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Pastor Mike preaches Asphalt Theology - [Philippians 3:1-11]
Well, it is good to be back, Bethlehem Bible Church. Nothing like the traffic in Tel Aviv to make you appreciate Massachusetts. We had a great trip in Israel. Only lost John Makarowski twice in Nazareth, and Bill Glenn once on the plane.
But besides that, we were fine. Thanks to Pastor Steve and to Pradeep for preaching while I'm gone. I never think to myself, will those men be faithful and preach Christ every time they get up in the pulpit and they do that very thing?
When I say the word asphalt, what do you think about? What comes into your mind? For me as a bicyclist, I think, oh, that nice smooth road flying down the hill at 40 miles an hour. Sometimes I think of the hot rain that comes down and you can just see the steam come off the asphalt or that smell of asphalt, kind of the tar.
Well, this morning, I'd like to asphalt your theology. That's the title of the sermon, Asphalting Your Theology. Take your Bibles and turn to Philippians chapter 3. The word asphalt comes from the root word to totter.
And if you put an A in front of totter, it means it doesn't totter. It means it's secure. It means it's stable. It means it's something that has a good foundation. That's what the word asphalt means. It's not insecure.
It doesn't totter. It's good. It's constructive. It's something you can place your confidence in. And matter of fact, Philippians chapter 3, verse 1, it says, finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord.
To write the same things to you is no trouble to me. And it is asphalt for you. It's safe for you. Years ago, I think it was 1985, I was taking a train through Italy and we stopped at a little town called Pisa.
And I had about a, I don't know, a half hour layover and I went and said to the cab driver, can you get me to the Leaning Tower of Pisa and back within 30 minutes? And if you can, I'll give you a good tip.
He said, I can do it. So they drove us really fast to the Leaning Tower of Pisa. I got out, took a picture, got back in, and off we went. That tower totters. That tower leans. That's the name of it, the Leaning Tower.
And the word asphalt means something's leaning, but you put the A in front of it. If something's typical and you put an A in front of it, it's not typical anymore, it's atypical. And so what Paul is wanting is safety for the congregation.
He's wanting stability for the congregation. He's wanting a congregation that doesn't blow to and fro with every wind of doctrine, kind of like Ephesians chapter four. And in our days where we have a world, 2 Timothy chapter three says that people will be lovers of selves, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, and on and on and on, we all need stability.
We need that rebar to undergird our theology so we can think about the world rightly. So today we're gonna look at Philippians chapter three verses one through 11, and I want to make sure your theology at its core is safe and not tottering and not blown back and forth by every wind of doctrine.
I mean, if I think of the opposite of asphalt, I would probably think of quicksand. Did you say quicksand? Yes, did you know in the 1960s, quicksand was such a big thing that 3 of every show has something about quicksand in it?
True, I just read that this week. Did you know there's quicksand in New England? I read that this week too. Found in the coast of Maine, we have quicksand and they're called little honeypots. See, aren't you glad to know this?
It takes somebody from California to teach you all that. And so I don't want to be standing on something that could give way and I could sink, neither do you. Paul didn't want that for the church at Philippi.
We want to have something strong and stable because sometimes our lives are not stable, the world's not stable. And so we're going to look at today Philippians chapter three to make sure you understand how stable faith can come about.
Our outline today is simple. I'm going to say some general things about Philippians so we can kind of know where we are in the book since we're just jumping into chapter three. I'm going to give you the setting for this little section found in verse one, and then we'll answer this question.
How do you asphalt your theology? That's really the outline. How to asphalt your theology? And it's going to be answered with these two responses. Put no confidence in the flesh and put your confidence in the perfect righteousness of Christ Jesus.
So overall, big setting of Philippians, narrow setting, and then the outline, how to asphalt your theology. Aren't you glad you came today already? Ever heard a sermon on asphalt? Never will again either.
Paul, as you know, is writing in jail. He's in Rome someplace. They say maybe the Mamertine prison, and he's writing to this Roman colony. When people retire, they like to go to, what is that place in Florida that people go to, that kind of weird, what?
