The Right Focus Pt 1

It's good to see everybody. Welcome to Calvary Chapel. I want to invite you to stand with us, and we'll pray, and we'll get started. Father, we thank you for the day. Lord, we just thank you for another opportunity to lift praise to you, to worship you, to spend some time in your word, Lord. And I do want to take a moment this morning, Lord God, just to lift up your children,

Israel, Lord, as they are under attack right now, Lord. God, we know that you are going to protect your children, Lord. You're going to protect Israel, God, and we know that you're going to defend them. And I just pray that through all of this, Lord, that the truth of your son Jesus would be revealed to them and to their enemies, Lord God. I just pray your blessing upon this time.

We love you, and we praise you in your precious and holy name. Amen. Yes, Lord God, one day every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess, Lord, that you are God. Amen? Amen. You guys go and have a seat if you like, and we'll continue on.

Yes, Lord God, with you there is victory, God. And Lord God, we know that you're going to bring about a victory with Israel, God. Amen? Amen. Amen. Lord, this morning, God, we want to invite you in this place this morning, God, to come and do your mighty work. Let your Holy Spirit come, Lord, and just let us surrender to it. Lord God, let us surrender to your mighty work.

Lord, we invite you in this place, and we long for a touch from you this morning.

Lord God, again, we just come to you this morning just asking your Holy Spirit to come and dwell in this place this morning. Dwell in our hearts. Just do your mighty work in our lives, Lord God. Change us. God, we long for you. We long just for a touch from you, Lord God. And we long to be in your presence, Lord God. Would you guys go ahead and stand with me for this last one?

Lord God, again, we just thank you for the day. And Lord God, we just thank you that you are faithful. No matter how much we fall and how many times we fail, Lord God, you are faithful.

You're the same yesterday, today, and forever, Lord God. Lord, forgive me. Forgive us for our unbelief, Lord God. Forgive us for not trusting in you, Lord.

Lord, you are faithful, and you will come through every time, Lord God.

You are good to us, Lord God. We thank you.

Lord God, we just, again, thank you, Lord God, just for your faithfulness. God, even when we're not, you are still faithful. Always. And Lord, now, as Pastor Ryan comes, I pray that your Holy Spirit would overflow him, give him the words to speak, and prepare our hearts to receive from you, God, the word that you've prepared for us. Lord God, we love you, and we praise you,

and we thank you in your precious and holy name. All God's people said, amen. Let's have some fellowship. Process of locating your seats, grabbing a bulletin. We'll get ready that you have joined us this morning. We're extra talky today. It's okay. There's always after church. Don't worry. I'm glad that you've joined us this morning. A few things to take note of over on the left-hand side of your bulletin. Events that go on throughout

the week here at Calvary Chapel. So take note of those and find a spot to get plugged into. Over in the middle section of your bulletin, a few things that are going on. There is a Sunday school teacher meeting next, or this coming Saturday, April the 20th, from 9.30 to noon. And if you have any questions about that, you can see Sandra Davis. Also, fellas, there's a men's breakfast coming up this Saturday at eight o'clock down in the

Agape room. So come join us for that. I really want to challenge you fellas to come join us for that because we always have an amazing time of discussion and breakfast together, and we just don't always get a good number of you fellas there. And we need each other. We need to be able to fellowship together and to mutually encourage each other. So I want to challenge

you fellas, put it down in your calendar and come join us next Saturday, eight o'clock in the morning. Your projects will still be there at 9.30, I promise. And you won't have started yet anyway. We also have a couple of spots remaining for the Guatemala missions trip in May. And Ross did let me know that if you are thinking that the Lord's laying it on your heart to go and you don't have a passport, typically it takes a little time to

get those, but Ross is not new at traveling internationally and he knows people. And he can help you get connected with the right people to make sure that you can get a passport in time. So don't let anything hold you back from going on that trip. And then if you signed up to help out with the mowing ministry, the schedules are out on the table in the lobby by where you got your bulletin. So make sure that you take note of that. And if you signed up, please pick up your schedule

because you're on it. So, and if you're not sure if you signed up, you might look because your wife might've done it for you. So check that out. Those are the things that are going on. If you would make sure that your mobile device, is silenced. And, uh, before we do our responsive reading this morning, uh, we have a baby dedication. So come on up Rizzios. We just keep making new people here and, uh, brand, brand new

