation. If I must boast, I will boast
in the things which concern my infirmity. The God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is blessed forever, knows that
I am not lying. In Damascus, the governor under
Aretas, the king, was guarding the city in Damascenes with a
garrison, desiring to arrest me, but I was let down in a basket
through a window in the wall and escaped from his hands. All flesh is like grass and all
of its glory is like the flower of the grass. The grass withers
and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord abides forever. And all of God's children said,
amen. Please be seated. Join me in
a word of prayer. Our God in heaven, we once again
ask you, Lord, for your help as we look upon your word. Lord,
I pray that you would give us understanding. I pray, Heavenly Father, that you
would help us to rightly divide your word, that we would apply
it and, Lord, that we would be in our minds renewed We pray, Heavenly Father, that
we would think your thoughts after you. We pray, Lord, that
it would be to the glory of your precious name. For we ask these
things in that name. Amen. I wanna invite you to turn
with me, as it's indicated in our handy-dandy bulletin, to
Philippians chapter three, as we look together at verses four
through 11. Philippians chapter three, verses
four through 11. And I have entitled this sermon again,
as it says in the bulletin, giving up to gain. Giving up to gain. But Philippians chapter three,
verses four through 11. would you follow along with me
as I read our text, beginning in verse four. Though I also
might have confidence in the flesh, if anyone else thinks
he may have confidence in the flesh, I more so. Circumcised the eighth day of
the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews,
concerning the law of 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 lost for Christ. Yet indeed, I also
count all things lost 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. Be conformed,
being conformed to his death, if by any means I may attain
to the resurrection from the dead. Again, may God add a blessing
to the reading of his word. Well, this passage, Like the
passage you might have read in, I believe, Acts chapter 8, the
passage this morning is probably the most dramatic and compelling
salvation testimony in the New Testament. That is the testimony
of how Saul of Tarsus became the Apostle Paul. Paul's point
here in our passage is that not only is salvation not based upon
your or his works, our merits, but it is the result of the covenant
of grace in God's electing us, is saving us. God sovereignly
regenerates the mind and the heart of those who he has chosen
and in doing so removes the scale from upon our eyes that we might
believe upon Christ for his glory. Something that we wouldn't be
able to do that is to save ourselves apart from his grace. Paul explains
here that although he has spent much of his life earning righteousness,
that he hoped would achieve salvation for himself, works according
to the law, that upon meeting Christ in his regenerating work
of the spirit was shown that the things that he had achieved
and done were not salvific at all, meaning they did not save
him. They did not contribute to his
being saved. Paul, in a sense, exchanges his
empty and vain works that will, in the end, lead to death for
the righteousness that is imputed to us through Christ, which leads
to life eternal. read to you from the Heidelberg
Catechism, question and answer number 60. The question is, how
are you righteous before God? Again, question and answer number
60. It says, only by true faith in Jesus Christ, that is, although
my conscience accuses me that I have grievously sinned against
all the commandments of God and have never kept any of them and
am still prone always to all evil, yet God, without any merit
of mine of mere grace, grants and imputes to me the perfect
satisfaction, righteousness, and holiness of Christ, as if
I had never committed nor had any sins, and had myself accomplished
all the obedience which Christ has fulfilled for me, if only
I accept such benefit with a believing heart. What is the catechism
teaching us, beloved? It's that the beauty of Christ's
salvific work within us renders to us a righteousness that makes
us as if we had never sinned before God Almighty a day in
our lives. That in his perfect obedience
to the law, He causes us to be sinless in the eyes of our heavenly
father, to the praise of his glorious name. Amen. And the issue, as we look at
that creed in light of what God's word says, we are reminded that
the Lord takes away our guilt. He cleanses our consciences. He purifies our hearts. as if
we had never sinned. But within the issue of God's
transforming our minds to believe upon Jesus Christ, there is also
a transformation of our wills. That's the other thing that Paul
is establishing here. That is what we desire is also
brought into conformity with Jesus Christ. In Matthew chapter
