Look Out! Don’t be Misled!. (Phil 3:1-3)
Loss: These things do not Save You. (Phil 3:4-6)
- Ceremony (Phil 3:5)
- Heritage (Phil 3:5)
- Understanding the facts (Phil 3:5)
- Motives (Phil 3:6)
- Perfect Record (Phil 3:6)
Gain: Salvation is Knowing Christ (Phil 3:8-11)
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!
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00:00-00:01
Just a little parenthetical note.
00:05-00:10
Happiness, you've heard me say this before, but to repeat it is no trouble to me and it's safe for you.
00:11-00:17
But happiness actually comes from a root, "hap," H-A-P, which is tied into circumstance.
00:19-00:29
For example, the word "happening" or the word "happenstance." It's a word that's tied into circumstance. That's what happiness is.
00:29-00:30
tied into circumstance.
00:32-00:36
What that means is this, if you give me a cookie, I will be what?
00:37-00:39
Happy. I'll be happy. There was a circumstance.
00:40-00:41
Something happened that made me happy.
00:43-00:44
You gave me a cookie.
00:45-00:46
But joy...
00:47-00:51
Joy isn't based on circumstance. Joy is based on relationship.
00:53-00:54
Joy is based on relationship.
00:56-00:57
You want proof of that?
00:59-01:00
Look at a new mother.
01:02-01:03
You want proof of that?
01:03-01:04
Look at a brand new mother.
01:05-01:07
Get to the delivery room when the baby is born.
01:08-01:22
Now this mother has been carrying this baby and by the ninth month, you know, talk to a mother, "Ready to go." You know, I've talked to a lot of pregnant ladies and I'm married to a woman that's been pregnant.
01:22-01:24
You know, what do they say in month nine?
01:24-01:24
"Ready.
01:25-01:26
I'm ready for him to come.
01:26-01:30
I'm ready for her to come." and the delivery and the pain.
01:33-01:37
But you see that mother holding that baby, experiencing what?
01:38-01:38
Joy.
01:41-01:42
Why does she have so much joy?
01:44-01:45
It's because of the relationship.
01:46-01:48
That baby didn't do anything for her, right?
01:49-01:57
I don't know about you, but when my kids were born, it's not like Owen came out, like, you know, "Here's a new watch." "Oh, thanks, now I'm happy.
01:58-02:03
This kid gave me a new watch." They don't do anything for you, they don't give you anything.
02:06-02:09
But why is there so much joy in the relationship?
02:12-02:13
That's just the way it is.
02:13-02:16
Happiness comes from circumstance, joy comes from relationship.
02:17-02:29
So when we talk about rejoicing, if you're looking for circumstances that are going to make you happy, "Yeah, I want to get on that joy train that they're talking about at church." Your circumstances aren't going to do it.
02:30-02:34
It's rejoicing in the Lord. It comes from a relationship with God.
02:36-02:45
Alright, end of parenthesis. Verse 2 again, he says, "Look out, look out, look out." Almost every book in the New Testament warns against false teaching.
02:49-02:58
I've been harshly criticized in the past for warning people about false teaching in various forms.
03:00-03:09
And my defense is this, every book in the New Testament has some teaching on watch out for the false teachers.
03:12-03:14
What's the false teaching here?
03:14-03:19
Well, the Apostle Paul is really addressing a specific group.
03:22-03:23
They were known as the Judaizers.
03:24-03:28
And the reason I need to tell you this is it helps make sense of what he's saying here.
03:29-03:34
But these Judaizers were teachers that, they weren't against the Christian message.
03:36-03:37
They would teach something like this.
03:37-03:42
So if you want to become a Christian, well, you know, salvation is of the Jews.
03:43-03:43
True.
03:44-03:52
And Jesus, Jewish, the disciples were Jewish and really founded upon a Jewish religion, so to speak.
03:53-03:58
So if you want to become a Christian, you have to become a Jew first.
03:58-04:00
That's how you become a Christian.