creations, both spiritually and physically. Um, we here at Calvary chapel do not believe in infant baptism. We believe baptism is something that, uh, a person decides for themselves after they have come to faith in Jesus Christ. But we do believe in dedicating these tiny people to the Lord. Well, she comes here. And so this is, this is Hosanna Lynn. Now, the last time we did this, I relaxed your bowels. So hang in

there. Okay. We were out in the hallway and that's, uh, that's what I'm good for with babies. So, all right. And so, uh, so this is Hosanna Lynn Rizzio. And if you don't know, this is Nick and Erica Rizzio. Nick is usually back there in that, uh, booth with the glass and, um, and they've got quite a sweet little family here. So let's pray for them. Father, we come to you, Lord, and I just thank you for this new life. Lord, I thank you for this tiny

lady and the blessing that she is. And Lord, I thank you for this family and the blessing that they are here in church. And so, Lord, we just want to dedicate Hosanna to you right now, Lord, that she would truly understand the salvation that comes through you, Lord, as her name declares, uh, save now. And so, Lord, may she understand, Lord, what it is to know and follow you. And Lord,

would you instill in her even now a heart that is hungering for the things of you. And Lord, I lift up Nick and Erica as they seek to raise this child and the nurture and the admonition of the Lord father, that you would bless them and give them the wisdom and the grace and that power of the Holy spirit that they need in Jesus name. Amen. All right. You did so

good here, Nick, you take this. That's your job. All right. Oh man, those are fun. We have so many of them. Isn't it great? I, I just love it. Every time we turn around, there's, there's more that are coming along. So, all right, for our responsive reading this morning, we are going to be in Psalm 14, looking at the new American standard so that we all sound

the same. If you need a copy, there should be one in a row around you. If there's not make a friend. And, uh, as you're turning to Psalm 14, if you are able, please stand in the honor of the reading of God's word on versus if you will follow along with pastor Allen and the even versus Psalm 14 chapter, a Psalm of David, the fool has said in his heart, there is no God. They are corrupt.

They have committed abominable deeds. There is no one who does good. The Lord is looked down from heaven upon the sons of men to see if there are any who understand who seek after God. They have all turned aside together. They have become corrupt. There is no one who does good. Not even one. Do all the workers of, not know who eat up my people as they eat bread and do not call upon the Lord. There they are in

great dread for God is with the righteous generation. You would put to shame the council of the afflicted, but the Lord is his refuge and read verse seven with me. Oh, that the salvation of Israel would come out of Zion. When the Lord restores his captive people, Jacob will rejoice. Israel, Israel will be glad. And father, we do come to you and praise you, Lord, that you are the only

source of salvation, not only for the nation of Israel, but for all who will call upon you. But Lord, this morning, we do want to lift the nation of Israel to you right now. Father, as they have been attacked, Lord, I just pray for the peace of Jerusalem. I pray for the peace and safety of the people over there. Father, I pray that you would give their governmental

officials wisdom as they seek for how to respond to this attack from Iran. And Lord, I pray that you would give their governmental officials wisdom as they seek for how to respond to this attack from Iran. And Lord, I pray that you would give our government wisdom to not tell them what to do and and let them act as you are leading them, Father, because your word tells us those that bless your people, you will bless. And so, Lord, may we always stand behind Israel. And so, Lord, we pray for their peace and their

security. And Lord, on a local level, I just want to lift up our family over at First Baptist this morning, Lord, as I know that they're grieving a difficult loss from this weekend. And Father, be with Dave as he as he guides and shepherds that body over there. And Lord, we just thank you for them. And Father, pray that you would be with us as we spend time in your word now.

Lord, would you lead us and guide us? Help us to see clearly what it is that your Holy Spirit wants us to see this morning. In Jesus' name, amen. You may be seated. And if you would open up in your Bibles to the book of Philippians chapter 3. Philippians chapter 3. If you don't know what has taken place over in Israel, I do question if you're living under a rock.

But what happened yesterday, so two, maybe three weeks ago, allegedly, as they put in all of the news reports, Israel took out a couple of Iranian generals when they launched rockets, I think, into Lebanon, if I remember correctly. Lebanon or Syria, one of them. And when they did so, now Iran has vowed that they would hit back. And that's what they did yesterday.

