The Right Kind of Righteousness

WEBVTT 1 00:00:02.240 --> 00:00:05.839 If you are able, please remain standing and let's give our attention to God's 2 00:00:05.839 --> 00:00:13.990 word and Philippians, Paul's letter to the Philippians, chapter three, versus one 3 00:00:14.390 --> 00:00:29.940 to sixteen, Philippians three, verses one to sixteen. Finally, my brothers, 4 00:00:30.140 --> 00:00:33.780 rejoice in the Lord to write the same things to you. Is No 5 00:00:33.979 --> 00:00:39.250 trouble to me and is safe for for you. Look out for the dogs, 6 00:00:40.170 --> 00:00:44.369 look out for the evil doers, look out for those who mutilate the 7 00:00:44.409 --> 00:00:49.729 flesh, for we are the circumcision, who worship by the spirit of God 8 00:00:50.280 --> 00:00:55.759 and Glory in Christ Jesus, and put no confidence in the flesh, though 9 00:00:55.799 --> 00:01:00.640 I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh. Also, if anyone else 10 00:01:00.679 --> 00:01:06.349 thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more circumcised on 11 00:01:06.390 --> 00:01:10.310 the eighth day of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, 12 00:01:10.709 --> 00:01:15.750 a Hebrew of Hebrews, as to the law, a Pharisee, as to 13 00:01:15.870 --> 00:01:19.140 zeal, a persecutor of the Church, as to righteousness under the law, 14 00:01:19.859 --> 00:01:27.819 blameless. But whatever gain I had I counted as law US for the sake 15 00:01:27.900 --> 00:01:34.090 of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as lost because of their surpassing worth 16 00:01:34.450 --> 00:01:38.010 of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord. For his sake, I have suffered 17 00:01:38.049 --> 00:01:42.129 the loss of all things and count them as rubbish in order that I may 18 00:01:42.290 --> 00:01:48.599 gain Christ and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own 19 00:01:48.760 --> 00:01:52.719 that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, 20 00:01:53.239 --> 00:01:57.519 the righteousness from God that depends on faith, that I may know him and 21 00:01:59.359 --> 00:02:04.950 the power of his resurrection and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in 22 00:02:05.189 --> 00:02:09.430 his death, that, by any means possible, I may attain the resurrection 23 00:02:10.069 --> 00:02:15.460 from the dead. Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, 24 00:02:16.180 --> 00:02:21.780 but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has 25 00:02:21.939 --> 00:02:27.659 made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made 26 00:02:27.659 --> 00:02:31.969 it my own, but one thing I do forgetting what lies behind and straining 27 00:02:32.050 --> 00:02:37.050 forward to what lies ahead. I press on toward the goal, for the 28 00:02:37.169 --> 00:02:42.729 prize of the Upward Call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us 29 00:02:42.770 --> 00:02:47.280 who are mature think this way and if, in anything, you think otherwise, 30 00:02:47.919 --> 00:02:53.520 God will reveal that also to you. Only let us hold true to 31 00:02:53.039 --> 00:02:59.270 what we have a tained. My God bless his word to us. Please 32 00:02:59.310 --> 00:03:19.379 be seated. Paul begins this next section of his letter to the Philippians with 33 00:03:19.539 --> 00:03:27.729 some very harsh words, fighting words, so to speak. He is being 34 00:03:27.969 --> 00:03:34.889 very clear about who is who and what is what. He calls these people, 35 00:03:35.569 --> 00:03:39.810 these Judaizers, who are bothering the Philippians and bothering on the Church of 36 00:03:39.930 --> 00:03:46.960 God. He calls them dogs, he calls them evil doers, he calls 37 00:03:46.039 --> 00:03:53.639 them mutilators of the flesh. He speaks in this very harsh way, though, 38 00:03:53.759 --> 00:03:59.469 to make a particular point. He wants the Philippians to understand that there 39 00:04:00.150 --> 00:04:05.389 is something, even in their rejoicing, to be on the watch for particular 40 00:04:05.590 --> 00:04:15.259 people, but also a particular philosophy or religion or way of thinking about our 41 00:04:15.460 --> 00:04:20.220 place before God. He sets a dividing line, a great dividing line, 42 