Sunday 03 12 2023
Part of March 2023 Notes

We Rely On Christ Alone

Philippians 3
1Whatever happens, my dear brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord. I never get tired of telling you these things, and I do it to safeguard your faith.

  • Joy and faith are tied together in the middle of all these circumstances because we are putting our confidence in what Christ has accomplished for us and what cannot be taken from us.

Colossians 3.1-4
Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand.
2 Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth.
3 For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God.
4 And when Christ, who is your life, is revealed to the whole world, you will share in all his glory.

  • We have to set our confidence in what Christ has done because people all around will say we’re not enough.
  • And we go ‘yeah, I know that’ and some of those folks who try to tell us we’re not enough are going to be persuasively religious in how they can point us toward being enough…
  • but their advice and power and means is apart from Christ.

Philippians 3.2
Watch out for those dogs, those people who do evil, those mutilators who say you must be circumcised to be saved.
3 For we who worship by the Spirit of God are the ones who are truly circumcised.
We rely on what Christ Jesus has done for us. We put no confidence in human effort,
4 though I could have confidence in my own effort if anyone could. Indeed, if others have reason for confidence in their own efforts, I have even more!

  • Ew, yikes don’t talk about circumcision.
  • But think about the commitment level required to change your physical body to meet a standard!
  • There’s always someone ‘better’ than me.
  • Better than is not required; perfect holiness is, and there is only one, Jesus Christ, who fulfills that FOR me, FOR you, FOR us.
  • Paul takes inventory and rests us in Jesus.

5 I was circumcised when I was eight days old. I am a pure-blooded citizen of Israel and a member of the tribe of Benjamin—a real Hebrew if there ever was one! I was a member of the Pharisees, who demand the strictest obedience to the Jewish law.
6 I was so zealous that I harshly persecuted the church. And as for righteousness, I obeyed the law without fault.
7 I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done.
8 Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ
9 and become one with him.
I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ.
For God’s way of making us right with himself depends on faith.

  • Verses 5-6 - The Old Covenant:
  • Even the best and the brightest couldn’t keep 10 rules.
  • More rules do not produce more righteousness. The just will live by faith, the righteous will live by faith, and the only reason anyone is considered righteous or just is because of what Jesus has done to make them righteous and just.
  • We are ONLY believing in what Jesus did, does and will do for us.
  • Let’s be reminded of these three points of our theology, what we think as we follow Jesus about what Jesus means for us:

  • What Jesus Did For Us
    Philippians 3.7
    I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done.
    8 Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ 9 and become one with him.
    I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ. For God’s way of making us right with himself depends on faith.

Titus 3:4
When God our Savior revealed his kindness and love,
5 he saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit. 6 He generously poured out the Spirit upon us through Jesus Christ our Savior. 7 Because of his grace he made us right in his sight and gave us confidence that we will inherit eternal life.

  • What Jesus Is Doing For Us
    Philippians 2.12
    Work hard to show the results of your salvation, obeying God with deep reverence and fear.
    13 For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.

Romans 8
28 And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.
29 For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.
30 And having chosen them, he called them to come to him.
And having called them, he gave them right standing with himself. And having given them right standing, he gave them his glory.

  • What Jesus Will Do For Us
    Philippians 1
    6 And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.

Jude 1.24
Now all glory to God, who is able to keep you from falling away and will bring you with great joy into his glorious presence without a single fault.

Philippians 3.3
We rely on what Christ Jesus has done for us.
We put no confidence in human effort

  • Why? Because my life is won by Christ, run by Christ, and I’m done with captivity through Christ..
  • I’m a slave to the one I obey and I’m not going to do what you think, what you did, what you do, what you want. I’m ONLY Jesus’ slave.
  • My past is won by Jesus, my present is run by Jesus and my future is done, secure by Jesus.
  • I have a future, promise and hope. If Jesus stops being Jesus, I’ll look elsewhere. Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever. (Hebrews 13.8)

John 14.1-4
“Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me.
2 There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you?
3 When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am.4And you know the way to where I am going.”

Romans 8
10 And Christ lives within you, so even though your body will die because of sin, the Spirit gives you life because you have been made right with God.
11 The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you.

Philippians 3.8
Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.
For his sake I have discarded everything else,
counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ
9 and become one with him.

  • At the same time, this action is not on account of my wisdom or great decision making or any kind of holiness from or by me, but simply with Jesus in view, I reckon all this! - It is because of how incomparably great Jesus is that I can come to this conclusion.
  • You may not be done trying ‘everything else’, but me? I’ve seen enough and I’ve never heard any promise of eternal life like the promises that Jesus has made.
  • And the proof of the power of every promise Jesus made is demonstrated in his life, his death, and his resurrection.
  • I rely on Christ alone.

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