The villages. I think there's a movie called The Village too. It's about the same thing in my mind sometimes. Well, if you lived in Rome and you want to go retire, you would go up to Philippi, which was far from Rome, but it was a Roman colony, and all the things that you enjoyed about Rome would be reproduced there in Philippi.
It was kind of a retirement home for many of the soldiers. And Paul went there, remember, and he preached the gospel to a lady named Lydia, and a church started, and now Paul wants that church to understand what maturity's like, who Jesus is, and he wants to remind them.
And he's also appealing to them for prayer. It's kind of like a missionary letter. You ever get a missionary letter from someone, and they say, please pray for us, this is an update. If you could have any extra money, please give.
That's almost what Philippians is. And of course, in chapter two, verses five and following, we see that excellent hymn of the Lord Jesus Christ. It says in verse eight of chapter two, being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
Therefore, God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of the Father.
Paul prays, Paul greets, Paul talks about the Lord Jesus. And now we come to chapter three, where he's gonna talk a little bit about some of the opponents of the gospel. Of course, wherever God is doing a work, Satan is trying to do the opposite work.
And almost in every New Testament letter, you'll see this clash between Jesus and antichrist, really, people that are against Jesus, the opposite, small a antichrist. And this is no different, and Paul's going to address these people here and teach the right thing and tell us to be warned.
So now that we know generally where we are in Philippians, let's look at the immediate setting found in verse one that I read earlier. Finally, my brothers, and of course, most pastors love that, that he's got two more chapters to go, but he says, finally, my brothers, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord.
To write the same things to you is no trouble to me, and it is safe, our asphalt gives you stability, protection, a safeguard. And you can see Paul, and if you can't see it right now, you will in just a minute.
He's hinting at something. Rejoice in the Lord. Instead of rejoice in your baptism, rejoice in your circumcision, rejoice in all your good works, there's an object to the rejoicing, and that is the Lord Jesus.
He's talked about how Jesus is all-sufficient, how he's the great Redeemer, and he's wanting to make sure that the rejoicing is found in the Lord and the Lord alone. And he says, you know, it doesn't matter how many times I have to remind you about the Lord Jesus, I don't mind to share it again, I don't mind to write the same things again, there's no skin off my back, not hard for me to do, and it's good for you, very pastoral, very much like the Lord Jesus.
And so if I had a purpose this morning for you, Bethlehem Bible Church, is not just to learn this better, but I want you to be firm. I think we have a firm congregation when it comes to theology, and understanding right and wrong, but there's nothing wrong with us, just like with Paul, to say it one more time, it's no big deal for me to preach it again, I love to extol the Lord Jesus, and it's good for us to be reminded every Sunday, it's safe for you and good for you.
Well, now let's come to the main part of our sermon, how to asphalt your theology. Number one, found in verses two through six, put no confidence in the flesh, put no confidence in the flesh, and put no confidence in people who tell you to put confidence in the flesh.
No confidence in the flesh. You want to have a stable life, a firm life, not just when it comes to salvation, but sanctification, and even at the very end when it comes to glorification, no confidence in the flesh.
And this is hard for us, but it's important. Verse two, and he's been saying rejoice in the Lord, it's no big deal if I write a few things to you, it's safe for you, and then now this, some people think this can't be Paul, this had to be added in.
Look out for the dogs, look out for the evildoers, look out for those who mutilate the flesh. He's not talking about three different kinds of people, he's talking about one kind of person, and that's a Judaizer, that's someone who's saying, you know what, Jesus is good, virgin birth, virgin conception, perfect life, died on a cross, raised from the dead, but you need other things.
You need Old Testament ceremonial laws, you need to be circumcised, it's Jesus, yes, we'd never say no to Jesus, but it's Jesus plus. And instead of saying, oh, good job, you are talking about Jesus some, what does he say?
What does Paul say to those that would add to the work of the Lord Jesus? He says, beware. He says, look out there in the ESV. That's where we get the word blephoplasty, blepho, to look, to see, how many times does he say it?
