Untitled Sermon

beginning we didn't even get through verse one two weeks ago last time so we are still beginning our study in philippians and just to kind of refresh you this is we are going to be learning to rejoice in the lord learning to rejoice in the lord that's the basis of what the book of philippians is all about rejoicing in the lord over 18 times in the book of philippians the word joy or rejoice or one of its derivatives is used so learning to rejoice in the lord and in chapter one we're going to see that we are going to be taught how to rejoice in the opportunities that god gives us to serve him rejoicing in opportunities to serve christ and i mentioned last time that

that unfortunately a bulk of our christianity is circumstantial christianity we walk in the lord when things are going okay when things are but even then we kind of tend to drift and then when things get bad oh then we cry out to god and we we evidently don't see him right at first and so we we moan and complain and and all and and then as god brings us out of despair as he saves us and draws us out of those areas of despair then we're we're walking tall again and so our christianity is is like this it's circumstantial based on circumstances things are going well we can praise god you know we can rejoice in the things that god is is doing but when things go bad uh even though we cry out to

the lord we tend to complain and go into despair and so this is to hopefully bring us out of circumstantial christian life and moving into an area of walking in the fullness of joy and we mentioned that paul is writing this epistle from prison his particular vision of what he thought he was supposed to be doing of what god called him to do planning churches is evidently cut short he's not fulfilling what he thought his call from god was but rather than complain and moan and be in despair paul is rejoicing in the lord and we talked last time about all the things that resulted from paul's ministry in prison a tremendous prison ministry so let's read through the first 11 verses here let's look at these first 11 verses and

philippians and uh and then we'll come back and all we're going to do is verse one today but we are going to do verse one so paul and timothy servants of christ jesus to all the saints in christ jesus at philippi together with the overseers and deacons grace and peace to you from god our father and the lord jesus christ i thank my god every time i remember you in all my prayers for all of you i always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now being confident of this that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of christ jesus it is right for me to feel this way about all of you since i have you in my heart for whether i am in chains or defending and

confirming the gospel all of you share in god's grace with me god can testify how i long for all of you with the affection of christ jesus and this is my prayer that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of christ filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through jesus christ to the glory and the praise of god learning to rejoice in the lord regardless of the circumstances because the circumstances are not going to improve right away there is one coming who will temporarily seem to improve the circumstances and the world will marvel after

him but he is not the one we're looking for and he is not the one we're looking for and he is not the one we're looking for so until that time you can anticipate things getting worse and worse because that's what the word of god says will happen circumstances are going to get worse and worse i think i shared this before but it used to be that you would it seems this way anyhow at least earlier in my christian walk that there were breathing times between crummy situations crummy situation level off breathe recover crummy situation level off breathe and recover and it seems like the crummy situations kept coming quicker and quicker with less time to breathe

and now it seems like most of the time it's going to be worse and worse and worse and worse and worse and worse and worse and worse and worse and worse and worse and worse and worse and worse and it's new and if you don't schedule time to breathe if you're not taking that time i mean you have to take it and it's a fight if you're not scheduling and taking those times to get away like jesus did we don't have mountains here so you just get away in the dirt get away in the patio or whatever and just spend some time with the lord you will be overcome with frustration with despair with doubt with anguish with futility you will be overcome because this is the only breathing time that we have

time you got everything is going to get worse and worse i got home and opened the paper and the first two things i saw in the paper because i just i was skimming through and catching headlines and then reading articles is and it was on the same page two articles on the same page 10 year old suspect in toddler's death the 10 year old boy who was helping babysit the girl was charged thursday in her death prosecutors say the boy beat 18 month old and gives her name with a dog chain saturday night at his father's home the coroner said she suffered brain hemorrhaging extensive bruising and a cut shoe imprints were found on her head and right hand 10 years old then