13, Jesus tells us of two parables, excuse me, the first from verse
44. So this is Matthew chapter 13,
verse 44. He tells us that the kingdom
of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field. We're all
familiar with this parable. This man discovers this field
and on the field, he discovers a treasure. He goes home, he
sells everything that he owns that he might purchase this field
and the hidden treasure that is within it so that he can have
that treasure. The kingdom of heaven is like
that treasure. He tells us another parable then
in verses 45 and 46. about the kingdom of heaven where
a merchant finds a pearl of great value. Again, this man sells
all that he has to purchase that pearl. Christ's point is that
when God Almighty gives us a new heart, what you will witness
within you as you grow is a desire to throw off those things that
will hinder you from having him so that you can have more of
him. In fact, in verse 44, chapter
13 of Matthew, the parable of the man who purchases this entire
field so that he can have the hidden treasure. Jesus tells
us in that parable, he does so with joy. The Greek word translated
joy comes from the Greek word zaris. that is gladness or happiness. The point that we derive from
this is not only does Christ change what we desire, but he
causes us to be happy about having the things we now desire in Christ. So not only does he change our
desires at a heart level, he gives us a joy as to our pursuit
of them. As we look at the testimony of
Paul, that is what we see. Paul, as he writes this passage, breaks it up into two parts.
The first, from verse four to verse six, are those things that
Paul was persuaded to make, that he pursued, excuse me, to make
himself righteous. And the second, verse seven to
11, Paul describes what true righteousness, where true righteousness
is found. Again, verses four through six,
those things Paul pursued to make himself righteous. Secondly,
verses seven through 11 are those things where true righteousness
is found. Would you follow along with me
as I read from verse four to verse six, where Paul begins
by explaining those pursuits of the law that he believed would
make him righteous, beginning in verse four. Though I also might have confidence
in the flesh, if anyone else thinks he may have confidence
in the flesh, I more so. Circumcised the eighth day of
the stock of Israel, the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the
Hebrews concerning the law, a Pharisee concerning zeal, persecuting
the church, concerning the right, concerning the righteousness,
which is in the law, blameless. What Paul begins here with a
seven behaviors or pursuits that Paul viewed at one time to be
of spiritual profit in making him righteous before God. What
that means is that Paul did these things so that when God saw that
Paul not only was in pursuit of them, but accomplished them,
that he would have no other thought than, Paul, my servant is righteous. We have to understand as we go
into these three verses, the amount of arrogance and pride
that would have gone into thinking or believing that we have the
ability to somehow cause ourselves to be good enough to get ourselves
into heaven. And that is the very heart of
legalism. That arrogantly, the one who
believes that I have the ability to make myself holy enough before
God. The question that a legalist
will often ask is, why can't you make yourself holy through
adherence and obedience to the law. That question assumes that
we have the ability to overcome our depravity and, in fact, the
noetic effect of sin. That is, that Adam and Eve's
sin causes us to think and believe and to understand truth and God
incorrectly. Therefore, the reason that we
need God to intervene is because it is through his regenerating
work that would allow us to not only read his word and to understand
it correctly, but to understand God correctly. The issue biblically,
as we know, is that those aren't things that we overcome, but
God's work alone in us. You notice what he says here,
very interestingly, verse four. Though I also might have confidence
in the flesh, if anyone thinks he may have confidence in the
flesh, I more so." What Paul is beginning this text out with
is that out of everyone who has ever taken upon themselves a
legalistic approach of having righteousness before God, and
being confident that they had somehow earned that level of
righteousness to be accepted by God, Paul puts them all to
shame. That's what he's saying. Out
of everyone who has looked to be made righteous before God
through their own efforts, I am chief amongst them. He says he
has confidence. the Greek word pep or faith sin,
literally to place trust or reliance upon, meaning that as Paul approached
the law, he read it as a manual of as
to how to make himself righteous before God. And because he had
achieved certain things according to his own effort, he was assured
he was confident he could lay to rest any thought that he somehow
couldn't have earned that sense of righteousness before God.