04:01-04:01
All right?
04:02-04:04
So if you're already a Jew, good for you.
04:04-04:12
But if you're a Gentile and you want to become a Christian, first become a Jew and then become a Christian.
04:14-04:17
So for the Gentile, what did it mean to become a Jew?
04:18-04:21
Well, step one would have been you have to be circumcised.
04:23-04:27
And that helps us to understand why Paul said the things that he said here.
04:27-04:28
Look at this warning.
04:31-04:33
First of all, he says, look out for the dogs.
04:36-04:44
Now, when we see that, typically when we hear dogs, we think of a dog that looks like this.
04:44-04:45
Do we have a picture of our puppy?
04:46-04:47
Say, go ahead.
04:47-04:48
All at the same time, you ready?
04:48-04:49
One, two, three.
04:51-04:54
Aw, typically when we see dogs, we think of that, right?
04:56-05:00
But when Paul was talking about the dogs, he would have meant something like this.
05:00-05:03
(audience laughing)
05:04-05:05
Aw.
05:07-05:08
More like, ah, right?
05:09-05:11
That's what he would have been talking about.
05:11-05:13
There are actually two different Greek words for dog.
05:14-05:21
One referred to, you know, that little fuzzy thing that you put the sweater on and carry around with you everywhere.
05:22-05:25
And the other word would have referred to this, the wild dog.
05:27-05:32
Back in 1996, when I was in Thailand, You can get that picture.
05:33-05:33
Thanks.
05:34-05:35
Sorry.
05:35-05:37
I don't want that looming over me.
05:38-05:38
You're not gonna hear me.
05:39-05:51
When I was in Thailand in '96, we were getting ready to go to the villages in the northern mountain jungle areas of Thailand, and we were getting ready to set out.
05:52-06:01
And I bought this big, huge thing of candy that we were going to give to the children up in the villages.
06:04-06:06
And we were getting ready to set out.
06:06-06:08
We were loading the trucks up and stuff like that.
06:08-06:11
And I will never forget this.
06:13-06:18
All of a sudden I hear just coming behind me.
06:21-06:21
(dog growling)
06:22-06:25
And I turned around, there's a wild dog bearing down on me.
06:26-06:36
Okay, I'm just like standing here and this big nasty mangy looking wild dog was bearing down on me, foaming at the mouth, showing its teeth.
06:39-06:40
I was like paralyzed with fear.
06:40-06:43
I wish I could tell you some macho story about how I wrestled it to the ground.
06:45-06:49
You know, I, no, no, I was paralyzed with fear.
06:49-06:52
I'm just like, now what?
06:53-06:54
I thought I was a goner.
06:55-07:02
All of a sudden, this rock comes out of nowhere and hits this dog and the dog's like,
07:02-07:03
(imitates dog barking)
07:03-07:04
takes off for the hills.
07:05-07:06
I'm like, what in the world?
07:07-07:13
There is this little like seven year old kid that was playing in the dirt, like a hundred yards away or something.
07:14-07:15
He was way out there.
07:15-07:22
He saw this whole thing taking place and just picked up a rock and zinged it and sent that dog away.
07:23-07:31
So I went up to this kid and obviously he didn't speak my language and I didn't speak his, but he just kind of smiled at me and I had this big thing of candy.
07:33-07:46
So I was like, seriously, imagine the story that kid told when he went home, like, look what the big white guy gave me.
07:51-07:57
My point is this, when Paul was talking about dogs, those were the kind of dogs he was talking about, okay?
07:58-08:02
In our culture, we see people out here walking dogs while we're in church.
08:02-08:04
That's not what he's talking about, wild dogs.
08:06-08:07
You know, dangerous dogs.
08:08-08:12
It was actually a term of derision to call somebody a dog.
08:15-08:20
And Paul wasn't very complimentary towards false teachers.
08:20-08:21
He said, "They're dogs, okay?
08:22-08:23
"They're vicious.
