Sunday Morning Sermon Series (Date: 03/14/2021)

Sanctification and the Three Ways Christians Get Stuck

Listen to me for a second. Paul said all of that stuff that I think is important, all of that stuff that fits my culture, all of that stuff that I aspire to and hold in such high regard, I've gotten rid of it.

It's all now pooped. How many times have you heard someone say, I've been a member of here for... Every time someone says that from now on, I want you to interrupt them and say,.

Poop! Sunday School Poop!

We've got something going on on the 21st, don't we? You mean March 21st?

Yes, I do. Oh, are you talking about the Spring Break Block Party? I am. Where on earth am I going? You're going to be at Witton Baptist Church, which is 6773 Macon Road. It's right on the corner of Witton and Macon.

Across from the Walgreens, we're going to have free hot dogs. I like free. Popcorn, snow cone machine, and cotton candy. Also, it's not just food. We're also going to have games. So, you know, little hoops, and we've got some other games going on.

The first 100 families to come to our Spring Break Block Party on March 21st from 4 to 7pm will receive a free gift bag. And that's actually what I was just working on right now. Do we have a slide? We do have a slide.

Should I post it right now? Yes, post the slide right now.

We're going to be in Philippians chapter 3 this morning. Philippians chapter 3. What I'm speaking of is more of an encouragement today than an edification. It's an encouragement in your sanctification process.

Now, what is sanctification? It is the daily task effort in the power of Almighty God to be more conformed to the image of Christ rather than the image of this world. The church at Philippi, that little city in Greece, was struggling with this.

And as many Christians today still struggle with it. You're going to put yourself in one of three categories today. Either you are very heavily influenced by the world and you tend to leave Christ and gravitate to following the world, or, number two, you are a very self-righteous person and you look to the works that you do or the religion that you adhere to and that is your claim to fame.

Or, number three, you're a very self-loathing person. You're never good enough for God. You are constantly less than in the eyes of Almighty God. Those are the three categories I want to talk to you today about.

And I hope that you're going to find some encouragement in the Word of God today. It tells us here in Philippians chapter 3, I want you to read with me. We are going to look at the first one starting in chapter 3 verse 1.

It says this, Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. To write to you again about this is no trouble for me and is a protection for you. Verse 2, watch out for dogs. Watch out for evil workers. Watch out for those who mutilate the flesh.

For we are the circumcision, the ones who serve by the Spirit of God, boast in Christ Jesus, and do not put confidence in the flesh. One of the first things that we as God's people need to do is that we need to be as separate from the world while still being a part of it.

Living in the World Without Being Shaped by It

Guys, there is no such thing as removing a child of God to be the light to a world, to be the salt of the earth. Removing yourself to such a place that you are a recluse in a spiritual kingdom. We have to be integrated as far as engaging the world, connecting with the world to share the life-changing message of Jesus.

The problem though, Christian, as we all know, especially those who have walked with Christ for a while, is sometimes we let the world influence us whether we influence the world. The number one thing, first of all, in that sanctification process is you've got to stop hanging with stupid.

You've got to quit talking with stupid. Stupid will wear you out. Now, you're sitting there going, well, I know a lot of stupid folks. Well, right. The stupid I'm talking about is not a lack of intellectual prowess.

It's not someone who is uneducated. Stupid is knowing what is right and wrong and choosing to do what's wrong to satisfy the flesh. Guys, that is absolutely stupid. Look what Paul calls them here. He calls them dogs.

Well, that's not very nice. That is not nice at all. But that is exactly how God's Word is talking about that group of folks. I tell young people all the time, if you keep lying down with dogs, you're going to come up with fleas.

If you keep walking with the world, you're going to get burned and you will never matriculate. You'll never grow into that next level of maturity. But there's another one here too. If you look here, Paul says don't just watch out for dogs.

It says watch out for those who mutilate the flesh. Now, what's it talking about? What's it talking about here? A lot of Christians in the old days used to say specifically that this was referring to tattoos.

