Discover Joy in Christ by Gaining Righteousness Through Faith
Notes
Transcript
Sermon Tone Analysis
A
D
F
J
S
Emotion
A
C
T
Language
O
C
E
A
E
Social
2 Look out for the dogs, look out for the evildoers, look out for those who mutilate the flesh.
3 For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh—
4 though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more:
5 circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee;
6 as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.
7 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.
8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing 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 Christ
9 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—
10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,
11 that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
2 Look out for the dogs, look out for the evildoers, look out for those who mutilate the flesh.
Look out for the dogs
Look out for the dogs
Who are the dogs? Who are the evildoers? Who are the mutilators?
They are the ones who cause discourse within the body. They are the ones who ones who will look at the speck in other peoples’ eyes and ignore the plank they have in theirs. They are the ones who will hold others to a higher degree of accountability than they will themselves.
Do you believe in the Bible?
Do you believe every word in the Bible was written by men who were inspired by the Spirit of God to write it down?
The Bible tells us ways we need to handle conflict within the church.
When we bypass these ways, we are the mutilators whom this verse talks about.
25 And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.”
This verse is very point blank about what we are supposed to do and how we are supposed to forgive others.
Matthew 6:15 follows this exact thought.
15 but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
I think when we look at people who we see as leaders within the church, one of the characteristics we will see is they have a very forgiving spirit. They will be people who look for ways to build other people up. They will be the ones who the world will look at and say people are walking all over them, but in reality, they are imitating Christ’s forgiveness to others.
We’ve preached in previous sermons about how we are to be second to others.
We are also to be doing things to serve our Lord out of love for Him and no other reason.
The dogs, the evil doers, the mutilators will be doing things which will serve their own purpose and not the purpose for which God had them here for, nor the purpose God had in mind for them to serve the body of Christ.
Paul should’ve been one of the most confident people in his life as to the way he followed the Bible. He was one of the most loyal Pharisees there was during his time. In the first part of verse 3, Paul talks about how we are all part of the circumcision of the Spirit - no longer in the physical sense. Then he begins to list things he could’ve claimed to have had all the confidence in the world according to the old covenant the Jews followed and were following.
3 For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh—
4 though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more:
5 circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee;
6 as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.
So if we take a look at each one of these things Paul talks about, you can see he has a legitimate claim about his “worthiness” as a Jew.
Circumcised on the 8th Day
Circumcised on the 8th Day
This was following the law as set by the scripture. The religious leaders would even perform this ceremony on the Sabath. It was one of the allowances since it was a rite which had to be performed according to the laws Moses had given them.
He was an Israelite
He was an Israelite
Now you’re going to tell me of course he was and Israelite. He lived in Israel. You need to realize during this time, there were what you might call half-breeds or mutts within the Jewish community. This is exactly how these people were looked upon. The Edomites and Samaritans were looked at this way. The Edomites were descendants of Esau. The Samaritans were Jews who were left behind when the kingdom was taken into exile. They had married outside of the Jewish faith. Paul also didn’t come from parents who had converted to the Jewish faith. He was a pure Jew through and through.
He came from the Tribe of Benjamin
He came from the Tribe of Benjamin
This group was called “the beloved of the Lord” by Moses. The tribe of Benjamin could trace their genealogy back to Jacob and Rachel. Benjamin held a special place in his father’s heart. Benjamin remained with Judah while the other ten tribes had gone astray.
A Hebrew born from Hebrews
A Hebrew born from Hebrews
He was the absolute cream of the crop by his heritage he just listed. Because of the stock he came from, there were so many things he could claim just because of his heritage.
A Pharisee by law
A Pharisee by law
He observed every part of the ceremonies according to the Jewish law and even more as the religious leaders added to what the law of Moses had said. He would hold everyone else to these same high standards. If he caught you doing something that was contrary to the law, He would make sure you knew about it as well as the other other religious leaders, and you would have to pay the price, for some things literally, and make a sacrifice to atone for whatever the offense was.
A persecutor of the church
A persecutor of the church
There was no one who persecuted the church more vehemently that what Paul did as Saul. He was the protector of the old covenant. He would not only be the one throwing stones at those who were being convicted of their heresy of the Jewish faith, he would hold the coats of those who were carrying out the order if he wasn’t actually participating. As Saul, he was feared by those who had converted to the new covenant and were believers in Christ.
He was blameless in the righteousness of the law
He was blameless in the righteousness of the law
Paul as Saul didn’t fall into the trappings many of his kindred had. He lived a life full of zeal for the law and followed it to the letter. As far as he knew, he was blameless in the eyes of God before his encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus. Once this happened, he realized who he was in the eyes of God. It literally turned his world upside down.