08:23-08:37
"You need to watch out for them." He also says, "Look out for the evil doers." Now again, these, you know, they were not like trying to build satellites to like, you know, zap the earth or something.
08:37-08:40
They weren't like, you know, super villains.
08:42-08:44
Evil doers, he was talking about their teaching.
08:46-08:47
Their teaching is evil.
08:48-08:54
And then he says, this is a big slam here at the end.
08:54-09:00
He says, "Look out for those who mutilate the flesh." He's talking about circumcision, okay?
09:01-09:11
These people were saying, "Well, if you wanna be saved, first you need to become Jewish, so first you need to be circumcised." And they painted it as this religious thing.
09:11-09:26
And Paul's like, "They're just flesh mutilators, that's all they are." And you're like, "Well, I hear what you're saying, Pastor Jeff, but we don't have Judaizers today." Listen, we are surrounded by false teachers.
09:27-09:29
We are surrounded by false teachers.
09:30-09:35
They are on TV and on the radio, and they publish books, and they preach in the church down the road.
09:37-09:40
They're in universities, and they're in classrooms, and they're in locker rooms.
09:41-09:44
They're in movies, and they're in sitcoms, and they're in cartoons.
09:45-09:53
You can't go anywhere where you don't have somebody saying to you, this is what you should believe.
09:56-09:59
Everywhere, this is what you should believe.
10:02-10:03
And that's why it irks me.
10:05-10:13
Parents. I hear parents, well intentioned, I know, and it sounds so noble the way they say it, I know.
10:13-10:19
But I have parents tell me, well, you know, I don't tell my kids what to believe.
10:19-10:22
I figure they should grow up and figure that out for themselves.
10:23-10:26
But you know what, Jeff? I don't tell my kids what to believe.
10:27-10:29
And I'm like, why not? Everybody else is right.
10:30-10:32
Everybody else is telling your child what to believe.
10:33-10:36
They go to school and get a message and they get a message from the movies.
10:36-10:40
They get a message from their friends and they get a message from all these places.
10:40-10:42
but not their parents?
10:43-10:45
You're the only people not telling your kids what to believe?
10:47-10:48
Not a good move.
10:49-10:49
Not a good move.
10:49-10:56
Parents, tell your children what to believe because everybody else is, and you are the primary influence in their lives.
10:58-10:58
Amen?
11:01-11:03
So it all boils down to this.
11:04-11:14
Capture this because this is the whole issue, and this is why Paul wrote what he wrote, And he was very passionate about what he wrote and a little crass about what he wrote.
11:17-11:20
But there are really only two belief options in the world.
11:20-11:21
You have two belief options.
11:26-11:32
It's either human accomplishment or it's divine achievement.
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to borrow terms from John MacArthur.
11:37-11:44
Human accomplishment or divine achievement, those are your only two options that you have when it comes to quote unquote religion.
11:45-11:50
One of them is trusting in my works, the other is believing that God has provided.
11:52-11:56
One of them is never confident that I've done enough.
11:58-12:00
The other is assurance that God has provided perfectly.
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One will send me to hell.
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The other will send me to heaven.
12:12-12:13
And we talk about works.
12:13-12:15
You know, why are works such a struggle for us?
12:16-12:25
Why is it the people who know better or should know better and sit in church and read the Bible, why do people still wrestle with works?
12:29-12:30
Like, what do you mean by that?
12:33-12:42
I'm talking about people, maybe some people here, I'm sure some people here, deep down in your heart of hearts wanna say something like this.
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I believe Jesus died for my sins and to go to heaven, you need to be a good person and never try to hurt anyone and be involved with this and maybe get involved in the church and try to be a good parent and try to be a good spouse.
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Why do we insist on inserting some form of works into our beliefs?
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Well, here's why.
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You want to know why?
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It's an easy answer.
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The answer is pride.
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That's why we want to insert something of ourselves into this equation.
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The message of the Bible is when it comes to your salvation, Jesus Christ did 100% of the work.
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Your job is to believe on him.