on the same page and just up a little bit it says beaten baby released from hospital now i've been following this on the news out in california this was a six-year-old this 10-year-old who killed this little 18 month old here's a six-year-old who was released from the hospital or a six-year-old who uh had beat this infant almost to death the the infant was was released from the hospital who is now two months old the infant's two months old now but still is uh suffering brain damage doctors say that he suffered extensive brain damage and faces disabilities that could leave him blind and unable to walk 10 year old boy beating a little baby to death with a dog chain six-year-old boy beating nearly a one-month-old baby to death

just with a stick and uh and with his hands it's sick it's disgusting two different places one in colorado one in california but you and i know right around here there are these same disgusting things happening so the circumstances are not going to get any better oh no we can legislate all we want to right now the only thing that's going to change circumstances is a change of heart in people's lives the laws aren't going to do it increased education is not going to do it telling people to just say no is not going to do it it's going to be people coming to a relationship with jesus christ that will eventually change the circumstances but in the midst of this decadent world we can learn to

rejoice we can learn to rejoice in the lord and realize god's sovereign control over the situations and over our lives and so that's what we want to look to and my my prayer is if you stay with this study you're going to be able to do this you the spirit of god will take the word of god and impart it to your life if you're open to it if your heart's open and you will be brought into this understanding and awareness so that it doesn't make any difference what the circumstances are around us we're going to be able to rejoice in the lord and be effective tools for the lord in the midst of the circumstances so that's the goal you hang with it you'll see that work in your lives this morning we're going to begin this

section of chapter one and rejoicing in the opportunities to serve christ just by looking at verse one just by looking at verse one because verse one reveals three things that we need to understand before we'll ever be able to rejoice in the lord three things that we need to understand before we'll ever be able to rejoice in the lord and not simply be a circumstantial christian verse one paul and timothy servants of christ jesus to all the saints in christ jesus at philippi together with the overseers and deacons now if you look at any commentary and they do an outline in the commentaries that says introduction and then it goes on to the rest of the epistle that goes on to the rest of the rest of the

epistle in other words the commentators look at this and they go that's a high there from paul you know paul says hi now let's go on to the real important stuff that's in the rest of the epistle but we know that second timothy 316 says that all scripture is god breathed and is profitable so if we sit and look at this long enough and ask god to show us even in a high there what he wants us to understand there are rich things in the high there's and i want you to i want you to realize that so when you sit down anywhere in the word and begin to open it you realize that whether you're in a an area where you're reading uh you know you're in a place where you're reading uh you know you're

a genealogy you're in leviticus and reading about the temple all the elements of the temple and the priest of the temple and that seems so boring and then you get to chronicles and you read about so and so we got so and so we got so and so and you think this is totally ridiculous how could god be in any of this he is in some tremendous ways this is a high there from paul let's see what's in the high there because there are three important things in just the high there that we need to understand before we'll ever learn how to rejoice in the lord the first thing we need to know from this is who we are in verse one you learn who you are second thing you need to learn is what you are

and in verse one you learn what you are third thing we need to learn and know is where we are and in verse one we learn where we are need to know who you are what do you mean need to know who i am well you need to know who you are before you can know what you can do we just did a musical here at calvary chapel our school did a couple weeks ago and it's called uh good kings come in small packages and it was about king josiah who assumed the throne at age eight eight years old and uh an excellent job of presenting the fact that he didn't realize really who he was as the king now and as a result what all opportunities he had what decisions he could make so you need to know

who you are before you can really know what you can do verse one says paul and timothy servants of christ jesus paul and timothy servants of christ jesus now the word servants there is the word bond slave and in our culture we really don't have a good understanding of what a bond slave is what a bond slave is all about because we go back to the old testament you find that when the children of israel were brought into the promised land when joshua brought him into the land he apportioned the land according to the tribes 12 tribes they each get a section of land in canaan and they were allotted to each tribe and then to each clan in each tribe was given a certain