If I say to you, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. If I say to you, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, Jeremiah chapter seven, oh, land, land, land, Jeremiah 22, you think I should pay attention, repeat it not once, but repeat it not twice, but three times.
Do you see it? Look out, look out, look out. Keep your eyes peeled. If you'd like to have stable theology, you better pay attention, you better just not walk through the world as a sleepwalking Christian.
You better have your eyes peeled, as my father would say. Have to be very, very careful, because there are false teachers out there. And every single time Paul looks at these, he kind of trumpets this warning with a fiery vengeance, some call it.
By the way, the words dog, the word dogs in Greek, evildoers and mutilators all start with K in the Greek. So it's kind of easy to remember. And if I could just take a little liberty, when it comes to false teachers, Paul's saying, K, K, K, watch out.
I didn't expect that. People are starting to mix Jesus' works with their own works, and he says, you better watch out, you better beware. And he's not being very Caleb nice. He calls them what? First, he calls them dogs.
By the way, remember, these Judaizers are Jewish, and they love to call Gentiles what? Dogs. Who's the dog? And by the way, this isn't the nice dog. For errors, did you just get a dog? Two dogs, they're sweet, they're nice.
These dogs were scavengers. These dogs were mangy. These dogs, fleas will bite you, rabies. They had all kinds of cats in Israel because there's so many rats in Israel. And somebody said, oh yeah, somebody was petting one of these cats and the cat bit them and they had to get rabies shots.
And I thought, I'm not touching one of these cats. So the word here, dog, is not a modern day dog that we think of. It's more of a modern day cat. Sorry. These were roaming around, cunning, gross things that you would just get out of the way from.
These people are dogs. They're vicious. He calls them dogs for a reason. Impure barking around. He not only calls them dogs, he calls them evil workers. Evil workers. Oh, they work. Oh, they probably work in the church.
But they are evil workers. Not good workers, not profitable workers. They're evil workers. Second Corinthians 11, these kind of people are called deceitful workers. Actually, they're satanic workers because they're working against the person of Christ.
He's already extolled who Jesus is, this great God-man, risen from the dead. And now you think, well, Jesus is good, but you just need a little bit more. We need to work past Jesus. It's work, but it's in the wrong direction.
Of course, every good pastor like Paul is supposed to teach sound doctrine and what? Refute those that contradict it. Jesus himself, the great shepherd, said of these kind of people, whoa, whoa, whoa, in that blistering denunciation in Matthew 23.
Anybody tells you you need Jesus plus something else to be saved? They're like dogs and evil workers. You need Jesus plus what your own works are in order to stay saved? They're like dogs and evil workers.
You need Jesus plus your own obedience to finally make it? They're like dogs and evil workers. And not only that, Paul, I mean, he just goes for it here. I didn't write it, he did. People who mutilate the flesh.
It's one thing to get circumcised. It's another thing to get mutilated. That's what he's talking about. They think it's Jesus plus circumcision, but it's not really circumcision that saves, is it not?
We need a circumcised heart. So Jesus plus circumcision is technically mutilation. Paul is really after them. He's mocking them. They're the mutilation party. They say, well, to get into heaven, you gotta be mutilated.
To stay into heaven, you gotta get mutilated. Paul writes elsewhere in Romans 2, for he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, neither is that circumcision which is outward in flesh, but he is a Jew who is one what?
Inwardly. I mean, I could put it in these terms today. There are people that say you have to be baptized in order to be saved. Yes, Jesus did a lot, but you have to be baptized as well. Well, if it's not circumcisers, but mutilators, it's not baptizers in that case if you think you have to get saved by being baptized.
They're drowners. They drown people spiritually. That our only ground of salvation is Christ and his work. Not what we eat, not what we drink, not what we do, not because we've been baptized. Our standing is the Lord Jesus.
I think Paul learned from our great shepherd, the Lord Jesus, to care for the sheep and to warn them. Jesus said to them, truly I say to you, I'm the door of the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them.