He was assured. He knew with absolute assurance
that everything a person is supposed to do, he conquered in spades. Imagine that. Well, what he goes
into next from verse five to the end of verse six are those
things that he did. Please bear with me as we go
through each of these so as to understand what Paul is saying. But he begins verse five as he
says, he was circumcised on the eighth day. You read back in
Genesis chapter 17 verses nine through 14 and We read in Leviticus
chapter 12, these passages record the initiation of circumcision,
which was the initiatory rite of the old covenant. If for some
reason someone rejected circumcision, then it was a sign that they
were rejecting God who made the covenant. But the sign of circumcision
served as a blood sign of the gospel that was to come through
Christ. It pointed to God cutting away
the corruption of fallen human nature through the bloody sacrifice
of our coming Messiah, Jesus Christ, which he would endure
for his beloved. But what Paul is pointing out
here is that at some point the Jews culturally began to forget
what God intended for circumcision to remind them of. And the idea
that circumcision in and of itself was something that they could
do to justify themselves before God. In other words, it went
from a reminder of the need to be saved through the coming of
the son to, if I am circumcised, I do a work that is good enough
to make me righteous before the sight of God. So what Paul is
attesting to is that his external performing this work achieved
nothing in terms of being righteous before God. Verse 5, secondly,
it says that he was of the stock of Israel. Paul was by birth
a member of God's chosen people, meaning he was amongst the people
that God revealed himself to in this group through whom he
would bring about this promised Messiah that we see all the way
back in Genesis chapter three, verse 15. What Paul, however,
is pointing out is the idea that people grew to have that all
of Israel, regardless of how each person was living, would,
because they're Jewish, be automatically saved. In other words, because
they were born of Abraham and were Jewish and practiced even
some of the laws of God, but lived however they wanted to,
that they were automatically saved, automatically righteous
before God. But God's point was never to
save all of Israel simply because they belong to Israel, but creating
one people, the church, saved by election evidenced by faith
in Jesus Christ. So the racial heritage, thinking
that you come from a family that is perhaps better than others,
was not salvific. He says he was from the tribe
of Benjamin. Benjamin, if you did not know,
was one of the most prominent tribes in all of Israel. Benjamin
himself was the younger of Jacob's two sons, born of his favorite
wife, Rachel. He was the only one born in the
promised land. Jerusalem, the capital of Israel,
is in Benjamin's allotted territory. And when the kingdom of Israel
split, Benjamin and Judah were the only two tribes who remained
loyal to the Lord. Read the story about Mordecai
and Esther. They're used by God to save Israel
from genocide. And both of them came from the
tribe of Benjamin. The point in that little history
lesson is simply that the tribe of Benjamin was viewed as one
of the most noblest in all of Israel. But as Paul, after being
regenerated and saved through God's electing purposes, looks
back upon his works, what he is now admitting to is that the
tribe he came from or the hometown he was raised in didn't also
somehow make him righteous before God. Let me see what we're talking
about here. We're talking very simply about
these things that were either done for Paul or Paul doing himself
that was believed to make him righteous. You notice that Paul
says that he was a Hebrew of Hebrews. What this is, is a declaration
that as he grew to manhood, Paul strictly and with discipline
maintained his family traditional Jewish heritage. You may remember
reading earlier that Paul was from Tarsus, which is in Asia
minor and not in Israel, but he remained nevertheless firmly
committed to his Orthodox Jewish traditions, its customs, and
eventually left his home for Jerusalem to study under the
Pharisee Gamaliel. The point that he's making here
is that the extent to his commitment to being traditional Orthodox
Jewish, the fact that he obeyed his parents in being raised Jewish
and furthering his education in the study of the law doesn't
somehow impress God Almighty causing God to view Paul as righteous
before him. Notice that Paul describes himself
as a Pharisee, but upon pursuing Jewish studies with Gamaliel,
he is an incredibly zealous person for both the law and therefore
he becomes a Pharisee. Did you know that in order to
become a Pharisee, you would have to first and foremost have