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Yeah, but surely we have to shoulder some of the salvation load here.
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It's pride, there's something in us that I got to have some part of this.
13:58-14:08
Surely there has to be a part of this whole thing that is me, that I bring to the table, that Jesus did his part and I get to do my part.
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And well, the two belief systems, human accomplishment and divine achievement, the two belief systems are mutually exclusive.
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Either Jesus did 100% of the work or you earn your way, but both cannot be true.
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Do you understand that?
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Jesus did it all, or you earn your way, but both cannot be true.
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It'd be like if I went to lunch with somebody.
14:48-14:59
Let's say I go to lunch with my friend Wilson, And I go home and Aaron says, "Did you have a good lunch with Wilson?" I said, "Yeah, I had a great lunch with Wilson.
14:59-15:21
I always enjoy being with Wilson." And Aaron's like, "Well, did you pay for lunch?" And I pull out a receipt that says, "Well, no, it says right here that Wilson paid for lunch, but I had to pay for it too." And Aaron's like, "So you went Dutch?" "No, Wilson paid for all of lunch, but I had to pay too." Does that make any sense?
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No, it doesn't make any sense.
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But you know, we do the same thing sometimes, don't we, Christians?
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Jesus did it all, Jesus did it all, but I have to do my part too.
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It doesn't work that way.
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That's why in verse three, he defines what a Christian is.
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You're looking for a definition of a Christian, here it is in verse three.
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A Christian is someone who worships by the Spirit of God, who glories in Christ Jesus and puts no confidence in the flesh.
15:52-15:53
That's a Christian.
15:54-16:01
Look at that last phrase, "no confidence in the flesh." None of us have anything going for us that will somehow earn us God's favor.
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And as long as you think you do, you're never going to understand the gospel.
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You're never going to understand the gospel.
16:13-16:19
In Matthew chapter 16, verses 24 and following, Listen to what Jesus said.
16:21-16:36
"If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me." Jesus said step one in coming to him is denying yourself.
16:39-16:47
Turning from sin, turning from confidence in the flesh, turning from trusting in yourself, believing in yourself.
16:51-16:54
It's a complete emptying of yourself.
16:54-17:00
And then listen, listen to this statement, Jesus said, for whoever would save his life will lose it.
17:01-17:05
But whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
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The gospel is about losing something to gain something.
17:10-17:11
Did you catch that?
17:12-17:16
You cannot gain Christ until you lose some things.
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Jesus isn't something that you just add to your portfolio.
17:20-17:23
Like I got this going for me, and I got this going for me, and I got this going for me.
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And you know what?
17:25-17:26
Jesus would look really good on my resume.
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I'll put him on there too.
17:29-17:31
And Jesus said, "It doesn't work that way.
17:31-17:50
"If you lose your life, you will find it." The point is this, you can't trust Christ your religion, trust your works, trust your good deeds. You can't trust those things and trust Christ at the same time. That's why in verse 7, look at verse 7 again with me.
17:54-18:10
Then we're going to go back and look at this little list that he gives. Paul says, "But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ." Whatever gain I had, that I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.
18:11-18:17
These words gain and loss, they're actually, believe it or not, they're accounting terms.
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They're accounting terms.
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It's almost like Paul's talking about his spiritual checkbook.
18:25-18:30
What he's saying is I'm looking at my ledger, see, and I had all these things that I thought were in the profit column.
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And that's that list that we saw that we're gonna go back through and look at.
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He said, "I had all these things in the profit column.
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"I got this going for me, and I got this going for me, "and I got this going for me." And he said, "You know, and then I realized "that it wasn't really profit, it's loss.
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"I used to think that these things made me holy, "and I was wrong.
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"They weren't a gain for me.
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"They were a loss because they kept me from trusting Christ.
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"And when it comes to salvation, and these things didn't get me anywhere.
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So he talks about gain and loss.
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It's profit and loss.
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It's being in the black and being in the red.
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Which by the way, who came up with those color terms?
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I have a real problem with that.