00:04:20.339 --> 00:04:29.009 between righteousness that comes from the law and righteousness that comes from faith. We 43 00:04:29.170 --> 00:04:32.850 want to think about this evening and and Lord willing come away with this, 44 00:04:33.170 --> 00:04:39.279 the kind of clarity that the Holy Spirit, through his servant Paul, wants 45 00:04:39.319 --> 00:04:45.759 us to have about what true godliness is and what it is that we have 46 00:04:45.839 --> 00:04:49.639 gained in Christ that we might be willing, like Paul, to lose everything 47 00:04:49.680 --> 00:04:56.589 else. So I want to begin and thinking about those kinds of things by 48 00:04:56.629 --> 00:05:02.269 thinking about this command to be watchful, to look out. He begins in 49 00:05:02.470 --> 00:05:08.339 verse one by saying things very similar to what he has been saying. Rejoice. 50 00:05:08.980 --> 00:05:11.740 This is something that's come up many times already, and he says it 51 00:05:11.819 --> 00:05:15.939 in verse one, concluding these things. Finally, my brother's rejoice in the 52 00:05:15.019 --> 00:05:21.529 Lord, but he adds to that a watchfulness. It reminds us that are 53 00:05:21.649 --> 00:05:26.410 rejoicing in Jesus Christ for all that we have been given, in all that 54 00:05:26.529 --> 00:05:31.329 we have received. It's not a party, it's not just a fun kind 55 00:05:31.370 --> 00:05:35.759 of thing. The rejoicing that we have in Jesus Christ is very deep. 56 00:05:36.759 --> 00:05:42.920 Sometimes it's very joyful, sometimes it's very serious, but it includes with it 57 00:05:43.040 --> 00:05:49.269 a certain kind of of watchfulness. Even in our rejoicing and on our certainty 58 00:05:49.350 --> 00:05:54.310 of who God is and what he's done, it doesn't mean that we are 59 00:05:54.709 --> 00:05:59.029 sort of out of the woods, so to speak, in terms of attack. 60 00:06:00.310 --> 00:06:03.459 There are people, Paul says, that seek to do to the Philippians 61 00:06:03.540 --> 00:06:11.459 and to us as well, real harm. Satan continues to prowl around like 62 00:06:11.500 --> 00:06:15.899 a roaring lion, Peter says, and Jesus and a number of parables says 63 00:06:15.019 --> 00:06:21.930 that watchfulness is important, look out for these things, beyond guard about them, 64 00:06:24.129 --> 00:06:29.089 and he gives the proof of that right here in their own context. 65 00:06:29.889 --> 00:06:33.839 He speaks of these people that they seem to be very aware of, these 66 00:06:34.040 --> 00:06:41.759 evildoers, these dogs, these people who mutilate the flesh. Paul speaking here 67 00:06:41.920 --> 00:06:47.589 of what are called Judaizers, people that wanted to take Christians back to the 68 00:06:47.750 --> 00:06:54.829 law of Moses. They wanted Christians to be obedient to the law of Moses, 69 00:06:54.870 --> 00:06:59.750 I'm not only in its particular commands, but also when it's symbols, 70 00:07:00.149 --> 00:07:05.579 perhaps in its sacrifices, and in one particular aspect, and that's circumcision. 71 00:07:06.139 --> 00:07:13.060 That's why that comes up here. They wanted a Christians to show and demonstrate 72 00:07:14.019 --> 00:07:18.970 their obedience to the law and their willingness to be sub subject to the old 73 00:07:19.129 --> 00:07:28.930 covenant by being circumcised. Paul evaluates this point of view. He evaluates the 74 00:07:28.970 --> 00:07:33.920 efforts of these Judaizers in the harshest terms. First, he calls them dogs. 75 00:07:35.480 --> 00:07:42.639 Dogs in the ancient world were sometimes pets, but not nearly as much 76 00:07:42.639 --> 00:07:46.509 as they are to day. I'm often they were scavengers. In Israel, 77 00:07:46.629 --> 00:07:54.069 they were considered unclean and in the in the Jewish world. The dogs was 78 00:07:54.189 --> 00:08:01.779 often a a way to name call the gentiles. It was an attack on 79 00:08:01.019 --> 00:08:07.019 those who were did not belong to Israel. These scavengers, these unclean people, 80 00:08:07.259 --> 00:08:11.860 these people that didn't belong or weren't worth very much, those were the 81 00:08:11.970 --> 00:08:18.490 gentiles. The here Paul applies that same word that is typically applied by the 82 00:08:18.610 --> 00:08:22.449 people he's addressing to the gentiles. He applies it to