 Today we're in chapter 3 here in the book of Philippians and we're going to look at verses 1 through 11 and so I'll begin reading here at verse 1 and I'll read just first verse 1 because we're going to look at all 11 verses But I want to introduce our our passage by just looking at verse 1 and then we'll move on into verse 2 until we get to Verse 11 let's begin at verse 1 and read verse 1 Paul writes finally my brethren rejoice in the Lord for me to write the same things to you is not tedious But for you it is safe Now Paul begins by introducing final matters These are the final things that he is going to take up with the Philippians and I want you to see as he begins he begins with a call to rejoicing He says finally my brethren rejoice in the Lord So he begins his final things by calling them to rejoice in the Lord now We have to ask ourselves a question. Why did he begin with that exhortation? Why does he begin with an exhortation to rejoice in the Lord? Well, they need to remember the source of joy They need to remember that the joy they have is the result of a fellowship that they have they have joy because they have Fellowship with Jesus Christ You see biblical joy is inseparable from our relationship with God in Psalm 32 verse 1 It says blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven whose sin is covered that word blessed is as a word that speaks about being happy Happy is the one who's forgiven happy is the one whose transgression is forgiven happy is the one whose sin is covered You see the joy of salvation is a great remedy against false doctrine The reason is very obvious false doctrine eventually results in bondage and not joy false doctrine normally centers on man's activity for God and not God's activity on behalf of man and Because that's true as a result of that it's filled with rules and regulations that really center on self effort When you get caught up in false doctrine, it's really all that you can do for God It's really what is emphasized constantly not what God has done for you Which is the source of all that you do for him When you get caught up in false doctrine, it's really all that you can do for him all the things that you can do for him And so there is no grace. There's no mercy and there the result is there's no joy Because you're constantly trying to work yourself into a relationship with God When Paul was writing the Colossians in chapter 2 verses 20 and 21 He said therefore if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world Why is though living in the world do you subject yourself to regulations? Do not touch Do not taste do not handle which all concern things which perish with the using according to the commandments and doctrines He says of men. Why do you get caught up with these? Do not do these things instead of being free in Jesus Christ You see salvation is a work of God and it's received as a free gift through sincere faith in Jesus Christ That's how you got saved. It isn't the result of our efforts. It's a result of trusting in what God has done for us When Paul was writing in Romans 4 he said in verses 4 and 5 when a man works his wages are not credited to him as a gift But as an obligation However to the man who does not work, but trust God who justifies the wicked his faith is credited as righteousness And so joy is the fruit of the Spirit of God it produces satisfaction within you when you're saved And joy is found in the Bible is a fruit of the Holy Spirit When you look at Galatians chapter 5 and it lists the fruit of the Spirit He says in verses 22 and 23 the the fruit of the Spirit is love joy peace long suffering Kindness goodness faithfulness gentleness Self-control and he goes on to say against such there's no law So those who are caught in religious systems that teach self effort don't have God's joy They may be great people by the way, they may be very nice They may be very caring. They may be very disciplined They may be very dedicated But they have no spiritual joy Bad doctrine ultimately produces stress And you can see it you can see it in the faces of these young men who who wheel their 10 speeds up to your house They're stressing them You can see it in the faces of those people who are holding those little Awake and watchtower magazines or knocking on your door. There's no joy when they come to the door They want to fight. They want to argue with you. They want to wrestle spiritual things with you They want to cause you to come into their side There's no joy I can still remember I was just saved. I hadn't been saved for more than two three weeks I was brand new believer in Christ and you know as a freak, you know, I have to be honest with you It was a hippie and I was home and I had been taught you need to read the bible And so I found myself reading the bible all the time And there was a knock on the door And I remember answering the door and there were these two two ladies standing at my door And and you have to I came walking to the door. I didn't have a shirt on I had long hair I looked, you know, I had round Granny glasses on, you know, I looked like I had been drunk for three days But I I wasn't I had been saved and I remember opening the door and smiling at these women And they said, hi, we want to talk to you about Jesus Christ. And I said, great I was real excited. All right. We can talk about Jesus I didn't know who they were And so they got kind of freaky with me because they looked at me they go Oh, you know, and I said no, let's talk about Jesus. I I I just received the Lord I just got saved and I'm all excited about it