Perseverance of the Saints - Philippians 3:1-11 - The Surrendered Life

Alright, turn to Philippians chapter 3.

Philippians 3 · chapter mention

So when I first did this message I was like, it's going to be easy to handle, it's not

that hard.

There's nothing majorly controversial in this message at all, so that's a good thing.

But it's actually going to be quite difficult because what I end up sharing, I didn't realize

just how important legacy and how much worth we put in to our work and how important that

legacy is to many people.

And Paul deals with this issue quite forth-frontly and to be honest with you, when you read it

you go, all these verses are amazing.

But it leaves you questioning.

It really is going to challenge you.

There's quite a bit here.

Paul is dealing with the doctrine of Christian living here and it's really dealing with the

issue of the heart.

So you're going to start seeing that as we go through this.

So before that I want to pray and ask God to direct my words that I teach the full counsel

of His word.

Father, I want to come before you.

You are the sovereign.

This is your word.

You have given us the privilege to open it, to read it, to learn of you, to taste and

see that the Lord is good and you have given us the responsibility to be good stewards

of your word, to teach the full counsel of your word and help us to grasp the importance

of it even when things are uncomfortable for us and that we honor and glorify you and that

we align our hearts, our wills to your will.

And Lord we praise you and thank you in Jesus' name, amen.

So first principle.

Failure to warn is a failure to lead.

Failure to warn is a failure to lead.

It's kind of interesting that Paul starts off chapter three really in his letter, in

the middle of his letter with this like statement.

And you're like, it seems a little out of place considering where it was at, but it's

not actually.

So Paul warns the Philippians.

So failure to warn is a failure to lead.

Ezekiel 33 verse six says this, but if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not

blow the trumpet so that the people are not warned and the sword comes and takes any one

of them, that person is taken away in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at

the watchman's hands.

In other words, the watchman has a responsibility to warn you of what is coming.

If we do not, yes, your sin is on you, but the life or the blood of that person would

be on my conscience, my responsibility, and God will hold me accountable to that.

That's why I warned quite a bit.

It's not always fun to warn.

But nonetheless, we have to do it.

And Paul does the same thing here.

The Philippians one verse, Philippians three, verse one and two.

Finally my brothers rejoice in the Lord.

They're like, oh, starting off good to write the same things to you is no trouble to me

and is safe or can be relied on and is true for you.

That's what that word safe means.

That word safe is not safe for you in that it's a safety.

No.

In other words, these things that I'm writing to you, though they are the same things, it's

not a big deal and can be relied on and is true.

You can bank on it.

It's good for you.

Verse two, look out, keep your eye out for, that's what this word means in the Greek.

Look out means to keep an eye out for, for what?

For the dogs.

Look out for the evildoers.

Look out for those who manipulate the flesh.

Here Paul gives warnings three times.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Paul gives warnings about these particular dogs, these evildoers, these mutilators of

the flesh.

You have to keep an eye out for these people.

That's the point.

They'll come in and ravage and cause you to do evil and, and then they will manipulate

you to do what they want you to do.

Look out.

So he gives a warning and then all of a sudden everything else changes in this conversation.

He warns them because of this reason basically.

And that's what we're going to see here.

Principle number two, the true Christian is a true worshiper.

The true Christian is a true worshiper.

John four, John four verse 23 through 24 says, says this, but the hour is coming and is now

here when the true worshipers will worship the father in spirit and truth for the father

is seeking such people to worship him.

God is spirit and those who worship him must worship him in spirit and truth.

Why do, why does Paul give this statement?

Right after he warns them of these particular people because these particular men who are

dogs and evil doers and manipulate the flesh want the people of Philippi to do something

they should not do and they won't.

That's what's special about this particular church.

They are extremely obedient to, to the word of God.

This is what Paul says for we are the circumcision.

We are the true Christians who worship by the spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus.

Do you hear that?

We are, we're not, we're not the true Christians based on an outward circumcision.

We are the true Christians based on the circumcision of the heart.

We are the true believers, the ones who are truly sealed and belong to him.

That's what circumcision was.

It was a seal, a proof that they were God's people or they were the people of promise.

But they, they rejected the promise.

So the true worshipers are the ones who are the true circumcision because they are worshipers

by the spirit of God and glory in Christ.

The proof of the true Christian is the spirit of God in the believer and the glory of Christ,

the result.

And these people put no confidence in the flesh.