them and he says, 83 00:08:22.490 --> 00:08:26.250 no, it's not them who are the dogs, it's you who are 84 00:08:26.329 --> 00:08:31.919 the dogs. He calls them evil doers or workers of evil. Again, 85 00:08:33.039 --> 00:08:35.720 this has a way of kind of turning the tables. They're claiming to uphold 86 00:08:35.720 --> 00:08:41.039 the law, they're claiming to come and say, here is spirituality, here 87 00:08:41.159 --> 00:08:45.029 is religion, this is what you need to obey, here are the laws 88 00:08:45.149 --> 00:08:48.710 that God has given his his prophet Moses. Follow them, obey them, 89 00:08:48.669 --> 00:08:52.669 and Paul says that in doing so, it's just the opposite. They are 90 00:08:54.029 --> 00:09:01.340 evil doers, not do gooders. They are workers of evil and possibly it 91 00:09:01.500 --> 00:09:07.179 even connotes a kind of missionary enterprise as well, that they're not just doing 92 00:09:07.419 --> 00:09:13.129 evil but actively seeking this in other people as well. So at first he 93 00:09:13.250 --> 00:09:18.330 calls them dogs, then he calls them evil doers, are workers of evil, 94 00:09:18.649 --> 00:09:24.600 and then he calls them mutilators of the flesh. He uses this term 95 00:09:24.879 --> 00:09:31.000 to speak and and say, you guys want circumcision, this term that sort 96 00:09:31.039 --> 00:09:37.200 of typically referred to as sort of a cutting around and and instead you want 97 00:09:37.240 --> 00:09:43.750 to to cut off. I'm you're cutting against oneself, you are mutilating rather 98 00:09:43.789 --> 00:09:50.350 than doing good. These, it goes without saying, are very harsh things 99 00:09:50.470 --> 00:09:58.860 to say. They're very harsh things to say. Paul speaking too strongly here? 100 00:09:58.100 --> 00:10:03.299 Is He being UNCHRISTIAN in the way that he speaks? Why so strong 101 00:10:05.659 --> 00:10:15.210 of those that wanted to turn Christians to Moses? Well, Paul speaks so 102 00:10:15.490 --> 00:10:20.769 strongly because to be connected to the law and the way that these people were 103 00:10:20.769 --> 00:10:26.840 advocating is to be cut off from Christ. Is Point is made in a 104 00:10:26.879 --> 00:10:31.240 number of ways here and throughout the pages of the New Testament. We're told 105 00:10:31.360 --> 00:10:35.750 over and over again, in many different ways, that Christ is the fulfillment 106 00:10:35.909 --> 00:10:41.070 of the law. He is the thing that the law was pointing toward, 107 00:10:41.190 --> 00:10:46.070 the law, the things that the law would be fulfilled in. And so, 108 00:10:46.230 --> 00:10:50.700 in a sense, not only by turning away from Christ to the law 109 00:10:50.740 --> 00:10:54.899 are they turning away from Christ, but an addition, in a sense, 110 00:10:54.980 --> 00:11:00.019 they're turning away from the law itself, because of the law is meant to 111 00:11:00.100 --> 00:11:03.860 point to Jesus, and you're not going to Jesus, but your goal, 112 00:11:03.019 --> 00:11:07.169 but you're sort of emptying the law of all that it was meant to do. 113 00:11:07.049 --> 00:11:11.049 Then it's to fail on both accounts. It's to fail on account of 114 00:11:11.090 --> 00:11:18.529 the law, it's to fail on account of Christ. This fulfillment in Jesus, 115 00:11:18.570 --> 00:11:22.879 Christ and in the things that he brings. Is why Paul says we 116 00:11:22.279 --> 00:11:28.240 are the circumcision. These people are asking you to go back and to be 117 00:11:28.399 --> 00:11:31.600 circumcised. They're saying to go back to the law of Moses, but we 118 00:11:31.799 --> 00:11:37.470 are the circumcision. They are but mutilators of the flesh. Why are we 119 00:11:37.669 --> 00:11:43.149 to be considered the circumcision? Because, says, we are the things that 120 00:11:43.389 --> 00:11:50.139 this circumcision was pointing forward to. We worship by the spirit of God and 121 00:11:50.379 --> 00:11:58.539 Glory in Christ, Jesus, and put no confidence in the flesh. Paul 122 00:11:58.700 --> 00:12:05.690 here is being very clear that there is a great divide between pride in the 123 00:12:05.049 --> 00:12:09.090 law, which is the say, the same as pride in the Flesh, 124 00:12:11.289 --> 00:12:16.480 and pride in Christ. A great divide and to make that really clear, 125 00:12:16.559 --> 00:12:24.799 he goes beyond this kind of evaluative name calling to giving a very personal example. 