IN WHAT DO YOU TRUST
Philippians 3:4-8 although I myself might have confidence even in the flesh. If anyone else has a mind to put confidence in the flesh, I far more: 5 circumcised the eighth day, of the nation 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 the righteousness which is in the Law, found blameless. 7 But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8 More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ,
INTRODUCTION: CONFIDENCE IS DEFINED AS HAVING FULL TRUST OR FAITH IN SOMETHING. THIS PRESENTS THE PERSON SEEKING TO FOLLOW JESUS CHRIST WITH A DILEMMA. IN HAT DID WE TRUST AND IN WHAT DO WE TRUST TODAY FOR OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH CHRIST.
ONE AREA OF TRUST HINGES TO OUR STANDING AND THE OTHER AREA OF TRUST HINGES TO OUR STATE.
I. CONFIDENCE IN THE FLESH
IT TAKES MANY FORMS AND ALL OF THEM ARE LACKING AND ULTIMATELY LEAD US INTO A FALSE SENSE CREATED BY SELF-PRIDE.
a. PAUL SAYS HE HAS CONFIDENCE
i. HE HAS BEEN PERSUADED
ii. HE HAS AND ASSURANCE
b. PAUL WARNS OTHERS NOT TO HAVE CONFIDENCE
i. DIFFERENT WORD
1. DO NOT BELIEVE IN
2. DO NOT BE PERSUADED BY
c. IMPORTANT TO ASK THE QUESTION – WHAT PERSUADES US TO HAVE CONFIDENCE IN THE WRONG THINGS?
i. WE COULD SAY OTHERS PERSUADED ME, BUT THEY WERE OR ARE ONLY THE SYMPTOM
ii. WE COULD SAY, I PERSUADED MYSELF
iii. WHEN WE LOOK AT THE SCRIPTURE, WE SEE A DIFFERENT PERSUADER.
Romans 7:14-19 For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin. 15 For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate. 16 But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that the Law is good.
17 So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. 18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. 19 For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want.
WE NEED TO UNDERSTAND THAT WHAT GETS US INTO TROUBLE IS OUR OLD NATURE. IT IS AGAINST GOD! HAS BEEN FROM THE BEGINNING, AND STILL IS NOW!
II. AREAS OF FLESHLY PRIDE THAT PRODUCE INCORRECT CONFIDENCE
a. SALVATION AND SANCTIFICATION IS NOT ACHIEVED BY RITUAL
i. CIRCUMCISED ON THE EIGHT DAY
ii. SPEAKS TO FOLLOWING THE PROCEDURES OF THE TIME
iii. SPEAKS OF BEING A NATURAL BORN JEW, NOT A CONVERT TO JUDAISM
iv. FOLLOWED THE JEWISH RITUALS OF HIS TIME.
v. WE NEED TO BE CAREFUL THAT WE ARE NOT USING THE RELIGIOUS RITUALS OF OUR TIME AS EVIDENCE OF OUR SALVATION.
WE SEE THAT RIGHT NOW WITH PEOPLE USING THEIR NATIONALITY AND THE BENEFITS OF THAT NATIONALITY (PASSPORT) TO IMPORT OR TRY TO IMPORT TERRORISM INTO COUNTRIES.
vi. WHAT WE DO SHOULD ALWAYS BE A RESPONSE TO WHAT GOD HAS ALREADY DONE AND NOT A MEANS TO GET GOD TO DO SOMETHING
b. SALVATION AND SANCTIFICATION ARE NOT ACHIEVED BY RELATIONSHIP OR RACE
i. PAUL SAID HE RELIED ON THE FACT THAT HE WAS ONE OF GOD’S CHOSEN PEOPLE
ii. HE WAS A PHYSICAL DESCENDENT OF ABRAHAM THROUGH JACOB
iii. PAUL WAS OF PURE STOCK
iv. MANY TIME PEOPLE LOOK TO THEIR RELATIONSHIPS OR UPBRINGING AS EVIDENCE OF THEIR SALVATION
WE NEED TO REMEMBER THAT IT IS NOT THE PURITY OF OUR BLOOD THAT SETS US APART TO GOD, BUT THE SHEDDING OF HIS BLOOD!
c. SALVATION AND SANCTIFICATION ARE NOT ACHIEVED THROUGH RESPECTABILITY OR RANK
i. PAUL MENTIONS THAT HE WAS OF THE TRIBE OF BENJAMIN.
ii. THE TRIBE OF BENJAMIN WAS THE ONLY TRIBE TO STAND WITH JUDAH OVER THE CORRECT MANNER OF WORSHIP WHEN THE OTHER TRIBES DEFECTED AND THE KINGDOM WAS SPLIT.
iii. THE FIRST KING, SAUL WAS FROM BENJAMIN
iv. WHEN THE JEWS RETURNED FROM EXILE THEY RE-ESTABLISHED THEMSELVES FIRST AROUND THE LAND THAT HAD BEEN OCCUPIED BY BENJAMIN AND JUDAH
v. PAUL WAS SAYING THAT HE WAS FROM THE UPPER CRUST OF ISRAEL
SALVATION AND SANCTIFICATION IS ALWAYS BASED ON WHAT WAS DONE FOR US. IN THE EYES OF GOD, NONE OF US WERE BORN INTO THE RIGHT FAMILY – WE WERE ALL ADOPTED IN!
