Philippians 3:4-9

Please open up in your copy of God's Word with me to Philippians chapter 3.

Philippians 3 · chapter mention

! Philippians chapter 3.

Philippians 3 · chapter mention

Our main text for this morning is going to be from verses 4-9.

! This morning I want to read starting in verse 2.

This is the Word of God and it reads,

Look out for the dogs, look out for the evildoers, look out for those who mutilate the flesh.

For we are the real circumcision who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus

and put no confidence in the flesh.

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.

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.

As to zeal, a persecutor of the church.

As to righteousness under the law, blameless.

But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.

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 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.

That I may know him and the power of his resurrection.

And may share in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death.

That by any means possible, I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

God, this morning I just pray that you would feed your sheep, not by human will or exertion,

but for your good and for the good of your people, that your word would go forth.

In your name we pray, amen.

So, during Paul's day, author of this letter, the early church found itself in much division.

Certain groups were exalting themselves over one another because of cultural differences,

ethnicity, worldly status, what teaching or whose teaching they should follow.

I think that should sound familiar to us.

There was a particular disagreement with which the New Testament writers spent a great deal of ink

addressing differences between Jewish and non-Jewish believers.

Gentile believers in the Roman Empire sought to exalt themselves above Jewish believers

because of their worldly skill or because of their status within the empire.

Think like Paul's appeal to the Corinthians not to view himself as lesser

because he laid aside oratory skill or because he was poor and shared in Christ's sufferings,

unlike the sarcastically named super apostles.

Likewise, Jewish believers were treating Gentiles as second-rate Christians

because they were uncircumcised, didn't follow Hebrew feastal traditions, and so forth.

Nathan last week spoke of the Judaizers, and this is a particular party of people who taught

that circumcision was necessary in order for salvation.

And in Galatians, Paul calls this belief a false gospel.

So then adding one single work to the work, the finished work of Christ, makes it null.

In our passage today, Paul is arguing that he has more of a reason for confidence in the flesh

to approach God in righteousness than do any of the Judaizers.

So if Paul's righteousness isn't enough, the Judaizers, and likewise our righteousness,

is not enough either to approach God.

We need a righteousness which comes from the outside, an alien righteousness from Christ.

So to look at our text this morning, I've broken it up into four headings,

and I'll go through them, naming them again as I go.

Firstly, we see Paul's pre-conversion confidence.

Paul's pre-conversion confidence.

Secondly, the great transfer of confidence.

Thirdly, indicators of confidence in the flesh.

And fourthly, placing confidence in Christ alone.

A lot of confidence this morning.

So Paul, in our passage, begins by listing off seven resume items, if you will.

Four of these items are from birth, and three of them are attained through his own work.

So the first item in this list is a proper beginning.

Paul was circumcised on the eighth day, he says.

And this was a sign of the covenant of God with his people.

It was meant to point forward to a time in that person's life,

and a time in general when God's word would cut away the unrighteousness of the heart.

Paul had done what God commanded and what the Judaizers would require,

and yet he counts it as rubbish, as trash, as refuse, in order to stand before righteous God.

So maybe we, some of us in this room, grew up in the church.

Some of you were likely dedicated as a little baby, or maybe even sprinkled.

Not in this church, but maybe sprinkled somewhere.

Secondly, we see Paul's proper nationality.

Paul was of the nation of Israel, which were, of course, God's chosen people,

who were given the oracles of God.

And he says in Romans 3 that this is of much value.

He spoke, God spoke with them, he sent them the prophets, made his covenant with them,

and yet this nationality gave him no righteousness before God.

There are many in our culture, particularly here in the South,

who would view America as God's new chosen people, as the promised land,

viewing American interests at the expense of all others as equated with moral goodness.

This is not a proper view for myriad reasons that we won't be going into today.

But God works in this world in spite of the sinfulness of man,

not because of the goodness of man.