They sent an unprecedented number of drones and missiles into Israel, which were intercepted. They were intercepted by, I love the name that Israel has for things, right? By the Sling of David. Like, that's one of their defense systems. That's epic, right? By the Sling of David and by the Iron Dome, as well as Air Force. I think the U.S. Air Force even helped shoot some of those down.

And so now they're having to decide how they are going to respond to that. And I'm not one of those people that's like, you know, I watched a guy last night and he goes, Joel Rosenberg texted me last night. Listen, Joel Rosenberg didn't text me last night. So I have no idea what's coming next, okay? And I don't think very many people do know what's coming next.

But we do know. We know that there's serious tension in the Middle East and it absolutely plays into the things that are taking place in the world. Iran and Russia coming together, which, by the way, Russia has already said that if the U.S. does anything to retaliate, they will consider it an act of war and they will, by all means, support Iran. And Iran has warned the U.S. not to get involved.

And so this morning our president told Israel that they should be careful in the way in which they respond and not respond too harshly to what Iran, has done, which to me is a pretty stupid thing to say. And that's just my own personal opinion and a biblical opinion because we should stand behind Israel 100%. So those are the things that are going on. Now, I tell you that because when things like this start to happen in our world, what it wants to create in our hearts is fear.

But instead of it creating fear, I feel like it should create instead focus. Because we should absolutely be even more focused on who Jesus is and what our relationship with him is supposed to be like. And that's exactly what we come to. This morning in chapter 3 of the book of Philippians. Remember, we've been going through Philippians and the theme of Philippians,

even though we've been gone for about a month out of the book of Philippians. When we come back into it, the theme of Philippians is joy. And we said that each chapter presents to us a different aspect of joy, right? And so chapter 1, we said that joy comes from having the right perspective. In chapter 2, we said that joy comes from having the right attitude.

Well, as we come to chapter 3, we're going to find that joy comes from having the right focus. And if we were to break down chapter 3 into two sections, which is what we're going to do, we will find that joy comes first of all from having the right focus on knowing Christ. A focus on knowing Christ. And so as we look at chapter 3, verses 1 through 11, there's three things that we're going to pay attention to.

He's going to tell us to rejoice and beware. He's going to tell us to put no confidence in the flesh. And he's going to tell us of the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ. And so we pick up in verse. Verse 1 of chapter 3 with the first section of rejoice and beware. He says, So again, I didn't get overly creative with the way that I set this up. He says to rejoice and beware.

If you'll notice in chapter 3, verse 1, the very first sentence, brethren, rejoice in the Lord is one standalone sentence. Now, when he says, finally, he's not being a really good preacher who says finally, and then still has half of his message left. What he's really saying is as to the rest of what I have to say, rejoice in the Lord. Now, before we get into anything else that he has to tell us, I think that that's a really good word for us today.

It's just to simply rejoice in the Lord. I want to remind you where Paul's writing this book from. He's writing this book when he is on house arrest. In Rome, chained to a Roman guard, awaiting trial to find out what will happen to him. And as Paul, who is in prison, if you will, because this is considered a prison epistle, as Paul is in prison, writing this to a group of free people,

he tells them rejoice in the Lord. And we are reminded that our rejoicing in the Lord is not based upon our circumstances. Because I don't know if you've noticed circumstances in life can be kind of difficult right now. There's heavy things that have taken place. As I look locally, as I look in the city, as I look in the state, as I look in the nation, and as I look in the globe, circumstances are really heavy right now.

And it's easy to, in the midst of the heavy circumstances that we see, fail to rejoice in the Lord. We say, how can I find joy? Do you see what's going on? And Paul says, no matter what's going on, you can always rejoice. Because though the circumstances may be difficult, God is still good. Though the circumstances may be heavy, God has not changed. And so rejoice in the Lord.

He says, finally, brethren, rejoice in the Lord. For me to write these things again is no trouble to me and is a safeguard for you. The next handful of verses, while we'll be focused on a knowledge of Jesus Christ, will also deal with a familiar subject that Paul talks a lot about in his letters. And that subject is righteousness by faith alone. Because legalism has slipped in just like it does everywhere else.