an absolute commitment to Judaism? and the law, and that secondly,
you'd have to have a supreme mastery of the law, meaning literally
that when someone comes to you with even the most obscure of
questions concerning our conduct as is described in the law, you
can, at the snap of your finger, give them what God's law says. You're just able to do that,
intellectually describe for someone what the law teaches. what Paul
describes here now, after he has been regenerated, is that
his education, his zeal, his passion, couldn't make him acceptable
in the sight of God. Verse six, it says in Paul's
zeal, he persecuted the church. The Jews did not know, viewed
zeal as the supreme religious virtue, and it was looked at
as a two-sided coin. Zeal, two-sided coin. On one
hand, to be considered zealous is to love God. On the other hand, to be zealous
was to hate what offends or what God hates. And the point here
is that in his misguided love for God, it caused him in his
sinfulness and depravity to hate and persecute Christianity. If you were to look at Acts chapter
eight, where Paul, or rather where the stoning of Stephen
occurs, what you'll see is that Paul was instrumental in the
forming of the mob who stoned Stephen. he stoned Stephen, or
he rounded up the men who would stone Stephen. In Acts chapter
nine, we're told that Paul breathed threats of murder against the
disciples of the Lord, and it was so overbearing that the church
in Jerusalem had to separate from one another. In other words,
Paul's pursuit of Christians was not this low key, if I find
one, I'm gonna kill him, it's that he hungered and thirsted
for their death. because he was so zealous as
a Pharisee. Well, Paul's point here is that
his zeal was misguided. It was sinful as a result of
his spiritually, being spiritually blind and dead. Notice finally,
verse six, concerning zeal, persecuting the church, concerning the righteousness,
which is in the law, blameless. He's blameless. Point here is
not that Paul somehow considered himself to be sinless, is that
when you looked at him and his life, what you'd see is someone
who made every effort possible to be all that they can be according
to the law. He was passionate. He was zealous. He didn't apologize for it. He
pursued law and obedience to God the way that some of these
people do a professional career at sports. They literally throw
off everything that would keep them from being able to perform
at the absolute top level that their bodies could possibly perform
at just so they can be this professional and score these goals and you
know, skate fast, or run fast, or jump high, or score as many
shots as they could possibly score. The point is, is that
when Paul looked at his life and said, what is the trajectory?
What do I want to do? He had no bones about saying,
I want to be the best Jew that I can be. The problem, as we
reflect on this in light of the gospel and faith through Jesus
Christ, is that when Paul looked at those things that he pursued
with excellence, it was for naught. Can you imagine how much effort you would have
to put in to be considered not only by
yourself, but by everybody in the room to be the absolute best. To be the one that everyone looks
at and says, that's who I want to be. The amount of energy that you
would have to put into it, the studying hours and hours and
sitting and asking questions and perhaps even feeling insecure
or foolish just so they can give you the answers so that you can
grow up to be all that God had called you to be and to reach
that and to say all of that because of Christ was vanity. Do you have any idea how humbling
that would be? This is not Paul simply sharing
his testimony with us so as to feel some goodness about him. It's to realize that as God worked
in him through his regenerating grace, that all that he did was
for naught and he is sharing it with you so that you would
know what is of the utmost importance. Tell me that's not precious and
beautiful. It is, I'm gonna answer the question
for you. It is both precious and beautiful, amen. Secondly, verses seven through
11, Paul now dives into the surpassing benefits of knowing Christ. Would you follow along with me
as I read this passage? Beginning in verse seven. But
what things were gained to me, these things I have counted lost
for Christ. Yet indeed, I also count all
things lost 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. Notice very interestingly, verses
seven through nine, that Paul calls All of these things that
he had pursued in an effort to make himself righteous, he calls
now a loss. A loss. In fact, he uses this
word three times. He uses it once in verse seven
and two more times in verse eight. He uses another word to describe
that effort. He calls it rubbish. He says here in stark distinction Because of Christ, he now knows
what is true. Look at verse eight. He says,