And even if you believe that we are in God's country,

Paul's point here is clear that our nationality gives us no standing before a holy God.

Thirdly, we see Paul's proper lineage.

Now, I don't know how much you know about the Benjamites.

I certainly didn't know a whole lot before preparing for this text.

But Paul says that he's of the tribe of Benjamin.

And this was the only tribe to remain faithful to the throne of David along with the tribe of Judah.

And together, those two tribes formed the southern kingdom of Judah,

which is the less evil of the two, Old Testament Israel.

Benjamin also produced Israel's first king, being Saul.

And Jerusalem was located within Benjamin's borders.

So these people had been among the most faithful to God.

Now, while we may not take pride in our ethnic lineage as much today,

we certainly have a tendency to feel pride in our spiritual lineage.

We act as though our parents' or grandparents' faith somehow reflects on our own standing before God.

We may identify ourselves with the Reformers, the Puritans, Augustinian philosophy,

Piper, MacArthur, Dever, or Rainer.

You like that company?

Yeah.

So while these are certainly faithful examples with their flaws,

a more in-depth knowledge imbues us with no righteousness.

Fourthly, we see Paul's proper upbringing.

Paul says that he was a Hebrew of Hebrews.

Different people had different perspectives on what that means.

But certainly, Paul had a proper upbringing.

He was raised according to Jewish tradition, as religiously Hebrew as he could be.

Many of you in the room probably went to Awana, your youth group.

You memorized the right verses.

You might know the catechisms.

And these are filthy rags to clothe us before a holy God.

Next, we have the proper standard of living.

So we're getting into the things that Paul has accomplished himself.

So Paul is a Pharisee, meaning that he was among the most committed to knowing and understanding the very word of God.

He believed it.

He taught it.

He memorized it.

And he did everything he could to live by it, according to his unbelieving heart.

The historian Josephus notes that there were never more than 6,000 Pharisees at a time.

So Paul is in elite company.

And he even notes elsewhere that he rose above his peers in standing as a religious leader.

The Pharisees humble me, not because they're scary or intimidating or had a lot of knowledge, but because they were following after the right God.

They were using his very word.

We're way more devoted than I am or many of us are to studying his word.

And yet we're making twice other people, twice the children of hell as they were, to use Jesus's words.

And we are a very knowledge heavy congregation.

This is not a bad thing.

It's commendable.

But we must regularly remind ourselves that our justification or approval or standing before God comes not from a theological perspective or a certain tribe.

Next, we see Paul's proper sincerity.

He says that he was a zealous persecutor of the church.

From Paul's perspective, if Christ was not indeed the Messiah, he would have rightly seen himself as a protector of the truth.

After stoking in the numerous Old Testament examples of God's people being led astray, he was not about to let a new sect of God's people be taken away by a false Messiah.

Likewise, our passion for good works, our going on mission trip, mission trips for a week or years.

The number of disciples or converts that result from our teaching don't elevate us in God's sight.

And lastly, we see his proper morality.

And I want to put a note here, maybe proper outward morality.

The Pharisees had devised a complex system of laws and of hedge laws, which were there to keep you from getting close to breaking the actual laws, which focus mostly on outward behavior.

While God's law was always meant to be an expression of inward faith, that he would have to be the one to grant mercy,

the Jews believed if they could act in accordance with the law and sacrifice when they felt short, then it would be enough to make them righteous.

Some of you have responded to altar calls, said the sinner's prayer, and have been baptized only to realize that it was all due to social pressure.

Many testimonies follow that pattern and only later coming to true repentance.

Now, while God certainly has worked through, and sometimes in spite of, some of these actions, the actions themselves, the right outward behaviors, give us no righteousness.

So, Paul has an impressive resume that we see here, certainly to that people that he's writing to more so than our context today,

because we know Jesus' teaching on the Pharisees.

But what are we to make of Saul and the Pharisees, and where did they go wrong?