Some of you old Baptists have heard this. If you get a tattoo, you're going to hell. You get a tattoo, you're mutilating the flesh. And usually it was the self-righteous women in a Baptist church who had pierced earrings, piercing their ears to wear their little dangling earrings.

And the hypocrisy and the irony of that was totally missed by them. But we'll get to that group in a second. No, this has nothing to do with tattoos. What Paul is specifically, harmonetically, correctly talking about is circumcision.

And he's making the direct, and you don't have to read but another verse to understand that. What he's referring to are the people who look at the circumcision or the religious cultural background of their belief system and find righteousness in that.

Now we'll get to those folks in a minute too. But for those of you that think there are super Christians, that there are people that are perfect in every way, let me help you out with something. There is no such thing.

Have you ever heard a young Christian say something like this? Oh, well, I used to have faith but so-and-so slept with so-and-so and it totally destroyed my faith. No, you never had faith in Christ.

You had faith in that person. I've heard people say, well, I used to go to church but I got burned in church. That is nothing more than an excuse because you weren't worshiping or obeying God. You were in a cultural mindset of adhering to or submerging yourself in a religious person or ideals.

People say all the time, well, this pastor failed or this deacon failed and so my faith was destroyed. Listen, if you have been a Christian for any long time and let me tell you as a pastor for over almost pushing 30 years now, let me tell you something.

I have never met a believer, a pastor, a deacon, an apostle or whatever you want to call them who did not fail on a daily basis. I can tell you that with all confidence because I've been one for a very long time.

Guys, I still struggle. There is no one who is so righteous that they don't struggle with sin. Guys, don't walk with people. Do not talk with people who are going to drag you down but do not put your faith in folks before you put faith in God.

It says here, watch out for dogs. So how do you deal with these dogs? How do you deal with these stupid people? Well, Paul answers that question. Look at verse 1. It says, finally my brothers. I always loved Paul.

He was definitely a Baptist. Had to be because he would say this is my last point. Paul would always about chapter 3 say finally and then go on for three more chapters, right? So Paul says finally my brothers.

Koinonia, that Greek word meaning or anthropoi, it means mankind. It's not gender specific as such. But finally my brothers and sisters in Christ rejoice in the Lord. To write to you again about this is no trouble for me and is a protection for you.

You know how you deal with getting a place where you're confident with being with Christ and Christ alone? Where you don't have a codependency of acceptance. Where you don't let your issues from your past dictate the need to be accepted by a group rather than accepted by Christ.

Well, the first thing is this. I'm telling you, listen to me on this. Praise and worship. Joy comes from praise and worship. Joy is, or praise and worship should be an outflowing, a physical manifestation of the joy that is already in your heart.

Psalms 100 says enter his courts with thanksgiving in your heart. Enter his courts with praise. Guys, we have come to a time in our lives and it's not just the church in America. I'm so sick of everybody picking on the church of America.

I always sit there when missionaries, it's amazing. American missionaries who go overseas, all they do is land blast the church in America. And I find it hilarious because my friend, you couldn't go overseas if it wasn't for the church of the United States of America.

The United States of America's mission is a juggernaut that has never been seen in the history of man. Yes, rifled with problems to be sure because it's headed by sinful people. But the United States of America has been a beacon and a light on the hill for the world to see for 150, 200 years in the arena of missionary.

But in all churches, it's this. People say, well, I can't pray. Some of you may have been in this room today and you may have sat there and thought, man, Brother Andrew, you need to kick it up a notch.

You need to, bam! What is that cook dude that does that? You need to spice this up a little bit. We need to get some lasers or smoke machines or we need to get some different music. Guys, it's a shame today that when worship is no longer worship because it's more reflecting the culture of the world or i .e. even the church than it is centric on the person of Jesus Christ.

We've come to a place today where it is scarcely possible when you go to all these different churches, it's scarcely possible in most places to get anyone to show up when nothing more than Jesus Christ is the central theme of worship.

You almost have to have lights, bells, and whistles to get people in the mood to worship. You know when your best worship times are going to be? When you're alone. I promise you that. I promise you that.