And so Paul says, it's not cumbersome for me to write these same things to you again on this subject. It's not a subject of legalism and righteousness by faith. And it's actually a safeguard for you. How is it a safeguard for the Philippians? And how is it a safeguard for us? Well, if there's one thing I have come to understand, the longer I've been in ministry

and the longer that I walk with the Lord, is that one of the greatest avenues that we tend to walk down as believers in Jesus Christ is the avenue of legalism. Is that we like to be able to make a list of do's and don'ts, keep that list of do's and don'ts, and then tell everybody else how we've kept that list of do's and don'ts. And so he tells them to beware. He says, I'm going to write this to you again because it's a safeguard.

And he says, so beware. And he tells them to be aware of three things, to beware of dogs, to beware of evil workers, and to beware of the false circumcision. He says, beware of the dogs. Now, when he says that, he's not saying actual physical dogs. Although as a sidebar, I have a story. Okay. So I was out running. Today's Sunday. Yesterday was Saturday. I think it was Friday.

I was out running. And I usually wear noise-canceling headphones, but I got a sweet new pair of headphones for Christmas. And they're called bone conduction headphones. And so what they do is they don't actually go into your ear. They go over top of your ear. And so you can still hear what's going on around you, which is a really good thing for a runner, but also hear your music, which is also a really good thing for a runner,

right? So I'm running down the road, and I know my routes pretty well. I've got two or three that I take. And I usually know where the loose dogs are. I pay pretty close attention to that because, you know, people get bit by dogs. I get bit by dogs all the time, and I don't want that to be me. And so I'm running along, and I know exactly where I am on A Street, and there's always

some dogs out there, but they're always on a lead. And I know that. And I don't necessarily go, ha, ha, ha. But I also know I can keep running and not be in danger, right? And so I'm running by this house, and I hear a dog bark because of my non-noise-canceling headphones. I'm like, that's great. I know there's a dog. It's okay. He's on a chain. Only there was a dog not on a chain.

And this dog came running at me. Okay. Now, usually the dogs that freak me out. The dogs that freak me out the most are the little dogs, right? Because you don't see them coming. But I wasn't paying attention because I thought this dog was on a chain, and this dog comes running at me. And this was not a small dog. This dog came to right here on me, and he came at me like he was ready to make me his

lunch, right? He's just like, just coming at me. He headbutts me when he runs into me. And so he hits me, and I go, no. I literally yelled as loud as I possibly can. And I know that because I have non-noise-canceling headphones on, right? And so I yell as loud as I possibly can, and that dog legit turned around and ran as fast as it could the other direction.

I may have scared him more than he scared me. That's not the dogs he's telling us to beware of here, okay? The dogs he's telling us to beware of here, actually, the word literally means those of impure motives. But the dogs that he's telling us to beware of here are the ones who would lead us into legalism. Because you see, there was a group of people that followed Paul around, and everywhere

that Paul preached, they said, it's great that you know Jesus, but you also have to keep the Sabbath. It's great that you know Jesus, but you also need to be circumcised. It's great that you know Jesus, but you also need to keep the law. As a matter of fact, he says, the words that he tells them to beware of, dogs, evil workers, and the false circumcision, all fall into the same category, those who would lead others into a system of works.

You see, it wasn't that they didn't believe in Jesus. These legalistic teachers that were coming along believed in Jesus. But they wanted to add works. And you know what I find with every system that gets away from Jesus is that they believe in Jesus, but they also want to add good works to it. And I've studied some of these different, if you will, cultish type religions.

Some people put them in categories of Christianity. I don't. And it's funny because they say, Jesus is the only way to salvation. But you attain that by doing these works. And it's like, but if Jesus is my way to salvation, why do I have to? Earn my salvation. If it's a free gift from God, why do I have to do things to earn it? Aren't those two things mutually exclusive?

And they don't understand that. And so he says, beware, because it is our natural tendency to slip into a system of works. I've watched it happen over and over and over again, where people that have heard the true message of the gospel did slip into a system of works. They're like, no, I believe in Jesus, but also these works. And Paul says, beware of that, because the thing that will distract us the most from

knowing Jesus Christ, the way he intends to be known is a system of works. You see, if the enemy can't distract us with the things of the flesh, he'll distract us with the works of the flesh, right? And so he says, beware of these things. And then he goes on to tell them to put no confidence in the flesh. Notice what he says in verse three, for we are the circumcision, the true circumcision

who worship in the spirit of God. And glory. Glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh. Although I myself might have confidence, even in the flesh, if anyone else has a mind to put confidence in the flesh, I far more circumcised the eighth day of the nation of Israel of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews as to the law of Pharisee, as to zeal, a persecutor of the church, as to the righteousness, which is in the law found blameless.

