Sermon: Count Them As σκύβαλα

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Hey everybody, I'm Pastor Jeff Durbin with Apologia Church. I want to thank you all so much for watching the content right here on Apologia Studios channel.

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What you're about to watch is a sermon, a message from Apologia Church's worship service. And again, I want to thank you all so much for watching, for liking, for commenting, for sharing the sermon itself.

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So thank you again so much for watching these and sharing them. God bless you. If you open your Bibles to Philippians chapter three,

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Philippians chapter three. As you get there,

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I want to remind you that we've been in Philippians, just a sidestep series from the

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Kingdom of God series we've been doing through the gospel according to Matthew. We're in Philippians now for the life and strength and joy of our body, examining what

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God says here in this amazing letter from the apostle Paul while in chains about authentic joy, about Christ as the very center of our joy, about the inheritance that we have in Christ.

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I'm not on. Am I on? What's that?

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I'm muted and where on this? Okay, let me pull this. Okay, good.

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There. Okay, good. All right. How's that? Good to go. All right. All right. Now everyone can hear me on them internets.

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So we've been examining this particular letter from the apostle Paul and what I've been trying to allow myself to see and us all to see is what is the source of the apostle

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Paul's joy and the appeal to joy and rejoicing. I've mentioned as we've gone through this letter that the apostle

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Paul is writing from a particular perspective. He's got a certain experience that he's writing this from.

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He's not writing it from an experience in a mansion on a hill.

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Things are not going well for the apostle Paul from a human perspective. As a matter of fact,

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I mean, we could describe the course that he's chosen in life to be a devastating course.

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I've mentioned as we've gone through this, that the apostle Paul gives testimony to the fact that he is not doing well from a human perspective.

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He talks about he's been beaten times without number. He's in danger from his own countrymen. He's in danger where there's false brethren, there's robbers.

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He's there talk about shipwreck. I mean, he's writing this letter and he says that he's writing it from the imprisonment that he's going through now.

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He's going to go through trial and the ultimate that we know is martyred for his faith in Jesus. He's killed for his faith in Christ.

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So as you read this, the temptation is when you hear somebody talking from a Christian perspective about rejoicing in tribulation, about appealing to joy in the

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Christian life, in the midst of trials, about not being anxious, not being worried. Temptation I think can be there where you don't understand my plight.

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You don't know how hard my life is. You don't know what I'm going through. You don't know about the cancer that I'm experiencing, or you don't know what the death that I just observed.

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It's tempting for us to look at these grand statements and some might even say foolish statements from a human perspective and say, you just don't understand my plight.

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There's no way to have joy, authentic joy in the midst of these trials and this suffering, because you don't understand my plight.

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The point is I made last week, it's a amazing thing, an amazing thing that the Lord allowed this to be a part of the apostle

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Paul's experience. He wasn't famous. He didn't have a load of money.

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He wasn't driving around in black suburbans like Copeland. He doesn't have the fancy jet.

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He's not rolling in it. It's not profitable for him. And yet he's suffering for the cause of Christ.

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And all he can do through this whole letter is talk about rejoicing and joy, rejoice and joy. It's everywhere.

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Try to read the letter and not find it. It's every step through the letter, authentic joy and rejoicing.

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So we've been talking about how, where's that come from? And what I've tried to point to is the apostle

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Paul constantly has an anchor, an anchor in who God is, what God's character is, an anchor in his identity in Jesus and an anchor in what

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God is actually going to do in history. He anchors that authentic joy and the rejoicing in something.

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Here's the point. It's not external shell. It's not the plastic smile.

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It's authentic joy for a reason. There's something that's actually giving it its movement forward.

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It's not just something you have to pretend with. And so we're in Philippians and now we get to Philippians chapter three.

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And I want to say, this is the heart of it. It's really the heart of it. I believe that he knows his identity in Jesus.

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He knows what God is doing in history. He knows about the blessings and the benefits of being in Christ, but that, that there's a story behind that and what you're getting here in Philippians three,

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I want to argue right in the middle of this letter. This is the actual heart, the center. This is it.

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If you want to talk about authentic joy in the midst of trials and tribulations, what a perfect time for this message.

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If you want to talk about rejoicing in all things, there's got to be a reason, something that actually gives it the movement forward.

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And I want to argue, this is the center when he talks about to live as Christ, to die as gain.

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There's a reason he can say that because he knows Philippians three, he knows what it means to be in Christ.

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He knows now he has confidence to actually die and be with Christ to weigh that anchor and to sail away, to be with Jesus.

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He knows his status, his position, his identity. And so this is key. And I want to argue, there are so many applications to these truths and read the text here in a second.

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So many applications, so many of us find ourselves, and I want you to be thinking about this as we go through the text in terms of answering the question of, so what?

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How does this apply to me? How does God intend to use this to transform me, to renew my mind?

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So many of us find our identity wrapped up in our past, right? Maybe we came from an abusive family, we were raised in poverty, or we experienced something in our past, and that's become our identity.

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Even as Christians, that's what we're obsessed with. We're absorbed with it. It's who we are, right?

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Or we've failed a particular way, even as Christians, as believers, as children of God, redeemed people, we're being sanctified.

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Maybe we had a season where we fell face first spiritually, fell into sin, and it broke us.

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And we still keep reliving that, rehashing it, and living in that identity. That's who

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I am, I guess. I've blown it, and this is now my identity for life now. Or some of us have a particular physical disorder.

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We have things that are wrong with our bodies. And let's be honest, that becomes our identity.

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This is who I am, right? I've got this physical problem, and that's my identity. And I want to argue that we really need, as God's people, to believe what the

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Apostle Paul says here. This is our identity. This is what we have in Jesus.

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This is who we are. This is the identifier for us. And so Philippians chapter 3, verse 1, hear now the words of the living and the true

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God. Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you is no trouble to me and is safe for you.

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Look out for the dogs. Look out for the evildoers. Look out for those who mutilate the flesh.

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For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Messiah Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh.

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Though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh,

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I have more. Circumcised on the eighth day of the people... Sorry, small words here.

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Of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews, as to the law, a

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Pharisee, as to zeal, a persecutor of the church, as to the righteousness under the law, blameless.