I'm the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.
I am the good shepherd. I lay down my life for the sheep. And so we at Bethlehem Bible Church, we have to watch out. You have to be careful. You have to be on guard because there are con games going on.
Con is short for what? Confidence games. There are people trying to gain your confidence. You see in verse three, confidence, but no confidence in the flesh. Verse four, confidence in the flesh. Verse four goes farther, reason for confidence, assurance.
Positively, Paul says in verse three, compared to the dogs, evil workers, and mutilators, we are the circumcision. What do you mean, Paul? He explains it. Who worship by the spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus.
And put no confidence in the flesh. It's kind of a great definition of a Christian. Worship by the spirit of God. From the heart, spirit driven. Nothing to do with Old Testament ceremonial laws. Nothing to do with extra traditions.
He goes on, who glory in Christ Jesus. Christians do what? We glory in Christ Jesus and what he's done, we just got done singing songs about him. Instead of, I glory in my baptism, I glory in my circumcision, I glory in my good works, I glory in my church membership.
Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom. Let not the mighty man boast in his might. Let not the rich man boast in his riches. But let him who boasts, boast in this. God says that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord.
We don't go back to shadows and outlines. No, we have the Lord Jesus. Of course, you know the great song, my hope is built on nothing less, too bad I can't rhyme it, than my baptism and my church membership list.
I don't know, that was really bad. I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name. On Christ's solid rock I stand. All other ground is sinking sand. Paul is saying, I don't want you to put any confidence in you or what you've done.
He says it right there again, put no confidence in the flesh. Unlike the dogs, unlike the evil workers, unlike the mutilators, we say, I have no confidence in me. Faith looks out to the Lord Jesus and says I receive all His righteousness by faith, non-meritorious.
Did anybody come to the BBC game night last night? Was there a game night? Who won? Who acted the most proud when they won? No, just kidding. We used to love to play games with the kids because the inner person comes out, right?
In vino veritas, but in games the real person comes out. So, I'm glad you had fun. I'm just kidding about the games. Paul's gonna play a little game here. Oh, you people who are dogs, evil workers and mutilators, you think you're gonna put confidence in the flesh so you can stand before God one day.
All right, let's play a game. We'll kind of play a one-up game. Let's compare what you have and what I have, what you've done and what I've done. And at the end, by the way, I'm gonna say it's all rubbish anyway, but if you think you can get to heaven based on good things, I'll play your little game.
You wanna play a game, dogs? Here's the dog game. You wanna play a little evil worker game? Here it comes. I'll go first. Though I myself, verse three, have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence, I have reason for confidence in the flesh.
I have more. Paul, let's hear your personal testimony. He's not exaggerating, by the way. I think in the sovereignty of God, God chose Paul for many reasons. Here's one, because I can't think of a more religious person on the entire earth than unconverted Saul.
I don't care if it's pre-converted Luther. I don't care if it's a Pope. You think of the most religious person you can, Mother Teresa. Paul was more religious. He was the most religious man to ever live.
It's interesting that the Lord Jesus on the Sermon on the Mount said, for I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Maybe I could say it this way.
I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Paul, you'll never see heaven. You want my resume? Here's a resume. Should this do it? Do you want confidence in the flesh? And he gives seven things, seven items, in verses five and six.
Here's my resume, Paul says, my spiritual resume. Number one, circumcised on the eighth day. What day was a Jew supposed to be circumcised on? The eighth day. And literally, you could translate this with respect to circumcision, I'm an eighth dayer.
We have six dayer creations. Paul's an eighth dayer circumcision guy. He didn't have to wait till he was converted as a Gentile and get circumcised when he was 13 years old. Leviticus 12, on the eighth day of the flesh of the foreskin, he shall be circumcised.
Jesus circumcised on the eighth day. Isaac circumcised on the eighth day. Paul says, you wanna talk about credentials? Okay. Number two, of the people of Israel. I'm a Jew from the cradle. Do you know you can be from Abraham's descendant and be an Ishmaelite, but not me.