section of their land so ephraim was given this little section of land and then to the clans or or to the the families within the tribe of ephraim they were given certain parts of land based on family size and all and then each one in the tribes were allotted so much land now during the course of time and during the course of doing business it was possible for individuals to have bad crop harvests lose money borrow become indebted and finally they just were broke and so in order to live they had to sell themselves into slavery they would become a slave to their brother in the land but god foresaw this and so he had moses record and joshua then rehearse again with the children of israel that when they came into the land

and this kind of thing happened and they sold themselves into slavery that they could only be slaves for a period of six years and then at the end of the six-year period the seventh year they would have an opportunity to go free their slavery would be over and they would have an opportunity to go again out into the world and be free only problem with this was if they had gotten to a point where they were starving they were broke and the work was hard and nothing was being harvested the thought now after six years of being taken care of to a certain degree where they had their their food provided their clothing provided their housing provided everything was provided for them the worry of that was off of off of their hearts

the thought of now being free meant going back into the possibility of having to end up in a desperate situation again and maybe with a master that's not as nice as this one so they had an opportunity on that seventh year to deny that freedom to say no i want to stay where i am now to sell themselves into slavery and all and and things were were going bad every seven sets of seven years after 49 years the 50th year was called the year of jubilee and so they might have a you know a streak of hard times off and on and off and on and and but at the 50th year the year of jubilee everything reverted back to zero all the land went back to the original tribes and clans to it to whom

it was allotted when they came into the land so they had a chance to start over all debt was canceled and you had to go back to the original tribes and clans to it to whom it was allotted and you started over but it might be a long time until the next jubilee and you might have some hard times facing you and so as a slave you had this opportunity on the seventh year to refuse your freedom and to stay with your master now if you would do that you are now entering into a type of slavery that's called being a bond slave you are giving up your right i mean you as a slave you don't have much right anyhow and we'll talk about the difference between servants and slaves here in a minute between servants and bond slaves

servants have some rights at least they had that right to decide on the seventh year if they wanted to be free again but a bond slave had no rights and so if you decided you wanted to stay with this individual then in order for other people to know it so your master doesn't get in trouble because you know other people see that you're still working for this guy and say hey you know seven years is you should be free and this guy getting in trouble they would mark you as a bond slave they would gather the elders of the city and any witnesses that wanted to come and they would gather to the gate of the city and your master would be there and you would be free and

make that declaration before these witnesses that you were relinquishing your freedoms that you were relinquishing your rights to go free and that you were yielding yourself unto this master for life as long as he lived you were yielded to him as his slave the master would then take your earlobe and take and press you up against the doorpost and take an awl and would pierce your earlobe and then place a gold earring in through the pierced hole that would identify you as a bond slave and from that point on you are no longer free you are a slave to this master for life for the life of that master your life is subject to him anything he desires he wills he owns you you have no rights now as a slave to guaranteed eight hours

of sleep or guaranteed so many meals you are his slave his desires his wishes are yours you lose your identity in your master you no longer exist for all intents and purposes other than as being a slave for your master and Paul says Paul and Timothy bond slaves of Jesus Christ they've given up all their rights and all their privileges to be lost in the identity of being a bond slave of Jesus Christ so you don't see Paul and Philippians going but Lord you know I had this vision I was going to go out and plant churches you showed me that I was going to go do all these great things for you Lord why because he's a bond slave he has no rights his life is subject to the whims and the

directions of the master wherever whenever and however the master wanted to use him he was subject to that and he was released to that and that's who Paul was and that's his identity I mean you go to some of the other epistles and you'll see Paul an apostle of Jesus Christ and from that he is defending his apostleship to those who questioned his ability and his authority to actually write as an apostle but this is interesting that Paul identifies himself here as a bond slave because that's all that's that's the highest calling now all of you here this morning are slaves you are a slave to someone one of two but you are a slave there's no one here free this morning nobody one of the things that back in the hippie generation