I think sometimes we wrongly distance ourselves from seeing ourselves and our tendencies in the life of the Pharisees,

so we would be wise to not learn from their mistakes.

I don't know if that sentence made sense.

All right, you get what I'm saying.

So, let's look at Matthew chapter 5.

Matthew 5 · chapter mention

So, turn there with me.

It's the Sermon on the Mount.

Matthew chapter 5 and verse 17.

Matthew 5 · chapter mention

Jesus himself teaches here.

Do not think that I've come to abolish the law or the prophets.

I've not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them.

For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the law until all is accomplished.

Therefore, whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven.

But whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and the Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

So, Paul's family had kept the covenant.

They had stayed faithful to David's throne.

They knew God's law in and out.

They cleansed what they thought was the evil leaven among God's people.

And he did his best to keep the law.

Aren't these great things that we should find ourselves striving towards?

This seems like the camp that we would like to find ourselves in.

And it really comes down to one word from our text.

And that's the word confidence or trust.

We'll stick with confidence.

Paul's problem was not in his outward behavior.

The behaviors generally were correct.

But it came down to a tragically wrong understanding of the purpose of the law that many in our day continue to hold.

Now, the Pharisees, Old Testament Jews, would not have claimed to be sinless, else they would have not sacrificed.

Rather, they had confidence in their own ability to follow God's law, to cover over their sin with animal sacrifice,

in a way that did not rely on God for mercy and did not necessitate inward repentance.

And this is part of the reason why John the Baptist or baptizer's message was so poignant or pointed in that day and age,

calling Israel to repent.

Like, if they had a context for ongoing repentance, that probably would have made more sense to them.

The psalmist in Psalm 130 writes,

Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord, hear my voice.

Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my pleas for mercy.

If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, who could stand?

But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared.

I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope.

Sacrifices and obedience to the law were meant to be worshipful in nature,

as they recognized God as the only one who could grant mercy.

Right?

And this is simply not true of Old Testament Israel, or the way that they're painted in the Scripture.

That the outward behavior was not followed with inward worship and an inward attempt at sinlessness.

The Jewish people had turned obedience to the commands of God into acts of self-idolatry.

In their mind, mercy was deserved because of their obedience.

Their view of man was huge, and their view of God's mercy was small.

It is as if the Pharisee would answer back to God, to that question,

who could stand if you were to mark iniquities.

The Pharisee would raise their hand and say,

Me, I could stand. I have followed your law.

What arrogance.

Right?

What arrogance when we look backwards.

But we need to see that same arrogance in our own heart.

This is the same arrogance that we show when we put confidence in ourselves

to gain status before Holy God through our thoughts and through our deeds.

There are likely some in this room who aren't believers.

Most people, apart from Christ, consider themselves generally to be good people,

and you're probably no exception.

But hear Paul's word to us today.

Failing to bow the knee before Christ as Savior and Lord in repentance from sin,

whether for the first time or in an ongoing fashion as a believer,

Scripture expresses this arrogance and entitlement to waltz into God's presence,

however we like, on our own terms, because of our own goodness.

Paul has reminded us already that all will bow one day.

Some people will bow in humble submission and worship.

I hope that you are counted among that number.

And others will be crushed in the weight of God's wrath,

still recognizing Him as Lord, but not in worship and submission.

Do we dare prolong repentance another day?

So, what changed in Paul's case, and how do we change?

At Paul's conversion, there was a massive shift in his confidence.

So that brings us to point number two, the great transfer of confidence.

And this is really the main point of our text this morning.

Picking up in verse 7,

he says,

First, I want us to note the past and present transfers of confidence.

We see that Paul counted these specific areas that he's listed as loss,

but then he says,

Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ.

Right?

So both things are going on.

It's the past tense.

I did this.

Right?

It's perfect.

The perfect tense in the Greek.

It's a completed work.

And then the present tense.

So it's in the past and ongoing.

