We are at a crucial time in our nation, and the best response we can have to all that’s going on around us is to seek the Lord. As Christians we should vote responsibly. We should be light and salt. We should engage the culture with the truth of God’s word. But our most powerful weapon against evil is prayer. We need divine intervention. Without revival this country will go down a path of destruction. There is a lot on the line right now. And God has promised to intervene if His people will humble themselves, pray, seek His face, and turn from their wicked ways (2 Chron. 7:14). The future of America depends on what God’s people do now!
On September 26th Christians will be gathering in Washington D.C. for a day of prayer and repentance. It is called “The Return.”i I encourage you to join in that effort in whatever way you can. We will be hosting a gathering here in Springfield to participate in the event. The following day, September 27th, at sunset begins the most holy day on the Jewish calendar, Yom Kippur (The Day of Atonement). That will conclude September 28th at sunset. It is recognized as a special time of prayer and fasting. Not out of a legal obligation, but out of a desire to draw near to the Lord, use it as an opportunity to seek the Lord. We might just get a spiritual breakthrough that would usher in a mighty move of God!
We want to continue in our study of Philippians. In chapter three Paul has been sharing his passion to know and serve Christ. In verse 17 he tells his readers to follow his example and the example of others who live their lives in the same way. Then in verses 18-19 he cautions them about people they should not follow. In Philippians 3:18-19 he writes, “For, as I have often told you before and now tell you again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. 19 Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is set on earthly things.”ii Notice Paul identifies these people primarily by their lifestyle: “many live as enemies of the cross of Christ.” Some of what they say may sound pretty good, but when you look at the way they live their lives you see that at heart, they are “enemies of the cross of Christ.”
Last week we identified two ways people position themselves as enemies of the cross. One is doctrinal; they reject the atonement in the cross. When Jesus died on the cross, He paid the penalty for our sin. He redeemed us from the curse of sin and provided the only way of salvation. Anyone who rejects that biblical truth makes himself an enemy of the cross.iii The other way people live as an enemy of the cross is to reject the crucified life. As we examine the description Paul gives of these people in verse 19, we see that is primarily what Paul has in mind. Jesus said, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me” (Luke 9:23). That message is not attractive to the carnal mind.iv It is not the lifestyle the natural man wants to live. It takes a supernatural transformation to make us a true disciple of Christ. A false professor of Christ will not embrace that lifestyle. He will use the name of Christ to get what he wants. The true disciple will lay his life at the feet of Christ and say from the heart, “Not my will, but Yours, be done.”v
We had begun examining the four descriptions Paul gives of these enemies of the cross in verse 19 when we ran out of time last week. Verse 19 says, “Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is set on earthly things.” Our message today will focus on these four descriptions.
I. “Their destiny is destruction.”
That’s the end result of their choices. That’s the end result of their rejection of Christ’s cross—eternal loss, eternal doom. It is eternal darkness and shame.vi We discussed this description last week.
II. “Their god is their stomach.”
This is a way of saying they are self-indulgent. They live to satisfy their carnal desires. The Christian life requires an ongoing denial of those desires. Paul wrote in Colossians 3:5-6, “Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. 6 Because of these, the wrath of God is coming.” These enemies of the cross don’t want to do that. They want the lifestyle they choose. They want a message that justifies that kind of behavior. They don’t want a message that tells them to put all that to death. So, they gravitate toward a message that promises liberty to do as they please.
Peter deals with this in his second epistle. Follow with me as I read beginning in 2 Peter 2:1.
“But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves. [notice how this coincides with Paul’s description in our text: ‘Their destiny is destruction.’] 2 Many [not a few, but many] will follow their depraved conduct and will bring the way of truth into disrepute.”
Disrepute means it will be held in low esteem. It will be disgraced and slandered.vii These false teachers will convince enough people of their lies that the true message of the cross will be considered archaic, unenlightened, and foolish. They will call good evil and evil good. There was a time when people acknowledged the truth of the gospel and simply said they didn’t want to follow it. But this is a different scenario. The deception is so widespread that they agree with one another that the New Testament message of the cross is not valid.
