"In Christ Alone"

Christ Alone as the Ground of Salvation

A truth that you have shown us in more than one way in your scriptures and I pray that it would be a great sanctifying force in our lives today this truth that you have for us. I pray that you would safeguard us and that you would draw us ever closer to you through this thought that our salvation is in Christ alone.

I pray that you would be with us in a special way as we share a meal together in remembrance of Christ and his broken body and his shed blood for us for our sake. I ask that you would illumine the text to us by your Holy Spirit.

She would fill us and lead us to repentance and to faith as we respond. I pray these things for Christ's sake. Amen. I invite you to turn with me to Philippians 3. Philippians chapter 3 and verses 1 through 11.

Philippians 3 verses 1 through 11. We're coming now to our fourth phrase in our 500 year old protest. According to the scripture alone, salvation we know to be by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, to the glory of God alone.

Writing this sermon in Christ alone has been a good test for my faith. Is Christ enough? Is Christ sufficient? Is Christ the basis of my righteousness, the source of my joy, the fountain of my holiness, and the unflickering star of hope on my horizon?

Is it Christ alone? All the solas, all the alones, scripture alone, grace alone, faith alone, to the glory of God alone. All of them are alone precisely because of this in Christ alone. Here we confess the supremacy and the preeminence of Jesus Christ and we need to attend to the message today and receive it as a message from the Father through the Spirit about the Son.

I invite you to stand with me and receive the scripture, receive the word of the Lord from the Word of God, Philippians 3, 1 through 11. Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things again is no trouble to me and it is a safeguard to you.

Beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of the false circumcision. For we are the true circumcision who worship in the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh.

Although I myself might have confidence even in the flesh, if anyone else had a mind to put confidence in the flesh, I far more circumcised the eighth day of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews, as to the law, a Pharisee, as to zeal, a persecutor of the church, as to the righteousness which is in the law found blameless.

But whatever things were gained to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ and may be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being conformed to his death in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.

The Parable of the Vineyard Workers and the Last Will Be First

You may be seated. As I read through this passage repeatedly, I began to think of the story my children told me when they came home last week from Sunday school. It was the parable of the vineyard workers.

The vineyard owner hired some laborers at the beginning of the day and they worked all day long for this vineyard owner in the heat of the day. They labored and they sweat and they were very tired by the end.

Throughout the day, the worker noticed he needed more laborers and so he would go back to the marketplace and periodically he would hire more workers, even going out to the 11th hour, where we get the phrase, and finding some men who still yet had not been hired to do a day's labor and he hired them and brought them into the vineyard to work.

To the first ones, he had promised to pay them a denarius, a fair wage, a day's wage. To the others, he simply said, come work for me. At the end of the day, here come the laborers to receive their wages.

To those he had hired at the 11th hour, he gave them a full day's wage, a denarius. To those who had labored just a few hours, he gave them a full day's wage, a denarius. And the thought began to occur to those he had hired at the first, who had labored so long and in the heat of the day, the thought began to occur to them that they would receive more.

But he paid them exactly what he promised, a denarius, a day's wage. This infuriated, this infuriated these workers and they accused the vineyard owner and they said to him, you have made us equal to those who only worked an hour.

And he responded in Matthew 20 in verse 13, friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what is yours and go. But I wish to give this last man the same as to you. Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with what is my own?

Or is your eye envious because I am generous? And so Jesus closes his story about what the kingdom of heaven is like with this summing principle. So the many who are first will be last and the last will be first.

If you're looking for a religion based on performance, if you're looking for a salvation dependent on your labor, if you're looking for a God who is impressed by your merits, do not, do not, do not come to Christ.

His kingdom is incredibly different. His kingdom is about his worthiness and his grace and his purpose to save. It is for him to give and he is free to do so. It's not about us, it's about him. I think about those men who were angry that the vineyard owner would make these equal to them who had done so much more.

They were joyless, weren't they? They were joyless. They had no joy in what they had spent their day doing. No joy in the reward at the end of the day. And I wonder if like those first hires in Jesus' story, are we pursuing worthless ends of no value, of no eternal value?

I wonder if we're pursuing things that rob us of our joy in Christ. Think in view of our text, Philippians 3, 1 through 11, we are to rejoice in Christ for he alone saves. We are to rejoice in Christ for he alone saves.

Rejoicing in Christ as a Safeguard Against Fleshly Confidence

Verses 1 through 6, we see that rejoicing in Christ alone is a safeguard. Rejoicing in Christ alone is a safeguard. Our little Samuel Tobias charges about the house with intense curiosity and lightning fast hands.