And and well, they're Jehovah's Witnesses, you know, and and Jehovah's Witnesses don't have joy because they don't have the holy spirit They don't even believe in a holy spirit. They think the spirit of God is an energy. It's a force from God It's not a person So they don't have the joy of the spirit. They don't have the fruit of the spirit They're caught up knocking on doors and arguing with people. That's what they do And so when they stood there talking to some wild eyed Jesus freak kid who didn't know anything other than you know What I was I was an alcoholic. I was a druggy, you know, but now I'm safe They didn't know what to do with me. They didn't know how to talk to me And I remember them starting an argument trying to start an argument. What do I know? I'm three weeks old in the Lord. What do I know? All I know is that I don't believe what you're saying is true And they're not smiling so they don't have something that I have And as I'm looking at them, you know, I began to talk to them and shared with them And I said, listen, I don't know if what you're saying is true or not I really don't. I said I'm I'm new at this I said, but I got to tell you you don't have anything to offer me You don't have anything to offer me what I have is from the Lord I remember as a young believer speaking to some Mormon young men and and and once again We were discussing spiritual things and and they they wanted me to become a Mormon And and I looked at them and I said, let me ask you What do you have that I need? What is it that you're coming to my door to offer me that I don't already have in Jesus Christ? What do you have that I don't have already and they looked at me and they said the priesthood I'll never forget this. They said we have the priesthood And I looked at them and I said, I've got the high priest Jesus Christ Whoever lives to make intercession for me. You don't have anything that I need I've got all that I need in Jesus Christ Listen when you get caught up in Jesus Christ and you have the joy of the Lord The joy of the Lord is your strength and when people come and try and rip you up It's always to get you to stand on a street corner with an awake or to ride your 10 speed somewhere Or do something very difficult. It always is something that's going to steal joy not produce it The holy spirit gives you joy. It's part of the fruit of the spirit The joy that you have is not happiness Happiness is really a word that's derived from the word happenings. It speaks of circumstances So if my circumstances are good if I've got a job if I've got money in my pocket If my kids are doing well if my wife is faithful, then I'm happy my circumstances dictate that But what happens if if those things aren't true in my life? What happens if I lost my job or if I'm having family problems? I can still have the joy of the Lord I can still have that because that is not connected to what's going on around me That comes from heaven itself and because I have a relationship with God I know that he's going to see me through and I can rejoice in the Lord because I know he's on my side And so there are people who have religious systems that that actually bring him into bondage Talk to the person who believes that God guarantees healing all you need to have is faith and pray in faith And and talk to that person when they're not healed when they pray And see what you hear. I've had conversations with people who believe that who believe that God Automatically guarantees healing simply because I hold on by faith and when they're not healed They blame themselves and they have no joy Because this doctrine has stolen the joy from them And so bad doctrine will ensnare you that's why in verse one here in chapter three That's why paul says my brethren rejoice in the Lord for me to write the same thing to you is not tedious But for you it is safe Bad doctrine produces stress And jesus christ set you free In galatians 5 1 it says it is for freedom that christ has set us free Stand firm then do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of bondage So jesus sets us free. He gives us joy. He breaks the yoke of bondage in our lives and we have the joy of salvation That's why in john 15 11. He said these things i've spoken to you That my joy may remain in you And that your joy may be full Think about this the apostle paul has been put in a jail cell And as he and sylas are there in this jail in in philippine They're singing songs to the lord at midnight Now they could have been complaining and very angry because they'd been mistreated. They'd been injured And there they are though singing songs to the lord and and the jailer ultimately begins a conversation and And what he does it's it's recorded in ax chapter 16 verses 30 through 34 as he brought them out and he asked them Sirs what must i do to be saved? And they replied to him believe in the lord jesus christ you'll be saved in your household Then they spoke the word of the lord to him and all the others in his house At that hour of the night the jailer took them and and washed their wounds and immediately he and his family were baptized The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them And it goes on to say and he was filled with joy Because he had come to believe in god He and his whole family And so when the lord doesn't work there's a joy that you have and and that's what paul is speaking about He's saying i'm warning you and you're going to see this in a moment I'm warning you against false teachers because false teachers will steal the joy of your salvation They'll steal it from