Verse 3: “ In their greed these teachers will exploit you with fabricated stories. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping.”
We are rapidly moving into this in America. I pray God will send a revival and turn it all around. But without that, the preacher of the true gospel will not be esteemed. He will be slandered along with his message. And anyone who agrees with him will receive the same treatment. Look how people who stand for the truth are already being treated in the liberal media. They are cast as the bad guys trying to disrupt the good plans of the new world order. It’s an early stage that leads to persecution.
Peter concludes the chapter saying: “17 These people are springs without water and mists driven by a storm. Blackest darkness is reserved for them. 18 For they mouth empty, boastful words and, by appealing to the lustful
desires of the flesh, they entice people who are just escaping from those who live in error. 19 They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity—for ‘people are slaves to whatever has mastered them.’ 20 If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and are overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning. 21 It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them. 22 Of them the proverbs are true: ‘A dog returns to its vomit,’ and, ‘A sow that is washed returns to her wallowing in the mud.’”
Notice Peter is not talking about people who have no knowledge of traditional Christianity. These may be people who grew up in church. Verse 20: “If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and are overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning.”
The current movement called Progressive Christianity fits Paul’s description in Philippians 3:19. Their leaders claim to be improving Christianity by taking away the commandments of God and replacing them with their own message of tolerance. We know they are “enemies of the cross of Christ” by the lifestyle they advocate. It is not a lifestyle of purity and obedience to God’s word. It is a so-called freedom to follow one’s own preferred lifestyle. If it’s a homosexual lifestyle, that’s okay. If it’s a lifestyle of heterosexual sin, that’s okay. If it includes the murder of unborn children, that’s okay. Their pathway to happiness is to follow one’s own carnal desires.
Here are a few ways they define themselves in ProgressiveChristianity.org.
(1) “Affirm that the teachings of Jesus provide but one of many ways to experience ‘God,’ the Sacredness, Oneness and Unity of life, and that we can draw from diverse sources of wisdom, including Earth, in our spiritual journey.”
We don’t have time to unpack this, but their position stands in direct opposition to Jesus’s words in John 14:6 where He said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” The Apostle John affirmed this when he wrote, “He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life” (1 John 5:12).viii There are not many ways to heaven. There is only one way and that is through Jesus. His death on the cross bought salvation. Reject that, and you have rejected eternal life.
(2) “Seek and create community that is inclusive of ALL people, including but not limited to:
Conventional Christians and questioning skeptics,
Believers and agnostics,
Those of all races, cultures, and nationalities
Those of all sexual orientations and all gender identities,
Those of all classes and abilities,
Those historically marginalized,
All creatures and plant life."
While this inclusiveness sounds loving to the natural mind, it contains compromise contrary to God’s word. God does not accept all sexual orientations. In fact, He says in 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, “Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.” After describing the eternal habitation of the godly, John writes in Revelation 22:15, “Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.”
They sandwich in their lies between other statements that are not only right but attractive. We welcome “those of all classes and abilities.” We welcome “those historically marginalized.” We seek all these people. But we don’t form community with them living in ungodly lifestyles. After listing those who would not inherit the kingdom of God, Paul adds in 1 Corinthians 6:11: “And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.”
We all come to God as sinners but God builds community with those who have been washed and delivered from sinful lifestyles. Those who defend those lifestyles are excluded. In fact, the church was commanded to exclude them if they refused to repent (1 Cor. 5).
(3) “Find grace in the search for understanding and believe there is more value in questioning with an open mind and open heart, than in absolutes or dogma.”ix
They have carefully worded this, but it is a rejection of absolutes in Scripture. It is a rejection of truth that is rooted and grounded in the God who does not change.x It is a rejection of the faith that was once for all delivered unto the saints (Jude 3).xi In the same way the Serpent approached Eve, their first step of their deception begins with “hath God said?” They first undermine confidence in what God has said in His word. Then they replace it with their own counterfeit form of Christianity.