yet indeed, I also count all things lost 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. excellence from the greek word
hupor echo that is something of surpassing value that's something
literally that you have that cannot be somehow monetarily
described it can't it's so important to you it's of surpassing value
What Paul is saying here is that in the spirits awakening him,
showing him that his words of righteousness were of no value
eternally, and that only the work of Christ matters because
it is in him we have or are given eternal justification and through
which we are saved from our sins. In other words, God had chosen
Paul, the worthlessness of his works. the worthlessness of his
works. Notice verses 10 and 11. It says 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 obtain
to the resurrection of the dead. What Paul is explaining here
is now his longing of his heart, the longing of his heart to know
him. To know is not just the greater
intellectual understanding, but something or something about
someone, but rather a deeper, more personal union with them. In other words, Paul desired
to know the power of the resurrection so as to overcome the power of
the flesh, that he might overcome his own sin, that he desired
to have fellowship of his sufferings. That is Christ's sufferings,
meaning Paul desired to know this power that would cause a
believer to persevere as he faithfully serves God. And it's suffering,
feeling the absolute longing that Christ had to go home, to
be with his own father in heaven. The issue for Paul is not simply
that he got saved by Christ, it's that in Christ's salvific
work within Paul, the old desires to make himself righteous died. They were crucified and they
were replaced with a need to understand more of Christ that
he might glorify his savior. See, the beauty of this passage
is that Paul isn't replacing one academic pursuit for another. He's not taking one academic
thing and replacing it with another. Like going from Oreo cookies
to chips ahoy, if that's your thing. That's not what he's talking
about. We all know that, that's silly
and maybe not even necessary for me to say. But the point
is that because of this work that Christ has done within him,
his personality is such that when I desire something, I will
put off everything else that I might have, all of that one
thing. And in the old Saul, he pursued
self-righteousness. And not just self-righteousness,
he perfected a pursuit of self-righteousness, such that when people looked
at him, They knew that he was the one to follow, that if they
followed him and did what Paul did, they would walk into righteousness
and into the pearly gates of heaven, where God gives them
a round of applause for reaching this level of righteousness.
Except that when he came to know Jesus Christ, finally came to understand that
those things that I tried to do to make myself seem righteous
were of no value. And because the father had given
him the personality that he had given Paul, Paul took that energy,
that desire to want to be self-righteous going from pursuing self-righteousness
to pursuing Christ's likeness and the proclamation of his word,
to serve people, to help people, to pray for people, to love people, so that those things that Paul
was now able to do by the grace of God, he did for the glory
of God and not his own. Is Paul arguing ultimately here
that works of righteousness are no good. No, he isn't. Because Paul wouldn't have done
the things that he had done had he not been called to this work. But the difference again is not
that Paul didn't work. It's that in his work, he did
so, and admittedly so, because the Lord our God changed him
from the inside, and it was evidenced in the things that he did, the
message that he preached, and the way that he loved. In other
words, his works were the direct result of the Spirit's regenerating
work within him, and therefore, Paul can't say, look at me. He can only say, look at Jesus
Christ, our Lord. That's the difference. Paul is
not saying don't go home and read theology. He's not saying
don't go home and read the catechism. He isn't saying don't go home
and memorize scripture. What he's saying is do those
things because Christ has so transformed you that in doing
so you are glorifying and honoring the Lord our God who has changed
you. And what's deep, what's deep
is that memorizing scripture isn't easy, is it? Reading theology can be difficult,
amen? Sometimes, if we're honest, curving
out a piece of time so that I can you know, shut off TV, turn off
the phone and pray can be difficult. You, you work or you, you volunteer
or you take care of somebody or love somebody or whatever
it is. And you want to go home. You want to sit in whatever chair
you love and you want to watch whatever it is you want to watch.