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But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing

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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

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Christ and be found in him, 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 know that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible,

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I may attain the resurrection from the dead. As far as the reading of God's holy and inspired word, let's pray.

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Father, please bless the words today. I pray that you'd use them by your spirit to renew our minds, to challenge us, to encourage us, to bless us.

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Lord, I pray that you would bless by your spirit the teaching today. Let it not be the words of a mere man, but Lord, I pray that you would empower the teaching today by your spirit, that you would teach, you would guide, and that Lord, people would forget me and remember you, and that the truth that goes out today would be like an anchor for our souls, and that we would pass that on to others.

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In Jesus' name, amen. So again, Philippians chapter 3, I argued at the beginning here, this is the core, this is the heart.

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This, if you want to know what is the summary, the substance, the essence of the Christian faith,

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I think it's right here. Philippians chapter 3, it says, driving everything. If you want to know what causes authentic joy, this is it.

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Because what's the fundamental problem, we're going to get to this later in the sermon too, in terms of our nature, our condition as fallen people, that goes for all people, every person ever born, every son and daughter of Adam.

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We think about our condition, we are fallen, we are by nature children of wrath. The picture the

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Bible paints of fallen humanity is not a portrait that is something like we are just simply dirty or kind of sick.

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We are dead spiritually, alienated, separated from God. We are rotting, stinking corpses, children of wrath.

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The way the Bible describes it is our condition is completely and entirely broken. And so what's the problem for all of us is the problem of separation from God.

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We are alienated from our creator. Now we have it in our catechism.

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It's our very first one. What is man's primary purpose? Or the old way of saying it is, what is man's chief end?

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And the answer, and I think it's very biblical answer, you see it really throughout the Bible, is what?

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There you go. To glorify God and to enjoy him forever. God creates everything to bring glory. We don't like that, right?

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We like man -made gods that look like us. We don't like a God that makes things to glorify himself. I'm going to say something very strong right now.

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It's biblical, it could be backed up. It's not what the sermon's about today, but I will say this right now. The situation we're facing as a nation right now, coronavirus, this disease and this sickness, this virus, this difficulty, is happening to glorify

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God. That's not something that's coming across the pulpits of many modern evangelical churches, right?

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It's happening, like people say, like, well, this is happening and God, you know, he'd like to do something about it, but he can't because there's this free will situation.

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And, you know, he's really, his hands are tied in a way, you know, but that's true. The way the Bible describes

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God is everything is moving towards the glorification of the creator.

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Everything. When people are judged by God and sent to an eternal hell, that is to glorify

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God in his justice. When God chooses the people in Jesus Christ solely by his grace and because of his love, and he adopts those people into his family, and he purchases them for himself and raises them from spiritual death to spiritual life, when

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God saves people, that's to glorify himself. Everything that is happening around us in the world is to glorify

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God. The newborn baby crying to the giraffe, on the way here today, it was amazing, it was amazing, on the way here today, driving up the

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I -17, and probably for about 15 -20 minutes of the drive, I'm behind this truck pulling a trailer with llamas in it.

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You know, it's not something you see every day, right? Just llamas right in front of you, the whole way, these llamas. And it's just such an amazing creature, so great, it's amazing,

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God is awesome. You see these llamas driving 75 miles per hour down the back of the road, just looking around like, what's up?

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And it was glorifying God. Even the llamas, everything, the stars, butterflies, flowers, everything is to the glory of God.

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But our purpose is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever. That's why you're made, that's your purpose.

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Everyone's lives feel like they are a mess and they are broken, ultimately, because there is a disorder in our glorification of God and our delighting in God.

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That's the purpose. But the problem is, our relationship with our creator is completely broken, and you cannot salvage it through your own obedience, through your own works of righteousness, through your own efforts.

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There is no way that you can heal the relationship with a holy and just judge through your pandering to him through your own filthy rags.

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You can't do it. You can't restore your relationship with this creator, this holy God, this perfect judge, because you're the criminal in his universe.

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So what's going to solve it? What's actually going to solve that problem, which is the ultimate problem that every single human being has to face, rich or poor, strong or weak, you have to face your creator.

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How will you be reconciled to God? All man -made religion goes the path of ultimately trying to clean the soul, trying to make myself look better, pull myself up and start changing my ways, try to fix the situation, try to start now being obedience.

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Can you imagine that? Can you imagine for a moment now the criminal in the courts, right? The criminal goes before the judge.

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The criminal is guilty. He confesses. So it's obvious. There's evidence. It's honest.

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Yes, I did it. And the criminal goes before the judge and says, yes, your honor, I'm guilty of the murder.

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I'm guilty of the robbing. I'm guilty of all of it. But you have to know this, your honor, over the course of the past six months,

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I've been doing much better. I'm helping old ladies across the street.

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I'm going to the soup kitchen and I'm feeding the homeless. I'm trying to be a nicer, kinder person.

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And the judge, if he's a good judge, has to ultimately say, well, good for you, but that doesn't solve the problem of justice.

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My job is to be just. And God is the judge of all the earth, and he will always do right.

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He is just and his justice is perfect. You cannot stand under that justice or before that justice and fix the situation through your own righteousnesses.

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You have to have a righteousness that is perfect before a perfect judge.

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In order for a judge to declare you just or righteous, there has to be righteousness.

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And where is that going to be found? And we see it right here in Philippians chapter three. This is it. I want to argue that this is one of the things you die for.

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It was interesting coming in this week. God blessed us. Pastor James has a relationship with the pastors and brothers at this church.

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And it was, it was actually really, I think a powerful display of just what I'm getting at right here in this next moment here in terms of what the essentials are.

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When we were trying to find a location for worship and to get together, one of the things the pastor said, well,

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OK, here's our statement of faith. You guys agree with that? And it was easy to look at and you had all the essentials there, the deity of Christ, the

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Trinity, justification, sovereignty of God, all that was there, right? Christ is returning resurrection from the dead.

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And there's there's the core issues that we recognize. These are the essentials. These are the things that define the

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Christian faith. These are the things that we actually can divide over. And it was easy to say to those things.

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Absolutely. We affirm the statement of faith because we're Christians who believe the word of God. Now, there are things as Christians we can disagree with.