Paul says, the next thing that you need to know is to put no confidence. He says, there are those who will lead you into a false circumcision, a religion that is outward only. He says, we are the true circumcision, those who believe in a separation under God that has nothing to do with an outward mark on the body and everything to do with an inward change of the heart that has nothing to do with outward works and has everything to do with an inward reality. He says, we are the true circumcision.

And as he describes this true religion, he does so in three ways. Number one. We worship in the spirit. We worship in the spirit. Do you know what's so awesome is that God is not bound to a location. Now, some people take that and they say, I don't need to go to church because God's not bound to a location. They say, I can worship God on the mountain. Absolutely.

I've done it. I've been on top of a mountain and I praise God for the beauty of his creation and the fact that he actually allowed my body to climb that mountain. Right? I praised God while I was on top of him. Now I can praise. Well, I'm out fishing. Absolutely. I praise God when I fish all the time. I praise him when one gets on the hook. I praise him when he chose not to give me any fish.

Right? I can praise God. Well, while I'm fishing, I can praise God while I'm sitting in a coffee shop, but you know, you know what I can't do. I can't fellowship with the brethren, right? Which is why we are told not to forsake the assembling together of the brethren. That's not what I'm saying here. Okay? So we don't forsake that. But God is not bound to a location and I can worship him in spirit.

I can worship. I can worship him with my whole being, no matter where I am, because worship of God is not just one act of my life. Worship of God is my life and everything that I do is the worship of God. And so as the true circumcision, I don't need to just show up at a temple or a church. I worship God all day, every day, right? We are the true circumcision who number one, worship God in spirit, who number two, glory

in Christ. We glory in Christ. In other words, I find all of my pride. I find all of my hope. I find all of my glory in the person and the work of Jesus Christ. If I may, again, the problem with workspace religion is that all of the glory goes to you because you get to say, these are the things that I've done. These are, these are the things that I have achieved in a grace-based religion, biblically

grace-based religion. We say, this is what Jesus has done. And this is what Jesus has done. This is what Jesus has achieved because he's taken me, an absolute dead sinner, and he's made me alive in Christ. And so we glory in Christ. But then number three, we put no confidence in the flesh. We put no confidence in the flesh. What does that mean? Well, I put it into two categories.

To put no confidence in the flesh means, first of all, that we don't put confidence in what we have or who we are, right? Let me, let me put this on a Western culture sort of a thing. Right? Just say, of course, I'm Christian. I'm American, right? I'm from America and I have the, I have the flag Bible, right? Sorry. I don't, if any of you bought, if any of y'all bought the Trump Bible, I'm not trying to

come down on you. But you know, I, I, I know I'm a Christian because I belong in America or I attend a Bible believing church. Listen, you can attend a Bible believing Bible teaching church, but it's not whether or not your church teaches the Bible. It's whether or not the Bible is teaching you, right? Because that's what's necessary is the Bible has to actually come in and change who you

are. And so we don't find our confidence in what we are or who we are, but also we don't put our confidence or trust in our human worth or achievement and our human worth or achievement. I can't say, look at what I've done for Jesus because the longer than I walk with Jesus, the more I see that everything I've ever done was actually Jesus. It was actually the work that he did.

So many of us are just like that story that CS Lewis put in mere Christianity. There was a band in the nineties, a Christian, a Christian group called six pence, none the richer, and they got their name from, uh, from a chapter out of CS Lewis's book, mere Christianity. And he said, many of us take glory in our works, forgetting exactly what God has done for us because our good works are kind of like this. And he gives this example.

He said, if my son came to me and asked me for six pence so that he could buy me a birthday gift because he loved me so much, I would give him that six pence. He would go and he would buy the gift and he would give it to me. I am six pence, none the richer, but I am so blessed by the gift that he's given because he supplied the money. He gave him everything that he needed.

It's just, he bought the gift, right? And that's kind of how we are is that we can't trust in our human worth or achievement because even our achievements are because he gave us everything that we needed to do it. And so we put no confidence in the flesh. Paul says, actually, if anybody had a reason to put confidence. In the flesh, it would be me. And he goes on to explain it.