126 00:12:26.799 --> 00:12:33.509 He says, if you want to play the boasting game, the boasting 127 00:12:33.549 --> 00:12:41.629 in the law game, if anyone has confidence in this, I have more, 128 00:12:41.909 --> 00:12:45.659 he says, in other words, if you want to treat yourself in 129 00:12:45.860 --> 00:12:50.460 this way, consider my own example. I will beat you at this every 130 00:12:50.740 --> 00:12:54.980 single time. I did. And listen to how he proves his case. 131 00:12:56.940 --> 00:13:03.009 He says, first, of his birth and natural standing in the law and 132 00:13:03.210 --> 00:13:09.970 as a Jew. First, he says, listen, I was circumcised on 133 00:13:09.009 --> 00:13:13.960 the eighth day. Now, this may seem like not that big of a 134 00:13:13.080 --> 00:13:16.000 deal. Isn't that what they were supposed to do? But that's kind of 135 00:13:16.039 --> 00:13:20.159 the point, right. Paul is saying that the he did, excuse me, 136 00:13:22.840 --> 00:13:26.230 he did what and had done to him on what was called to do. 137 00:13:28.149 --> 00:13:31.470 I'm some as we know, in the pages of scripture, often a 138 00:13:31.629 --> 00:13:35.190 delayed or in certain occasions delayed circumcision beyond where it should and he said this 139 00:13:35.309 --> 00:13:39.990 didn't happen with me. Now, of course Paul wasn't actively involved in that, 140 00:13:41.389 --> 00:13:45.700 but that's also part of the point too. He says that not only 141 00:13:45.899 --> 00:13:48.580 am I zealous about these things, but I didn't come to them later in 142 00:13:48.700 --> 00:13:56.570 life from the Vy, from the eighth day I was circumcised. He makes 143 00:13:56.649 --> 00:14:03.690 this point even stronger by saying I'm an Israelite by birth. My parents were 144 00:14:03.169 --> 00:14:07.850 Israelites as well. They were not proselytites who came in. He it's a 145 00:14:07.929 --> 00:14:15.559 way of him proving his credentials as a Jew. He's going about putting these 146 00:14:15.720 --> 00:14:20.000 fourth and saying and showing how, if anyone belongs and if anyone could win, 147 00:14:20.240 --> 00:14:24.470 so to speak, in terms of righteousness by the law, it would 148 00:14:24.470 --> 00:14:30.149 be him, circumcised on the eighth day and Israelite by birth. And he 149 00:14:30.230 --> 00:14:33.870 also says he was of the tribe of Benjamin. Their number of ways, 150 00:14:33.950 --> 00:14:41.340 Benjamin and that tribe or special and scripture. Benjamin was Jacob's favorite son from 151 00:14:41.379 --> 00:14:46.059 his favorite wife. Benjamin was the only one who was born in the land 152 00:14:46.139 --> 00:14:52.139 of promise. Israel's first king was a Benjamin nighte who, as it happens, 153 00:14:52.460 --> 00:14:58.330 Saul, was named after the Apostle Paul before his former names. Saul. 154 00:14:58.370 --> 00:15:03.529 Then the tribe of Benjamin was also a tribe that remained loyal to David 155 00:15:03.570 --> 00:15:07.559 during disruptions in the monarchy. And even geographically, the tribe of Benjamin was 156 00:15:07.639 --> 00:15:13.480 special in the Jerusalem and the temple were within its boundaries. From a number 157 00:15:13.480 --> 00:15:18.200 of angles, a Benjamin was an important and a beloved tribe among a God's 158 00:15:18.279 --> 00:15:24.110 people. And here you have this man named Saul, of the tribe of 159 00:15:24.190 --> 00:15:31.509 Benjamin, circumcised on the eighth day and Israelite by birth. And he goes 160 00:15:31.549 --> 00:15:37.460 even further, a Hebrew of Hebrews. Here he marks out a distinction that 161 00:15:39.019 --> 00:15:43.419 was in the Jewish world at that time. I'm there were Jews, a 162 00:15:43.580 --> 00:15:48.820 Hebrews, that spoke Aramaic or Hebrew, and then there were Jews that were 163 00:15:48.059 --> 00:15:54.049 more hellenistic or spoke Greek. And it makes a difference if you are trying 164 00:15:54.129 --> 00:16:00.850 to prove your credentials as a Jew, to be not only a Jew, 165 00:16:00.289 --> 00:16:03.360 not only of the tribe of Benjamin, not only in Israelite by birth, 166 00:16:03.720 --> 00:16:08.879 but one who was grazed and grew up culturally