He has the fastest hands of any 19-month-old I have ever encountered. I find it surprising how many fragile heirlooms he can snatch in a short amount of time. And once he has hold of them, it requires various wrestling moves to part him from them.

I have found it far more effective when he is out and about to fill his hands with a gasmet and a gizmo. It's a gadget and a gizmo so that he may run around hands full. He cannot grab anything else. As long as his hands are full with what I want him to have, he won't grab anything dangerous.

And as long as we rejoice in Christ, we will be safeguarded from grabbing hold of fleshly confidence. Notice in verse 1, Paul's final concerns. Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you is no trouble to me and it is a safeguard to you.

Paul writes, finally, and then continues on for another two chapters. This has been lampooned as perhaps a preacher, a novice preacher, who does not know how to land the plane. He just keeps circling and circling and even though he tries to wrap up, he takes an hour to do so.

That's not what's happening with Paul. That's not the image we should have in our minds. He is not a novice preacher. He is the Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ and he is inspired by the Holy Spirit. And when he says, finally, he's saying, as for the rest of what I want to write to you in this letter, I want to say something of the utmost importance.

What I want to say is this, rejoice in Christ. Rejoice in Christ. He's already been saying it. He will say it again, but he doesn't mind repeating himself. The terms joy and rejoice appear 16 times in this little letter and they're always in reference to the person and work of Jesus Christ.

But Paul has no compunctions about repeating himself. He believes it is a safeguard for the church. A safeguard for the church. It is a safeguard for the church to rejoice in Christ. It is a safeguard for the sheep to delight in the shepherd.

It is a safeguard for the bride to delight in the bridegroom. So Paul says, rejoice in Christ. Rejoice in him. This is a safeguard for them. What should they be guarded from? What is the danger? Notice verses 2 and 3, the danger of fleshly confidence.

Beware of the dogs. Beware of the evil workers. Beware of the false circumcision, for we are the true circumcision who worship in the spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no, no, no confidence in the flesh.

When you walk through a busy parking lot with your child, you hold their hand if they're small and you point out the various dangers to them to reinforce to them how important it is for them to hold your hand.

And Paul says, I want you to hold on to Christ. And let's look at the dangers. Let's look at what happens if you don't hold on to Christ, if you don't rejoice in Christ alone. Beware of the dogs, the evil workers, the false circumcision.

This triple layer recipe tells us Paul is concerned about Judaizers preaching a false gospel. He says they are of the false circumcision. He calls them mutilators in the Greek. Why does he call them mutilators?

Because Christ has come. Christ has fulfilled the sign of circumcision, according to Colossians 2 .11. And for these Judaizers to go to the Macedonians, to these Gentiles, to these born-again, alive Christians, righteous in Christ, complete in Christ, for them to go to these Christians and say to them, you're lacking something.

You need something else. You need to be circumcised like the Jews because Jesus is the Jewish Messiah. And Paul says for them to do that is evil, an evil deed, an evil work that turns them away from Christ alone to something else that they have to have.

And he says this isn't keeping the law, this isn't circumcision, this is mutilation. This is evil work done by dogs. The nomenclature usually reserved by the Jews to speak of Gentiles, the Gentile dogs, Paul turns around and uses of the Judaizers.

Why does he call them dogs? It's because he's concerned about the flock. And the wild dogs set the flock running back and forth trying to keep the legal demands that Christ has already fulfilled. They robbed the flock of their joy in Christ.

And he wants to safeguard them, so he repeats himself and says over and over again, rejoice in Christ, rejoice in Christ, rejoice in Christ. He says, no, listen, listen Philippians. Don't listen to what they're saying.

Listen to this, rejoice in Christ. In Christ we are the true circumcision. This has already taken place through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. By our union with Christ, our old man has been cut away and the new has been revealed in his resurrection.

True circumcision, the true circumcision are identified as those who worship in the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus, the text says. That's how you know if you're the true circumcision, meaning our worship is not wrought by manipulations of the flesh.

And our boasting and our confidence is not in our accomplishments. Indeed, you know you're of the true circumcision when you put no confidence in the flesh. On the other side, the false circumcision put all their confidence in the flesh, their obedience to the physical sign, and cut in their physical flesh.

But those who were in Christ, they have cut away the spiritual fleshliness, their selfism, so as to rejoice in Christ. And the Judaizers manifested their message in many different ways, but it all comes down to the dogs running the flock ragged.

You're not keeping the old covenant. There are these who jump at shadows and they seek to rob our joy in Christ, nipping at our heels, driving us toward dietary laws, holy days, feasts, and ceremonies.