d. SALVATION AND SANCTIFICATION ARE NOT ACHIEVED THROUGH RELIGION OR TRADITION
i. PAUL WAS A HEBREW OF HEBREWS
ii. PURE JEWISH, STILL KNOWING THE LANGUAGE, ETC.
iii. PAUL DID EVERYTHING THE JEWISH WAY AND WAS KNOWN FOR HIS ORTHODOX POSITION
KIND OF REMINDS ME OF ONE OF MY FAVORITE STATEMENTS – GOING TO CHURCH MAKES YOU A CHRISTIAN AS MUCH AS GOING TO McDONALDS MAKES YOU MAKES YOU A HAMBURGER. GET MY POINT?
e. SALVATION AND SANCTIFICATION ARE NOT ACHIEVED THROUGH REPUTATION OR SINCERITY
i. PAUL WAS A PHARISEE
ii. BEING A PHARISEE MEANS BEING DEVOTED TO THE LAW
iii. NOT JUST THE FIRST FIVE BOOKS OF THE BIBLE BUT THE WHOLE OF RABBINICAL TEACHING!
iv. TO BE A PHARISEE WAS TO BE A MEMBER OF AN ELITE, INFLUENTIAL AND RESPECTED GROUP
v. THEY WERE SINCERE IN THEIR ACTIONS – BUT IN MANY WAYS THEIR ACTIONS WERE OUTWARD.
IT IS NOT WHAT IS ON THE OUTSIDE THAT IS IMPORTANT IN THE CHRISTIAN LIFE, BUT WHAT IS ON THE INSIDE! JUST THINK, HAVE YOU EVER WRAPPED A VERY INEXPENSIVE GIFT IN A VERY EXPENSIVE WAY? HMMMM.
f. SALVATION AND SANCTIFICATION ARE NOT ACHIEVED THROUGH LEGALISM
i. PAUL USED HIS LEGALISM TO PERSECUTE THE CHURCH
ii. LITERALLY THE WORD MEANS TO CAUSE HAVOK
iii. USED OF A WILD BOAR THAT WOULD RIP UP SAPLINGS IN ORDER TO GET AT THE TENDER ROOTS
iv. ONCE LEGALISM TAKES HOLD IN OUR LIVES THE BIBLICAL CONCEPTS OF GRACE AND MERCY LEAVE. THEY CANNOT EXIST TOGETHER.
v. WHEN YOU THINK ABOUT IT – THE CHURCH WAS PERSECUTED BECAUSE JESUS DID NOT FIT INTO THE JEWISH MINDSET OF WHAT A MESSIAH SHOULD BE!
WHEN PEOPLE DICTATE HOW OTHER PEOPLE SHOULD WORSHIP, IT IS A CALL FOR SERIOUS INTROSPECTION LEST WE BECOME BLINDED TO OUR OWN WALK WITH GOD!
PAUL THEN MAKES A SIGNIFICANT CHANGE AND LOOKS AT CHRIST.
IN DOING SO HE IS MAKING A STATEMENT THAT HUMAN ACHIEVEMENT CAN NEVER EARN REDEMPTION AND IS NOT EQUATED WITH GOD’S RIGHTEOUSNESS.
III. CONFIDENCE IN CHRIST
a. PROVIDES THE BENEFIT OF KNOWING CHRIST!
i. TRULY KNOWING JESUS IS MORE VALUABLE THAN EVERYTHING ELSE I WAS USING TO GAIN GOD’S ACCEPTANCE
ii. THEY WERE ALL WRONG
iii. THEY DID NOT PRODUCE WHAT WAS HOPED FOR!
iv. ALLOWS ME TO SEE THEIR TRUE WORTH
1. WHEN I SEE THEIR TRUE WORTH, I WILL SWITCH MY CONFIDENCE FROM THEM AND TO CHRIST!
b. PROVIDES THE BENEFIT OF RIGHTEOUSNESS
i. RIGHTEOUSNESS IS ONE OF THOSE ALL OR NOTHING THINGS
ii. CANNOT BE A LITTLE RIGHTEOUS – I AM OR I AM NOT
iii. GOD’S STANDARD FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS IS PERFECTION, AND WE ARE FAR FROM PERFECT
iv. MY RIGHTEOUSNESS IS NOT BASED ON WHAT I TRUSTED IN, BUT WHO I AM TRUSTING IN!
c. PROVIDES ME THE BENEFIT OF POWER
i. NO GREATER POWER WAS EVER DISPLAYED THEN THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS
d. PROVIDES ME THE BENEFIT OF PERSPECTIVE
i. I CAN NOW CLEARLY SEE THAT WHATEVER SUCCESS I HAVE IS A REFLECTION OF GOD’S APPROVAL; NOT EARNING GOD’S APPROVAL!
IN CHRIST, I AM AWARE THAT ALL THE GOOD THINGS I MAY HAVE DONE ARE IN REALITY BAD THINGS IF THEY KEPT ME FROM THE BEST THING – CHRIST!