A leader in this movement, Roger Wolsey, wrote a book entitled Kissing Fish: Christianity for People Who Don't Like Christianity. That title alone should alert us to his appeal. He is not evangelizing sinners. Like most cults, he is targeting confused, disgruntled followers of Christianity. He is picking them off one-by-one like a predator bringing down the weakest ones in a herd.
Their deception is shrewd. Instead of telling people to reject Christianity, they simply offer a revised version. But their version guts the gospel of its content, then replaces it with their own cause centered on saving the environment and social justice.xii
Wolsey writes on his website, “I'm a social justice advocate and I embrace all human beings as fellow children of God who are fully loved by the Creator just as they are. I’m a straight, white, cis-gender male who is aware of my privilege and am resolved to use this privilege to help empower everyone—including those who are oppressed or marginalized by our current social structures.”
They replace God’s call to biblical purity and personal obedience with advocating for social justice. However, the worst violation of social justice is abortion, and they support abortion. In the name of social justice some of them riot in the streets. The deception that begins with a message of tolerance, ends with violence.
We are for social justice, and we oppose oppression. But that is not an acceptable substitute for biblical sanctification. God’s salvation begins with regeneration (Gal. 6:15) followed by submission to His commandments. Social justice is not a means of salvation; it is a fruit of changed hearts. The social justice promoted by Progressive Christianity strains at a gnat and swallows a camel. It not only allows for the violent killing of unborn children, but it promotes such injustice. This the height of hypocrisy. Social justice must begin with the defense of the most helpless and innocent in our society. It must begin with the most atrocious form of injustice. Their banner is social justice, but they certainly don’t live up to that banner.
Satan has been working a long time to set up today’s assault on biblical Christianity. It began with the enlightenment in the seventeenth century that laid a foundation for the twisted form of higher criticism in theology that denied inspiration and any possibility of the miraculous.xiii These rationalists undermined confidence in Scripture and sent many into Liberalism. Once people’s confidence in Scripture was eroded, then they could be persuaded to lay aside what God had revealed in His word. They could rationalize and justify whatever beliefs they wanted to propagate.xiv When the movement toward Modernism or Liberalism was going on, the Evangelical Movement as a whole held to the authority of Scripture. But in recent years the Progressive Movement has led many Evangelicals astray, especially the younger generation. One of their leaders, Brian McLaren, calls it “The Great Spiritual Migration.”xv I call it a great falling away (2 Thess. 2:3).
Paul’s warning in 2 Timothy 3 is an alert for us today and a good commentary on our text in Philippians 3:19. There he writes: Verses 1-5: “But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days [KJV says ‘perilous times. The Greek word, chalepos, means ‘hard to bear, troublesome, dangerous, harsh, fierce, savage.” It may carry the idea of ‘reducing the strength.’xvi]. 2 People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4 treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.”
Notice Progressive Christianity has ‘a form of godliness.’ Their form does not emphasize obedience to God’s boundaries. Their form emphasizes tolerance and social justice. That form gives people the false sense they are doing the right things.
Verse 6: “They are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over gullible women, who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires, 7 always learning but never able to come to a knowledge of the truth.”
Those in Progressive Christianity boast in this. Instead of accepting absolutes in Scripture, they are ‘always learning but never able to come to a knowledge of the truth.’ That is a handy state to be in if you want to set your own course without the ‘truth’ setting it for you.
Verse 8: “ Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so also these teachers oppose the truth. They are men of depraved minds, who, as far as the faith is concerned, are rejected. 9 But they will not get very far because, as in the case of those men, their folly will be clear to everyone.” However, that doesn’t always happen immediately. Sometimes we have to trust God to bring it out in His timing. Then Paul contrasts that to his own lifestyle just as he has done in Philippians 3.