If you say, oh no, I can't have good worship unless I'm with a whole bunch of people with a whole bunch of music. You are an ADD Christian. You really are. Guys, you want to split your focus and find the emotion of worship rather than to give God what is due to Him purely in worship.

Guys, you overcome stupid through joy, as Paul says, and praise and worship is a manifestation of that joy. How is your praise and worship life outside of this room? How is it? Ask yourself. How is your praise and worship time?

Guys, I'm telling you, driving on I -40 with Jesus is some of the best praise and worship time. And I don't need the radio thing. I sing. I quote Scripture. And I don't sing well, okay? I don't sing well.

But it's not about the tune or the sound. It's about, man, I am such a pathetic, wretched sinner and I'm going home one day by the grace of God. And that excitement kind of wells up within me and it just kind of comes out.

Think of worship as a big fat zit. You know? Okay, maybe that's a bad analogy. But you get my thing. So number one, joy is a way to overcome dealing with stupid. But number two, Paul says, I write to you again.

Guys, Scripture is the most powerful weapon you have in this world. Here's the number one thing I hear people say. I don't like to read. Well, guys, I don't like to read a lot of books. But I'm not reading this book.

This is not me reading the Bible. If that's all it is to you, you are trying to accumulate a certain level of acceptance through obedience to the requirement of man or of the church rather than reading the power and the love of Almighty God's letter to you as an individual.

You are so hung up on the fact of reading. And here's why. It's boring to you. Tell me I'm wrong. It's boring to you. Now there's two reasons for that. Number one, you're not a Christian and you're ignorant.

Or number two, you have way too many things going on in your life. You have way too many distractions. Man, I am telling you guys, it is the most beautiful time in the world for me when it's just me and the Word of God.

I don't have to worry about what people are thinking. I don't have to live up to some religious standard. I don't have to look, smell, act, talk a certain way. Did I really just say smell? It's just me and the Lord with the Word of God.

And fighting stupid if you're based on the Word of God, it's going to be so much easier. Guys, find the Word of God in your life. Now number two, here's the other thing. Some people lay down with the world.

Some people walk with the world, want the acceptance of the world. But here's something else. Some people want the acceptance of fellow church people. They want to live in a world of self-righteousness.

Self-Righteousness and the Loss of Christ

Look at chapter 3 verses 4 through 7. Paul says this, Although I once had confidence in the flesh, if anyone else thinks he has grounds for confidence in the flesh, I have more. Man, Paul is kind of bold here.

He's sitting there going, Oh, you think you're a Christian? You think you're a super church person? Let me tell you something. I was more. And then he lays out his resume. Check this out. He sits there and goes, I was circumcised on the eighth day of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin.

I was a Hebrew born to Hebrews. In other words, I didn't join the party late. I was born a Hebrew of the Hebrews. And then it says regarding the law. In other words, that's a question there. Oh, you want to talk about the law?

I was a Pharisee regarding zeal, persecuting the church. You know how much I loved religion? I stood up against the very church of Jesus Christ. You know that grace and freedom thing? I stood up against it.

I fought it. I imprisoned Christians. Oh, but don't even act. Listen to what Paul says. Regarding the righteousness that is in the law? Blameless. Now think about that for a second. What if you could stand up and go, I have obeyed the entire Bible.

I have obeyed every rule of my church. I have obeyed every cultural distinction that makes a Christian a Christian. I was blameless. Man. How do you get that way? Well, guys, a lot of times, and I'm talking to some of you in this room, listen to me.

Your sanctification has been arrested. It's like I see arrested development psychologically or emotionally in people. Well, it's a spiritual arrested development too. In other words, you walk down the aisle, you went and got dunked in that tub, and you attend church on a semi-regular basis.

You don't cuss, smoke, or drink. Ergo, you're blameless. Now in your heart of hearts, you know that you're sinful. But as long as no one knows about your sin, you're good to go. That is a recipe for absolute disaster.

Paul said, I kept all of the law. It didn't mean he kept God's law in perfection. What he was talking about were all the other church laws they made up. When God said rest on the Sabbath, well, some guy got a hold of that and said, what that means is you can only walk 39 steps to go to the bathroom all day long because anything else is work.

