Sermon 111096

Phi. 3:4-9                              I Put No Confidence in the Flesh                                      11/10/96

ABCC

I.   Introduction and Review                                                                                    545

     Three distinguishing characteristic of true brethren/Christians (v. 3)

Þ     worship/serve in the Spirit of God

Þ     glory/boast in Christ Jesus (1Co. 1:30-31)

Þ     Put no confidence in the flesh for justification before God or righteousness

Righteousness = a person has met all God’s rqmts. for justice & perfectly kept His law!

II.  Confidence in the Flesh

     A. Hope in/dependence upon human effort & accomplishments for righteousness

     B. Self-righteousness is a strong temptation (v. 4-6) “…has a mind…I far more”

         1. Legalistic obedience to the scriptures (pay tithes, ceremonies, etc.-Mt. 23:23)

         2. Genealogy & heritage (Christian heritage - home, training, parents, grandparents, etc.)

         3. Religious affiliation & denomination (Baptist, Reformed, non-denominational, etc.)

         4. Religious zeal (only volunteer, drives the furthest, long hours, confront people in sin)

Attempting to climb your way up the religious ladder to God!  How far up are you? How far do you need to go?  What if you get tired or mess up, do you start all over again or how do you recover?  How do you know when God is satisfied?

III. Jesus Radically Changes Believers’ Perspective of Life (v. 7; Is. 55:8-9; Rom. 12:2)

     A. All of life’s accomplishments are LOSSES without Christ (Mt. 16:26; Phi. 3:7)

·        Value is defined in the heart/mind (Pr. 23:7; Rom. 14:5) = purpose & usefulness!

·        Assessment of value in light of judgment day (Mt. 6:20-21; 2Co. 5:10)

I Put No Confidence in the Flesh, pg. 2

·        What is the purpose of the things that dominate your time & effort?  Why do them?

     B. Knowing Christ is the greatest gain in life (v. 8)

Þ     Good family roots cannot substitute for knowing Christ; obedience to law, etc.  I would rather have Christ than silver & gold, reputation, family heritage, position & power!  Compared to Christ, all these things fade as the stars & moon do when the sun rises.

     C. The Righteousness of God Comes from God through Jesus Christ (v. 9)

¨       based on faith in Christ alone (He alone has perfectly satisfied God’s demands)  -  Our one & only hope is to be in union with Christ; a real & living RELATIONSHIP!

¨       absolutely cannot be attained by human effort & obedience to the Law

¨       comes from God the Father (imputed, assigned or applied to the undeserving sinner)

Paul was on his way up in religion, he was probably going to the top.  He had made all the right moves; extremely intelligent, moral, diligent, came from good family, zealous & willing to sacrifice for his religious cause; these things were extremely important to him & he pursued them with all his might - but God interrupted all that one day on the road to Damascus…..  Where are you today?  Are you on that road or do you simply need a reminder of what happened on your road to Damascus?  Is your relationship with Christ more important than all else?