There are those that Paul calls and cautions to the fatheads who howl about their special visions, their higher spirituality that transcends scripture, that transcends church, that transcends anything you poor folk have ever experienced.

There are those legalists who bark out orders and display their boxes full of two dozen mixed do-nots that say, unless you follow our rules and regulations, you're never going to be spiritual. And the dogs run the flock ragged.

And the shepherd says, come unto me, you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Let me ask you a question. When it comes to your salvation, do you rejoice in the trappings of your spirituality?

Do you rejoice in Christ or the regimens of your religion? Do you worship in the Spirit of God or do you worship in the efforts of your flesh? Do you glory in Christ or do you glory in your convictions?

Paul would break every confidence the Philippians have in the flesh. Notice his foolish credentials, verses four through six. Speaking of foolish confidence in the flesh, he says, although I myself might have confidence in the flesh, if anyone else had as a mind to put confidence in the flesh, I far more.

Circumcised the eighth day of the nation of Israel, the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews, has to the law a Pharisee, has to zeal a persecutor of the church, has to righteousness which is found in the law, blameless.

So in that resume, Paul demonstrates just how easy it is to trust in the flesh, to have confidence in the flesh. What he lists here must have seemed almost like an impossible ideal to the very Judaizers in Macedonia trying to convince the Philippians to adhere to the legal standards of the law for their salvation.

Paul was a very epitome of where they thought everyone should be. Look at his resume. Paul's former identity as Saul of Tarsus was the very model of their message. And I used to think that these verses were the resume.

But as you look at it, what Paul really exposes here in this catalog is a cascade of folly. Notice the nature of his boasting and how foolish it is. Circumcised the eighth day. Did Paul schedule that procedure?

Of the nation of Israel, tribe of Benjamin, Hebrew of Hebrews. Wasn't Paul wise to select for himself such a good lineage? But he can't take any credit for that, can he? You might say, well Paul certainly achieved a great deal in becoming a Pharisee.

Indeed he did. He achieved a great deal of iniquity by zealously persecuting Christ, the one with whom God is well-pleased. And indeed he did follow all the interpretations, all the regimens that the Pharisees gave concerning following the law to the degree that his own fellow Pharisees found him guiltless.

Hey, you're blameless Saul of Tarsus. You are perfect concerning the law. And he was absolutely condemned before God. What a resume. What a resume that so many would seek after to stand before God and the confidence in their own flesh.

And yet we see that these are foolish credentials. They don't really have any eternal value. And Paul is demonstrating to the Philippians, don't boast in your flesh. Rejoice in Christ. He doesn't mind saying it over and over again because it will safeguard them from going down the same path that he himself has already exhausted.

Christ as Our Salvation, Our Righteousness, and Our Resurrection

Secondly, we ought to rejoice in Christ alone because he is our salvation. We see that in verses 7 through 11. Notice first of all that we are to rejoice in Christ, not rubbish. Verses 7 and 8. Paul says, but whatever things were gained to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ.

More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ.

Everywhere you see the word loss in your English translations, behind it is the Greek word for damage. Damage. That kind of loss. Paul did not consider confidence in the flesh to be a neutral kind of thing or a some zero kind of thing, but that which was negative and costly and damaging to himself.

I count all these things to be damaging to me and an utter uselessness, a harm and a deficit when I compare them to Christ. When I look to Christ. He says of his resume, which was lengthy and well-respected, all of this was but condemnation to me.

It was damaging to me and I have counted it all as such for the sake of Christ. And more than that, he says in the present time that he counts all things to be loss. He'll take no praise with him into heaven.

He says, I am what I am by the grace of God and that's all that I am. If you want to pray, somebody praise Christ. So I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.

Of knowing him, to rejoice in him as Savior, to glory in him as a master of such worth that everything else is but rubbish. I count them but rubbish, a dung heap, that I may gain Christ. And do you see how he emphasizes it is Christ alone?

This is where we get the idea, one of the places in scripture we get the idea of Christ alone. When he says, I suffer the loss of all things for the sake of gaining Christ. We're talking about salvation is in Christ alone.

When he says, I put no confidence in the flesh, we're talking about Christ alone. The spirit snatches the tunic of our self dignity that we may run naked to Christ for dress. For Christ is our righteousness.

Paul says, I suffer the loss of all of this. I cast it all off as useless and as harm to me, so that, verse 9, I may be found in him, that I may be found in Christ, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith.

Paul went all over the world, a missionary to all kinds of people in all kinds of places. Someone may ask, where in the world is Paul the Apostle? The answer comes back, oh, I know where he is. He is found in Christ Jesus.