in this way as well, 167 00:16:10.879 --> 00:16:17.559 speaking Aramaic, knowing Hebrew. It gives him a cultural credibility and probably an 168 00:16:17.600 --> 00:16:22.590 academic one as well. He would have had access to ancient sources and translations 169 00:16:22.750 --> 00:16:27.950 and and various other texts that those who only knew Greek would perhaps not have. 170 00:16:30.669 --> 00:16:37.259 This kind of very this very hebrewness of of Paul as a Jew is 171 00:16:37.379 --> 00:16:44.460 proved in his biography in various places. You can imagine these parents, Paul's 172 00:16:44.539 --> 00:16:51.250 parents, who are also of all these things and they have set for their 173 00:16:51.490 --> 00:16:57.769 son a very intense, we might say, program to be a Jew of 174 00:16:57.970 --> 00:17:04.880 the Jews. It says he's born in Tarsus. We read in Galatians One 175 00:17:04.920 --> 00:17:10.400 and acts twenty six that he's born and Silicia. But yet he is brought 176 00:17:10.440 --> 00:17:15.400 up in Jerusalem before he is brought to, what we learn in other places, 177 00:17:15.519 --> 00:17:19.509 one of the premier teachers in Israel, Gamil Eel. So you imagine 178 00:17:19.549 --> 00:17:26.230 a situation where you have this husband and wife, this Jewish couple, living 179 00:17:26.230 --> 00:17:30.420 in Tarsus, they have birth to his son and they say we have plans 180 00:17:30.579 --> 00:17:33.380 for this young man. He is of a high pedigree and we are going 181 00:17:33.539 --> 00:17:37.180 to keep it that way. And so they don't keep him in Tarsus, 182 00:17:37.579 --> 00:17:41.460 but they send him to Jerusalem, they provide for him in education with one 183 00:17:41.500 --> 00:17:47.569 of the best teachers. This is one reason we think that Paul may have 184 00:17:47.730 --> 00:17:52.730 been of some means and of some wealth. I'm also considering his Roman citizenship, 185 00:17:53.930 --> 00:17:57.410 but setting all that aside. But Paul is proving here is that he's 186 00:17:57.450 --> 00:18:03.440 not only by birth and by culture and all of these things, a Jew, 187 00:18:03.799 --> 00:18:11.279 but he's he's one of the best by his birth, by his natural 188 00:18:11.440 --> 00:18:17.549 standing among the people. But he doesn't leave it there. These things in 189 00:18:17.710 --> 00:18:21.470 many ways he had nothing to do with. But it goes even further. 190 00:18:21.630 --> 00:18:23.390 And then in the next part of these this list, he goes into his 191 00:18:23.589 --> 00:18:30.900 personal achievements. So here I was born. I'm a born, born far 192 00:18:30.019 --> 00:18:36.180 away, but sent to Jerusalem, trained there and he took it seriously. 193 00:18:37.019 --> 00:18:41.890 He wasn't some student who wasted his education and his resources that his parents had 194 00:18:41.970 --> 00:18:48.569 given him. He applied himself and he became a Pharisee, one who took 195 00:18:48.569 --> 00:18:55.049 it very seriously, took the law as serious as one could, but his 196 00:18:55.250 --> 00:19:00.200 phariseeism was not an ivory tower kind of Phariseeism. He goes on to say 197 00:19:00.279 --> 00:19:07.880 that that he was zealous in this, though he was very accomplished and and 198 00:19:07.480 --> 00:19:14.069 and good in the law and in knowledge of it, in an upholding it 199 00:19:15.470 --> 00:19:19.589 in a theoretical and kind of way. He was zealous about it as well, 200 00:19:21.869 --> 00:19:27.420 even to the point of persecuting the church. So Paul's not some kind 201 00:19:27.460 --> 00:19:33.500 of ivory tower theologian, but he is willing to get down on the streets 202 00:19:34.259 --> 00:19:41.650 and get his hands dirty with blood and murder people, as he himself says. 203 00:19:44.529 --> 00:19:48.089 Here you have a picture of some of the people that we hear even 204 00:19:48.130 --> 00:19:55.640 in the news today, people that are so committed to a particular law that 205 00:19:55.759 --> 00:20:00.480 they are willing to kill, destroy and murder those that do not follow the 206 00:20:00.519 --> 00:20:06.160 law. Paul says that was me. I was that guy, not only 207 00:20:06.319 --> 00:20:11.710 knowledgeable in my head, but active in it's zealous and persecuting the church, 208 00:20:11.750 --> 