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Absolutely. There are things that are adi offer. They're the side issues that you have to give each other grace on.

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You have to maintain unity over. And there are differences, differences in terms of mode of baptism.

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You've got immersion. You've got sprinkling. Immersion is right. Sprinkling is wrong. OK, you've got baptizing babies, baptizing people who confess one is right.

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One is wrong. OK, but but you'll notice even an apology of church.

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Pastor James is going to have a debate. It was recently canceled because of this situation before us with Corona virus.

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I was very much looking forward to that debate with Pastor Wilson, who's a

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Presbyterian over the issue of pedo baptism versus pedo commute pedo versus credo baptism or pedo.

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And there's even the issue of pedo communion, all these things. But here's here's what I see. That's a brother in Christ debating with a brother in Christ over very important issues.

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They are very important, but they are not things that we have to divide the body of Christ apart over.

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We can debate them vigorously together and we can be very serious about them. But we recognize there are essentials and there are things that are very important issues we need to debate together.

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And then there are issues that honestly, brothers and sisters, the answer is in terms of unity. I like it this way or that way.

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Ultimately, the way to solve it is to shut up. Right.

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Honestly, the things that blow us apart oftentimes as believers are things that you really you should shut up. That's the way to solve it.

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How do you maintain unity? How do you get through this? Shut up. OK, don't don't make that something that divides your fellowship and your unity as a body.

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There are things you should just shut up about. OK, we have that between them and the Lord and you have it between you and the

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Lord and you do what you do to the glory of God. If it's not clearly defined in Scripture as a biblical principle or standard or if it's not clearly defined as sin, then shut up.

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Don't be. Don't break your unity. Don't break your fellowship up. However, this.

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Die, be burned at the stake, have your head cut off, go to go to prison in chains.

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You understand that what we're going to talk about when we do the next two weeks over this, the righteousness of Christ imputed to us, what

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Paul was clinging to, what Pastor James is going to talk about when he talks about the God who justifies justification through faith alone in Christ alone, apart from works alone.

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You know that brothers and sisters have their bodies scattered around the world in the dirt, died gruesome deaths over these doctrines.

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Why? Because they're the essence. They are what divides or separates the

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Christian faith from every other world religion, all man -made religion. What Paul is describing here is unique to the

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Christian faith, to the biblical story of redemption. And so we have to know that these are one of those doctrines that we need to die, be willing to give up our lives for fighting for these truths.

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These are the things we must pass on to our children and to the next generation of believers. The apostle

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Paul does it. I'm going to show you right here. He says in verse two, he says, look out for the dogs.

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Look out for the evil doers. Look out for those who mutilate the flesh.

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Isn't that interesting? We read the Bible. I'm gonna go to the Bible for inspiration. Read the first three verses of Philippians for inspiration, right?

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The apostle Paul, look out for the dogs, the evil doers, those who mutilate the flesh.

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Paul's using a serrated edge here. Now here's the key thing about the serrated edge. It is useful and it's necessary when it comes to core essential things that will damage people's souls forever.

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And you'll see that in the life and ministry of Jesus. Just read Matthew chapter 23 before 24, before the description of the destruction of Jerusalem and the great tribulation,

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Jesus goes all in, all in on the Jewish leaders of his day.

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And he talks about them being whitewashed tombs. Death. Death is behind that tomb.

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We don't think about it that way. Whitewashed tombs. Death smells so horrible.

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Recently, it's a sad story. We had a situation in my home where we bought my son,

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Stellar, a Doberman Pinscher. He always wanted a Doberman Pinscher, a black and tan Doberman Pinscher.

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And so we bought this puppy for him. And then he went to get, because of the adoption we're doing for Augustine, he had to get all these vaccines.

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And we went and did all the vaccines for him. And then he started acting really lethargic after the vaccines. And a couple of days went by, he was like bouncing back.

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Then he would go down again. And then the last night that he was alive, I went into the kitchen and he was just barely able to move.

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I'm like lifting him up on his feet. And so I'm like, I got to take him to the vet immediately in the morning. And so I woke up early in the morning.

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I go down the hallway to check on him, to take him to the vet. And I see him laying down in the kitchen.

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And the first thing I recognize, of course, is that he's laying down in the kitchen. And I went to jump over the gate to go and grab him.

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And I was just going to just take him right to the vet. But I noticed immediately the smell, the smell of death.

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It's such a distinct, destructive, and horrible smell.

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I actually am one of those people that I don't throw up very easily. I can get super ill and not throw up.

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And I just don't have that problem. But it was an amazing experience walking in that kitchen and smelling that smell of death.

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It does something to your body. I had to run outside and I was in the dirt for a minute, just gagging because of the smell of death.

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He died. And the way Jesus actually describes religious leaders of his day who are leading people astray is he says, you are like white washed tombs.

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You look good on the outside, but inside there is death. There is the stench of death.

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You are like that. You are death inside, whitewashed on the outside, but you are filled with that death.

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Jesus uses the serrated edge when necessary, not always, but when necessary.

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And the apostle Paul does the same in this moment here. How serious is this situation? How serious is the doctrine of justification, union with Christ, the crediting of Christ's righteousness, the imputation of Christ's righteousness?

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How serious is it? Well, he's going for the jugular now. He says, beware of the dogs, the evildoers, and those who mutilate the flesh.

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Paul has choice words for people who would meddle with what

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God says about how a person is reconciled to him. It's not the first time that he's dealt with this controversy in the

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New Testament. It's not the first time you see it. It's throughout the New Testament, but you also see it in Galatians.

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I want you to go there to see the apostle Paul doing the same thing, using the serrated edge on this issue of circumcision.

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People who are trying to use the law in a way that it was not intended to be used, using it as a means of gaining righteousness or justification before God.

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He does it in Galatians, very short letter, and it starts in a very interesting way. Galatians 1, verse 1,

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Paul addressing, this is who's writing you, an apostle, not from men, not through man, but through Jesus Christ and God, the father who raised him from the dead and all the brothers who are with me to the churches of Galatia, grace to you and peace from God, our father, and the

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Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our

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God and father, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

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Oh, that's nice, right? You come, you're first century, right? Part of that, that, that first generation of believers, right?