If you drop a needle, you shouldn't be sewing to begin with, but you have to leave it there until the next day. That's what they were doing. Paul said, I obeyed every single one of those. Guys, I'm begging you this morning, if I'm talking about you this morning, please let go.

Because that kind of religious adherence is absolutely robbing your soul of joy. You have none. You're dredging through life absolutely devoid of real peace and real joy. Because you're so focused on obeying a religious set of laws that you cannot know the freedom that is in Christ.

Look what Paul says here. He says, let me explain how I got out of that. Verse 8, it says, more than that, I also consider everything to be a loss in the view of surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.

Because of Him, I have suffered the loss of all things and consider them filth so that I may gain Christ. We had a model from GQ magazine. A very dapper gentleman showed up here last week. The height and perfection of the male species both in physique and in dress.

I wore a suit last week is what I'm trying to say. God, man, no amens, no nothing? I feel like a fat slob now. So fat, I'm retaining water. I don't know. I wore a suit last week. And I won't say who because I don't want to embarrass you, but I'm fixing to embarrass you.

A little lady came up to me and goes, you have not looked this nice in a long, long time. And I looked at her and I said, baby, I've never seen you look nice. Wait, I'm not done. She said, you actually look like a preacher.

Guys, this is what I'm talking about. Listen to me. And this person has heard me preach now for 16 years and she still doesn't get it. See, everything I preach is about everybody else. It obviously couldn't be about me.

I am actually worried about your salvation. You're never happy. You have no joy. When it comes to ministry, you're never here. The only time you show up is on a Sunday morning. You're always complaining about the music or the temperature of the room or how some 15-year-old dresses.

I'm not getting on to you. The pastor's being savage. No, I'm not being savage. I am seriously concerned about your salvation. I don't think you're saved. No, I know Brother Tanksley baptized you in 1960.

I get that. But unfortunately, Brother Tanksley or the water that comes out of our hot water heater does not remove your sin. And if you are truly a born-again child of the living God, there should be some evidence somewhere.

Where is your joy? Where is your peace? Where is your knowing the freedom? Look what Paul says. Everything that I believe is right and wrong based upon a religious or cultural upbringing, what does Paul call them?

He calls them this. Skoumalon. That's the Greek word. Oh, by the way, yeah, the bum you see, I speak Greek. Yeah, the guy who doesn't wear a suit and tie. It's funny, all these people, the ones that usually say that, I would love to sit down with them for five minutes and take one of our 15-year-olds and do a comparison of theological doctrinal knowledge.

You'd probably be a little ashamed of yourself. Even though you've read the Bible for 52 years. You're an idiot. Listen to me. It says skoumalon. You know what that means? Some of your King Jamie versions get it pretty good.

Some of the more modern translations, you know, they're trying to be a little bit politically correct. You know what that means? You ready? Poop. Oh my gosh, the pastor said poop. Well, yeah, but the Holy Spirit said it first, so I think I'm in good stead.

It's like someone else said, Pastor, do you have to say whore? Well, only when I read Scripture. I mean, you know, what do you want me to do? What's the chapter? Jeremiah 3 says it how many times? 18 times.

It calls the nation of Israel whore. Well, Pastor, we need to be more sensitive. No, you need to get rid of your religious scruples and embrace the Word of the living God. It's amazing. You're the same person that says, Get them, Pastor, when I talk about homosexuality.

But your self-righteousness is somehow off, off base. Oh, no, we can't talk about that. Poop, poop, poop, poop, poop. Scoobalon. I can say it in Latin, too, okay? Listen to me for a second. Paul said all of that stuff that I think is important, all of that stuff that fits my culture, all of that stuff that I aspire to and hold in such high regard, I've gotten rid of it.

It's all now poop. How many times you heard someone say, I've been a member of here for... Every time someone says that from now on, I want you to interrupt them and say, You've been a member... Poop.