back in the generation I grew up in was that was one of the purposes of that generation was to go find yourself you know go find I've lost myself I don't know who I am you know I need to be free I need to be out from under the rat race and go be free and go find myself well guess what nobody's free everybody's a slave hold your finger here go back with me to Romans chapter 6 for just a minute back to your left to the book of Romans Paul is writing to the church in Rome and in chapter 6 he addresses this issue of slavery pointing out that we are all slaves to someone Paul is showing that in the first part of chapter 6 that that God's grace is sufficient to meet any unrighteousness he's doing that because there are times when you share with

people about the love of God where it's hard for them to receive because in their own eyes they feel like they've been so bad I mean I've been so bad I've done so many things I've done so many bad things God could not love me because my sin level is up here and Paul is showing in chapter 6 that God's grace abounds even super abounds beyond that his grace much more abounds greater than any sin level you you or I could ever have there's nobody that has sinned so much that God's grace does not abound even more and so Paul answers the argument that comes from that beginning in verse 15 what then shall we sin because we're not under law but under grace should we go on sinning then so that God's grace continues to abound absolutely not by no means don't

you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves you are slaves to the one whom you obey whether you are slaves to sin which leads to death or to obedience which leads to righteousness one or the other you're either a slave to sin or a slave to obedience which leads to righteousness but thanks be to God that though you used to be slaves to sin you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted you obeyed the gospel you received the gospel of Jesus Christ and you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness I put this in human terms he says because you are weak in your natural selves just as you used to offer the parts of your body and slavery to impurity and to ever increasing

wickedness so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness when you were slaves to sin you were free from the control of righteousness what benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of those things result in death there are consequences to whomever we yield ourselves as slaves you remember that before you came to Christ the life you live seeking yourself seeking your freedom seeking to be all that you could be grabbing all the gusto you can this buds for you man all of that stuff ended in death it destroyed brain cells it destroyed physical you know now all the people from my generation who went out to live life and experience free sex and free drugs are dying from

venereal disease and liver cancers and everything else from all of our free experiences and Paul says you yielded yourselves as slaves to sin and now you're those things are going to be a result in death verse 21 verse 22 but now that you've been set free from sin you become slaves to God the benefit you reap leads to holiness and the result is eternal life for the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord so it's one of two I don't see options here for thirds and fourths and oh I'm not a slave to sin I'm not a slave to Christ I'm my own person no it's not here it says you're one or the other wages of sin is death gift of God is

eternal life in Christ Jesus slave to sin I'm not a slave to sin I'm not a slave to Christ I'm my own slave to righteousness one or the other you're all slaves this morning whose slave are you who are you Paul and Timothy bond slaves of Jesus Christ you will never be able to rejoice in the Lord you will never be more than a circumstantial Christian until you know who you are and a bond slave in Jesus Christ when you got when you came to Christ now however you want to say it how whatever terms you want to use when you were born again when you received Christ when you responded to Christ when you said yes to Christ when you asked Jesus in your whatever the terminology you

want to use for all that when you were born again when you were born again when you were born again Jesus came in yes you were purchased by him yes you were a slave of his you were a servant of his yes but a bond slave is something you do yielding yourself to him once and for all saying Lord I give up all my rights you see otherwise you move about as a servant thinking you've got rights and then when something happens in your life that's one of those unforeseen circumstances the first words out of our mouths are that's not fair this shouldn't happen to me as a slave as if there's some reason that it shouldn't like we have some kind of rights you know but when

you realize that you're a bond slave you realize you've yielded your rights to Jesus Christ you realize that you are identified now fully in the master that he is in control that he's in control of the circumstances so there is nothing that happens to you that's first not first filtered through the fingers of God and so you can yield to him and when those situations happen rather than they're going that's not fair I don't deserve this you go Lord I am an unprofitable servant I am you want to do this for a reason because you love me and you're you have my best interest at heart help me to see it help me to know that help me to be that servant through which you can work in this