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You come to gather together in the Lord's day, other believers. They're like, Hey guys, we've got a letter from Paul. Everyone's like,

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Oh, goody. Another letter from Paul. Yes. This is wonderful. I love hearing from Paul. Paul's my hero, right?

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And you're in church. Now everyone's gathered together. They're all together. Let's all sit down and just wait to hear what's said from Paul.

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Like, Oh, this sounds so lovely. Grace and peace. He's just such a lovely man. Isn't he great? Paul's great. And then he says,

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I'm astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel.

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Not that there's another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.

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But even if we, including himself in this condemnation or an angel from heaven should preach to you, a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed.

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The word behind that is anathema. It's the word is a way to describe being cursed or separated, condemned by God forever, as we've said before.

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So now I say again, if anyone is preaching to you, a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed, strong words, guarding and protecting the gospel of God, guarding and protecting the essential truth of the gospel.

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How is a person reconciled to God? How are you going to be declared righteous in God's court?

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Because brothers and sisters, that's the ultimate, that's what matters most. We're all going to die.

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Maybe on the way home in a car accident, maybe from a disease, maybe from coronavirus, you're going to die.

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And everyone's thinking about that. By the way, when I said recently that death has the ability to focus the mind,

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I stole that from my teacher. That's Pastor James. Someone started attributing that to me online, like Jeff Durbin.

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I was like, no, that's him, but I'll take it. And by the way, there's an apologetics tournament that may put

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Dr. White and I head to head, right? And now that I have the floor, you know who to vote for. But death has the ability to focus the mind.

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And if you want to know what the ultimate thing is, this is it. How are you going to have peace with God? And for Paul, what he says here, you pervert the gospel of Christ, anathema on you.

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And he even says this, if I come back or an angel comes from heaven and preaches any other gospel, anathema on them, anathema on me.

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That's how serious this issue is. And as you read Galatians, do it. It's so short. What's the issue?

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Oh, big deal. People say, what's the big deal, Paul? Chill out. Is this heavy handed,

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Paul? I mean, think about it. I mean, are you just, are you not thinking clearly? I mean, don't we need Christian unity here?

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I mean, what's the big deal? It's just a group of people that say circumcised, like you just got to keep that aspect of the law.

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What's the big deal? Just keep the circumcision. I mean, we've got like Jewish people and Gentile people together.

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We've got to try to find a way to work this out together and have peace at our tables and all the rest. I mean, can't we at least say, just keep the circumcision, just keep that.

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You got to do that. Well, Paul has words. He has words for Peter and he announces it here that Peter was not walking straight with the gospel in accordance with the gospel.

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And he actually confronts Peter for not his teaching. Not that Peter was teaching a different gospel, but just that his behavior and how he behaved when people came from Jerusalem, how he's separating himself from over here and this.

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And he's like, look, you're creating two churches here. And he confronts

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Peter even for the behavior of that kind of separation and distinction. And he goes through here and read it in verse chapter two, verse 15.

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We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners. Yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law, but through faith in Jesus Christ.

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So we also have believed in Christ Jesus in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law, no one will be justified.

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No one will be justified. And he has words for those. And I want you to see it. And we talked about the serrated edge here.

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He's calling people dogs and evildoers. This isn't a first or only time for Paul in chapter five.

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Listen closely. I'm going to read these texts. I want you to know them, not assume you do. I want you to know these texts, not simply proof texting, but get into the text, know the discussion, know the background, know the history, know the whole story of redemption from the beginning to the end.

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In chapter five, look what the apostle Paul says. It is devastating. And I want to know where are the men of God that talk like this today?

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Am I one? I hope so. Verse one, chapter five for freedom.

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Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

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What's he calling it? These people don't want to go over here and just do the circumcision. Big deal. What's the big deal? Just keep the circumcision.

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Let's keep some unity. Just got to be circumcised. Just do that part of the law. Just the one thing he calls it, what slavery, slavery.

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You're not going to be justified by that. It's not the purpose of the law. You do that. And it's a yoke of slavery.

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You want to be enslaved? Go ahead. And he says, look, I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision,

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Christ will be of no advantage to you. Other translations, no benefits to you.

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I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision, that he is obligated to keep the whole law.

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There's a lot of men in here right now going, it wasn't my choice. Okay, relax. Relax.

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This is a particular religious commitment being made here and being asked of them. So it's essentially sort of slipping right into that slavery.

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And he says, Christ is no benefit to you. You do it. Christ is no benefit to you.

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I testify again, verse three, to every man who accepts circumcision, that he is obligated to keep the whole law, not just one piece.

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The law is a package. It's a whole thing. If you want righteousness from the law, and we're going to show this in just a moment here, the

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Bible teaches very plainly. This whole thing is a unit. James says it in James chapter two, the very text people try to use to teach that you're justified, not by faith alone, but through your obedience as well.

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It even says in James chapter two, verse 10, whosoever shall keep the whole law and yet stumble in one point, he's guilty of all of it.

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And what Paul says, you're consistently with James. He says, you keep the whole law.

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You take that you accept circumcision. You're obligated to keep the entire thing, the whole law.

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You are severed from Christ. You who would be justified by the law, you have fallen away from grace.

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He's saying to people who are saying circumcision, just keep that part of the law. He says, keep the whole thing.

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And now you are severed from Christ. You who would be justified by the law, you've fallen away from grace.

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That's the issue. You choose a righteousness that is not in Christ through faith.

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If you're choosing the law itself, then you've chosen law rather than grace.

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Isn't it amazing? Isn't that amazing? It's a powerful thing for through the spirit by faith.

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We ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness for in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.

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Watch this. Here's a serrated edge. You were running well. Who hinders you from obeying the truth? This persuasion is not from him who calls you a little 11 leavens the whole lump.

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I have confidence in the Lord that you will take no other view. And the one who is troubling you will bear the penalty, whoever he is.

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But if I brother still preach circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case, the offense of the cross has been removed.

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I wish those who unsettle you would emasculate themselves. I love how pastor

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James does this. And the God who justifies, if I can remember it correctly, essentially, I think you worded somehow, essentially these people that like to play with knives.