Well, my letter has poop. I've been in Sunday school. Poop. If you want to actually grow your family in Christ, stop letting people... Quit looking for the godless, alcoholic, drunk, gay, queer, bisexual, whatever they've got going on today.

Look in the spiritual mirror of the holiness of Almighty God and repent. Say to yourself today, Father, look into my heart as there be any wicked way. God, let this sermon, let your word reveal it to me and let me repent today to know the joy of the living God.

Get rid of your self-righteousness. But here's the third group and I'll finish. The third group is this. God is never happy with you. You are the one who looks in the mirror and if you are picturing the mind of God right now or the face of God, He's looking at you going...

In other words, all you hear from God's word is your poop. That's all you hear. You cannot accept the grace of God. You get so stressed out. You constantly see yourself as less than. You never know the power of the grace of God.

Listen, Paul opened every letter in the word of God with this greeting, Grace and peace be unto you. You know why you don't have peace in your life? It's because you don't have grace as an understanding in your life.

You never can accept the forgiveness of Almighty God. You keep looking at your past and the failures of your past or even the failures of your present and you cannot see the grace of God in any of it.

So your sanctification suffers. Just like the ones that hang out with stupid or the ones that look at their own self-righteousness. You're that last group. Look what Paul says here in verse 12. Listen to me.

Verse 12 says this. Let me flip my paper here. Not that I have already reached the goal or am already fully mature, but I make every effort to take hold of it because I have also been taken hold of by Christ Jesus.

Pressing On in Grace and the Hope of Heaven

Guys, this is going to sound, just bear with me to the end. I am a high school drug addict. Let me try that again. I am a high school dropout and a drug addict. I have never, I have a GED. That's my highest level of education.

I don't have a bachelor's degree. I don't have a master's degree. It's funny, everybody on my staff has more education than I do. I'm a big poo-poo head, right? But it's amazing. It's absolutely amazing what God can do with someone who is just humble enough to go, I'm nothing, God.

Take me. Use me as a dish rag. God, glorify Your name with the very soul of my being. Whatever that means. It's amazing. Listen to me for a second. There is no one in this room that could do war stories worse than me.

I know, oh, pastor, you just don't know what I've done. The difference, I think, between you and me is simply this. I focus on what Christ has done rather than what I have done. Yes, I have remorse. Yes, I have regret.

There's no doubt about it. Guys, there are nights I still wake up in a cold sweat, have to change the sheets. Yes, those nights do happen sometimes. But my value and my worth as an individual is not based upon what I have done.

It's based upon the work of the finished work of Jesus Christ. Do you know the power of that forgiveness? And notice this. Well, yeah, but I can't do good. I can't keep focused. Look what Paul says. This was the apostle Paul who saw Jesus Christ face to face, who 13 of the books of the New Testament were written by Paul.

And he says this, I'm not there yet. I'm not there yet. And it's funny, in 2 Timothy, he says the same thing. 2 Timothy was the last book he wrote before he died. And he's still trying to press on. Listen to me.

Your measurement of your spiritual maturity is not based upon how you fail. It's based upon you do with that failure. You messed up this week. Some of y 'all busted the rock. Some of y 'all looked at porn.

Some of you were wrong to your wife. Some of you abused your husband. Some of you do bad things. Listen to me. Listen to me. That does not define you. Proverbs says that a righteous man gets up seven times.

No matter how many times you fall, you get up again. Guys, this altar should be full. This altar should be full every Sunday of not only just repentance, but finding the accountability and help with other brothers and sisters in Christ to move forward to the next week.

Stop looking at yourself as always less than. Look what it says here. Look. Paul says in verse 13. Read with me. It says, Brothers, I do not consider myself to have taken hold, but one thing I do, forgetting what is behind me, and I reach forward to what is ahead.

If some of y 'all have what I call spiritual anxiety. Listen. Anxiety does this. Anxiety overestimates your failures and underestimates the grace of God. In other words, you're always thinking you're going to out send the grace of God.

You have no comprehension of how powerful the grace of God is. And quit overestimating your sin. Guys, you were condemned before you were born. It's not coming. It's already happened. And the grace of God brought you from that condemnation into the place and the position as a child of the living God.