situation that only comes when you know who you are otherwise you'll be fighting for your rights bond slave of Jesus Christ not a Sunday Christian but yielded sold out as a slave for the Lord secondly you need to know what you are you need to know what you are Paul says Paul and Timothy servants of Christ Jesus to all the Saints in Christ Jesus at Philippi to all the Saints the word is Haggaios Saints Saints mentioned Saints today and the influence of the Roman Catholic Church comes out tremendously Saint Teresa Saint Michael Saint Christopher and we have this concept of Saints as being elevated human individuals above the norm elevated and recognized for their

great sacrifices and given homage to pray to even in some cases that's not what the Bible describes as a saint that's not a biblical understanding of a saint anyone born of the blood of Jesus Christ is again you are a Saint the Greek word is Haggaios it literally means a set-apart one something that is set apart now again in our culture we don't have an understanding of that we have to go back into the Old Testament where we first encounter in the Greek translation of the Old Testament the word Haggaios first appears in regards to the to the tabernacle in relation to the tabernacle God gives Moses the blueprints of the tabernacle this is where I'm going to meet with you so you got to

build it this way and you got to use these items and these elements and I'm going to show you how you're going to gift a holy ab and some of these guys as craftsmen and they're going to build these things and you're going to build some out of gold and some out of wood and overlay it with gold and some out of brass and some out of silver then when you get it all done he told Moses you're going to make this oil and it's a fragrance that's special and I'll give you the recipe but nobody else is to make the same recipe or they die because this is a special oil a special anointing oil and you're going to go in after everything's made and you're going to take this oil and you're

going to put elements in the tabernacle you're going to anoint the mercy seat you're going to anoint the veil you're going to anoint the altar of incense you're going to anoint the candle you're going to anoint the table of showbread you're going to go out and anoint the labor and anoint the altar of burnt offering and you're going to anoint then all of the I mean you go back through Exodus and Leviticus and you find all these little things that Moses was supposed to build little sensors and little shovels and little scissor type things little scrapers and and all of that stuff that he was supposed to build out of brass and all that he's supposed to anoint all of that because

these are holy unto me these are separated out these are set apart unto me for my service guys i don't know about you but uh if there's ever a problem that i've had in my homemaking it's been with my tools or lack of tools i'm not real mechanical so i don't need a whole lot of tools you know to get around because i can't do a whole lot anyhow but i have had several screwdrivers and pliers and hammers and vice grips and stuff like that and and uh those are supposed to have their special place but you know over the course of time they evolve upstairs and into the drawer you know by the kitchen because nine times out of ten when you need a screwdriver it's to fix something in the kitchen you know and rather than having to go down stairs or out in the

garage to a workshop to get your screwdrivers you know if you got them in the kitchen at least when your wife says this needs to be fixed you go all right you know and you open the drawer and there's a screwdriver but even with all of that there have been times when i've needed a flathead screwdriver and i'll go to the drawer and open the drawer and i've got three phillips heads three different size phillips head screwdriver i can't remember what i did with that flathead screwdriver no problem i'll go to the drawer in the kitchen and open a drawer and pull out a butter knife you know fits most screws sometimes they're a little tight and so sometimes you're trying to turn that you bend off the little end of the knife you know you got lots of butter

knife one thing i will never do though is go in and open the doors and open my wife's or our silver reach in and grab a silver knife to do that why i will die yes that's right that silver has been set apart for special times for special service you don't use it for anything other than those special dinners that's it or you die and you see that in the temple that's what god said with the anointing oil you don't make that again or you die you don't use these vessels for anything other than what they are used for or you'll die they had the little shovel that they shoveled the ashes out at the at the altar of burnt offerings well that's all it was for you just shoveled the

ashes out with this brass shovel that's it you don't go over here and plant a tree with a shovel or you die because this is what it was set apart for it was hagios it was set apart for the special service unto the lord for that particular purpose now listen when you come to christ when the spirit of god leads you and you hear the gospel of jesus christ and you respond to it and you say yes lord i believe that you sent jesus to die for me it's his shed blood that washes away my sin come into my heart live in my life now i receive you as my savior and my lord you become hagios saints set apart unto god well from scriptural example then if i'm set apart unto god and that's the same thing as these vessels then are there things that i'm not intended to