I'm from Isaac. Do you know you can come from Abraham, Isaac, and then be an Edomite, but not me. I'm not a half-breed, I'm not a Samaritan, I'm covenant person of God. A chosen person of God, privileged of God.
I'm the apple of God's eye, Israel. Jacob wrestles with God and gets a new name, Israel. And I, Paul, am a descendant of that very man. Three, I'm of the tribe of Benjamin. Tribes are nice, but this is the elite tribe.
Small, yes, but elite. This is where Saul comes from, the first king. This is the second son of Rachel, Benjamin. This is elite, this is aristocracy, this is fighting men come from Benjamin. Studly men come from Benjamin.
Do you know in the book Esther, there's a man named Mordecai? Guess where Mordecai's from? Benjamin. When it comes to tribes, I'm from Benjamin. I like 1 Chronicles 8, 40. The sons of Ulam were the men who were mighty warriors, bowmen, having many sons and grandsons.
All of these were Benjamites. Paul goes on. Hebrew of the Hebrew, purest of the pure. By race, by language, by custom. Paul says, you want to play this game? All right, I'll play this game. Years ago, Kim and I, and I think my brother and mom, we tried out in California and Hollywood for Family Feud.
I think I could do a better job today, but I was too reserved, because I didn't want to jump up and down saying good answer and act like a doofus. Now I can. They did what everybody said in Hollywood.
We beat this other family a couple times, and then they said to us, we'll call you. Still waiting for that phone call. You want to play the game of confidence of the flesh? All right, let's play that game.
And Paul is just decimating them. These poor Judaizers can't measure up to this. And he goes on. I mean, some of those you think, well, Paul was just born into that. He didn't have anything to do with it.
How could he pick his mom or dad? Now let's see some things that Paul had a choice in when it comes to training and conviction. Number five, a Pharisee. He's not a liberal like the Sadducees. He cares about the Bible.
He cares about obedience. Acts 26 five, since they have known me for a long time previously, if they are willing to testify that I lived as a Pharisee according to the strictest sect of our religion. Number six, as to zeal found in verse six, a persecutor of the church.
If you want zeal in religion, if you want sincerity in religion, if you want somebody who's really into it, I was into it. I tell you, I was into it so much, I persecuted the church. I track them down.
Matter of fact, I think this is so etched in Paul's mind and he's so ashamed of it. He even writes here, if you look carefully, a persecutor, like it's present, like he's currently doing it, because it's just in his mind.
He's no longer persecuting the church, but he'll always think to himself, I am so haunted by my persecution. It seems like I'm doing it right now. Saul began ravaging the church, entering house after house, dragging off men and women.
He would put them in prison, Acts 8. Acts 9, now Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest. Acts 26, not only did I lock up many saints in prison, having received authority from the chief priest, but also when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them.
I punished them often in the synagogues. I tried to force them to blaspheme. Being furiously enraged at them, I kept pursuing them to foreign cities. You Judaizers, yeah, way to go, you proselytize people.
I persecute them. And then lastly, if you want to be confident in your works, the righteousness which is in the law, humanly speaking, from my perspective and society's perspective, blameless, blameless.
Paul is saying, you want to play that game? I'll play the game. Just a reminder, Bethlehem Bible Church, we stand before God, the thrice holy God, for one reason and one reason only, that's the Lord Jesus.
We are in Christ and he has lived for us, he has died for us and he's been raised for us and he intercedes for us. You are not standing before God in a better position because you have believed and have been baptized.
Even if you think my baptism doesn't save, it just shows my obedience, it doesn't matter. You stand before God based on one thing alone and that is the Lord Jesus. I mean, maybe sometime it might be good for you to just put together a list of what you think your spiritual credentials are in the flesh.
Think, well, you know what? I just wrote down a few, I don't have to read them all. I was baptized as an infant, I was baptized as an adult in the Jordan River. I've been on missionary trips, never cheated on Kim, never looked at pornography as a Christian, pay my taxes reluctantly.