This kind of repentance and faith in Christ certainly happens at conversion,

but should be the practice or should be practiced in an ongoing fashion,

as Paul displays here.

Oftentimes when explaining the Christian life,

especially to unbelievers or those young in the faith,

it can be difficult to describe exactly what denying ourselves,

taking up our cross,

and following Christ means in more practical terms.

We're answering the question,

What does it mean to put faith in Christ?

At first, at conversion, and then in an ongoing fashion.

And I think our text helps us to understand at least one aspect of that.

So Paul here is speaking in accounting terms.

Okay?

He's talking about assets and liabilities,

talking about gains and losses.

Okay?

So on one side,

he has this list that he previously understood as adding to his righteousness

or giving him standing before God.

And then he's got a list of things that take away from his standing before God.

So on that list,

we found zeal,

obedience to the law,

keeping the covenant,

and sacrificing when he fell short on his list of gains.

And notice in our text that Paul does not merely erase these things

and replace them with Christ.

This is an important point.

Paul does not merely take those things off of the list on the gains column

and then put Christ on the gains list.

He actually transfers it.

Right?

He takes it from what was gain and moves it over to the loss column.

So what are we to make of this?

These things that he previously understood as gaining him status before God actually count against his righteousness before God.

So how is that?

How is it that Paul's outward obedience to the law actually counts against him?

And this is how.

When we see the acts of obedience as a means to attain righteousness or status in God's sight,

they become an abomination to the Lord.

When we see our acts of obedience as our means to attain righteousness or status in God's sight,

they become an abomination to the Lord.

This is the reason for the prophet Isaiah's harsh words in chapter 1

where the Lord describes Israel's multitude of sacrifices as a trampling of his courts.

Their feast as something that his soul hates and is burdensome.

Right?

These things that they were doing.

They were obeying part of what God had commanded to do,

and yet the Lord saw them as an abomination because of how they were counting them,

how they were considering those works.

Paul's example here shows us that even the most fervent acts of zeal can become a loss to us,

a hindrance to our relationship with the Lord.

So this means that good theology, reading good books, teaching the word, leading music,

or a small group and discipling can become gross and self-exalting depending on how we count them.

And the implications from this are huge.

Part of what it means then to deny ourselves and follow Christ

is to recognize that the outwardly moral things we did pre-conversion

were not attractive to God.

He did not look at you or me and see a hint or a glimmer of light that caught his eye

and made him think,

Oh, how I could use him for greatness.

Instead, he saw, rightly, a rebel, an enemy, someone who was spiritually dead,

and praise God, he sent his son to die for us in that state.

And now he does not see the believer's obedience and think,

Oh, what would I do if it weren't for Piper or for Platt or for, again, Nathan?

Faithfully teaching and leading his church.

Right?

This is not how God sees us.

And that may be a blow to your ego or our ego,

but there's great freedom in this message.

And that's what I want us to see today.

We are expendable tools in the Redeemer's hands.

He does not need you and he does not need me,

but he delights to use his people to accomplish his purposes.

And while this may feel like a shot to our ego,

as it likely did the Pharisee,

this reality will set us free from the weights that we place on ourselves.

For the unbeliever, to repent and believe in the gospel

means to take everything that you've been telling yourself

about why you're a good person and recognize the arrogance,

the self-exaltation, and the rebellion of that claim,

as Paul does in our text.

You have placed yourself as judge over God's word,

and the Lord will by no means clear the guilty.

For the believer, this looks like vigilance

to keep our regular acts of obedience from slipping into self-righteousness.

This can be really subtle.

So I want to give us some indicators

as to when we may be putting our confidence in the flesh.

That we believe gives us standing before God.

So we're not moving away from the text,

but we're going to set it aside

and then come back to the text for the solutions

of how we get rid of this confidence in the flesh.

So I have four indicators of confidence in the flesh.

So this is sub point three, if you're taking notes.

Indicators of confidence in the flesh.