be used for things that now that i'm set apart unto god i should be always doing and yet there's some things that i shouldn't be doing because i'm set apart unto god absolutely absolutely so we've got to read the word god's called us as vessels hagios set apart unto him he wants to use you in the lives of other people he wants to use you to demonstrate his love for them and his mercy and his grace and his justice that he's giving for them through christ coming through you you have been set apart to him for that but there are so see when when we go off after our own pursuits and see that's why you can't be a sunday only hagios you have to realize you're set apart unto god that's what you are for every day of the week for every

circumstance and if you know who you are i'm a bond slave of jesus christ i'm lost in his identity then the circumstances now become a time for you to be hagios set apart unto you that's what i am so use me now as your servant in the midst of these circumstances for your glory but see when we want to go do our own thing when we want to disregard the fact that we're hagios that we're set apart unto god when we want to go out now and i want to do this because that's what i want to do i feel like i've got my rights i want to go do this because this is what i want to do satisfy myself are there consequences to that because that's not what god intend you to be yes do we

find that in scripture absolutely several places there was a time that the uh they took the ark of god into battle and the philistines captured it and because they had it in their territory god had come upon the philistines so they wanted to get rid of that thing so they built a cart put it on the cart and sent it back to israel comes back to israel children of israel rejoice let's go get it bring it back to jerusalem that's great so david brings all of his people out and they get the ark and they put it on a cart they start bringing it back to jerusalem it starts to fall off the cart uza reaches up to stabilize the ark god kills him immediately why that's hagios that's

set apart unto god special use special service only moved a special way by the koathites a clan of the levites that were called to carry it a certain way with the staves through the holes with it covered with the harps from the the veil of the temple and to be carried worshipfully not on a cart god didn't prescribe it that way you do it different you die when it came back to israel it says that several people several of the jews died because they opened the thing to look into it to see if everything was there see if everything was in it that's where raiders of the lost ark really has an accurate depiction of what happened when they looked into the ark of the covenant god smote him

why because it was hagios it wasn't meant to be used for that purpose they weren't to handle it that way the vessel was not to be handled that way it was hagios it was set apart into the lord go back with me hold your finger here and go back with me to judges the book of judges uh-oh judges look in your table of contents or remember the first five books genesis exodus leviticus numbers deuteronomy and then joshua joshua leads him into the promised land and then after joshua dies they have judges it's all it's laid out wonderfully that's why we're gonna we're gonna focus more intensely on teaching the word getting the word out book of judges chapter 13 a very familiar story about an individual that we've heard about in children's church and sunday

chapter 13 verse 1 again the israelites did evil in the eyes of the lord so the lord delivered them into the hands of the philistines for 40 years verse 2 and a certain man of zora named manoah from the clan of the danites had a wife who was sterile and remained childless the angel of the lord appeared to her and said you are sterile and childless but you're going to conceive and have a son now see to it that you drink no wine or other fermented drink and that you do not eat anything unclean because you will conceive and give birth to a son no razor may be used on his head because the boy is to be a child and the child is to be a son and the child is to be a son and the child

it's right thing you should do and now for sorrows are placed between attempt not based upon того man has nanah and so as the me telus er gerhard are rightolo here goes long which was the say to the jews of that type of concept ration and got that you read the next couple chapters and you realize the life of samples that was not one of our products was not one of estavam isAnd he had great strength and he used measures of timelessness until there was the wonderful measure of the given day that arose when he fulfilled his promises had an ability to make the people my prince my prince the great will you bring them from the state of and we know you will be there. So plug it right away but the conspiration you will get to the