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You know why?
19:20-19:23
It's because they're different on a car battery, right?
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Am I right?
19:28-19:29
Confuses the heck out of me.
19:32-19:36
In accounting, black is positive, right?
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And being in the red is negative.
19:39-19:45
If you're gonna jump your car, the red terminal is positive, and the black terminal is...
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Seriously?
19:47-19:50
We couldn't have a meeting before we finalized that?
19:54-19:56
So I'd always mess it up.
19:56-20:00
I'd go to a church board meeting, like, "How's the budget look?" And I'd be like, "It's fantastic.
20:00-20:10
"We're in the red!" And I'm thinking, "Positive." They're like, "What is his problem?" Well, let's look at Paul's list.
20:10-20:13
Understand this list that he gives, these aren't evil things.
20:16-20:21
But when it comes to being spiritual, here's an acrostic for you.
20:21-20:22
Do you like acrostics?
20:23-20:26
When it comes to being spiritual, this stuff is chump change.
20:27-20:27
All right?
20:27-20:33
You're like, "Well, what does chump stand for?" Well, here it is, lost, these things do not save you.
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These things do not save you.
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Please hear what the word of God says.
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Let's look at these things.
20:43-20:44
These things do not save you.
20:45-20:46
These things do not save you.
20:47-20:48
Like, why do you keep saying that?
20:48-20:52
Because there are some people that are going to leave here still holding onto these things.
20:53-20:57
By the grace of God, by the power of his spirit, I pray that you let some of these things go.
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These things do not save you.
20:59-21:01
Number one is ceremony.
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Ceremony.
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That's where Paul says, "I was circumcised on the eighth day." That would have been a big deal to the Jewish community.
21:16-21:19
He did the right thing at the right time on the right day in the right way.
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And it was a ceremony, which by the way, seriously, who's bragging about that?
21:26-21:28
Do you think Paul had anything to do with that decision?
21:30-22:18
Did he? Do you think his parents like took it up for a vote with him? Talked to him about it? He was eight days old. But you know, some people brag about things that they had no control over. I was baptized as a baby. I went through confirmation classes. I had my first communion. And they trust in these ceremonies. It even happens in the church, where people trust their Christian baptism as the thing that saves them. It will not save you. The ceremony is not the thing that saves you, okay? Whatever ceremony you've been through, whatever baptisms or lighting candles or rituals or classes or whatever, those things do not save you.
22:21-22:50
Secondly, what else does not save you? Write down the word "heritage." He says, "of the people of Israel." Like, wow, Paul's Jewish. That's some... I have a great affinity for the Jewish people, and he's Jewish, so already my heart is warm to him. Oh, but wait, there's more. "Of the tribe of Benjamin." Okay, pop quiz. Like, what were the two best tribes of Israel?
22:52-22:52
Do you know?
22:54-22:56
Judah and Benjamin.
22:57-22:58
Those were like the best tribes.
22:59-23:07
Remember when the nation of Israel split, 10 of the tribes went Northern Israel, two tribes remained to be Southern Israel.
23:07-23:09
Do you know what two tribes they were?
23:09-23:12
The two best ones, Benjamin and Israel.
23:12-23:14
So Paul's, or Benjamin and Judah rather.
23:15-23:17
So Paul was like, I'm not just Jewish.
23:20-23:25
I'm from the tribe of Benjamin, which is where that song came from.
23:25-23:26
It's all about the Benjamins.
23:27-23:29
But he says a Hebrew, at least I think so.
23:29-23:32
I never really listened to that song, but I'm just assuming.
23:32-23:34
Sometimes you shoot from the hip and you hope you're right.
23:34-23:36
But a Hebrew of Hebrews.
23:37-23:42
Paul's like, you can't get any more Jewish than me, is what Paul was saying.
23:42-23:44
You just can't get any more Jewish than me.
23:46-23:50
Like if we're going to have a Jewish contest, there's no way in the world you're going to win.