you So he says for me to write the same things to you is not tedious, but he says but for you it is safe It's not difficult for me to repeat lessons that you should have learned or could have learned in the past But the fact is is we normally need lessons to be repeated for emphasis And so he has no problem repeating things that he's already said to them You stay in this church long enough and i'm going to repeat several things to you you're going to know them by heart That's the way i teach i repeat things I figure if i keep repeating certain things we'll all get it See it took me about a year to know that when my mom said david she was talking to me Took about a year For me to recognize that that's my name And repetition will teach repetition will teach you all you need to do is repeat certain basic things And it eventually gets ground into us And the lord jesus christ used the method of repetition He often repeated the same lesson and you'll see this several times in scripture for example When you read concerning the cleansing of the temple be aware of the fact and remember That when jesus cleansed the temple he actually did it twice Sometimes we think that that jesus only did it the one time no he cleansed the temple twice He cleansed the temple at the beginning of his ministry as is recorded in john's gospel chapter two That was the beginning of his ministry But then at the conclusion of his ministry he once again went in and cleansed the temple as is recorded in matthew 21 When jesus was speaking to his disciples concerning the resurrection he didn't speak to them only once concerning it He spoke concerning his his resurrection several times. He would speak to them concerning the fact he was to be betrayed He spoke concerning the fact that he was going to die that he was going to be buried that he was going to be raised again From the dead he said it several times When he studied it once again at the beginning of his ministry in john chapter two He spoke about his resurrection destroyed this temple in three days. He said i will raise it up He spoke concerning the temple of his body john tells us But at the end when he's ministering to his disciples He speaks concerning it in matthew chapter 16 and matthew chapter 17 again in matthew chapter 20 He repeated over and over and over again the single lesson of his resurrection When jesus fed the 5000 That wasn't the only time that he he multiplied uh food for for hungry people He fed the 5000 as is recorded in matthew 14 But then he followed up with the feeding of the 4000 found in matthew chapter 15 Now why did he do that? Were they so hungry? They had had to eat twice Well in matthew 16 After jesus had had done these miracles both the feeding of the five and then the feeding of the four He had a lesson that he had to give to his disciples It's it's found in matthew 16 verses nine and ten when he spoke to them and he said it this way he said Do you not yet understand or remember the five loaves Of the 5000 and how many baskets you took up Nor the seven loaves of the 4000 and how many large basket baskets you took up He said haven't you learned the lesson? I gave you a marvelous lesson something that should have stayed in your heart forever I mean just a thought of him feeding 5000 And that the bible says was 5000 men not including women and children Many commentators say that the number was 12 to 15 000 who actually were fed when he fed the 5000 All you need to do is is add children and wives And you'll see that it was an incredible number beyond that 5000 and beyond that four And yet they didn't remember So don't feel discouraged when you go through the same lesson more than once Don't feel discouraged You know what learn the lesson and sometimes it takes time some lessons take time I've discovered some lessons. I am learning over and over and over again I suspect that the day I finally really do learn it is when I die I'll die and then I'll say I get it. Yeah, you got it finally bang. You're dead That's always going to be Because some lessons you hear over and over again How many times does the lord have to say forgive somebody until you forgive them? How many times does god have to say love that person until you love them? I mean how many lessons has the lord tried to repeat over and over and over again? And we say oh, I get it this time lord. I got it solid. I know And then oh man, I hate And he says again when are you gonna let it go but I did lord for 20 minutes There are so many lessons that I've had to learn over and over again. That's why That's why I try not to say I've learned that lesson I like to say I've tried to make a habit of saying I'm learning that lesson I'm learning that lesson through repetition various degrees But I'm learning the same basic lessons and it always by the way always boils down to to one thing It always does The lord god says that the royal law is fulfilled in one word That you love your neighbor as yourself What is the great commandment love god with everything and love your neighbor as yourself? And so it all hinges on me learning to love god with everything And love people And so like john said, how can you say you love god whom you have not seen and hate your brother whom you have seen? In other words, if you say you love the invisible, that's easy to say But loving the invisible is demonstrated by loving the visible So if you really love god, you're going to learn to love other people And so if i'm one of these that says, you know, I love the lord. It's people. I can't stand I probably haven't learned the lesson of love