He says, verse four, although I might have confidence, even in the flesh, if anyone has a mind to put confidence in the flesh, I far more. And he goes through this list in verses five and six of the things that he could put confidence in the flesh. And as far as a understanding of Jewish religion, he was about as perfect as you get. Matter of fact, he gives us a list of a handful of things here.

He says, first of all, I was circumcised on the eighth day. And that's what the law said to do. The law said that a Jewish male. When he was born was to be taken to the temple on the eighth day and to be circumcised. That's what he did to keep the law. So he even had parents that kept the law. He said, second of all, I am of the nation of Israel, which for most Jewish people was

their greatest source of pride. They're like, I'm thankful. I'm not like these Gentile dogs, but I am of the nation of Israel. He said, I am of the tribe of Benjamin. Now, if you don't know very much about the tribe of Benjamin, the tribe of Benjamin was a warrior tribe, but it was also the tribe with the very first. King of Israel came from, by the way, who had Paul's namesake Saul, right?

And so he, he said, I am of the tribe of Benjamin. I can actually trace my lineage back to that. Not only that, I am a Hebrew of the Hebrews. Well, if you will, to the Jewish people, he said, I am a man among men, right? He goes on to say, as far as my understanding of the law, I was a Pharisee to be a Pharisee meant you had to be one of the most schooled possible.

Not everybody got to be a Pharisee. They were the elite members of the, uh, of the legal group there in Israel. He said, and I was even zealous for my religion to the point where I persecuted the church because I thought the church was opposed to the Jewish religion. And he said, as far as the outward law was concerned, I was blameless. In other words, if anybody before Paul came to Jesus Christ were to look at him, as far

as anything outward was concerned, they could say he is perfect because he had kept all of the list of the works. But the problem with God is you can't just look good on the outside. You have to be perfect on the inside. And that was what made Paul know he really needed a savior. He said, put no confidence in the flesh because if anybody could put confidence in the flesh,

it's me, but even I don't put confidence in the flesh. And that brings us to the third point, the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ. Notice what it says in verse seven. But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Paul says, when I came to Jesus, all of the things that I counted as gain, all of the works that I felt like I had built up, they all of a sudden became nothing to me.

They became as loss. He says, I could give all of my religious pedigree and tell you why I was the greatest Jewish person that ever lived until I came to know Jesus. And then I realized that all of that's just a bunch of lies. It's just a bunch of nothing that I put it in the loss category. What about you? Who were you before you came to know Jesus? What kind of accolades did you say that you could have before you came to know Jesus?

And then you came to know him and said, ultimately all that stuff, it's just a bunch of nothing. It's just loss. He said, all things that were gained to me, I now count as loss. Why? For the sake of Christ. I believe that what Paul's talking about here in verse seven is his salvation. When he came to salvation, he said, I believe that what Paul's talking about here in verse

He counted past tense, everything as loss, but he goes on to say it a second time in verse eight. Notice what he says more than that. I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus as my Lord for whom I have suffered the loss of all things. And I count them, but rubbish so that I may gain Christ. He says, He says more than that.

I count all things as lost present tense. You see, I think Paul's talking about here is he's talking about where he sits in prison right now. You see, when he came to the Lord Jesus Christ as his Lord and savior, just like you and I did, he had to count all of those previous gains, everything that he might've found his pride in everything that he might've found his hope in everything that he might've found his joy in everything he might've found his peace. And he said, those things are all, I may have counted them gain at one point in time, but now they're lost for the sake of Christ.

He said, but it didn't stop there because more than that, I now count all things as loss for the sake of knowing Christ. That's Paul years down the road, everything that he went through in his relationship with Jesus Christ, everything that he went through in his service for God, as he sits in a Roman prison chained to a guard, he says, everything in my life, my life, I count as loss. Everything that I have is ultimately nothing. If you add it all up and brothers and sisters, I think sometimes we forget that as believers in Jesus Christ, we, we come to Jesus and we say all that stuff before that's all nothingness.

That's all loss. I, I cast all that stuff off, but then we kind of start achieving as believers, right? We, we get involved in some kind of a little bit of a ministry and God starts to use this, or we get into a Bible reading plan and we start to gain some understanding of the Bible, or we get into helping other people. And we start thinking we're pretty good.

And all of a sudden now we're building. We're built up in pride again. And Paul says of all the things I've done, I still count it as loss because it's all nothing compared to what he's about to tell us. He says, I count all of these things as loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord. He says, all those things are lost to me when I hold them up in comparison to one thing and one thing only knowing Jesus.