This word, no confidence in the flesh is not an issue of me putting confidence in my sinful

nature.

That's a bad teaching.

That's not what he's saying here.

In other words, their confidence being in the flesh is they are not the people of God based

upon their outward seal of the circumcision.

Their position before God is not based upon their physical circumcision.

That's what it means to put confidence in flesh.

Before God, I'm a believer because I'm circumcised.

Paul saying no.

You're a believer because you worship God by the spirit and glory in Christ.

That's the sign of a circumcised heart.

But Paul says this in verse four, though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh.

If there's anyone who can brag on the reality of my position before God as a Jew, no one

can compare.

Now think about that.

In other words, I am the Jew of all Jews.

That's what Paul's basically saying.

See principle number three, your confidence should never come from what you know, what

you have, what you've done, or where you're going.

Your confidence must always be in Christ.

Your confidence never comes from what you know, what you've done, what you have, or

where you're going.

It should be Christ and Christ alone.

Carnal things and your flesh will always fail you, but Christ will never forsake you.

Philippians chapter three, 4b through six.

If anyone thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more.

And so what Paul does is he builds his argument about his Jewishness.

And this is what he says, I am the man when it comes to these things.

First, circumcised on the eighth day, check.

Of the people of Israel, check.

Of the tribe of Benjamin, check.

Of Hebrews of Hebrews, check.

As to the law of Pharisee, check.

As to zeal, persecutor of the church, check.

As to righteousness under the law, blameless, check.

There is no one.

He was going to be high priest, trust me.

This guy was the man.

If he had any reason to brag on his Jewishness, he did.

But his Jewishness is not what made him circumcised of the heart.

All the things that he can brag about, that he can build confidence in, the things that

he built his fame on, are nothing.

He can rightfully brag that he's an amazing Jew.

How many times do we build so that we have a legacy?

His legacy is unmatched.

How much time do you put into your work?

Do you put into your projects?

Do you put into your house?

Do you put into everything you do so that, so when it's all said and done, you have a

name.

I have confidence in these things.

Paul deals with this quite dramatically.

Next principle.

This is the shocking part.

Everything you have worked for and you perceived as success will be forgotten.

Your lasting reward is Christ and Christ alone.

Now, Pastor Joe, what are you trying to say?

No one will remember you.

Now, I don't know about you.

I said this in, this is the hard part, I said this in first service.

I don't know anybody from like 1910.

Do you know any famous people from like 1910?

Charlie Chapman.

That's about the only one I can remember and that's only because he was funny.

That's all I remember.

But do you know anything about that man's life?

Do you even care?

Because they all get forgotten.

All the work you'll ever put in in your life will be forgotten one day.

And Jesus says this, Matthew 6, 19 through 21.

Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy or where

thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither

moth nor rust destroys, where thieves do not break in and steal, for where your treasure

is there your heart will be also.

Your legacy, what you work for, what you know, what you've done, what you have, where you're

going mean nothing.

But we put our confidence in all of that trash because we think I'm going to leave a legacy.

I'm going to be remembered.

Success is not what you accumulate or what you've done.

True success is what you have you invested in the lives of God's people.

Because one day we're all going to die and be forgotten about.

It's hard, but look what Paul says, Philippians 3, 7 and 8.

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

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

Jesus my Lord.

In other words, all the things that Paul had every reason to brag about and say, I am successful.

I am the man.

All the reasons he has the right to brag that he is the Jew of Jews and is the promised

of God is rubbish, means nothing.

He counts them as as if he never had it.

It's loss.

It's like all of his wealth has been bankrupt.

For what reason?

Just for knowing Christ.

The surpassing worth of knowing Christ.

How much, how important is that to you?

What is the worth of just knowing him and for the sake of Christ?

In other words, I'm willing to get rid of all of it just to know him.

What a value.

And we have his declaration right here.

And how much time do we spend knowing him?

Last principle, true surrender is the willingness to lose everything to gain only one, Christ.

Take all the stuff, trash it.

Jesus.

Is he enough?

The ultimate act of surrender is to die.

Philippians chapter two, verse five through eight says this, have this mind among yourselves,

which is yours in Christ Jesus, who though he was in the form of God, did not count equality

with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking the form of a slave, being

born in the likeness of men, being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming

obedient to the point of death, even death on the cross.

If the ultimate act of surrender is death, Jesus left a perfect example.