Two of them that we're going to talk about

are a bit more obvious,

and two a little bit more subtle.

And I hope that as we're thinking about these things

that we may be putting confidence in the flesh

that we didn't realize that we were.

I hope that you don't see them as a further burden on our shoulders

or a way that,

oh, now I'm falling short in a way that I didn't know I was.

Anytime that the Spirit reveals those things to us,

it's an invitation of freedom, right?

To turn away from that sin

and to live and think how God would have us live and think.

Okay, so first one,

first indicator of confidence in the flesh.

Any belief or perspective

that makes us feel superior to other believers.

Indeed, all ground is level at the foot of the cross.

And to be clear, that bar is set low, right?

The ground is level on a very low plane at the foot of the cross.

Apart from Christ, we are spiritually dead.

There were those, hopefully not in here,

who would teach that certain giftings

like tongues and prophecy or certain vocations

indicate a higher status in relationship with God.

Here, we're probably more likely to act or subtly speak

as though our theological outlook,

our viewpoint on schooling and parenting methods,

our beliefs about dating or courtship,

and I'll stop there,

indicate a more genuine relationship with God

or that He is more pleased with us

because of our enlightened state.

And there are certainly serious issues at stake.

I could go on in that list.

But the attitude that many,

or the attitude of derision that many in the faith

have on others outside of their particular camp

is troubling.

Dare we look down on,

or view ourselves higher than,

or mock such a brother or sister?

Where is our compassion for those led astray

by wolves in sheep's clothing,

as if we had something to do with keeping ourselves

from similar deception?

In the words of Francis Schaeffer,

there is nothing more ugly than Christian orthodoxy

without understanding or without compassion.

We must be careful not to let the love of truth

slip into an idolatry of the self

or a mockery of the souls led astray.

By way of advice,

talk to someone in that camp.

Expose yourself to a person with this or that belief,

remove it from the theoretical,

and see the damage that wrong belief can do.

Secondly,

second indicator of confidence in the flesh

is self-sufficiency.

Let's flip over to Galatians chapter 3.

Galatians 3 · chapter mention

I believe Nathan read this last week,

but I want to remind us of it this morning.

Galatians chapter 3.

Galatians 3 · chapter mention

Galatians chapter 3.

Galatians 3 · chapter mention

Are you so foolish,

having begun by the Spirit,

are you now being perfected by the flesh?

Did you suffer so many things in vain,

if indeed it was in vain?

Does he who supplies the Spirit to you

and works miracles among you

do so by works of the law

or by hearing with faith?

Like the Galatians,

many of us function as though

we are saved by hearing through faith,

but are made perfect for our own willpower,

intellect,

or record of righteous behavior.

Paul clearly here is saying

that our sanctification is no different

than our justification in this way.

It happens through hearing the Word of God

and receiving it with faith.

Now,

we have to work out

what the Spirit works into us.

We have to be obedient to be sure,

but it happens by hearing the Word of God

and receiving it with faith.

So what does this self-sufficiency look like?

It may look like burnout.

It may look like anxiety.

It may look like fear.

As we try to accomplish by ourselves

what the Spirit is meant to be working in and through us.

As I was prepping this yesterday,

Ross walked into the coffee shop that I was sitting in,

and I asked him what he thought were some ways

that Christians manifested confidence in the flesh,

and two things popped into his head

that I agreed with, obviously.

Firstly, he said,

Paul's resume sounds exhausting.

What a life and image to maintain.

For us,

it may feel like we're continually pouring out

without getting filled up

or caring mostly what others see

in and about us

rather than what God sees.

We often treat God,

secondly,

he said,

we often treat God

like we should treat our boss at work.

We try to handle the day-to-day on our own,

but if something big comes up

and we need help with it,

then we'll reach out to him for help.

If the very Son of God

was dependent on the Father,

how much more do we need him

as our daily spiritual sustenance?