You want to relax. But because of this work that
God has done is not saying you can't sit back And relax, what
he's saying is that when you work, you work unto the Lord
for the Lord's glory because he gave you a passion or a zeal
to do it. Even though the things that he
has perhaps called us to do can be difficult and are sanctifying
in and of themselves. Because sometimes it's difficult
to shut the TV off and to read the word, amen? Sometimes Sometimes somebody might get
on your nerves, and you might want to kung fu them, if kung
fuing is a thing. It is. I've seen it done many
times. And you instead get down on your
knees, metaphorically or physically, and you cry out to God. or you had a rough week at work and all you want to do is go
up to your boss and tell him a couple of words you want to
tell him. Instead, you take that enthusiasm,
you know what I'm saying, you open up the living word and you
allow it to transform your mind. Or sometimes your spouse, You just don't know how to respond. The point is that this work that
the Lord calls us to do, because we love Him, is sanctifying
in and of itself. It is hard. It can be or it is
rather the crucifying of our flesh. That's what Jesus says.
Those who aren't willing or able to pick up their cross daily
are not worthy of me. That's a hard thing to hear.
It is nevertheless what the Lord calls us to do. In other words,
you're looking dead faced straight into the thing you want to do
the absolute most with every fiber of your being. And rather
than giving into the flesh, you pick up that cross and you put
yourself upon it, believing that he will help you crucify that
desire, even at the very heart of wanting to do it because he
has so enabled us to through the work of the spirit. the changing
of wanting to make myself appear smarter than the other people,
more together than other people, to have better clothes than other
people, to be more articulate than other people, just in hopes
that somebody will look at me and conclude, that's who I want
to be. And instead, grow as Christ has
called you to grow but point people not to yourself and to
your works, but to Christ's for his glory. I found something
out very interesting this week that I would like to share with
you. It's a very interesting story. But did you know that
oysters, the ones that we can eat at the Red Lobster or wherever
we like to go, but suffer affliction when even just a grain of sand
gets into its shell. They suffer. It's a hardship,
just a grain of sand. Do you know that an oyster, because
it's irritated, will cover that grain of sand, even just one
little grain of sand, with this secretion that God has given
it the ability to create? And they cover this grain of
sand, they cover it and they cover it and they cover it in
hopes that in their covering the grain of sand that is so
irritating will somehow be less irritating. They'll cover it
with this secretion and cover it and cover it. And you know
what eventually comes of that secretion? A pearl. A beautiful pearl. The idea here is not to pursue
a work's righteousness that makes us look good, but a work that
God has given to us that glorifies Him, because we see that apart
from Him, we can do nothing that honors or glorifies Him. Even
if doing that thing is so difficult at times and is sanctifying to
do, See, the issue here isn't go
home and work harder. It's not feel bad for yourself
because you're not memorizing chapter upon chapter of God's
word, although we should perhaps make that a goal of ours someday. It's not that you go home and
spend hours upon hours on tile floor, upon your knees, crying
out to God in prayer, saying the same things over and over
again, in hopes that he will somehow hear you. That's not
the point is realizing that when he has gifted me to do something,
I no longer do it so that somebody will look at me and think how
great I am. But I will give the glory to
God because it's about him. And suddenly, as You work through
kind of the hardship, you know, you try to memorize verses of
the Bible and you go over them and you go over them and you
go back the following day and you can't remember anything.