yet And so the lord would have us learn some basic things and that's why repetition is necessary It's necessary because emphasis is established and truth is clarified It's obvious that god believes in repetition. All we need to do is think about how many gospels we have We have four gospels We have three that are called the synoptic gospels because they basically cover the same information And then we have john's gospel the fourth gospel and god gave to us four witnesses to the same facts basically And so we have witnesses that are given to us so that we can learn And roman's chapter 15 verse 15 Paul said i've written you quite boldly on some points As if to remind you of them again Because of the grace god gave to me To remind you In second peter chapter 1 verses 10 through 13 the apostle says my brothers Be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure For if you do these things you will never fall And you will receive a rich welcome into eternal the eternal kingdom of our lord and savior jesus christ He goes on to say I will always remind you of these things Even though you know them and are firmly established in the truth you now have I think it is right to refresh your memory as long as i live in the tent of this body You're going to hear the apostles said Over and over again the same essentials The same basic things Never get to the point where you really believe You've got it all down Because you don't Because you don't I get advice sometimes from people about raising kids They you know they want to teach me how to raise children And i have found that Some of the most insistent and best teachers are the ones who've never had any That's the truth i'm not kidding The most insistent and best are the ones who've never had one I was sharing with somebody just recently I said you know and we were talking on that subject and I said you know It's one thing to have a small child and to be so certain that you're going to raise that child perfectly So certain that you can give other people lessons concerning that It's another thing when that child turns 13 It's another thing when they turn 18 It's another thing when they turn 21 It's another thing when they turn 30 I said you begin to learn lessons over the years lessons that you didn't know at the beginning And some of the things that you believed are reinforced Some of the things that you so firmly believed in you discover were inaccurate That's how it works But if it's all done with the love of jesus christ and a hope to understand And to do the best that you can at the end you can stand before the lord saying i did the best that i could with the tools that i had But you have to learn over time and some things the lord teaches you in different stages Some things he gives you different degrees concerning and you gain greater insights over time When it comes to spiritual things the lord has a tendency of of Giving to us the same basic lessons over and over again because it's the basic things that we do That help us to live for him in the best of ways So he says my brethren rejoice in the lord For me to write the same things to you is not tedious, but for you it's safe He goes on to say beware of dogs Every mailman knows that scripture Beware of evil workers Beware of the mutilation Now what paul's about to repeat for their safety relates to false teachers false teachers who are attempting to infiltrate the church And paul is making it clear that these false teachers will ultimately steal their joy And that's why he's warning them now notice how he refers to them. He calls them dogs When he says beware of dogs They're like dogs because they're nipping at his heels They they would follow paul around and they would tear apart his words and they would call into question his ministry That word dog there is a contemptuous name That word refers to a scavenger a snapping vicious mongrel And he's using that word in a derogatory sense because that's what these people were they would follow him around when he Ministered in order that they might try to undermine the things that he's doing Do dogs exist like that today? Absolutely Yes Yes, they do Go to the harvest crusade and roll in And so often there have been people standing there with placards who call greg lori a false prophet If it was raw it would apply, but it's greg it doesn't I love raw light teas them. You know that right? Don't tell him what I said No, but think about it. You've probably seen it if you've gone to harvest You roll in there's somebody there greg lori is a false prophet They they do it all the time they post things about greg They're they're vicious. They're dogs. I have to be honest with you. That's what paul's talking about People who follow you around nipping at your heels undermining the things that you're doing for jesus christ These that he's referring to in context are false prophets are deceivers But you can have that attitude even as someone who professes christ When you want to undermine the things that god wants to do And so that was a contemptuous name He calls them evil workers Now the reason he calls them evil workers is because their work is evil. In other words, they're destructive They're destructive against the things of god. What they're doing is they're turning The church away from jesus christ and and as such that's an evil work against the lord He calls them the mutilation now When he refers to him as the mutilation, these are mutilators who glory in legalism Now when he refers to him in that way Undoubtedly, he's speaking about men who are saying that for you to have a