00:20:15.190 or the Church of God, as he puts it in other places. And 209 00:20:15.309 --> 00:20:22.619 then, finally, the last one. He says, as an in terms 210 00:20:22.619 --> 00:20:30.740 of righteousness, blameless. For Paul. This is not a game. He 211 00:20:30.940 --> 00:20:33.539 is not going about this in some kind of haphazard way, and it's not 212 00:20:33.619 --> 00:20:41.170 a charade either. He's not just these things by way of of title or 213 00:20:41.410 --> 00:20:47.289 status or something like this. He was pursuing them with all of his heart 214 00:20:48.529 --> 00:20:52.359 and it was in his life in accordance with the law. He says I 215 00:20:52.519 --> 00:20:59.039 was blameless. One irony I find in this is that when we boast of 216 00:20:59.119 --> 00:21:04.589 our righteousness, we often boast in in kind of worldly accomplishments, of writing 217 00:21:04.750 --> 00:21:10.710 certain things or going certain places or lifting certain amounts of weights or whatever. 218 00:21:10.750 --> 00:21:15.390 It is a Paul here, it is not only boasting of these kinds of 219 00:21:15.470 --> 00:21:19.980 things, but he's boasting in very spiritual terms. The point of that is 220 00:21:21.059 --> 00:21:25.019 just to say again, if anyone is going to be able to get this 221 00:21:25.339 --> 00:21:30.579 right, it's Paul, and that's what he's saying. I had what everyone 222 00:21:32.539 --> 00:21:38.569 was seeking. But here's the conclusion he comes to. After putting all of 223 00:21:38.690 --> 00:21:45.450 that forward, he says in verse seven, but whatever ought, whatever gain 224 00:21:45.650 --> 00:21:53.000 I had, particularly in the perspective of the Judaizers, I counted as loss. 225 00:21:53.759 --> 00:22:00.470 For the sake of Christ, it was a liability, not an asset, 226 00:22:02.390 --> 00:22:06.509 and said, indeed, he says, I count everything is lost because 227 00:22:06.589 --> 00:22:12.710 of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ, Jesus, my Lord, for his 228 00:22:12.950 --> 00:22:19.140 sake, I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish 229 00:22:19.940 --> 00:22:26.420 in order that I make gain Christ and be found in him. So, 230 00:22:26.579 --> 00:22:32.890 going back to the beginning, why does Paul put this in such a strong 231 00:22:32.970 --> 00:22:40.450 way? Why such a clear dividing line? Because, he says, compare 232 00:22:40.609 --> 00:22:48.200 the value you can have the greatest blessings and so called spiritual accomplishments, to 233 00:22:48.359 --> 00:22:53.200 be prized among your people, to be valued, to be zealous, to 234 00:22:53.319 --> 00:22:57.710 be blameless in the law, and so on and so forth. And yet 235 00:22:57.750 --> 00:23:04.630 it's it's nothing. I count it now as all loss because of the surpassing 236 00:23:04.910 --> 00:23:12.299 worth of knowing Christ, Jesus, my Lord. Paul hasn't given up on 237 00:23:12.619 --> 00:23:18.859 obeying God. He calls Jesus his Lord because Master, the one that he 238 00:23:19.099 --> 00:23:23.500 is a slave of, as he puts in other places, in puts uses 239 00:23:23.539 --> 00:23:30.130 that metaphor in other places. But in terms of pursuing that righteousness, in 240 00:23:30.289 --> 00:23:36.490 terms of the law, in terms of one's obedience and accomplishments, he says 241 00:23:36.529 --> 00:23:42.680 it's all rubbish. We use this word rubbish to refer to to trash. 242 00:23:45.559 --> 00:23:48.359 I. We actually don't even think use it that often in the United States, 243 00:23:49.400 --> 00:23:53.720 but it has behind it this word that means is sort of combined of 244 00:23:55.160 --> 00:24:02.710 filth and worthlessness. It's used of a couple things. One is excrement and 245 00:24:02.829 --> 00:24:15.779 the other is rotten food, filth worthlessness. All of this, all of 246 00:24:15.940 --> 00:24:22.460 this that I had, all that could possibly be gained by righteousness according to 247 00:24:22.539 --> 00:24:30.730 the law. I count it as excrement. That is how lowly Paul Esteems 248 00:24:30.730 --> 00:24:37.130 it as good as the rotten food that you find in the back of your 249 00:24:37.170 --> 00:24:41.440 refrigerator and don't even want to touch, to throw away, because it's that 250 00:24:41.559 --> 00:24:48.440 