23:53-23:58
Paul's like, I'm so Jewish, when I walk down the street, Jewish people look at me and they go, man, is that guy Jewish?
24:00-24:01
That's what he's saying.
24:06-24:13
There again, Paul's saying, this is something that I really used to hold onto as gaining God's favor.
24:14-24:16
And understand in this culture, that was really a thing.
24:17-24:19
If you were Jewish, God loved you.
24:19-24:21
If you were a Gentile, God hated you.
24:23-24:26
Actually, the Jews referred to Gentiles as dogs.
24:30-24:32
Paul says, man, that used to be such a big deal to me.
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Used to be such a big deal.
24:38-24:38
My heritage.
24:40-24:42
Then he says, that doesn't save you.
24:44-24:46
Like we don't have that problem here, do we?
24:46-25:14
Yeah, we do, because we hear people today, you know, "Are you a Christian? Are you saved? Have you been born again?" People respond with things like this, "Well, my father was a deacon, my uncle was a pastor, my grandmother was a nun." Almost like, "Because I was born into some kind of a Christian family, that automatically by default makes me a Christian, and it does not." You're not saved because of who your grandmama is.
25:16-25:27
When you stand before God, your dad's not going to stand beside you and sort of vouch for you.
25:29-25:29
It's not your heritage.
25:30-25:31
That's not gonna cut it.
25:32-25:33
Number three is understanding the facts.
25:35-25:37
Understanding the facts, that doesn't save you.
25:38-25:40
Understanding the facts.
25:41-25:43
Understanding the facts does not save you.
25:43-25:52
That's why Paul says that he was, he says, "As to the law, a Pharisee." You know, the Pharisees had the Old Testament memorized.
25:54-25:56
They didn't even have to turn to it.
25:56-25:59
It's like, you know, what does, you know, what does Isaiah say?
25:59-26:00
Boom, I'll give you the whole thing.
26:00-26:01
What do you want to know?
26:07-26:09
Understanding the facts does not save you.
26:11-26:13
Well, you know, I've read the Bible.
26:13-26:14
I know what the Bible says.
26:14-26:15
I've read that.
26:16-26:17
Fantastic.
26:17-26:19
Understanding the facts does not save you.
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Several years ago, I was in a building where the boiler backed up and I was overloaded with carbon monoxide.
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I had a lethal level of carbon monoxide in my system.
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I should have been dead, but do you know why I'm still alive today?
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"because somebody gave me a pamphlet "explaining why carbon monoxide is lethal." So as I lay there dying, somebody put that pamphlet and I read the pamphlet and I understood the pamphlet and that's why I'm alive today, right?
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No, that didn't do it.
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There are some people that think, "Well, just because I understand the facts, "that means that I'm saved." Wrong, okay, wrong.
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And that's what Paul is saying here.
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As to the law, I was a Pharisee.
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I can tell you the Bible frontwards and backwards.
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Fourthly, motives.
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Motives.
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Paul wasn't like a Christmas and Easter only Jew.
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Paul, were you like really serious about your religion?
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Were you really serious?
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Look at verse six.
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He says, "As to zeal, a persecutor of the church." How serious was Paul about his religion?
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He said, "I'll tell you how zealous I was.
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"I wasn't one of those people that just showed up to service "and kind of, you know, mouthed a couple of Psalms "and nodded my head in agreement with whoever was teaching." He said, "I'll tell you how zealous I was.
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I was out killing Christians. That's how zealous I was. You know, while Stephen was being stoned, I said, "Here, you'll be able to throw those rocks better if you're not wearing your coat. I'll hold your coats for you so you can kill this man." That was Paul. So don't ever question his sincerity. Were you sincere, Paul? He was pretty sincere, but your motives, your sincerity don't cut it. I'm sincere about my religion. I never miss church. Deep down, deep down God knows that I'm really sincere. Sincerity doesn't save you. That's what Paul was saying here. He said, "I had all the zeal in the world, but that wasn't the thing that saved me." Number 5 is perfect record. Perfect record.