relationship with god You have to come under the law of moses Mutilators of the flesh is another way of speaking about those who are insisting that gentiles receive Circumcision you need to remember that the jews had circumcision as an outer emblem of a covenantal relationship That they had with god Circumcision began with abraham moses actually had circumcision with his sons and it was brought into the law And so during the time of christ, there were some who were adding to the grace of god The law of moses so they were saying if you're going to understand grace at its depth You have to understand by living under the law the things of the law And so they would say to the gentiles you need to receive physical circumcision But paul in galatians 5 verse 6 said in christ jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love abraham was counted righteous before god before he was circumcised And so it's always been faith. It's always been the god's mercy through grace That has caused us to have a relationship with god And that's the point that he's making here Notice first three he says we are the circumcision Who worship god in the spirit rejoicing christ jesus and have no confidence in the flesh True circumcision is not the cutting of flesh from a body True circumcision is a pure heart by faith in jesus christ And jeremiah 4 verse 4 it says circumcise yourselves to the lord Circumcise your hearts you men of juda and people of jerusalem Or my wrath will break out and burn like fire because of the evil you've done Burn with no one to quench it So he said circumcise yourselves circumcise your hearts True circumcision is an attitude of the heart the gentile did not have to yield to that jewish right These individuals are saying you do but paul is saying no We are the circumcision who worship god he says in the spirit When he says we worship god in the spirit worship in this case implies service to the lord We worship him and serve him John 4 23 and 24 jesus said the hour comes and now is When the true worshippers shall worship the father in spirit and truth For the father seeks such to worship him god his spirit and those who worship him must worship him in spirit And truth we are the circumcision We worship god in the spirit the holy spirit has come upon us The holy spirit has empowered us the holy spirit has sealed us the holy spirit leads us the holy spirit gifts us We are filled with his spirit and we live in his spirit and we worship god in spirit and in truth He also speaks about rejoicing in christ jesus The reason i rejoice in jesus christ is because of the work of redemption jesus saved me And that work has caused me to have great joy It's like again in psalm 32 verse 2 it says blessed is the man whose sin the lord does not count against him And you rejoice in that with that knowledge that your sins have been completely and forever washed away By the lord jesus christ's blood not by your works But by his grace and his mercy And and they've been cast away from you They're they're dropped into the deepest part of the sea never to be brought back to mind The lord has made a choice to not bring them back and to speak concerning them again The lord made that choice to allow you and me to live a hundred percent free in christ And it wasn't a work that i did it was a receiving by faith of his grace A promise he made that transforms a life So we rejoice in the lord jesus christ you can wake up in the morning And even if things aren't going well on the outside You can wake up in the morning and say but i know god is on my side I know that the lord is with me I don't know what tomorrow holds But i know who holds tomorrow and i can trust him and i will i'll hold fast to him And then the lord brings you through and you rejoice in him And then he says and we have no confidence in the flesh We don't put confidence in observing Rules and regulations like the law What we do is we trust in the lord with all of our heart And we don't lean on our own understanding in all our ways we acknowledge him He directs our path and we understand those things we have no confidence in the flesh But now He speaks concerning why he would be able to have great confidence if he trusted in the flesh notice what he says in verse four Though i also might have confidence in the flesh If anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh i more so Circumcised the eighth day of the stock of israel Of the tribe of benjamin A hebra of hebrus concerning the law a Pharisee Concerning zeal persecuting the church Concerning the righteousness which is in the law Blameless But what things were gained to me These i have counted loss for christ but indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of christ jesus my lord for whom i have suffered the loss of all things And count them as rubbish That i may gain christ and be found in him not having my own righteousness which is from the law But that which is through faith in christ the righteousness Which is from god by faith That i may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings Being conformed to his death If by any means i may attain to the resurrection from the dead the power of a testimony i was mentioning in morning services today that sometimes evangelism Can rely on personal testimony i think that Teaching ought to include on occasion obviously The sifting of the word of god through a person's life for illustration purposes In other words you can use illustrations as you communicate the gospel because Not only is it applicable to those who lived 2 000 years ago. It's applicable