You may remember two words of the three verses that you tried
to memorize. The point isn't that you feel
guilty and shame upon yourself. It's that you see that you need
his help. It's not that we would feel shame
and guilt when we talk to our children or our grandchildren
or our spouses in a particular way, that you'd feel shame and
guilt and condemnation. It's that through that, you would
see your need for him to help you in every facet of life. And when we start to bear fruit
in keeping with some of these things that we're repenting of,
that it was never about you, that it was never about you. but about the grace of God that
has been fixed upon your life. Amen. Let's pray. Lord God in heaven, we acknowledge readily, completely
and humbly that we need you We need your help to love our
spouses. We need your help to love our children and grandchildren
and great-grandchildren. We need you to work as unto the
Lord. We need you to love people well. We need you to have a good
attitude as we're driving down the street and are cut off. We
need you when we are spitefully used and spoken out against and
we need you Lord, when we feel devastated by life and its difficulties,
we need you. And I pray, Lord, that as we
depart, we think about the sacrament of the Lord's Supper and what
you have done for us, that we would be reminded that it was
completed, it was finished by Jesus Christ that day. We ask
these things in your precious son, Jesus Christ's name, we
pray. Amen. This morning, beloved, we are
given the distinct, humbling pleasure of remembering what
Jesus Christ has done for us on the cross. We ask, as we ask at the beginning
of service, that if you have not spoken to either myself or
our elders concerning your walk with the
Lord or your involvement in a Bible-believing Protestant church, to please
allow the cup and the bread to pass. We'll see in a moment as
we examine ourselves, and hopefully we took that seriously this week,
that if there is unrepentant sin in your life, we ask that
you would allow the cup and the bread to pass. With that being
said, beloved in the Lord Jesus, listen to the words of the institution
of the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. The Lord Jesus, on the
same night in which he was betrayed, took bread. And when he had given
thanks, he broke it and said, take, eat. This is my body, which
is broken for you. This do in remembrance of me.
In the same manner, he also took the cup after supper, saying,
this cup is the new covenant in my blood. This do as often
as you drink it in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat
this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death
till it comes. The Lord's Supper is a sacrament
instituted by our Lord Jesus Christ himself. Until his coming
again, it is to be observed as a continuing remembrance of the
sacrifice of himself and his death. The physical elements
of bread and wine representing the broken body and the shed
blood of the Savior are received by true believers as signs and
seals of all the benefits of Christ's sacrifice on the cross.
They signify the seal, the remission of sins and nourishment and growth
in Christ and are a bond and a pledge of the communion of
believers with him and with each other as members of his spiritual
body, the church. As signs and seals of the covenant
of grace, they are not only declared that God is faithful and true
to fulfill the promise of the covenant But they also summon
us to all the duties of the children of God and call us to renewed
consecration in gratitude for his salvation. In order that we may celebrate
the Lord's Supper to our comfort, it is first necessary that we
properly examine ourselves. A true examination of ourselves
consists in three parts. First, let everyone consider
by himself his sins and a crudeness apart from Jesus Christ, so that
he may be displeased with himself and humble himself in the presence
of God. Second, let everyone examine
his heart as to whether he truly believes this certain promise
of God, that all his sins are forgiven only for the sake of
Jesus Christ. And third, let everyone search
his conscience, whether he is determined to show his gratitude
to God the Lord all the days of his life by walking uprightly
before him. It is my solemn duty to warn
the uninstructed, the profane, the scandalous, and those who
secretly and unrepentantly live in any sin not to approach the
holy table where they would partake unworthily, nor are not discerning
the Lord's body and so eat and drink judgment upon themselves. Nevertheless, this warning is
not designed to keep the humble and contrite from the table of
the Lord, as if the supper were for those who might be free from
sin. On the contrary, we who are invited
to the supper come as guilty and polluted sinners who are
without hope of eternal life apart from the grace of God in
Christ. We confess our dependence for
pardon and cleansing upon the perfect sacrifice of Christ We
base our hope of eternal life upon his perfect obedience and
righteousness, and we humbly resolve to deny ourselves, crucify
our old nature, and follow Christ as becomes those who fear his
name. Let's pray. Merciful God and Father, we beseech
you that in this summer in which we Cherish the blessed memory
of the bitter death of your dear son, Jesus Christ. You also work
in our hearts by the Holy Spirit that with true confidence we
might give ourselves up more and more to your son, Jesus Christ,
in order that our burdened and contrite hearts through the power
of the Holy Spirit may be nourished and refreshed by his true body
and blood. Yes, with Christ himself, that
with the true God and man, the only heavenly bread, we pray
that we may no longer live in our sins, but that Christ may
live in us, and we in him, so that we may truly be partakers
of the new and everlasting testament, the covenant of grace. We do
not doubt that you will forever be our gracious father, never
again imputing our sins to us, but providing us with all things
necessary for body and soul, as your dear children and heirs.