Paul’s warning in our text and Peter’s warning are applicable today. We are living in perilous times. Many are departing from the faith.xvii We say that with sadness in our hearts. It is heartbreaking to see the emerging generation being deceived by the false teachers who have been turned loose in America. Behind those false teachers are deceiving spirits seducing people into error. It’s sad to see people rioting in the streets in the name of social justice. The Progressive Christianity deception has contributed to today’s chaos in America. We support all American’s constitutional right to peaceful protest. But rioting in the name of social justice should not be allowed. The pain and destruction they are inflicting on people is ironically social injustice.
III. “Their glory is in their shame.”
They boast, they glory in the freedom they have. Those who should be ashamed of a homosexual lifestyle boasts of the right to live that way. The couple living in fornication boasts of their so-called liberty in Christ. The businessman who pays low wages and cheats his customers boasts about his bottom-line profits.
Look at the people who boldly defend abortion “rights.” They do not blush over their own sins or the sins of their friends. To them it is a woman’s right to destroy that unborn child. “Their glory is in their shame.” They are so deceived that they do not know up from down morally.xviii The deception runs so deep that they do not feel conviction when someone challenges their position or lifestyle. They slander the person who warns them, and they continue in their evil ways.
Jeremiah dealt with people like this in his day. Jeremiah 8:11-12 says concerning the false prophets, “‘For they have healed the hurt of the daughter of My people slightly, Saying, ‘Peace, peace!’ When there is no peace. 12 Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? No! They were not at all ashamed, Nor did they know how to blush. Therefore they shall fall among those who fall; In the time of their punishment They shall be cast down,’ says the Lord.” It is one thing to be in sin and ashamed of it. It goes to another level when the sin is justified and there is no conviction of sin—just a bold defense of the iniquity. That is where many people are today. That’s the condition of Israel when God dropped His judgment on them and sent them into captivity. “Their glory is in their shame.”
IV. “Their mind is set on earthly things.”
They live for what they can get in this life. They give little or no thought to the life to come. I was recently speaking at a funeral that had a broad range of people attending. When I alerted people to the fact that one day they would die and pass into eternity, I got a harsh response from some. The message was too disturbing. They did not want to hear it. They wanted to stay focused on positive things about this life. For me death and entering the presence of the Lord is a pleasant thought: “To die is gain.”xix But for the person who lives only for what they can get out of this life, it is not so pleasant.
The “earthly things “may be carnal pleasures. It could be fame and acceptance from others. It could be success in a career or material possessions. Different people are drawn to different things. But these people have their attention on earthly, temporal things. They are not interested in the heavenly calling Paul has been talking about earlier in this chapter.
In verse 20-21 of Philippians 3 Paul provides a sharp contrast to his description in verse 19. He writes, “But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.”
These “enemies of the cross” set their mind “on earthly things.” They are focused on the pleasures and things of this world. In contrast “our citizenship is in heaven.” In contrast “we eagerly await a Savior from there.”
These “enemies of the cross” glory in shameful things. But our boast is in the Lord. “Their god is their stomach.” But our God is “the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.”
“Their destiny is destruction.” But our destiny is a resurrection into glory where we will be with the Lord forever.
The contrast Paul makes here is striking. Some people will spend eternity in eternal darkness and shame. Others will spend eternity in eternal bliss and glory. That difference depends entirely on the person’s relationship with Christ. If Jesus is your Lord and Savior, you have a wonderful future ahead of you.
If you do not have a relationship with Christ, you can enter into that right now. You don’t have to wait. You don’t have to get better. All you have to do is confess your sin—turn from it as you turn to the Lord. That’s what repentance means: you turn from your sin. You stop pursuing those things, and you start pursuing the will of God. You can’t do that without God’s help. But if you choose that course, God will enable you to do it. If you will sincerely ask God to forgive you of your sins and change you from the inside out, He will do that. He will make a way for you that you could never make for yourself.
So will you acknowledge your sin and your need for a Savior? Will your surrender your life to God and to His will for you? If you want God to forgive you and make you His own, then pray this prayer with me. Open your heart to Him and He will come in.