now God does work in our life and you can you can say this is how the lord has worked in my life And i think that's that's powerful and and that's proper you can do that But sometimes evangelism seems to center on personal stories experiences and emotions And unfortunately that really isn't biblical evangelism So much as simply using emotional hooks to try and convince people of a certain perspective It's the word of god that we need to present to people the word of god rightly divided and illustrations that are found in scripture Paul used his testimony Not to enhance his reputation before people But to illustrate the grace of god The reason he uses his testimony is to use himself as an example of what he was without christ And what he has become in christ And so he uses that as a contrast in order to help people to see how good god is And how bad man is without god And that's why he uses this powerful testimony That's why he says in verse 4 i also might have confidence in the flesh And he makes it clear if anyone thinks that he should have confidence i'm more And that's why he goes through the things that he's gone through He's really pointing out here if you took notes you could say this He says he's basically saying i was a thoroughly jewish man Thoroughly jewish because he's already discussing the fact that some are calling people under the law The mutilation and so what he's trying to say here is listen i was under jewish law and i can speak In that way i can speak as one who understands that because i was there And that's what he's basically doing and he begins to just give his pedigree Circumcised the eighth day When he says that that's another way of saying from from infancy I was under the law because according to leviticus 12 The the male child is to be circumcised on the eighth day. That's when they receive circumcision Because his father was a Pharisee his father made sure that he followed the law even from infancy So he's saying that he's saying i followed the commands to the letter even from being a baby He says in verse 5 of the stock of israel in other words i am jewish born I am not a gentile who converted But i was born jewish He says of the tribe of benjamin This is the tribe that remained faithful when the other tribes split The first king of israel came out of benjamin And Gentiles were brought into the nation of israel through conversion. He's saying but i don't but they don't have a tribal affiliation I can tell you my tribe. It was benjamin He says i'm a hebrew of hebrews Now that's something that i think many of us can understand. He's saying i'm a pure hebrew stock Not only Do i speak hebrew but culturally? i'm a hebrew a hebrew of hebrews I am not only one who can say my lineage is from israel And i can point back But my culture is israel now Some people would understand that better than others to be honest with you We have americans. We call them hyphenated americans irish american, italian american, african american, mexican american. We're hyphenated americans We have a way of speaking of our ethnicity But we all are aware of our where we came from in terms of what what nations may be represented by by our by our stock i'm a mexican american but To a mexican i'm an american Just take that word mexican out. You're an american because that's how they see me And and i understand that because though i am mexican american culturally i'm an american That is my culture paul is saying i'm a hebrew of hebrews He's saying i was born into a tribe. I have tribal affiliation I speak hebrew and my culture is hebrew Now when you look back in the book of acts the first argument that you find in the church is when the greek speaking the hellenistic jews were being neglected in in the Dispensing of finances for uh, you know that were put aside for for their needs And the hebrew speaking and cultural hebrew Speaking believers were neglecting the gentiles and that's when you found your first division in in the new testament It was over culture. It was over how people were being treated because of those things And so paul is basically saying listen i am a hebrew of hebrews I am jewish in culture and i am jewish in language And that makes me he's saying in terms of pedigree Somebody that can look all the way back to the nation of israel and identify with all that israel is When he speaks of himself as being a Pharisee the Pharisee was the strictest branch of the jewish religion When he speaks in verse 6 concerning zeal, he says i persecuted the church In other words, i wasn't a lukewarm Pharisee. I hated christ And i hated christians with all of my heart He says concerning righteousness, which is in the law I was blameless in other words. I kept the law to its letter Now i need to add this real quickly was paul saying That i was righteous before god by the law of moses And the answer is no He says to the galatians no one is justified before god by law Because they shall live by faith galatians 3 11 in galatians 2 21 He said i don't frustrate the grace of god if righteousness came by the law christ died in vain And so he's not saying i was justified by the law What he's saying is i carry i carefully followed out the outward observance of the law and was blameless in that I carefully observed the Sabbath. I lived under dietary law. I lived under the rituals But these advantages didn't bring me closer to god What they were were excess baggage on a sinking ship ultimately That's what he says in verse 7 when he says what things were gained to me these i have counted loss Now it's interesting how he how he says