The surpassing value of knowing Christ, that word surpassing means far surpassing that which far surpasses all others. He says, all of those other things are lost to me. I want you to think about something. We live in a world that is constantly asking for our attention. Have you noticed that? Have you noticed everything in the world is begging for your attention right now?

Ads are everywhere and you need to do it now. And it wants all of your current attention. I literally, hold on, let me just read. I was using this as a, as an example in the, in the last service. I said, you know, those emails that you get, they're like, it's on sale act now. I literally got this text when service first started. I don't know who it's from. It's probably Dick's Sporting Goods or something like that.

It says act fast up to 70% off during the spring clearance event. And that's what the world does to us right now. Is there like, this is more important act now act fast, be distracted. Be distracted. And all of the things of the world want to distract us and all of the things of the world tell you, this is the most important thing for you right now. And this will ultimately bring glory to, or ultimately being, bring meaning to your life.

You need meaning in your life through the next new relationship. You need meaning in your life through the next new thing. You need meaning in your life through the next new workout program. You need meaning in your life through the next new diet, whatever it is, all of the world is telling us that's what you need to do because that's going to be gain. And Paul says, no, it's not.

All of those things, they're just loss. Because knowing Christ far surpasses all these things. I remember listening to Don McClure speak not long ago. And Don McClure has walked with Jesus like forever, right? And he's pastored churches. He's one of the Calvary original kind of guys. And he's one of my favorite Bible teachers. And I remember listening to him.

And this is what he said. He said, of all the things that I've done, the conferences that I've taught at, the churches I've started, the churches I've pastored, the books that I've written, all the things that I've done in my life, I don't care about any of them. Because the most important thing to me is knowing Jesus. If there's one thing I've learned in my life, it's that.

It's that knowing Jesus far surpasses everything. Because he is the only thing. The only thing that will last forever. Everything else is going to fall apart. Everything else is going to go away. Everything else is going to fade away. Everything else is going to burn up. The one thing that's going to last forever is your relationship with Jesus Christ. And we have to know that.

But it's so easy to get distracted, right? It's so easy because the world's constantly pulling us away. That's why we have to remain focused. That's why we have to consider everything else lost for the sake of knowing Jesus Christ. We have to keep our eyes focused on him. I was teaching a group of kids this this week. I took them through that story of Peter.

I said, we've got to keep our eyes focused on Jesus. It's one of the biggest lessons that God's ever taught me in my life. It's the importance of keeping our eyes focused on him. I said, you guys remember the story of Peter? Jesus and his disciples had been ministering. And it was the story where Jesus fed the 5,000 people. And Jesus needed some time alone with his father.

So he went up on the mountain to pray. And he sent his disciples down into a boat to go across the Sea of Galilee. And while they were on their way across the Sea of Galilee, Jesus is up on the mountain. And he's up on the mountain praying. And a huge storm comes up, right? It says the winds were very contrary. The winds were against them. And beating their boat all over the place.

And these hardened fishermen are starting to be pretty fearful that they might end up dying through this whole thing. And so in the fourth watch of the night, which means that Jesus left them hang out on the water for a really, really long time before he showed up, Jesus comes walking to them on the water. And the only logical explanation they come up with in their minds of Jesus walking to them on the water is it had to have been a ghost, right? Because that's the only logical thought.

And so Jesus says, no, I'm not a ghost. It's me. It's Jesus. And Peter, of course, in the impetuous way that only Peter can, says, Lord, if it's you, call to me to come to you on the water. And Jesus says, Peter, join me, won't you? It's awesome out here. And so Peter gets out of the boat and starts walking on the water. He starts walking towards Jesus. And as long as he kept his eyes on Jesus, he could do the impossible.

Because he was focused on the only one who could allow him to do something impossible. But then something happened. He took his eyes off Jesus, and he started looking at all of the wind. And the waves around him, forgetting that it was impossible for him to walk on water, even in the best conditions, he began to sink. Now, the beautiful thing is that when Peter began to sink,

he held out his hand and cried out the shortest prayer in the Bible, Lord, help. Jesus reached down and grabbed him and pulled him out of the water. But the one thing that kept Peter from being able to do the impossible is that he lost his focus. He took his eyes off Jesus. And brothers and sisters, what Paul is telling us right here is that you can't do the impossible.