I've been to the Holy Land six times. I've attended four seminaries, taught at three. I know Greek, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. That's going to get me to heaven? That's going to keep me going to heaven?
Luther said, I have to preach against self-righteousness and self-confidence every single Sunday because that's what we try to do. And for many of us, we still fall into that habit. God loves me more this week because I had a good week.
I read my Bible and I didn't get upset in traffic and I didn't say any four-letter words and God loves me more now. Or God loves me less because I did those very things. God doesn't love you less or more based on your performance.
Does He want you to obey? Of course. Will you be disciplined if you disobey, Christian? Of course. But your standing before God, the ground of your salvation, has nothing to do with anything you've ever done.
Nothing. How to asphalt your theology? Think that way. Put no confidence in the flesh. Put no confidence in people who tell you to put confidence in the flesh. Number two, put your confidence in the perfect obedience of Jesus by faith.
Verses seven through 11. Oh, this gets good here. Verse seven, whatever gain I had, what kind of gain is Paul talking about? Those last seven things. All those things that were assets, all those things were in the asset column.
This is language of accounting. I hated accounting, by the way. I think I got my only D in college in Cost Accounting 308. Hated it. Mainly because you can't cheat at Accounting 308. You have to actually do the work.
That was what I did in college as an unbeliever. What classes could I get by in cheating on? Whatever gain I had, this thought I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Whatever profit I had, I counted as loss.
My achievements now I count as failures. My assets now I count as liabilities. I transfer from the credit to the debit side. Loss is also an accounting word. And if you look very, very carefully in verse seven, whatever gain I had counted, whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.
It's like all my plural gains, I put in one big heap and called it a heap of loss. I treat them all as a loss. And by the way, if you, dear Christian, look back at your salvation, and you'll say, do you know what?
When I take a look at my conversion, from my perspective, I mean, we could talk about salvation a lot of ways in eternity past. God chose you. Jesus in time died for you. The Spirit of God regenerated you.
We could talk about a lot of things. God gave you faith and you believed that just shall live by faith. Sola fide. Justification by faith alone. When you did that, and now you look back at what happened on your side, what do you see?
You see this happening. You see this happen to you. You see this picture, really, of repentance. The fruit of faith where you say, that's exactly what happened. I look back at my testimony, and that's exactly how God worked.
Everything I had that I thought was gonna be in the plus column, it was negative. I counted it loss. That's exactly what every Christian says. For my sake, for the church's sake, what's the text say? For the sake of Christ.
Paul is on the Damascus Road. Mr. Religion. And he sees the Lord Jesus. And everything is changed. It's like a nuclear winter. While thus engaged, I was journeying to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priest.
At midday, O King, I saw on the way a light from heaven brighter than the sun shining all around me. And when they had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew dialect, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?
Is it hard for you to kick against the goads? Who are you, Lord? I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. Arise, stand on your feet, for this purpose I have appeared to you, to appoint you as a minister and a witness, not only to the things which you've seen, but also to the things which I will appear to you.
Delivering you from the Jewish people and from the Gentiles to whom I am sending you. I have appointed you to open their eyes that they may turn from darkness to light, from the dominion of Satan to God, in order that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in me.
When Paul saw Jesus, he saw himself for what he was. A damnable, self-righteous, religious hypocrite. And all his religious baggage, he says, it's just done. It's off, it's over. Verse eight, but he goes on and now he even talks about in the present.
It's not just when you get saved, you save yourself. Yeah, this is just the great exchange of all my religiosity for Christ's righteousness. But even now as Christians, don't we talk this way? Do we not want to talk this way?
Should we not want to talk this way? Indeed, I present tense count. I did count before when I got saved, but now I present tense count everything as loss. Why? Because of their surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord.
For his sake, I've suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish in order that I may gain. Isn't that good? Everything I count as loss even now. Can't you say that, Christian? If you can't say it, don't you want to say it?