Grant us also your grace that we may take up your cross cheerfully,
deny ourselves, confess our savior, and in all our tribulation with
an uplifted head, expect our Lord Jesus Christ to come from
heaven, where we will recreate our mortal bodies in the likeness
of his glorified body, and take us to himself in eternity. Be
pleased also, O Lord, to bless these elements of bread and wine
so that, receiving them in remembrance of the passion and death of your
dear Son, we may by faith be made partakers of his crucified
body and shed blood with all his benefits through our spiritual
nourishment and to the glory of your holy name. For it is
in God's name we pray. The Lord Jesus on the same night
in which he was betrayed, took bread and when he had given thanks,
he broke it. He said, take, eat. do this in remembrance of me. In the same manner, also, we
took the cup after supper, saying, this cup is the new covenant
in my blood. This do as often as you drink
it in remembrance of me. you. The bread which we break, is it not
the communion of the body of Christ? I'm talking to you. Okay. The cup of blessing which we bless, is
it not the communion of the blood of Christ? Bless the lord, oh my soul, and
all that is within me. Bless his holy name. Bless the
lord, oh my soul, and forgive not all his benefits, who forgives
all your iniquities, who heals all your diseases, who redeems
your life from destruction, who grounds you with loving kindness
and tender mercies, who satisfies your mouth with good things,
so that your youth is renewed like eagles. The Lord is merciful
and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in mercy. He has
not dealt with us according to our sins, nor punished us according
to our iniquities. For as the heavens are high above
the earth, so great is his mercy towards those who fear him. As
far as the east is from the west, so far as he removed our transgressions
from us, as a father pities his children, so the Lord pities
those who fear him. He who did not spare his own
son but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with
him also freely give us all things? For if when we were enemies we
were reconciled to God through the death of his son, much more
having been reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. Therefore,
our hearts and lives shall show forth your praises, O Lord, from
now on and forevermore. Amen. Would you please stand with me
now and turn with me in our hymnal to the hymn 529, Love Divine,
All Loves Excelling. ♪ The world's excelling joy of
heaven to earth come now ♪ ♪ Make still the sky from the valley
♪ ♪ All thy faithful mercies now ♪ ♪ Jesus, thou art all compassion
♪ ♪ Pure on love divine ♪ my salvation let us to be praise him me. Amen. Please be seated and we
enter into our time of worship and giving. Now, let's pray again together. Lord, we thank you again for
your word, and we thank you for your people, our brothers and
sisters. We thank you, Heavenly Father,
for the ways in which you have blessed them, and we thank you
for the provision that you have given them. We pray, Heavenly
Father, that you would bless us this week. It is in your precious
name we pray. Amen. Amen. Would you please
stand with me as we sing the doxology which you can find in
hymn number seven hundred and thirty-two. Praise god. Amen. Amen. Just a quick reminder. Uh please, if you are and it is our prayer that both
would be encouraging to you, amen? With that being said, now,
the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead,
the great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting
covenant, make you complete in every good work to do his will,
working in you what is well-pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ,
to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.
Giving Up to Gain
Series Communion Sunday
Consider this: "It is entirely by the intervention of Christ's righteousness that we obtain justification before God." John Calvin
Philippians 3:4-11
Leviticus 12:1-8
2 Corinthians 11:22-33
| Sermon ID | 52225193817604 |
| Duration | 1:41:49 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday Service |
| Bible Text | Philippians 3:4-11 |
| Language | English |
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