this because i want you to notice this he uses speech commonly found in the marketplace He's speaking about gain and loss or profit and loss My former profits were let were lost in comparison to the incredible gain What i had Was useless What i gained was everything What i had didn't do me a bit of good It it did me good only in the eyes of man if you saw me you saw me as a zealous Pharisee and and people would look at me and say What a good man. What a righteous man. What a zealous man. So in the eyes of man, I was fine But in the eyes of god, I was lost. I was a sinner I breathed out threatening to those who who believed in messiah. I persecuted them to the death I wasn't a righteous man. I thought it was But I wasn't and what i've gained is worth everything that i've let go Notice he says indeed in verse eight I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of christ jesus my lord For whom I have suffered the loss of all things And count them as rubbish That I may gain christ And be found in him not having my own righteousness Which is from the law But that which is through faith in christ the righteousness which is from god By faith I count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of christ jesus my lord For whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish that word rubbish is Is a strong word. It's really Dung it's refuse I see them as being absolutely valueless Like waste products. That's what they are to me. That's a strong word that he's given there Salvation through jesus christ righteousness through jesus christ Is great gain In mark 8 36 and 37 the question is asked what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul? What will a man give in exchange for his soul? You know, we sell our souls cheaply We do we sell our souls cheaply. We don't see the value of it We sell them cheaply We sell them for relationships You know We sell them for alcohol. We sell them for drugs. We sell them For a little money. We sell them our soul is To most people is very cheap It it has no value But on the other hand to god your soul is extremely valuable valuable. It was so valuable That he gave his son It is so valuable That he allowed his son to be to be tortured To be placed on a cross To be mocked And to die That's how much value you put on your soul on my soul But the value I put on it is It's no big deal. I'll sell it for a drink I'll sell it for a joint I'll sell it for a car It doesn't really matter It has no value to me Paul said those things that I one time had that that others looked at as being valuable He said they're really rubbish. They're really dumb. They're really useless. They really don't have value He says the excellence that I have now in jesus christ is worth everything and therefore I am willing to yield up all the other things that I at one time thought were advantageous Just for the excellence of the knowledge of jesus christ my lord and my savior The things that other people looked at paul and and you need to remember that he when he speaks in another place concerning his His testimony he He was looked at as being the up-and-coming rabbi He he sat under the greatest teacher a man by the name of gamelial and he speaks concerning that That gamelial was his teacher his instructor and this was the man who was a premier instructor And paul could point and say listen when it comes to being mentored when it comes to being trained up in the things of judaism He said I sat under the wisest teacher the most respected teacher of our time a man by the name of gamelial He said but you want to know something all the things that I learned I've I've come to realize if they didn't bring me to christ if they were not useful in my walk with jesus christ Then they had no real value to them The things that have value to me are the things that make me better in my walk with jesus christ So i'm willing to let those things go because they have no profit to me. There's no gain in them In order that I might have that which is excellent and has eternal value which is a relationship with jesus christ And that's why he says I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish that I may gain christ In verse 9 and be found in him not having my own righteousness which is from the law But that which is through faith in christ the the righteousness which is from god by faith I have a relationship with god through faith in jesus christ. He goes on in verse 10 and says that I may know him And the power of his resurrection And the fellowship of his sufferings being conformed to his death If by any means I may attain to the resurrection from the dead Something that stands out and i'm going to close with a few things here in verse 10 But something that stands out. I want you to see verse 10 how he says that I may know him That I may know him. He doesn't say that I may know things about him That I may know him What are you saying paul Listen in in the years that I walked with the lord. I've met a lot of people who have interesting concepts of fellowship with god And some of the more interesting ones that I've encountered are the ones who think that knowledge is equal to maturity The more that they gain in terms of understanding in terms of scripture memorization or perhaps reading certain books and They equate that with being maturing christ I remember a guy who was at in our church at one time who came to see me He wanted to show me a picture of his library And he brought it and he said I just want you to see this and it was him sitting down with all of his books around him and I thought that I