and he used that strength for his own advantage, for his own pleasure. Finally, after choosing a wife of the Philistines against God's command and his parents' wishes, a second time he chose two, and finally choosing Delilah, Delilah is used as an instrument of the Philistines to deceive Samson and to find out the source of his strength. Now, follow that story and the idea that as you go to chapter 16, you find that four different times Delilah asks Samson, what's the source of your strength? And he gives her false answers three of those times, and she does that to him, and then calls for the Philistines to come in and get him. Each time he stands up and pops the ropes

or pops the vines or the chains or whatever it is that they're doing to him, each time. Now, you think when you read that, and every time I hear that, I read it, I think, you were so stupid. But it tells a real story. You and I are haggios. We're set apart under the Lord, for service under the Lord. Anything that we do contrary to that numbs our sense, it dulls us. We become foolish. We become insensitive to the leading of the Spirit.

We become easy prey for sin. We become caught up in the things of the world. And finally, the fourth time we read in chapter 16, that verse 20, Delilah has found that the source of Samson's strength is his hair. He's gone to sleep. She's cut his hair. And then verse 20, she called upon Samson, the Philistines are upon you. And he awoke from his sleep and thought,

I'll go out. Before and shake myself free. But he did not know that the Lord had left him. Hey, I'm haggios, you know, I'm the Lord. I'm strong in the Lord. I can do whatever I want to please myself. It got to the point where he lost the source of his strength. Listen, you can be believers in Jesus Christ, saved by the blood of Christ, given the Holy Spirit of God as a result of salvation,

which seals you unto the day of redemption. I believe that. But you can yield yourself to sin and to wickedness. You can yield to sin and to wickedness. You can yield to sin and to wickedness. To self-desires and selfish pleasures. And instead of being haggios, you seek to serve yourself and you will lose the power of God in your life. The power of God will cease to be there. And you

won't even recognize it until some tragedy happens as this happened to Samson. He's carried off by the Philistines. His eyes are gouged out. He's put in bronze shackles and forced to tread at the mill. And that's what sin will do to you. It will rob you of all the pleasures and the joys of this life. It will rob you of fellowship with God and leave you shackled.

You will suffer in bondage to itself in the physical realm. You'll suffer physically. You'll suffer emotionally. You'll suffer spiritually as a result of yielding yourself to things other than as God designed you as haggios, set apart unto him. That's why it's so necessary for us to know what he wants. And he's given us his word and he's given us his spirit that says, I'll teach you,

I'll guide you so that you can know what I require of you. Samson forsook it and ended up broken. You are haggios. A saint set apart unto God. You need to know who you are. You're a bond slave. You need to know what you are. I'm a haggios. I'm a saint. You need to know where you are. Finally, you need to know where you are. Verse one, Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus to all the saints. Now

notice this, in Christ Jesus at Philippi. It's a matter of location. He didn't say servants of Jesus Christ. I thought that was interesting. Saints of Jesus Christ. He says saints in Christ Jesus. It's a matter of location. What's the three most important rules in real estate? Location. Location. Location. Why? Because location determines value. Location determines worth. You want a real end of the

self-esteem problem in the world? Christians finding out where they are. You're in Christ. Period. End of self-esteem problem. You're a bond slave. You have no self anymore. Your self is lost in Christ. Praise God. That's more fully described when you realize you're in Christ. While I was out at the conference, I bought some commentaries and I put them in a plastic sack to take home. As I

was walking back to my room, I had met some of the pastors I've been fellowship with. Oh, what'd you get? I said, I got some commentaries. I didn't say I got a sack so that I could see that. I said, I got some commentaries. See, the commentaries were identified with the bag. They were in the bag, but I didn't say I got this sack and some commentaries. You don't get a life and Jesus.

You get it. You're in Christ. You are found in Christ. When God looks at you, he sees you in the bag. You're in Christ. He looks at you and he sees you covered with his son. Not just the blood of his son. Now you're in his son. You are baptized. First Corinthians 12 into the body of Christ. You're not added to. You're baptized into. That's exciting. And you can come to that understanding as to where you are.