That will never change. You are free. Start living like it. You don't have scuba line all over you. You have Kyrie's grace all over you. Live like that. If you want to get to that place where you understand that you're not the worst, the dumbest, or what's it called?

The bluntest pencil in the box or not the sharpest tool in the shed. If God looked out at His stables and needs a Christian, He can't pick you because you're worthless. You need to stop remembering the past.

Remember this. God does not determine your future based on your past. Your future is determined by the work of Jesus Christ. Guys, stop that spiritual anxiety. Quit thinking you're always less than. You are, according to the Word of God, you are more than conquerors.

You are victors in Christ Jesus. Are you with me? Guys, watch this. It says this. Verse 14. I pursue as my goal the prize promised by God's heavenly call in Christ Jesus. You know what I want more than anything?

I mean even more than a Glock 43. Even more than pork chops. It's kind of close. But even more than pork chops. Even more than the Tennessee Volunteers having a winning season. Exercise and futility to be sure.

Guys, you know what I want more than anything? And it's because of my daddy issues. And some of you that sat under my teaching know what I'm talking about. I cannot wait to get to heaven and hear this.

Good job. Well done, my good and faithful servant. Amen. But pastor, how do you know you're going to hear that? You're who I'm talking to. You're who I'm talking to. Grace. Son, enter into the joy of His kingdom.

Guys, I am not worried about where I'm going. What I am worried about is what I'm doing with the grace now that God has given me. My future is secure. It's over. It says in that verse, the prize promised.

Well, but that didn't include me. Oh, so you're used to calling God a liar. You're good with that. You're looking in the face of God and going, well God, that's true for everybody else, but it can't be true for me.

You just called God a liar. You just called God a liar. There is a promise waiting for you. 1 Peter says, undefiled, uncorrupted. Some of you think you can lose your salvation. It wasn't yours to give.

It ain't yours to take back. You are not taking that away from Almighty God. If you're in this room today, listen to me, and you have a hard time staying focused on Christ because the world always sucks you in, you need some help today.

Number two, if you're one of those people that look at your church attendance or your self-righteousness, you're never going to know that joy and peace. You need help today. But number three, if you're one of those persons that is just beat up, you are absolutely devoid of any hope because you cannot believe that God can love you.

You need help. As the music peoples come up, I want to ask you a question. Now, what are you willing to do to get that help? Are you going to stand there and wait for the song to be over so you can go and eat?

Or are you actually going to solve this problem today? And here's the deal. You can't fix it. I can't fix it. But I know someone who can. I promise you, all three of those stages that I mentioned today, I have a doctorate in all three of them.

I was an idiot running with stupid. Oh, I believed in my self-righteousness. Man, I was on the radio. I was the executive director of a ministry. And I was a pastor all at the same time. Right before I had a nervous breakdown because what I was trying to do on the outside was prove to everybody how great God was, but I was doubting it on the inside.

I was looking to my works rather than looking at the grace of God. I've also been to a place where I just cannot believe that God could love someone like me. If you're in one of those three places today, let's get wit and sanctified to the next level.

If you're there and need some help and accountability with that, come down here. Don't come to me. I'm just a fat, bald guy. Don't come to the church. The church is not God. Come to a place where I need help.

I'm going to have pastors and counselors down here. They're going to help you. And if you are perfect in every way, you know who I'm talking about. You sit there every Sunday waiting for the invitation to be over.

If you're perfect in every way, let's do one thing different today. Instead of sitting there looking at a stupid screen, go and find someone in this room who needs a little ministry, who needs a little encouragement.

Brother Jeff, I don't know what's wrong with them. I'll help you. They're sinful people that need encouragement from you. And you don't really have to look real hard. Well, there's Vicki. Okay? Look, there's Jackie.

Look, there's Mama Louise. We all need that encouragement. So let's do this. If you need to join a church, if you need to get saved, if you need help with your spiritual life, I want you to come down here.

Everyone else, I want you to go to work. Don't be Baptists. Be Christians. Okay? Quit being church people and start being Christ people.