thought that was interesting I said Raul, it's nice that you can read but Why do you have to show me your books? No, there was this it was kind of like, you know, I want you to see that i'm well read And I don't know what you guys are like and let me I'll just once again. I said sunday nights. I'm a little more open than normal So I'll be open for a moment I don't know what you're like. I you know I don't know what what you're impressed with. I don't know what you get impressed by Only you and the lord know But i'll tell you something about myself As uninteresting as this may be to you Knowledge doesn't impress me It just never has I've sat under Professors with multiple degrees They have forgotten things. I'll never learn in a lifetime. I'm not impressed with that. I'm just not I don't get impressed with brilliance I just don't you know what impresses me humility What impresses me is love What impresses me is kindness What impresses me is generosity Tenderness Things that I don't have Things that I want You know, anybody can sit down and study and study and study and get a degree I'm not it's not that that's not a good thing. It's not that it's a bad thing It's just one of those things that that if you want it get it if you don't doesn't matter Anybody can study and anybody can work hard most anybody can and and most people can get a degree sometimes advanced degrees And and I think you know if the lord called you to that and that's something that you pursue and you do it Well, that's the path. God has for you. God bless you as you take that path And and I and I I like the discipline that is required to receive those degrees But if you're not kind If you're not loving If you're not caring if you have no compassion, I'm not impressed Love is something I want Knowledge puffs up But love builds up And so I'm impressed with someone who loves people I'm impressed with somebody who serves. I'm impressed with somebody who cares I'm impressed with somebody who weeps over the loss. I'm impressed with with people who have sensitivity in their heart You know in my life, you know, I've I've I've known some very You know athletic men. I've known powerful men and and and I say to myself, you know That's wonderful that you can run so fast and jump so high And that's all good. I mean, that's great But the bottom line is and when you're 70 years old and you can hardly remember how fast you used to run And you can't even jump off the chair anymore. I'm not impressed I'm just not You know what I'm saying or if you have to draw me into your house and show me your library all these books that you read But you don't remember what you read, but there they are. I know I used to know what's in those I'm not impressed by that But if you're kind if you're loving if you're gracious if you love jesus christ if you care about souls You impressed me Impressed me because those are qualities. It's interesting when you look at the the Requirements of leadership in a church. We're looking at this on On wednesday and you can see this in tides when as well as in first timothy chapter 3 when you look at the qualities First timothy chapter 3 gives to you 16 or 17 qualities of a leader But only one of those qualities includes a gifting Where he says the bishop is to Be able to teach He says the elder or the pastor teacher is to be able to teach apt to teach is what it says So all of the qualifications for leadership 16 or 17 Qualifications for leadership read it yourself first timothy chapter 3 There's only one that you could even speak of as being A spiritual gift and that is apt to teach and even that Doesn't necessarily mean that they're a pulpit teacher. It means that they know the doctrine well enough to explain Doctrine to those who might ask and so Out of all of those qualities that paul lists if you're going to look for somebody to lead a church their character traits Loving your wife not having a bad temper not being given to alcohol Not being arrogant and belligerent. These are all character traits character traits why Because a bad character undermines the gospel of jesus christ that proclaims a transformed life Yes, we need to know doctrine of course But paul makes it very clear that i want to know him I want a relationship with jesus christ I want to know him I want to be conformed to him. I want to be part of the fellowship of his suffering I want a depth of of fellowship with god. That's what he's saying I want fellowship with him. He says I want to know the power of his resurrection In other words, I I desire the living power of god to be resonant in me I want to know the fellowship of his sufferings I want to be identified with jesus and I realize that that's going to lead me down a path that is going to cost me But that's fine with me. He says I want to be conformed to his death In other words, I want to live what is called the crucified life I want to live a life that is dead to self but alive to god And he says finally if by any means I may attain to the resurrection from the dead That's his humility not doubt He's saying I identify with jesus and all of this I have no fleshly confidence That I will be raised in glory. I have confidence in christ that I will be raised in glory And so for me he's saying the thing that matters most is being conformed into his image And to live in such a way That I bring glory to god And I know him That's the key guys Not knowing things about him For me he says To live is christ To die It's gain Because I want to have a relationship with you That's christianity. It's not a religion. It's a relationship