He surrendered to the will of the father.

I did not come to do my will, but the one who sent me.

The words I say are his words.

He ultimately did everything the father wanted him to do.

Ultimate surrender.

This is what Paul says chapter three, verse eight through 11.

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.

Now let's stop there for a minute.

For Christ's sake, all things trash.

Dump material.

All things compared to Christ, trash.

Rubbish.

Dung.

Worthless.

Means nothing.

In order that I may gain Christ, that I may gain salvation and that I be found in him.

Now this is important because we talked about this doctrine.

If I'm in Christ, I'm in the father.

That's called eternal security.

Yes, it's real.

Illiterate, depravity, unconditional election, limited atonement, irresistible grace, perseverance

of the saints.

In Christ, I'm his forever.

So not only do I gain Christ, but now I'm found in him and the righteousness that I

could claim based upon my flesh is not a righteousness at all.

So he was, according to the law, blameless.

No, he's guilty in reality because the righteousness he has is not his own righteousness.

Here's what it says, but the righteousness, parentheses, the righteousness that comes

through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith.

Say sola fide, faith alone.

The very faith I have is from Christ and the very faith that I get from God depends on

him.

Now, this very faith that comes through, that which comes through faith in Christ, my righteousness,

this righteousness that is from God depends on the very faith or the very gift of faith

that he's given me.

Why is this important?

Because you don't have faith apart from Jesus.

One, dead things don't have anything.

And if we're dead in our trespasses and sins, that means you're dead.

Secondly, just because I push a window up and it doesn't fall on my neck is not faith.

That's physics.

Faith is supernatural.

Not everybody on the earth has faith.

Unbelievers don't have faith because only faith comes from God.

And you can't have faith unless you have God.

And this is what he says in verse 10, in order for me that I may know him and the power of

his resurrection, I have to have a faith, a righteousness from God that depends upon

the gift of faith that he's given to me.

That I may know him and the power of his resurrection and may share in his sufferings and become

like him in his death.

Do you get that?

Because of the righteousness that comes from God depending upon faith, I now can know him,

the power of his resurrection, may share his sufferings with joy.

That's why he says, finally, brothers, rejoice in the Lord with joy.

And I will become like him in his death, not just like him in my life.

We love to be like Jesus living like him, but when it comes to surrender and sacrifice,

we don't want anything to do with that.

But God says here that we become like him in his death, that if we die, we live.

And if we live, we live to Christ.

We want true freedom, die.

That's the answer.

Why?

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

That whatever it takes, if I'm becoming like him in his death, I will attain by any means

possible his resurrection.

Here's the proof, more proof, I'll give you more.

It says, if you want to be my disciple, take up your cross daily, deny yourself, and follow

me.

So taking up your cross means you got to what?

Die.

You must deny yourself.

Second scripture, and I use this a lot, Romans 12 verse 1, therefore, I urge you, brothers,

Romans 12:1

in the view of God's mercies, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing

unto God, for this is your reasonable act of worship.

What's it require?

Death.

When a pastor and a teacher tells you you can have your best life now, run, because

your best life is death.

You get your best life when you die, not now.

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

What does that mean?

That ultimately, my body, when it is resurrected, will become like his body, and I will be complete.

And what did God say in Philippians chapter 1?

Philippians 1 · chapter mention

His ultimate purpose is to what?

To finish what he started.

He is faithful to complete the work that he has started in you, to be like him, that I

may know him, share him, and become like him in all things.

Why?

Because he has predestined us to be conformed into the image of his son.

The secret to the Christian life is death.

Death brings freedom.

If you're fighting to live, you're enslaving yourself.

But if you fight to die, you will find freedom.

So Paul says here, don't be remembered for all the stuff you think you can do.

It's better to be forgotten and store up treasure than to store up treasures on earth and think

that you're going to be remembered.

What matters today matters.

Don't worry about tomorrow.

Worry about today.

I knew it was going to get quiet because you matter today.

Father, I want to thank you so much for your faithfulness and goodness.

Thank you, Lord, for these hard truths, but nonetheless so important because out of all

things in our entire life that you give us and grant us on this earth, the only thing

that matters, the only person that matters, the only legacy in which we could leave that

matters is Christ and the wonderful gospel of Christ.

May everything we do lead us to that one moment where what we leave is him.

And Lord, we praise you and we thank you in Jesus' name.

Amen.