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I hope they go all the way. Yeah, he said it. It's in the Bible. You want to circumcise?

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I hope you cut yourself off. Go all the way hard words.

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Why? Because people's souls are at stake. It matters. It matters when people's souls are at stake.

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And so when the apostle Paul is addressing essentially the same issue, same essential audience, same problem, he says, dogs, evil doers, those who mutilate the flesh.

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This is the heart of it all. If we don't know this, what do we know about peace with God?

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What do we know about Christ? What do we know about salvation? What do we know about eternal life? This is how

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God does it. He says in verse three, for we are the circumcision who worship by the spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh.

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There's a lot there. We're, we're the circumcision. We are the circumcision who worship by the spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh.

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These people are putting confidence in the flesh. They're putting confidence in their own righteousness and what they can produce and what they can accomplish, what they can do.

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He says, but we're the true circumcision. It's an interesting thing because what does that mean to us today?

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Well, I mean, we, the only conversation happening a lot today about circumcision is people saying, you know, why are we still doing it?

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Are we damaging children? You'll see all that conversation going on across the internet with crunchy moms. I'm not making any statements here.

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I'm just teasing about it. But like, that's the conversation. Like what exactly does circumcision's value today?

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So that's where you'll hear the conversation about circumcision, but you have to understand in this context where this argument is being made, this is a very big deal.

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Circumcision to the Jews from the old covenant identified the people of God, right?

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It's a big deal to be circumcised. You're talking about an outward sign that displays that you are part of God's covenant people.

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It was supposed to be an outward sign that displayed an inward reality, but it was an outward sign that showed to the world that you were part of God's covenant people.

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It's a big deal. And now you have Paul saying, we're the circumcision. He says who worshiped by the spirit of God and glory and Messiah Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh.

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That's a bold statements. It's a bold statement to be saying in that day that we're the true circumcision.

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So where else does Paul describe this? I want to get his theology about this. I want to know what Paul believed about this.

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And I think in order to do that, one of the great examples of this kind of discussion in Paul is in his systematic explanation of the gospel, which is in Romans.

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So if we want to get more from Paul on this, that we're the true circumcision, what's that mean?

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How does he apply that? Go to Romans chapter two, Romans chapter two. Now, if you know

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Romans, you'll know that in chapter one, he gives the indictment upon mankind. Everyone knows the true

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God. They worship and serve the creature rather than the creator. They suppress the truth and in righteousness.

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And then it says right to the Jew chapter two, verse one of Romans.

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Therefore you have no excuse. Oh man, every one of you, a judges for in passing judgment on another, you can tell him yourself because you, the judge practice the very same things, right?

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Can you, can you hear it? You're hearing Paul devastates the quote Gentiles or the unbelieving world, right?

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They're all idolaters. They're worshiping false gods. They worship and serve the creature rather than the creator's present truth.

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And every, every Jew is going good job. Rabbi Paul, great job. Great description of those

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Gentiles disturbing, right? So gross. And now Paul goes, um, you, you're all in this.

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Now he goes after them and he says, we know verse two, that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who practice such things.

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Do you suppose, oh man, you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself, that you'll escape the judgment of God?

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Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance, but because of your hard and impenitent heart, you're storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when

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God's righteous judgment will be revealed. He will render to each one according to his works. Did you catch that?

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Remember the beginning of this, I talked about God as a perfect judge. We're criminals in his courts. His law is perfect.

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He will always do right. And so Paul is now addressing that person that thinks that violating

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God's law or being a hypocrite is really no big deal. He's saying, you're storing up wrath for yourself. God's a just judge.

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In verse six, he says, he will render to each one according to his works, to those who by patience and well -doing seek for glory and honor and immortality.

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He will give eternal life. But for those who are self -seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury.

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There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the

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Greek, but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good. The Jew first and also the

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Greek for God shows no partiality for all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law.

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And all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law for it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified.

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You hear that conversation, how important that is. If that's, if that's your standard, right?

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He's talking to people who think that they've got the law and that's why they're right. Because they're obedient Jews. They've got the law of God.

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They've got the Torah. They've got the Tanakh. They have all this together, this special relationship with God. And what's he saying? He says, it's the doers of the law, but they don't do it.

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Not just the hearers of the law for when Gentiles, he says, do who do not have the law by nature, do what the law requires.

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They are a law to themselves. And even though they do not have the law, they show that the work of the law is written in their hearts while their conscience also bears witness and their conflicting thoughts accused or even excuse them on that day.

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When, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus. But if you call yourself a

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Jew and rely on the law and boast in God and know his will and approve what is excellent because you are instructed from the law.

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And if you are sure that you or yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of children, having in the law, the embodiment of knowledge and truth, you then who teach others, do you not teach yourself?

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While you preach against stealing, do you steal? You who say that one must not commit adultery, do you commit adultery?

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You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? You who boast in the law dishonor

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God by breaking the law for it is written, the name of God is blasphemed among the

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Gentiles because of you. Now he's going after the person who thinks they can establish their own righteousness, their own right relationship before God by their obedience to the law.

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And now he just cuts the whole thing apart and cuts it down. He says what to him? He says, you're telling people don't commit adultery, but you do, right?

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You say, don't lie, but you lie. Don't steal, but you steal. Paul's point here is that you are not right before God.

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You are not his people simply because you are in the mere possession of his law. How are you

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God's people? Here's what he says. Here's the conversation. This is what I wanted to get to. Verse 25, for circumcision indeed is a value if you obey the law, but if you break the law, your circumcision becomes uncircumcision, kind of a weird thought.

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So if a man who is uncircumcised keeps the precepts of the law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision?

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Then he who is physically uncircumcised, but keeps the law will condemn you who have the written code and circumcision, but break the law for no one is a

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Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical, but a

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Jew is one inwardly and circumcision is a matter of the heart by the spirit, not by the letter.

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His praise is not from God, sorry, from man, but from God. It's a powerful thought.

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That's Paul's theology on being a Jew. There's a whole lot of people today that really need to meditate on that one, right?

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In terms of the people of God, who's truly a Jew, circumcision, a matter of the heart and not merely an external thing.

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But that's Paul's discussion. Again, that's his theology. That's what he believes about this subject of circumcision.

