The Road Less Traveled
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You cannot appreciate where Paul is or where he is going unless you consider where he came from.
ILL. Robert Robinson-
Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing. "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" is a Christian hymn written by the 18th century pastor and hymnist Robert Robinson. Robert Robinson penned the words at age 22 in the year 1757.
Robert Robinson was born in Norfolk, England, in 1735. As is an uncanny detail in the life of English hymnists, one of Robert’s parents died in his early adolescence. Although his mother was warned by her father of marrying a commoner, she married Robert’s father anyway, and when at 8 years old Robert’s father died, his grandfather disinherited Robert and left he and his mother destitute. Although a godly woman, Mrs. Robinson was left without any means of supporting her family.
At the age of 14 Robert was sent to London to service as a barber’s apprentice. There, he fell in with hoodlums and street gangs, drinking, cursing, and living a profligate life, yet in 1752 he was about to drink from the fount of every blessing. Satisfying a “weak” urge to hear Mr. George Whitfield preach, yet hide said desire from his friends, Robinson invited his friends to disturb the meeting and heckle the man of God. Preaching from Matthew chapter three, Whitfield thundered, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?, Robinson fell under deep conviction.
That night, however, he did not respond to the Gospel call, and he lived under deep conviction for three whole years, but he would later write, “Jesus sought me when a stranger wandering from the fold of God.” Eventually trusting Christ, he found what he called “peace in believing,” and two years later, he wrote the hymn, Come, Thou Fount.
Where He Was: The Land of Misplaced Confidences
Where He Was: The Land of Misplaced Confidences
Have you ever put your confidence in the wrong person?
It’s hard to know in this life who you can trust.
ILL. Bernie Madoff
CONFIDENCE IN THE FLESH
religious traditions
ethnicity
tribal ancestry
religiosity
Look against at verses 4-6. What is missing? Jesus.
Galatians 2:20: “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.”
not I but CHRIST
After verse seven…this life transformation he experienced…
7- I counted loss- for Christ
8- I count them but dung- to win Christ
9- mine own righteousness- righteousness through faith in Christ
10- I want to know- Christ (His thirst for knowledge- not about Christ but Christ alone)
11- I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead- through Christ
12- I pursue- Christ
13-14- forgetting and reaching- Christ as the goal
How He Got Here: Making a Choice in the Fork of the Road
How He Got Here: Making a Choice in the Fork of the Road
verse 9 really encapsulates where Paul is in his thinking: my righteousness or Jesus’ righteousness. My works or His works. My way or His way.
And he uses two words
loss- zymia- used 3 times in v 7-8
gain- kardos-
This was Paul’s wake-up call. He thought he had all of this advantage to salvation, only to discover that rightness with God cannot come through keeping law but through faith in Jesus.
Again, this is where he came from— all his life searching to know God and please God, when the work had already been fulfilled by Jesus!
He chose Christ!
What He Says About the Journey: God’s Been Good!
What He Says About the Journey: God’s Been Good!
Paul’s passion is to
know Christ’s person-
experience His power
Romans 1:16: “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.”
Writer of Hebrews: of course he can save!
He made the world
He upholds the world through the word of His power
He is the giver of life
He is incarnated power; He can heal, restore, and deliver!
promises a share of this power to His disciples
share in his sufferings
πάθημα- pathos
Romans 7:5 “For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death.”
Galatians 5:24: “And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.”
Paul truly believed that a Christian is never so close to His lord as when he suffers for Christ and His cause in this world.
WHAT PAUL LEAVES OUT:
he was stoned
shipwrecked
snake bitten
spent a day and a half lost at sea
3 times he was beaten with rods
kidnapped
often went without food
suffered physical weakness and blindness
the constant care of all the churches
Where is He Going from Here? Forward!
Where is He Going from Here? Forward!
MAN, I thought that If I started following Jesus that everything would go better in my life— I thought that He would pay all of my bills! That I would never get sick…never have a need…a storm, a trial in life….I thought that all of the hurricanes would sweep out to sea. AND IF THAT IS YOUR EXPERIENCE, GIVE HIM GLORY!
But Paul did not have trouble on His tail! He had Christ on his trail.
Psalm 23:6: “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: And I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.”
ILL. David Livingston:
Explored the continent of Africa and preached Christ. Yet, life was not always easy for Livingstone. He at various times dealt with malaria and dysentery, was subjected to the violence of natives and slave traders, buried a wife in Africa, and constantly struggled with dangerous terrain and wild beasts. One author noted that while Livingstone was preaching in Mabotsa, he was violently attacked by a lion which tore into his arm and shoulder.
However, Livingstone knew God and knew that his mission was not in vain. Famously, he stated, “I will go anywhere as long as it is forward.”
In light of all of this trouble, Paul says, “I think I’ll just keep on going!”
2 Corinthians 4:17: “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;”
Philippians 3:14: “I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”
Paul never forgot what he should have remembered
the day he got saved
Psalm 78:42: “They remembered not his hand, Nor the day when he delivered them from the enemy.”
2 Timothy 3:11: “Persecutions, afflictions, which came unto me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra; what persecutions I endured: but out of them all the Lord delivered me.”
Paul chose to forget the old ways in which he sought to find favor with God
he left the old life, the old patterns, the old ways in which he sought to fill that God-shaped vacuum in his heart
Paul did not allow the troubles of life to deter him from moving forward
WHAT…WHO…are you allowing to stop you for God?
Paul remembered what Christ had done for him
Paul said, if Jesus went a little further for me, I can take the next step for Him!
Matthew 26:38–39 “Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me. And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.”
If Jesus could walk to the cross for me, I can walk through my next trial for Him!
If He could surrender in the Garden for me, I can surrender my will to Him!
If He could stay on the cross for me, I can stay at my task for Him!
Going forward with Christ— BECAUSE of all He has done for you and for me…