So, how did God's sovereign reign over this world

and the realities of the freedom of the gospel

come to bear in your attitude

towards parenting,

towards career choice,

and towards evangelism?

Beloved, we are not in control

as much as we pretend like we are,

but we are stewards of the children God gives

and the opportunities that come our way.

This isn't always the case,

but oftentimes fear and anxiety arise

as we see the guise of our control slipping

and a deeply rooted discontentment

with the way God has decided to rule our lives

shows itself forth.

Third indicator of confidence in the flesh

is self-pity.

Okay, so this one,

we're getting into more subtle realms here.

Self-pity.

Now, this may seem counterintuitive,

but feeling sorry for oneself

is an expression of pride.

John Piper puts it in this way

in his book, Future Grace.

He says,

both boastfulness and self-pity

are manifestations of pride.

Boasting is the response of pride to success.

Self-pity is the response of pride to suffering.

Boasting says,

I deserve much admiration

because I have achieved so much.

While self-pity says,

I deserve admiration

because I have sacrificed so much.

Boasting is the voice of pride

in the heart of the strong.

Self-pity is the voice of pride

in the heart of the weak.

The reason self-pity does not look like pride

is that it appears to be needy.

But this need arises from a wounded ego

and the desire of the self-pitying

is not really for others

to see them as helpless,

but as heroes.

The need self-pity feels

does not come from a sense of unworthiness,

but a sense of unrecognized worthiness.

It is the response of unapplauded pride.

Do we really believe that our Father

who sees what we do in secret

will reward us?

Or do we so value the opinions of others

that we feel sorry for ourselves

when they don't recognize what we're doing,

they don't recognize our potential

and the sacrifice we make?

Do we believe in a sovereign Lord

who sees, who hears our prayers

and has each one of us

where we are in life for a reason?

Do you really believe that?

God sees your faithful mothering.

He sees your diligent hard work

that your boss doesn't recognize.

He sees integrity in school work

when those around you would take shortcuts.

Don't give in to the prideful temptation

to feel sorry for yourself.

There is beauty in the mundane.

Work to believe in these realities.

And fourthly, lastly,

is penance or self-punishment.

Penance or self-punishment.

It's similar to self-pity

because it may look like humility on the outside.

Many believers find themselves

battling with the same sins

they've been struggling with

for many years,

sometimes decades.

And this has led many

to an attitude of self-hatred,

viewing oneself as a lesser Christian,

viewing ourselves as unworthy

to enter God's presence

because we haven't been able

to overcome a certain sin pattern.

We feel like we don't deserve redemption

and therefore run away

from the graces God has given us,

which can quickly spiral into isolation

and to further sin.

We punish ourselves.

On this topic the other day,

Nathan cheekily remarked

that if he put a whipping post

in his office,

it might get put to good use

with the attitudes

that many of us have.

So what's the issue?

Both self-pity and penance

assume that if we could just

get our outward behavior right,

if we could just get our attitude

before the Lord right,

then we would be worthy

to enter into the presence of God,

to go to Him for help,

and to take part

in the good gifts that He gives.

That sounds an awful lot

like the Pharisee.

By punishing ourselves,

we say to God

that Christ's payment on the cross,

the bearing of the wrath of God

for His people,

wasn't quite enough.

So we want to inflict

a bit more pain in ourselves,

and if we can act sincere enough,

like Paul the Pharisee,

then maybe God will approve.

Is our inadequacy

not the very point of the gospel?

Where we were not adequate

to fulfill the law,

that Christ was,

and His righteousness

has been freely given

to those who place

their faith in Him.

Wrath that we deserved

punished in His body,

that we might know

and enjoy God forever.

Praise be to the land

who was slain,

so that we could live free

from the bondage of the law.

So from the Pharisee,

to the bitter,

to the self-loathing,

there's one factor in common.

The self and not Christ

is at the center.

Our view of ourselves

is too big

and of Christ

and His glory too small.

Our thoughts are consumed

with ourselves

and not God's glory.