I still look back at my theological pedigree, all that I've done, everything that I've done in denominations as a kid, this, that, or the other, doing more good than bad. You know what, it just doesn't count.
Doesn't mean anything when I see Jesus, the risen Savior, like Paul, except not with real eyes, but with eyes of faith through the scripture. I have to say, it's just worth it that I might know Christ Jesus, my Lord.
To know about who he is, in his name. To personally know him, that Jesus is my Savior. He's my friend, he's my confidant. The same Jesus that touches the leper and heals. The same Jesus that makes blind people see.
The same Jesus that said to a father, let me take care of your son that throws himself into the fire in the satanic way. The same Jesus that says, your daughter died, I'll help you. I know him, he's my Savior.
Intimate communion with Christ Jesus. I mean, sometimes I don't like when people say, it's not a religion, Christianity, it's a what? Relationship. If you look at religion, it's defined by relationship, so sometimes I don't like it.
But here, for my case, since I'm preaching today, I like it. In this way, all the religious duties that I did and had and everything about me as a person, they weren't just neutral, they were negative.
And I needed a new me. I didn't just need a better attitude. I didn't need to get over my anxiety disorder. I didn't need to become less selfish. No, no, I needed a new me. And God gave me a new me through the eyes of faith in Christ Jesus.
And now I go, you know what? All that religious stuff, by the way, you can do with no heart. You can do with no fervor. You can do with no intimacy. And what do you want? A bunch of rule keepings that I'm gonna put ashes on my forehead, I'm gonna deny myself this, that, or the other, or I get to know Jesus and Jesus knows me.
Well, why wouldn't I just dump all that? I wouldn't just dump it all. Smells and bells, goodbye. I get communion with the Lord Jesus. And so do you, dear Christian. And what does Paul say? All that religious stuff that I thought was gain, I count them at the end of verse eight, but rubbish.
I live for those things. I yearn for those things. I excelled in those things. I was the best at those things. And now I mean the word right there, rubbish, means what? Rubbish. It means garbage can stuff.
It means what you put in the privy pot. It means dung. I mean, this has to be the work of God because nobody just says one day as an unbeliever, my whole life counts for dung. God does His work and quickens and makes alive.
And we have new appetites, new affections, new everything. We look back and we say, now the Lord has given me a desire for the Lord Jesus instead. I see myself for what I really am. I kind of dress up nice, but on the inside, I'm wicked.
And now I get to know the Lord Jesus. I'm knowing Christ, knowing Jesus. It's good to know theology. It's good to read your Bible, but the Bible and theology points us to the Lord Jesus, His person, and we get to know Him.
Jesus Christ, what's Paul say? Knowing Christ Jesus, the Lord? What's he say in verse eight? Christ Jesus, my Lord. That's wonderful. Verse nine, it keeps going. And to be found in Him. How are you gonna be found in Him?
Well, if you're gonna be found in the Lord Jesus, we're talking about union with Christ because of faith, or through faith rather. Not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law. So, the law tells you to do something, and if you do the right thing, you get righteousness from the law.
We realize the law was never given to us as unbelievers so that we could attain anything through it, but to show us our need of the Savior. And now we realize that Christ lived under the law. He merited righteousness for us, and we get that.
You see? That which comes through faith in Christ. The righteousness from God. That is the Lord Jesus' righteousness that depends on faith. Two times, faith. Faith. Not works, not evil works, not religious works, not circumcision, not baptism, not anything else.
I receive all these benefits through faith, and I received them when I first got saved. I receive them now by faith and under glory. Through faith. On the basis of faith. No, through faith. I was the problem, Jesus is the answer.
God justified me, the ungodly one, and now I'm found in Him. Neither Pastor Steve said something or Tim said something earlier. I mean, to think that the Lord Jesus is so perfect and so blameless. When God sees us, He sees us in Him, and we stand before God blameless.
Verse 10, that I may know Him. Here we talk about that deep knowledge of the Lord. Not only Him knowing me, but I knowing Him. And you, dear Christian, as well. And the power of His resurrection. And may share in His sufferings, becoming like Him in His.