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Paul says as to the excuse me, as to verse 6, righteousness under the law.
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Blameless. Blameless.
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Paul said, I live the kind of life that none of my Pharisee friends, none of my Jewish friends, none of them could point to anything in my life and say, Yeah, he really should cut that out.
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That's what he was saying.
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And that's, again, people trust in that to make them right with God.
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"Well, I don't drink and I've never been arrested.
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I've never cut the tag from a mattress.
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I used to rewind the videos when I took them back to Blockbuster.
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I'm just, I'm such a good little boy in every way.
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And I just, I think God's really keeping track of all that." And Paul's like, "Yeah, I was blameless too.
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I thought all these things were in the profit column, but whatever gain I had, I counted as what?
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Loss. So it went from the black column to the red column.
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I counted as loss for the sake of Christ." That's why lastly, gain, that's loss.
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So if you're trusting in any of these things, and let me add, not just to save you, but some people think that these things, ceremony, heritage, understanding the facts, motives, perfect record, some people think that that endears you to God.
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Like God's looking down from heaven and he's like, well, he reads the Bible more than she does, so I like him better.
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You don't endear yourself to God by doing these things.
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gain salvation is. Here it is, it's knowing Christ, it's knowing Christ.
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Look at first aid again with me, he says, I count, indeed, I count everything is loss because of the surpassing worth. Of. Knowing. Christ Jesus, my Lord, for his sake, I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish in order that I may gain Christ.
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So salvation is knowing Christ, everything is loss compared to knowing Christ.
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Now, your Bible has a word in my Bible, it's translated rubbish.
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Paul says I've suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish.
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That list that he had, he said, "That stuff is all rubbish." Now, as you know, when I study for messages, one of the things I do is go back and look at the original Greek to understand what is being communicated here.
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And it's not my intention to be crass, but this is a crass word, it just is.
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The word for rubbish, I mean, when we use rubbish, it sounds so, I think of this like really prim and proper like Britishman.
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These things that I had, I count them as rubbish, just simply rubbish.
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But it was actually a very crass word.
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The word literally means human excrement.
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And I'm not going to say the word that would be a modern day translation of this word, but you know what it is.
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If I said it, that's all anybody would talk about for the next 20 years.
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Remember that time Pastor Jeff said the S word in church?
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But listen, I'm not trying to be crass, But that's what he's saying.
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It's just the translators didn't want you to get distracted by that, so they counted it rubbish, or translated it as rubbish.
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He says, I look at all these acclaims that I thought I had, all these things that I thought were so amazing about me, and it's nothing but a pile of excrement.
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That's all that's worth.
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That's all that is.
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Salvation is only found in the person of Jesus Christ.
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And as I close, you're asking yourself right now, well, can you be a little more specific?
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I certainly can.
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So jot this down.
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What does it mean when he says, count everything as lost because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ?
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Like, what does that even mean?
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I'm gonna close with three R words.
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The first R word is this, write down the word relationship.
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Write down the word relationship.
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That's where he talks about knowing, about knowing, about knowing.
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There were different words for knowing in the Greek as well.
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And this word for relationship isn't just like knowing about Jesus.
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This word for know literally is experiential knowledge.
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Understanding that knowing about Jesus is not the same as knowing Jesus.
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Big difference, big difference.
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Before I was with Harvest Bible Chapel, I knew about James MacDonald.
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But then after moving to Chicago for five months and training and being with him and going to his home and all those things.
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Now I say, I know James MacDonald.
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Do you see the difference?
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There's a difference between knowing about and experientially knowing.
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And this word in the Greek is experientially knowing Jesus Christ.
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It's about a relationship with Christ.
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Relationship.
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Second word is receiving.
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So it's relationship, your second R word is receiving.
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He says, "For his sake, I've suffered the loss of all things.
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"Count them as excrement, in order that I may," here it is, "gain Christ." Gain Christ.
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Jesus Christ must be personally received.