So returning to our text,

we have the solution.

How do we transfer

this confidence?

How do we do that

in an ongoing fashion?

Go back to the text

if you're not there already.

I'll start in verse 8.

Indeed, I count everything

as lost

because of the surpassing worth

of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.

For His sake,

I've suffered the loss

of all things

and count them as rubbish

in order that I may gain Christ

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.

So how do we transfer confidence?

How do we see Paul

transferring this confidence?

Firstly,

we are to believe

that knowing Christ,

but by whatever means

God deems necessary,

surpasses everything

that we might gain

from this world.

And a belief in this

will help us to transfer

that confidence

from ourselves

onto Christ.

So knowing

and enjoying Christ.

This is the chief

end of man.

It is the reason

we were created.

This type of knowledge

is not merely

knowing things about Christ,

but knowing Him

intimately,

experientially,

and in relationship

with Him.

Jesus taught

in Matthew 13

that the kingdom of heaven

is like treasure

hidden in a field

which a man found

and covered up.

Then in his joy,

he goes and sells

all that he has

and buys that field.

And again,

in John 17,

Jesus says,

this is eternal life

that they know you,

the only true God

and Jesus Christ

whom you have sent.

Does that reflect

on your attitude

toward the means of grace,

towards knowing God

and knowing Christ?

If not,

then we may not

be valuing Christ

in the surpassing worth

of knowing Him

enough.

Is this how we view

our time in the word

and prayer,

time listening to preaching

and singing

these glorious songs

together?

Do we view them

as partaking

in eternal life

through the knowledge

of Christ?

This knowledge

is worth sacrificing

everything for,

including this guise

of self-righteousness.

We must remind ourselves

of this often.

Secondly,

we must believe

that our identity

is found in Him.

Our identity

is found in Him,

not in our actions,

whether good or bad.

We must believe

that we are new creations

with new natures.

We are saints

who struggle against sin,

not sinners

who fight to act

like saints.

Again,

we are saints

who struggle against sin,

not sinners

who fight to act

like saints.

Humans do not

vary in degree

before God,

but we vary

in type

before God.

He does not see us

as more or less

Christ-like,

which is how we experience

progress in our faith,

but He sees us

on the basis

of Christ's righteousness

or lack thereof,

which is how we ought

to think and speak

of ourselves.

We must be careful

about the language

we use to talk

about our sin.

Language changes

the way that we think.

And with all due respect

to those who struggle

in these areas,

Christian,

you should not refer

to yourself

as an alcoholic,

a homosexual,

a drug addict,

as if our primary identity

resides in outward

behavioral patterns.

Now, you may have

a biological

or socialized predisposition

to strong temptation

in this or that area,

but it does not

determine your identity.

If you want

a further text

for that,

I would suggest

Romans chapter 6,

Romans 6 · chapter mention

6 through 14.

We must find

our identity

primarily in Christ

and consider ourselves

dead to sin

as we look to Him

day by day.

And lastly,

we must believe,

remember that

our righteousness

is alien.

It's outside of ourselves.

In verse 9,

he said,

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.

This is great news.

If you have done

nothing to earn

Christ's righteousness,

then we can do

nothing to lose it.

What security

and freedom

are found in this reality?

Christ's righteousness

given to us freely,

apart from

our good works

and apart from

our bad works,

and anchors our soul

within the veil

to the very presence

of God.

In order to gain Christ,

we suffer the loss

of all things,

our ego,

our preference,

our desire,

our self-sufficiency,

and oh,

is He worth

the cost.

You no longer

have to prove

your worth

or your worthiness

to God,

but can rest

in the finished work

of Christ.

May we be a people

who put no confidence

in the flesh

for righteousness

under the law

or elevated status

before God,

but see Christ's

atoning blood

as our only plea

before a Holy Father,

looking to Him

as our sole hope

in this life

and in the life

to come.

Let's pray.