It gives you a sense of stability and security. When I was in Africa, you don't know where you are. And so there's a real sense of instability. I mean, you know, and you need to know you're in Christ because in the circumstances, they don't matter, but there's still a physical feeling of instability until the plane touched down at LAX and you go, I'm home. When we were at the conference

center, I stayed in a room with three other guys. And at night, if you had to go to the bathroom, it's dark. And so you kind of, you know, feel your way through the room so you don't break your foot at home. I can get up and walk with the lights off because I know where the chair is. And I might step on my shoes or something, but I know where I'm going. I know where everything is. There's a

feeling of security and stability when you know where you are, when you are in Christ, when you realize that is where you are and there is value in that you find your value and you're worth in Christ. Even while I'm a bond slave, I have no identity. I'm in Christ and he loves me and I'm worth everything. In Christ, there is no east or west. I'm in Christ and he loves me and I'm worth

west. In him, no north or south. No walls of division. Ephesians tells us those walls have been torn down. There's no slave, no free, no Jew, nor Greek, no male, nor female. But in Christ, we are all one. Brought into that oneness in Christ. That's why we don't need to have this big push here, you know, for unity. Because you're one in Christ. If we're in Christ,

we're one already. And the love flows naturally. That's why it's so cool to see this first Philippian church, this first church in Philippi. There were women. There was a demon-possessed girl. There was a jailer and his family. Lowest ranking people on the totem pole. All one because they're in Christ. Paul was at Rome. He was in Christ. He could rejoice. He knew where he was.

He knew who he was. He was a bond slave. He knew what he was. He said, I'll get out instead of letting you go. You can do with me what you want. You want to shipwreck me, beat me, beat me with rods, put me in chains, put me in a prison. That's one. I'm your bond slave. I'm set apart into you. I'm in you. I'm in you. I can rejoice in the midst of my circle. Let's stand together.

So the question we're faced with this morning is, who are you? And what are you? And where are you? If you're in despair, why? Is it because you don't understand? If you don't understand who you are, maybe you've never yielded your life completely to Jesus Christ as a bond slave. Maybe you're trying to do Christ and the world together, and all you're going to end up with is in despair and frustration and anxiety. Until you become lost in him, until

you become surrendered to him, until you are his bond slave, you'll have frustration and futility. Or maybe you don't realize that he has made you hagios, set apart unto him. And maybe you're seeking to use your vessel, the vessel of your body for your own joy and for your own fulfillment and for your own pleasure, rather than realizing you're set apart unto God. There's certain things I don't do, Lord, and you know that. So help me not to do them. Or maybe you just don't realize where

you are. Maybe you think you're in Ark City. No, you're at Ark City. You're at Calvary Chapel. You'll go home and you'll be at home or at a restaurant. There's something that doesn't change when you realize that you're in Christ. It doesn't make any difference. And where you're at, in him, there's peace. You don't know that peace this morning. It's offered to you. All you need to do is surrender your heart to Jesus Christ. Come to Christ this morning if

you don't know him. If you do know him and you'd like prayer in a particular area, a prayer maybe to surrender as a bond slave or to realize yourself as hagios, as separated, as a saint, or prayer to be able to better understand where you are in Christ. And the brothers will be down front as we close and we come down front. Father, we thank you for this morning. We thank you for

this study in Philippians. God, I just assumed. Finish it in your presence as you call us to be with you at the rapture. Lord, just as Paul said, whatever's for the benefit of the whole, if it's for us to be here and to be imparting your truth and your encouragement to others, Lord, then so be it. We're your bond slaves. We're set apart unto you. We're in Christ. We know where we are. And when you're done with us, we'll be in your

presence completely and fully. So may we walk in that truth, Lord, knowing the freedom that's there, knowing the value in our word that's there. Knowing that our purpose is found there. And we can rejoice in the midst of our circumstances. In Jesus' name. You need prayer. Come forward.