worthless and that filthy. That's what righteousness by the law's worth, Paul says. 251 00:24:49.519 --> 00:24:56.309 That is what's justness by the law is worth. But righteousness and by 252 00:24:56.509 --> 00:25:02.829 faith in Jesus Christ, the righteousness that comes not by the law but by 253 00:25:03.349 --> 00:25:08.420 God, by this grant, by this free grace that comes from Jesus Christ 254 00:25:08.539 --> 00:25:15.779 and his work on our behalf. Oh now that's another thing, the surpassing 255 00:25:17.500 --> 00:25:22.849 worth of knowing Christ, Jesus my Lord. He talks about some of the 256 00:25:22.970 --> 00:25:27.890 specifics of that. In Verse Ten, he says I count all these things 257 00:25:27.970 --> 00:25:34.210 as waste and his filth, that I may know him and the power of 258 00:25:34.490 --> 00:25:41.559 his resurrection. I throw it all away because in Jesus Christ I don't have 259 00:25:41.279 --> 00:25:48.960 filth and worthlessness, I have resurrection from the dead. I have one who 260 00:25:49.000 --> 00:25:56.069 will obediently fulfilled the Law on my behalf and was vindicated in that by his 261 00:25:56.150 --> 00:26:00.910 own Riet resurrection, a resurrection which I too can trust in and know that 262 00:26:00.069 --> 00:26:04.819 I will share. I share in his sufferings. Now Paul says, becoming 263 00:26:04.940 --> 00:26:10.099 liken him in his death, that by any means possible, I may attain 264 00:26:10.259 --> 00:26:15.700 the resurrection from the dead. Who Cares about those who are persecuting me? 265 00:26:15.339 --> 00:26:19.730 Who Cares about the shipwrecks I've endured and the beatings on the jail and all 266 00:26:19.890 --> 00:26:26.329 the all the rest of it? Because I know Jesus Christ, I know 267 00:26:26.730 --> 00:26:32.410 what it means to be declared, to be declared not just blameless before men, 268 00:26:33.000 --> 00:26:41.000 perfect before God. Now he recognizes that, though he has this, 269 00:26:41.400 --> 00:26:44.279 these kinds of things in Christ, in his life, here and now, 270 00:26:44.440 --> 00:26:48.069 there is still work to begun, the work to be done. He is 271 00:26:48.190 --> 00:26:52.670 not he does not yet consider himself as being resurrected from the dead and made 272 00:26:52.829 --> 00:26:59.069 perfect in that sense, verse twelve. Not that I've already obtained this or 273 00:26:59.109 --> 00:27:03.619 I'm already perfect, but I press on to make it my own because Christ, 274 00:27:03.660 --> 00:27:10.220 Jesus, has made me his own. That's so powerful, it's so 275 00:27:10.579 --> 00:27:17.289 lovely. Paul is working hard, he's striving towards what he calls the goal 276 00:27:17.529 --> 00:27:22.890 for the prize of the Upward Call of God in Christ Jesus. He's striving 277 00:27:22.930 --> 00:27:26.890 towards this goal, moving onwards and upwards each day of his life, even 278 00:27:26.930 --> 00:27:33.279 though he's suffering persecutions and setbacks and is writing this very letter from prison. 279 00:27:34.720 --> 00:27:41.480 He's pursuing this prize, this upward call of God in Christ Jesus, because 280 00:27:41.680 --> 00:27:49.390 Christ Jesus has made me his own. He knows who he belongs to, 281 00:27:49.589 --> 00:27:56.029 an he knows that this righteousness that comes to him by God is something that 282 00:27:56.269 --> 00:28:04.259 secures him before God forever and ever. And so he gladly forgets what lies 283 00:28:04.460 --> 00:28:12.529 behind verse thirteen and strains forward to what lies behead ahead. The author to 284 00:28:12.569 --> 00:28:18.529 the Hebrews says is similarly, in Hebrews twelve, verse one, let us 285 00:28:18.529 --> 00:28:22.329 lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely, looking to Jesus, 286 00:28:22.450 --> 00:28:29.319 the author and perfector of our faith. We look behind, we look to 287 00:28:29.400 --> 00:28:37.519 Jesus because of him behind us on the Cross and before us at the resurrection, 288 00:28:37.559 --> 00:28:42.390 and what he has done and what he has secured. We press on 289 00:28:45.150 --> 00:28:53.470 Jesus. Christ, Paul says, is not filthy, he's not worthless, 290 00:28:56.180 --> 00:29:06.460 he's just the opposite. He's immeasurably valuable, he's perfectly clean and pure and 291 