I want to know Him. Isn't that desire of every Christian to know the Lord Jesus? That's why we study theology. That's why we study the Bible. Spurgeon said, pray like this. Oh, living Christ, make this Bible a living word to me.
Your word is life, but not without the Holy Spirit. I may know this book of Yours from beginning to end, and repeat it from all Genesis to Revelation, and yet it may be a dead book. But Lord, be present here.
Then I will look up from the book to the Lord. From the precepts to Him who fulfilled it, from the law to Him who honored it, from the threatening to Him who has borne it for me, and from the promises to Him in whom it is, yes and amen.
See, that's a struggle I have. That's a struggle you probably have. Many of you at Bethlehem Bible Church, we study theology. That's good and right. But it's pointing. And Paul knew what these words were pointing to.
Pointing to the Lord Jesus. That we may know Him. That we may know Him. Not just our minds, but our souls. To know Him better, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings. And he ends in verse 11.
That by any means possible, yes, it's a done deal, but we have our responsibility to strive that I may attain the resurrection from the dead. If you'd like to have a strong, firm faith, dear Christian, no confidence in the flesh, no confidence in people to tell you to put your confidence in the flesh, and confidence in the work of Christ alone.
Just a few questions to leave you with. Number one, doesn't this section paint a great picture of repentance? We're saved by faith alone, and the fruit of faith is repentance. What a picture of repentance here.
Question two, where does righteousness come from? Not from us, not from the inside, not from our own works, not from religious things. But it comes from Jesus. God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those who are under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.
Question three, does this help you evangelize? I think the answer is yes. There's only two religions in the world. The religion of confidence in the flesh, and the religion of, I have no confidence in the flesh, it has to be the Lord Jesus.
You don't have to study 18 different kinds of religion, background. You can know every religion except Jesus, and Christianity is put confidence in the flesh. I was in Newark Airport on the way to Tel Aviv, and there was a, we were outside security, and there was a homeless man begging for money, and the manager of the Smashburger said to me, don't give him any money, we're not supposed to do that.
And I said, okay, I won't. I said, where I come from, if you don't work, you don't eat, if you're able. And he said, oh, First Timothy, right? I said, second Thessalonians, but close. And I said, well, I'm a Bible teaching pastor, I'm glad you know the Bible.
And he said, what kind of pastor? I said, Baptist, Baptist. And he said, well, I don't really care if it's Pentecostal or Baptist, as long as you obey. I said, how's your obedience doing? And he said, really good.
I thought, well, your English isn't that good either, but we'll work on that later. And then we got to talk a little bit, and he said, you know what, you're right. I'd like to obey, and that's a good desire for all of us.
But we stand before God, initially, and in an ongoing fashion, by faith in the righteousness of the Lord Jesus. Question four, doesn't this section make you thankful for Jesus? I hope it does. I hope you think, you know what, if it wasn't for the Lord Jesus, I would be going through the rat race and the hamster wheel of how many good works do I have to do?
And my assurance would be zero. And finally, question five. Did you know that this theology that's represented here in Philippians 3 makes it so that the worst sinner in the world can be saved? I've addressed you mainly as Christians today, but if you're not a Christian, it doesn't matter what you've done and how many times you've done them.
It doesn't matter how bad you are. When you realize that you can't stand before God based on the few good things you've done, let alone the sins that you've done, there is hope for you because there's the Lord Jesus, the eternal God who assumed human nature and lived the life you were supposed to, loving God and loving neighbor, and died on the cross for sinners like you, for all sins, past, present, and future, and proved His deity by raising Himself from the dead.
If you realize how great Jesus's righteousness is, it doesn't matter how unrighteous you are, unbeliever, and therefore you need to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.
The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus, God, I thank you I'm not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector, I fast twice a week, I give tithes of all that I get, confidence in the flesh.
But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast saying, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. Confidence in the Lord Jesus. Let's pray, Father, thank you for your word.
Seal it to our hearts by the power of the Holy Spirit.