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Believers, those who are in Christ, worship by the spirit of God and glory in Messiah Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh.

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We're the true circumcision. Circumcision is a matter of the heart. It's an inward thing by the spirit of God, not merely external.

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And so verses four now through eight, though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also, if anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh,

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I have more. Circumcised on the eighth day, very big deal, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a

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Hebrew of Hebrews, as to the law, a Pharisee, as to zeal, a persecutor of the church, as to the righteousness under the law, blameless, blameless.

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But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing

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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

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Christ and be found in him, 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.

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There's some strong words happening in Philippians chapter three here, some strong words. You've got dogs, you've got evildoers, those who mutilate the flesh, and then you've got that famous word.

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It's on your, by the way, your bulletins. You see your bulletins? Do you see your bulletins?

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Isn't that amazing? I put it in Greek because putting it in English should probably be offensive. Right from the text, skubala.

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See, I can say that right now, and no one's even wincing. It's great, okay? It's a really dirty word. All things skubala.

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It's amazing because most people that read that came in here like, oh, that's interesting. It's Greek. I have no idea.

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He had no idea I put a dirty word there on the front cover of a bulletin. Welcome to Apologia Church.

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What's the service about? Oh, skubala, that's nice. The word here that he's using about counting all these things as loss and this word in the

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ESV, rubbish, the word there actually refers to dung, refuse.

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It's a very, very, in some context, scandalous kind of word.

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It's a word that describes what you're thinking about, crap, right?

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It's a foul word. And the apostle Paul is now using the serrated edge saying, dogs, evildoers.

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And he's like, I count all these things as loss, all of it, loss. And he says, rubbish, count them as rubbish, dung.

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But it's interesting, his confidence here, because he'll play the game. This is what he's doing here.

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By the way, the apostle Paul is playing the game for this moment. You realize it's rather tongue in cheek because he already says that nobody is righteous before God.

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Nobody does good. Nobody obeys the law perfectly. So when he says here as to the righteousness under the law, blameless, that's rather tongue in cheek for him.

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He's like, I'll play the game with you. These guys who are coming in here to trouble you, those who mutilate the flesh, the dogs, the evildoers, people who are perverting the gospel of Christ, those who are anathema under God's curse, those who should just go all the way and cut themselves off.

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I'll play the game. You want to know about my pedigree? You want to know my background? Okay.

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Circumcised the eighth day of the tribe of Benjamin as to the of Pharisee. That's like the elite status, elite status trained under Gamaliel.

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He has street credit. And I was like, look, you want to know who's got the street credit here?

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I'll give it to you. This is who I am, but I'm not appealing to any of that. All of that, all of that rubbish, all of it, refuse, all of it loss.

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I don't want any of it, any of that obedience, any of that fleshly obedience.

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I want none of it. We talk about how the Bible talks about our righteousness is outside of Jesus Christ has fallen people as dead people.

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All of our righteousness is, are as filthy rags. Even that we sanitize.

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The Bible uses some pretty graphic language at times to describe sin, our response to God, our righteousness is

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God calls his people who are supposed to be his bride in the old Testament. He calls them a whore.

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And when the Bible describes moments like this, where we're attempting to somehow get right with God through our own good deeds, our own righteousness, righteousness is the

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Bible uses some pretty graphic language. What, what, what is all of this that you're producing?

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All of this pedigree of the tribe of Benjamin circumcised the eighth day, working so hard as a

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Pharisee. This is the elite school of obedience. They've got all of these laws and laws of purity and way this ways that they look obedient and they look externally like they got it all together.

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And he says, look, I'm blameless. And what do I see? I see refuse dung.

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It's a mess. I don't want any of it. Paul says, I want the righteousness. That's not my own.

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The one that comes from God through faith, dependent on faith.

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And in order to see this, I think we have to see this confidence in the light of what the apostle

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Paul has already taught us about the condition of mankind, all of us before God.

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And if you really want to know the thing that has to be pressed onto people to know

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Jesus, it's their condition, right? I mean, we sell Jesus so well today.

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Don't we as evangelicals, we sell Jesus. I mean, it is, it's like a sales pitch, right?

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Do you want to like go to heaven, bro? Like, do you just want to like experience like bliss and eternity?

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I saw a guy once preaching. I'll never forget it. I was in Starbucks once and I saw this guy preaching the gospel that he thought to somebody.

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And it was like, Hey bro, like God just loves you, bro. He just so loves you. And he wants to wrap his arms around you, bro.

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And his eyes were closed while he was doing it. I'm not making that up. He was like, he just wants to love you. And he wants to hug on you and just kiss on you, bro.

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God just loves you, bro. He just wants to take you with him to celebrate with him in heaven forever, bro.

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And I was sitting there and he's like, not that you there's this, this description of the

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Christian faith that is not going the way that the apostle Paul starts the story. Read Romans.

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He doesn't start like that. He talks about, he talks about wrath, judgment, your sin, your brokenness, your devastated.

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You need to leave the person you're talking to in the same position you were when you first believed in Christ.

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How did you come to Jesus? Because you heard about how great you were and how much God just wanted a pal and a partner, right?

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You're just so wonderful and so magnificent. He just, he's just missing out on you. No, the

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Bible does something entirely different. No, this is your position before God. All this refuse, dung, all this doesn't matter.

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All of this will not make you right with God. Where are you at? You are lost, broken, foul, dead in God's sight, not good, not righteous.

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And in that place, you will have to answer to a holy God for your life.

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All of us will. And the question really that Paul is addressing here is this. Do you want to stand before a holy and just judge, which you will stand before?

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It is inevitable. It is a certainty that everybody will. Do you want to stand before him with a righteousness of your own derived from the law or the righteousness that comes from God through faith?

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It's a foreign righteousness. It is a perfect righteousness accomplished by the God, man,

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Jesus Christ. Which one do you want? Do you want to stand before God and be laid bare in your life with all of your thoughts?

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How about just your thoughts in the last two days? How about that? How about just all of your warring thoughts, the last two days, all of your anxieties, all of your unbelief, all of your lusts, all of your hatred?