7 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.
8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing 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 Christ
If we take a look at a letter Paul wrote to Timothy, we see how Paul now looks at his life according to being held up against the life Jesus lived for us.
15 The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.
Upon his conversion, Paul realized what he had been doing. He was working against the work of the Lord he thought he was serving. It was Saul was made to look at his life, he realized who he was. He realized his works preconversion meant nothing.
Everything I listed above was no counted as nothing. As a matter of fact, Paul calls it rubbish. This is a very nice translation of the Greek word.
skybalon
dung; refuse; garbage
Dung. All that Paul, preconversion, had been doing is now dung.
Paul isn’t only talking about his persecution of the church, he is talking about the high esteem he held because of his genealogy as well as his position within the Jewish faith as a Pharisee.
It all meant nothing. It meant worse than nothing. Dung.
All of what Paul had listed through verses 4-6 were things he either counted because of his heritage or his works. There was nothing God did through any of those acts. It was all things he either was born into or did on his own.
Saul, who was considered one of the highest, most righteous and pious leaders within the Jewish faith, now counts all of his life and things he did preconversion as dung.
Why? Let’s go back and read verse 8 and the rest of the verses in our text this morning.
8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing 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 Christ
9 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—
10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,
11 that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
IT’S ALL ABOUT WHAT CHRIST DID!!!!
IT’S ALL ABOUT WHAT CHRIST DID!!!!
The righteousness now that Paul has found has nothing to do with his works, but totally relies on the salvation work which was done on the cross by Jesus. It has to do with the work that was done three days later in the tomb when Jesus rose from the dead. It has to do with the promise that one day the dead in Christ will rise first and those still alive will follow shortly thereafter.
What have you based your own salvation on?
What have you based your own salvation on?
Do you base it on being raised in the church? Saul did.
Do you base it on what you were taught in the church? Saul did.
Do you base it on the faith of your mother and father? Saul did.
Do you base it on your church attendance? Saul did.
Do you base it on the things you do in the church? Saul did.
Do you base it off of the works you do inside and outside of the church? Do you base it off of being a good person according to society? Saul did.
Just like Saul realized once he had the encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus, we must realize all of our works we do on our own mean nothing if we don’t have a personal relationship with Christ.
Our works mean nothing. There is no way we can earn our salvation. We are flawed. We are sinners. Until we accept the gift of salvation which has been offered to us, we walk our path alone.
Today, how do we come to the point we can accept this wonderful gift of salvation?
First we have to admit we are sinners.
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
We all have sinned. We all fall short. We all have missed the mark. There isn’t one of us who have lived a perfect life.
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Don’t be misinformed what death means here. Everyone is going to have an eternal destination. It is where you are going to spend it. The death referred to here is a spiritual death where you will spend eternity separated from God. You will not only be separated from God, you will be separated, period.
There is no other way around this other than through the redemptive work of Christ on the cross.
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
While we were still sinners, while we were still His enemies, Christ died on the cross for us. He bore our sins upon Himself and paid the price for our salvation by offering His blood to cover our sins.
How do you accept this gift?
9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
If we have faith that Jesus took our sins upon Himself and offered His life as a sacrifice for those sins, believe He died on the cross for those sins and was raised from the dead by His Heavenly Father, we will be saved.
13 For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
What an assurance we have in that if we have done these things, we will be saved. There is nothing which can pluck us out of His hand, we are His. We have been adopted into the family of God. And just as we shared Wednesday evening at our Bible study, adoption back then means there is no difference between you and blood relatives in the family. You are now considered to be blood relatives with all of the rights of everyone else in the family.
This means we can now have a peace in our lives which passes all understanding
1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers,
39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
What a promise. What a life to be lived.
Have you accepted this gift?
Have you accepted this gift?
Do you know for sure where you will spend eternity?
Do you know for sure where you will spend eternity?
Have you ever established a personal relationship with our Savior?
Have you ever established a personal relationship with our Savior?
If not, and you would like to today, you can. I’m going to lead you in a prayer you can repeat after me.
For the Christians, how is your light shining?
For the Christians, how is your light shining?
How do others see you outside the church?
How do others see you outside the church?
How do others see you inside the church?
How do others see you inside the church?
Maybe you’ve been relying on your own too much and putting yourselves, maybe even others, before Christ.
What does the fruit look like on your tree?
What does the fruit look like on your tree?
Is it the fruit of the Spirit or do you have branches God is trying to prune off so you can bear more fruit for Him?
Are you allowing the Holy Spirit to do what He wants to do in your life?
Are you allowing the Holy Spirit to do what He wants to do in your life?