Dear God, please forgive my sins. [Repeat] Come into my life and change me. [Repeat] Deliver me from evil. [Repeat] Give me a heart to love you and obey you. [Repeat] I surrender my life to you. [Repeat] Lord Jesus, I believe you died on the cross for my salvation. [Repeat] I believe you rose again. [Repeat] I ask you right now to come into my heart and cleanse me. [Repeat] I receive you as my Savior right now. [Repeat] Thank you for forgiving me. [Repeat] Thank you for coming into my heart and being my Savior. [Repeat] Amen. [Repeat]
ENDNOTES:
i The Return. Accessed 9/12/20 at https://thereturn.org/.
ii All Scripture quotes, unless indicated otherwise, are from the New International Version.
iii In his discussion of Jesus driving the money changers out of the temple, Brian McLaren gives his distorted interpretation that Jesus is protesting against the need to appease God’s anger against sin with the shedding of blood. McLaren writes, “Perhaps it is not merely the cost of sacrifice that Jesus protests. Perhaps it is the whole belief system associated with sacrifice, based on the fundamental, long-held belief that God is angry and needs to be appeased with blood. Perhaps Jesus is overturning that belief along with the cashiers’ tables, along with the whole religious system built upon it.” Brian McLaren, The Great Spiritual Migration: How the World’s Largest Religion is Seeking a Better Way to Be Christian (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 2016) 29. But Paul tells us in Romans 1:18, “The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness.” Sin and rebellion does provoke the wrath of God that must be appeased in accordance with the justice of God. The appeasement must come through the shedding of blood according to Hebrews 9:22: “. .
. without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.” And Peter affirms, “For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect (1 Pet. 1:18-19).
iv Cf. Rom. 8:8; Gal. 5:24; Jude 10.
v Cf. Luke 22:42, NKJV.
vi Cf. Dan. 12:2; Jude 13; Luke 12:5; Rev. 20:15.
vii The Greek word translated disrepute is blasphemeo from which we get our English word blaspheme. Zodhiates defines it: “To blaspheme, revile. To hurt the reputation or smite with reports or words, speak evil of, slander, rail.” Spiros Zodhiates, The Complete Word Study Dictionary: New Testament (Iowa Falls, IA: World Bible Publishers, Inc., 1994) s.v. no. 987 “blasphemeo,” 340.
viii See Richard W. Tow, Authentic Christianity: Studies in 1 John (Bloomington, IN: WestBow Press, 2019) 354-366.
ix “The 8 Points of Progressive Christianity,” The Center for Progressive Christianity. Accessed Sept. 12, 2020 at https://progressivechristianity.org/the-8-points/.
x Mal. 3:6; Heb. 13:8.
xi 1 John 2:24: “See that what you have heard from the beginning remains in you. If it does, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father.” Proponents of Progressive Christianity seek to change the message given by Jesus through the Apostles. But John opposes the antichrist spirit behind than. He tells believers to stick with the Apostolic message. See Richard W. Tow, Authentic Christianity, 133-145.
xii Proponent of Progressive Christianity, Brian McLaren writes, “What are we moving towards? My most direct answer would be that we are migrating towards a profound conversion in Christian faith. We’re seeking a change in the content, not just the can; in substance, not just in style or structure.” Brian McLaren, The Great Spiritual Migration, 9.
xiii Canon Dyson Hague, “The History of the Higher Criticism.” Accessed 9/12/20 at https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/torrey_ra/fundamentals/01.cfm.
xiv Cf. “Behold, they have rejected the word of the Lord; So what wisdom do they have?” (Jer. 8:9, NKJV). Also see Jer. 6:19.
xv McLaren. The title of his book is The Great Spiritual Migration.
xvi Strong’s Concordance, NT5467.
xvii Cf. Jude 1:3; Ps. 11:3; Prov. 22:28; Jer. 18:15.
xviii Isaiah 5:20: “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.”
xix Phil. 1:21.