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What? Just think about the last two days of your thought life that will be on display before a holy

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God. Do you want to stand before God with the last two days of your thought life or what you've done in your life?

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Or do you want to stand before God hiding in Jesus Christ and his righteousness? You see, that's what the apostle

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Paul is aiming at in his theology. His soteriology is clear.

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In Romans, again, right after chapter two, need to see it to understand it, the full description.

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It's in chapter three after he now devastates the world and in particular the

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Jew who boasts because they are in mere possession of the law that somehow that's going to make them right before God.

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The apostle Paul has that famous section where he pulls together all these verses from the Old Testament.

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And here is what he says about our condition in Romans chapter three, verse nine. What then?

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Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. If we've already charged that all both Jews and Greeks are under sin.

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So there you go. Why does Paul make a big issue over Philippians three, over the righteousness that comes from God through faith?

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Why is he talking about not boasting in the flesh? Why is he talking about this foreign righteousness?

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Because of what he says right here, this is at the heart of it. This is the condition of everybody, Jew and Gentile, meaning all of us.

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He says, we're all under sin as it is written. None is righteous.

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No, not one. No one understands. No one seeks for God. Got to embrace that.

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No one seeks for God. All have turned aside together. They've become worthless.

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No one does good. Not even one. The throat is an open grave. They use their tongues to deceive.

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The venom of asps is under their lips. Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood.

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In their paths are ruin and misery and the way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes.

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So you got to stop there for a second because it's so tempting. It's so tempting as human beings to read

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Romans chapter three and to try to be thinking about the people that you know that are like that. Right?

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You read Romans three and you don't really feel like this is a description of you. And so you're thinking about,

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I think I know someone like that. I just saw their music video. Right? Or I know somebody like that, that I work with, or I know somebody like that in my family.

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Like you're thinking about who is this person? Yeah, that's, that's a basic description of the world out there, but you're not going to understand your need for a foreign righteousness and for the peace that only comes through Jesus Christ until you understand that Romans chapter three is a description of you and me.

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That's it. Nobody escapes it. Nobody. And isn't it interesting too, because you look at like Romans three, even as Christians, you'll look at Romans three and it's just one of those things that you'll see the text.

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It's on the page. You've read it a thousand times. You can probably quote it, but we never really think about the implications of what's being said.

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For example, none is righteous. No, not one, not your pastor, not your

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Christian hero, not your favorite Christian in history, not Paul, not

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Peter, not James, not John, nobody, not Moses, not David, not

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Abraham, nobody, nobody is righteous. Not even one, no one.

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Now here's the thing. Watch. If nobody is righteous, no, not one. Then how does anybody stand before God as righteous?

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Answer Philippians three, a righteousness that comes from God through faith in Jesus, because nobody is righteous.

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Do you get it? There's the whole doctrine of, uh, justification through faith in Christ alone, right there in one verse.

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If nobody is righteous, no, not one. Then how does anybody stand before God as righteous?

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And here is another one. No one understands. No one seeks for God. No one seeks for God. Well, I think like reformed theology and Calvinism is pretty much set in stone right now, right?

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No one seeks for God. It's amazing because as evangelicals, we'll see a text like that and we'll say, yeah, well,

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I know it says no one seeks for God, but some people kind of do, right? We'll say, no,

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I know people are sinners and they're depraved and they're fallen and they're corrupted and all the rest, but they still have the capacity to sort of like, you know, like seek after God and, and, and want

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God. And no, that's not the story of humanity. That's, that's, that's not the true, um, uh, description of our condition before God.

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No one seeks for God. So it's all of grace because right now, watch this in this room, are there people in this room who are seeking

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God? Yes. So if no one seeks for God, then how did you get to the place where you are seeking

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God? How he was seeking for you. He was pursuing you.

01:00:01

He chose you. He pursued you. Salvation from beginning to end is all of grace, all of grace, from the choice to save you to what

01:00:11

Christ accomplished to God, opening your eyes to the truth, to God, giving you the new life that you have.

01:00:17

God causing you to repent and believe God's sustaining you to the end. All of it is all grace through and through.

01:00:24

No one seeks for God. There's no one who does good. So when Paul is talking about his confidence, we have to see that his understanding of the fallen condition of mankind is such that all of those things mean nothing.

01:00:42

And that's why he says, look, I'll play the game with you. You want to know confidence in the flesh. Great. I'll show you circumcised the eighth day of the tribe of Benjamin as to the law of Pharisee.

01:00:53

You want to know how zealous I am for God. I persecuted the church. Like I'm on my, I'm on my way to go hunt down Christians.

01:01:00

You want to know how zealous I am for the Jewish religion. I was pursuing the church, tried to destroy it.

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Paul says in Galatians, try to destroy it. And what's he say? You have to have a different righteousness.

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Is it one that comes from God through faith? It's a different righteousness. I want to end today's message.

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Just talking about the condition more, because next week I want to talk about all the texts that talk about a righteousness that is not our own.

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It's the righteousness that comes from God. It's Christ's righteousness credited to us. That's next week, part two, but I want to end this.

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It seems like kind of a sour note, but in order for us to understand the glory of the imputed righteousness of Christ, this foreign righteousness that we stand in, we have to understand more about the nature of our condition.

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And so I wanted to go through some of the texts in scripture that talk about our condition.

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So just hang with me, let's go through these so that next week's message on the righteousness of Christ and what God has accomplished in the work of Christ and what we receive through faith is so much more meaningful.

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Here it is, Ecclesiastes 729, see this alone I found that God made men upright, but they have sought out many schemes.

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Romans 5, 7 through 8, for one will scarcely die for a righteous person, though perhaps for a good person one would even dare to die.

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But God chose his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

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Romans 5, 12 and 19, sin came into the world through one man and death through sin.

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And so death spread to all men because all sinned. By the one man's disobedience, the many were made sinners.

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Everybody though? Everybody? Any exceptions to that?

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Psalm 143, 2, enter not into judgment with your servant for no one living is righteous before you.

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Romans 11, 32, for God has consigned all to disobedience that he may have mercy on all. Romans 3, 23, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

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2 Chronicles 6, 36, there is no one who does not sin. Isaiah 53, 6, all we like sheep have gone astray.

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We have turned everyone to his own way. How about the question of our inmost being?