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If you think that, well, I'm saved because Jesus Christ died on the cross for the sins of all of the world, you're mistaken.
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Jesus Christ must be personally received. Just because Jesus died doesn't mean that the salvation that he offers, the new birth that he offers, falls on everyone whether they want it or not. The Bible over and over and over again says that we must receive Jesus Christ. That's that you have to personally appropriate.
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You receive him.
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The wages of sin is death, Paul tells us, but the free gift of God is eternal life.
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A gift is something that must be received.
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And then finally, write down this R word, righteousness.
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And that's where in verse 9, he says, it's so beautiful, "To be found in Him." To be found in Him.
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Not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith, that I may, here it is again, know him and the power of his resurrection and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death." By the way, for a lot of Christians, when we talk about knowing the power of the resurrection, "Sign me up for that." But when it's, "Well, we also share in his sufferings." Like, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a second." But it's both, isn't it?
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Isn't the Christian life both?
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It's experiencing the power of God's spirit within you, but it's also a participation in his suffering.
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May share his sufferings.
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The world still hates Christ.
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And the world's going to hate you.
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But then look, Paul says, "Becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible, I may attain the resurrection from the dead." So our last R word is righteousness.
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It's talking about being found in Christ.
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He says, "Not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law." You know what the problem is with that?
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If you live as if your righteousness is the thing that saves you, my question is, when do you know when you're righteous enough?
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When do you know that you've done enough good deeds?
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How do you know that you've been good enough?
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And see, people that live that way are always unsure if they're truly saved or not.
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Well, you know what?
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I had a great day yesterday and I love my kids and I love my wife and I was doing so good yesterday, but today I had lustful thoughts and I made a rude gesture to a guy that cut me off and I'm just in a foul mood and maybe I'm not really a Christian.
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And when it's dependent upon me, it's always gonna feel that way.
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But when you get to the point that you realize you can't inherit righteousness on your own, you can't muster it up, you can't work for it.
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That's why Paul says, "I'm not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law." His point is, if there was ever anybody in the history of the universe that would have been good enough to go to heaven on their own merit, it would have been Paul.
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And he said, "I realized that I didn't even cut it." So where does righteousness come from?
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Well, he tells us.
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But that which comes through faith in Christ.
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The righteousness from God that depends on faith.
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Righteousness that depends on faith.
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It's righteousness that takes God at His word.
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It's righteousness that says, "I realize that the best that I can offer you, God, "is filthy rags." It's righteousness that says, "God, without your grace, I'm lost.
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"I need you to pronounce me righteous." And that's where faith comes in. It's taking God at His word.
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It's believing that Jesus Christ is who He said He is.
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The perfect, sinless Son of God, the Lamb of God who has come to take away the sins of the world.
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That His death on the cross was to pay the penalty for your sin.
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God's not going to punish you for your sin if you've received Jesus Christ.
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because God's already punished Jesus for your sin.
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And believe that Jesus Christ rose from the dead to give us eternal life, knowing the power of the resurrection.
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That's what it means to know Christ.
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Relationship.
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I want to know Christ.
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Receiving.
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I want to gain Christ in righteousness.
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I want to be found in Christ.
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You know, somewhere around 164 times in the Apostle Paul's epistles, he talks about being found in Christ.
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And just now we're going to receive the Lord's Supper together.
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And let this be a reminder for us of where our righteousness comes from.
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If we have the audacity to believe that there's something in us that merits salvation, then we have to ask ourselves, "Why did Christ die on the cross?" What are you trusting in?
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Do you have a little spiritual resume that you're going to present before God someday?
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Say, "God, here's why you should let me into heaven.
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I came from a good Christian family, went to church, always tried to do my best." That's the exact list that Paul gives in this passage.
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And he says, "You know what this list is? It should be flushed." Instead, I found that righteousness comes from receiving Jesus Christ.
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Will you bow your heads with me please?
Small Group Questions (Whole Group):
Read Philippians 3:1-11
Breakout Questions:
Pray for one another.