No matter where he was upon God's green earth, Paul always wanted to be found in Christ Jesus. His identity was located there in Christ, united with him through faith, hiding himself in Christ. That's where he was found.

Why would he want to be found in Christ? Why was he hiding himself in Christ through faith? Well, he had put off all his so-called righteousness derived from his adherence to the law, and he wanted to hide himself in Christ, so he was clothed with the very righteousness that Christ himself was clothed with.

This is why we hide ourselves in Christ, so that by faith, united with Christ, when God the Father looks upon us, he sees the righteousness of God the Son covering us. A righteousness which is from God on the basis of faith.

This is where Paul wants to be found. Yes, he's all over the world doing wonderful things for God, but that's not where he wants to be found. He doesn't want to be found, oh, I'm productive, I'm useful, I'm a good speaker, I'm a well-published author.

He doesn't want to be found there. He wants to be found in Christ, because he puts no confidence in the flesh. And what are you basing your eternity on? What are you basing your eternity on? When Christ comes back, I want to be found doing God's will.

I want to be found with my heart full of meditations on the scripture, my heart full of joy in Christ, my hands full of labor for God, my heart full of love for my neighbor and my family. Sure, but that's not why I'm going to heaven.

It's because I am alive in Christ and found in him, found in Christ. That's where I want to be found. What are you basing your eternity on? Paul said, I am what I am by the grace of God. It's all that I am.

I want us to think about Christ, our resurrection, in verses 10 and 11. Notice verse 10, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being conformed to his death, in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.

Why is Paul so keen on being found in Christ? Why is he so concerned that the righteousness of God himself be accounted to Paul on the basis of faith? Why does Paul so fixate on Christ alone so that he's justified by God?

Because unless Christ is our righteousness, Christ will not be our resurrection. He says he wants to be found in Christ and have God's righteousness on him through faith that I may know him, that I may know the power of his resurrection, that I may know the fellowship of his sufferings being conformed to his death, in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.

It's all dependent on being found in Christ. Otherwise, none of us else is going to happen. Knowing Christ, we come to know the power of his resurrection. We are given new understanding, new affections, new relationships, new goals, new life in Christ.

By his resurrection, we are born again into a living hope. The old has passed away in our conformity to his death, so that our sin-soaked, self-saturated way of life has perished as sure as Christ has perished upon the cross, and that a new way of life of loving God and following Christ is brought to us by the grace of God, born again of the Holy Spirit, all because of Christ.

And even now, conformed to his death, we know the fellowship of his sufferings. We recognize that we do not yet live in a glorious creation, free from pain, free from sorrow, free from mourning, free from death.

But at the same time, because we're in fellowship with Christ, we know we no longer taste a single tear or heave a single sigh outside of Christ, because we're in the fellowship of his sufferings, and all of our lives are caught up with his life.

Christ alone is our righteousness. Christ alone is our Savior. Christ alone carries us and guides us and leads us inexorably to the resurrection from the dead. And that resurrection from the dead is the great hope of all who are found in Christ alone, that we, like Christ, will be gloriously, eternally raised to die no more.

The source of this new life is that we have now is in Christ alone, and the hope of our new life and the not yet is Christ alone. Therefore, rejoice in Christ. Rejoice in Christ. To say the same thing over and over again is no problem, because it is a safeguard to us, and we rejoice in him because he is our salvation.

He is our salvation. We have before us today a meal. A meal. We have bits of bread and sips of juice, which invite us to remember Christ's broken body and shed blood, his sacrifice for us. Will you eat this bread?

Will you drink this juice? You should not, if you do not trust in the one to whom they point. It would be a useless exercise unless we look to Christ and Christ alone. This is a pauper's meal, which humbles us and reminds us that our hunger and thirst will never be satisfied in the symbolic elements, but our hunger and thirst will only be satisfied in the fulfilling person of Jesus Christ.

A crumb and a drop could never satisfy, but Christ always satisfies, and so we are to eat and remember. We are to eat and confess our faith in Christ as our Savior. We are to remember and to rejoice in the salvation he has accomplished, the communion he offers, the life that he gives.

In Christ alone should be our protest, and it should always be our joyful insistence. Let me pray for us, and we'll sing a hymn and share a meal. Father, I thank you for gathering us together on this day, to this place, for this occasion.

Thank you for the invitation to commune with you, to remember together about what you have done for us. God, I pray that you would be glorified, exalted in the time that we share with you at your table.

I pray these things for the sake of Christ with whom you are well pleased. Amen.