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Mark 7, 21 through 23, for from within out of the heart of man come evil thoughts, sexual morality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness, all these things come from within and they defile a person.

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Psalm 5, 9, for there is no truth in their mouth. Their inmost self is destruction.

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Their throat is an open grave. They flatter with their tongue. What about the heart?

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What about the mind? What does God say about that? Jeremiah 17, 9, the heart is deceitful of all things and desperately sick.

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Who can understand it? Titus 1, 15 through 16, to the defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure, but both their minds and their consciences are defiled.

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Ecclesiastes 9, 3, also the hearts of the children of man are full of evil and madness is in their hearts while they live.

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And after that they go to the dead. And that's wild. Isn't that amazing? What a text. Ecclesiastes, the hearts of children of man are full of evil and madness is in their hearts while they live.

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And after that they die. Description of humanity right there. Wow. Amazing.

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Romans 1, 28 through 31, and since they did not see to acknowledge, see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done.

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They were foolish. Ephesians 4, 17 through 18, you must no longer walk as the

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Gentiles do and the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the heart hardness of their hearts.

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John 8, 34 were enslaved. Jesus answered them. Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin.

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Who's that described? And it's amazing too, because we, we, we construct these fancy theologies and ways to try to work in our own traditions about our capabilities as fallen people.

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We try to rob God of his glory in our theology in so many ways, right?

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Like, no, no. Yeah. God has to enable you to begin with, to come to him because you're a sinner. So you need the grace.

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You need that like to start, right? But, but like you can cooperate with that or not.

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Like you're a sinner, yes, but you still have the ability to like cooperate or, you know, you're free in that sense.

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But what's Jesus say about our condition? He says, whoever commits sin is a slave to sin. Are slaves free?

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Whoever commits sin is a slave of sin to sin. So you hear that and it sounds so devastating.

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Whoever commits sin is a slave to sin. But Jesus says in the very same section, he says, if the sun sets you free, you'll be free indeed.

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So people are dead. They are wicked. They are not righteous. They are not good. They are enslaved according to Jesus.

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And so if you think about that non God seeking people who are by nature, children of wrath have to have some way to have peace with God.

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How is that possible? When this is our condition, we are corrupt from the deepest part of our being.

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And if we don't understand that, we don't understand the glory of the grace of God in Jesus Christ in the gospel.

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Again, I told you at the very beginning of this, that this is the heart of the Christian faith.

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It is listen, you lose this. You've lost the Christian message of hope.

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You have lost it. And these, listen, there are so many things that we can fight over. And, you know, as your brother and pastor,

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I often encourage you don't fight over things that don't matter ultimately. Right. But there are things that you need to fight over things that you must be willing to lay your head down on a block and have it chopped off over.

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And this is one of them, because if you lose the glory of God's grace in salvation through what

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Christ has accomplished, that is that comes from God through faith as a gift.

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If you lose that, you lose the hope of the gospel. And here it is. You lose, I believe, the source of authentic joy.

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How do you endure something like coronavirus with authentic joy? Well, I've argued you have to know

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God's character. That doesn't ever change. You have to know your identity in Jesus. And that's a firm, fixed foundation because of what

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Jesus accomplished is not through your efforts. It's not through your obedience and your performance. You got to know

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God's plan for the future, his promise that he causes all things to work together for good for those who to those who love him, those who are the called according to his purpose.

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But I think the thing you can constantly, constantly lean on as a source of true delight is this, my identities in Jesus Christ.

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It's not on my performance today as a believer, because man, if it's based on that, aren't we all in trouble?

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Aren't we? Right? If your peace with God and your joy was based upon your performance today as a mom, how are you doing?

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Your obedience. Or if your performance, if your performance as a single woman in Christ, if, if that was the source of your joy and your peace and your, your, your harmonious fellowship with your father in heaven, how you doing?

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But that's not it for the Christian faith. That's not it. We stand before a righteous and holy

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God declared righteous, not condemned because we are hiding in the righteousness of another

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Christ. It's his righteousness. And that's going to change.

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My performance is not a factor in terms of my right standing with God. It's Christ.

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And that's what Paul says. I'll play the game. You want to show confidence in the flesh? Here's the pedigree.

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Here's the resume, all of it. And he says this, I don't want any of it. I want none of it.

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I want the one that comes from God through faith. I want Christ's righteousness. And what we're going to discuss next week is how exactly does that look in God's court?

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How does God say to somebody who is not righteous? I declare you righteous because isn't that a perversion of justice?

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Listen, it's such a strange concept to the mind of fallen man.

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They just can't quite understand it. That when Joseph Smith jr was actually perverting the

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Bible with the Joseph Smith translation, when he got to Romans chapter four, he had to actually change the words in the text because it does not make sense that God would declare somebody who is wicked, righteous from a worldly perspective, a man -made religious philosophy.

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But what did he miss? The righteousness that we stand in as God's people as a righteousness that is actually

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Jesus Christ's righteousness. And on that basis, we are declared righteous in God's eyes.

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And that is a righteousness that is perfect. And it is a peace that is accomplished, that never ends.

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True shalom, true peace with God. So next week, we are going to talk about the rest of this text in the light of the righteousness of Jesus Christ that we have credited to us.

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And the fact that God does not count our sins against us. That is the source of authentic joy for the apostle

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Paul. Let's pray. Father, I pray that you'd bless the words that went out today, your words that went out today.

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Let them, Lord, be buried as treasure in our hearts so that we can draw from it later.

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I pray that you would heal our minds and our hearts. And this is something,

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Father, I know that I have struggled with in my past as a believer, forgetting about the grace that you've given and all the beautiful promises that you've made about salvation and righteousness and eternal life.

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And finding somehow daily, finding my peace with you, finding my right standing with you based upon my own performance or perfection of the day.

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And I pray that, Lord, as we uncover these amazing truths together,

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I pray that you would allow them to be healing truths to our minds and our hearts that would bring us to a place of rejoicing in all things, that this is a righteousness that we stand in.

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And it's, Lord Jesus, yours. And I do pray that that creates authentic joy in all of us.

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And it is something that we can't stop talking about. To your glory, in Jesus' name, amen.