00:29:06.619 --> 00:29:14.609 every way. The righteousness that we receive from him is not that filthy righteousness 292 00:29:14.769 --> 00:29:21.769 that we try to earn and have the somewhat possibility of earning in pursuing according 293 00:29:22.170 --> 00:29:26.160 to the flesh, but the righteousness that we receive from Jesus is the righteousness 294 00:29:27.119 --> 00:29:37.440 of God. Sit On that, dwell on that. The righteousness of God 295 00:29:37.990 --> 00:29:48.349 is what belongs to us through Jesus Christ. Paul lays aside these things because 296 00:29:48.309 --> 00:29:55.259 of what is gained, because of what God has done, comes to him 297 00:29:55.259 --> 00:30:02.859 all as a gift. He receives these blessings freely, and so you can 298 00:30:02.980 --> 00:30:11.970 see why anyone who would seek to come between him and his beloved children in 299 00:30:11.089 --> 00:30:19.130 the faith, these Philippian Christians whom he's raised up in Christ, why he 300 00:30:19.210 --> 00:30:29.359 speaks of them this way. You are dividing, he says to them implicitly. 301 00:30:30.559 --> 00:30:36.390 You are dividing or trying to divide these people from the only thing that 302 00:30:36.549 --> 00:30:41.910 is a value. And so he says to them, to the Philippians and 303 00:30:41.109 --> 00:30:48.910 to us, beware, beware, watch out for those who will put you 304 00:30:49.019 --> 00:30:56.099 or point you to confidence in your own in your own righteousness, even if 305 00:30:56.099 --> 00:31:02.059 it's a righteousness that's by the law of God. If it's a righteousness by 306 00:31:02.059 --> 00:31:07.369 the law, it is a righteousness that is worthless, but if it's righteousness 307 00:31:07.369 --> 00:31:15.049 by the Jesus Christ, it's worth losing everything for. This applies to us, 308 00:31:15.210 --> 00:31:21.680 because it's not just a call to the Philippians, but Paul says it's 309 00:31:22.039 --> 00:31:26.400 for all of us. He says they are in Verse Fifteen. Let those 310 00:31:26.440 --> 00:31:30.880 who are mature think in this way, and of course he means in that 311 00:31:32.559 --> 00:31:37.230 let everyone think in this way, not only those who are mature, but 312 00:31:37.430 --> 00:31:40.710 those who should be mature and those who want to be mature and those who 313 00:31:40.710 --> 00:31:45.670 are maturing. We are to all think in this way. It is a 314 00:31:45.869 --> 00:31:52.819 mark of maturity. We are called to think in this way, to prize 315 00:31:52.819 --> 00:32:00.259 our Savior in this way, to pursue righteousness in this way, and it 316 00:32:00.339 --> 00:32:04.730 should also cheer us as well, to go back to the rejoicing at the 317 00:32:04.769 --> 00:32:08.410 very beginning. Though we are on guard and though we are careful of these 318 00:32:08.450 --> 00:32:14.609 things, we all so rejoice. It cheers us to know that the legalists, 319 00:32:15.079 --> 00:32:21.400 though they should be watched, we need not fear their threats. We 320 00:32:21.599 --> 00:32:30.069 need not fear losing righteousness with God for not being circumcised or not following the 321 00:32:30.190 --> 00:32:37.789 mosaic law, for not coming again under those commandments. We need not fear 322 00:32:37.950 --> 00:32:40.869 these things, for we have all that we could ever need in Jesus Christ, 323 00:32:42.710 --> 00:32:47.220 freely given to us by God himself. It's in that freedom, of 324 00:32:47.380 --> 00:32:52.660 course, that Paul says we are now free to obey. We are free 325 00:32:52.980 --> 00:32:57.859 to give to God the works that he has called us to give, but 326 00:32:57.980 --> 00:33:04.049 we don't give them as something that is attempting to earn our righteousness, but 327 00:33:04.170 --> 00:33:07.490 we give them, as he said earlier, a few verses back. I'm 328 00:33:07.529 --> 00:33:13.920 in Chapter Two meurely as a sacrificial offering, as an act of worship and 329 00:33:14.039 --> 00:33:19.079 praise to the God of grace who has saved us. May God grant us 330 00:33:19.079 --> 00:33:27.630 this kind of maturity to rejoice, to be on guard and to live lives 331 00:33:28.190 --> 00:33:34.230 according to faith, faith not in ourselves, but faith in Christ, Jesus 332 00:33:34.349 --> 00:33:37.269 our Lord. Let us pray