You should count all things lost to keep your eyes on Jesus. Don't look at all the wind and the waves around you. Don't look at all the distractions around you. Stay focused on Jesus, right? And he says, That word knowing is really interesting. That word knowing means to have an experiential knowledge. There's a lot of different types of knowledge that we can have of people.

There's some people that I know who they are because I've read stats about them, right? I'm a big sports fan, so I know who these people are because I've read stats about them. But if they saw me on the street, they would have no idea who I am. There are some people that I know because perhaps I was introduced one time and I met them quickly in passing. There are some people that I know a little bit better

because maybe we go to the same coffee shop together or I run into them at Walmart all the time and we know each other in passing. There's a good number of you that I have a deep connection with or a deeper personal relationship with. And then there's my wife. Now, I know my wife because we're together all the time, right? And I have an experiential knowledge of her

because when you spend almost every day together for 20 years, you start to get to know a person pretty well, right? That's the idea of the knowledge that Paul is saying that is far surpassing anything when you have that kind of experiential knowledge of Jesus Christ. You know, the beautiful thing about that kind of knowledge is that you just get to know each other really, really well. And so you kind of know how each other are going to act and react and things like that.

And I always like to tell this story. My wife is a little bit better at this than I am because I'm a guy and I don't always pay attention. But one time there was a group of girls back when I led college group up in Kansas City. We were going to take a little trip and there was a couple of girls that missed the deadline for the money and all the things because in every trip that you ever lead, there's always somebody that misses the deadline and they want to know if they can still go because it's just life.

And so they asked Aaron first, hey, do you think Ryan will say yes to this? And Aaron goes, okay, go ahead and ask him. I think this is what he'll say. He'll probably go, oh man, yeah, yeah, that'll probably work. And I guess she even imitated it exactly the way that I would do it. And so the next week at Bible study, these girls come up to me and it's like,

hey, Ryan, can I still go? We didn't get our money in in time. What are you thinking? I went, oh man, yeah, yeah, that'll probably work. I think we can make that work. And they all burst into laughter and I'm going, what, what did I do? And Aaron goes, oh man, yeah, yeah, that'll probably work. And I'm like, oh man, yeah, yeah, that'll probably work. And Aaron's in the back going, like what?

They're like, Aaron literally imitated you perfectly, everything that you were going to do. You know why? Because she has an experiential knowledge of me because she's around me all the time. And I'm here to tell you, brothers and sisters, I've been walking with Jesus for almost 27 years now. And I'm here to tell you right now, there is nothing better than knowing Jesus like that.

There is nothing better than that experience. Yeah, go ahead, get it. There is nothing better than that kind of experiential knowledge, right? Because there's nothing better than that. Because that is the ultimate meaning and purpose of life. It's why you were put on this earth, which is why so many people can't figure out their lives because they're trying to figure it out apart from Christ.

And so he says, more than that, verse eight, I count all things to be lost in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things. And that's exactly what happened with Paul. He suffered the loss of everything. And I count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ. That word rubbish is kind of an interesting word in the Greek.

It can be translated one of two ways. It can either be translated as the type of food that you throw out like food scraps after dinner, or it can be translated as dung. Most people believe that the translation that fits best here when Paul says, I count all of these things as rubbish, as he says, it's just a big stinky pile of poo, right? All of the things that I could potentially gain, that's how I view them in comparison to knowing Jesus.

He goes on from there to say this. He says, and then I may be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith. I've shared this with you before, but there's a handful of scriptures. There's a handful of verses throughout the Bible that to me are like an easy chair.

You know how at the end of a really long, hard day, especially those of you that, that work manual labor, you come home, you're hot, you're sweaty, you're tired, your whole body hurts. And you go and you take a shower and you sit down in that easy chair with a great big frosty mug of Dr. Pepper. And you're like, ah. And when you sit down in that chair, it's like every muscle in your body relaxes.

And you feel like you can finally take a little bit of a rest. That's how I view verse nine. He says that I may be found in him. In other words, my life hidden, in Christ, not having a righteousness of my own that I've earned through the law, but a righteousness that comes from God, which is given to me through faith. A buddy of mine, back when we were in Bible college,

Chuck Smith used to come every Friday and do chapel for us. And so he would always stick around for a long time, very graciously to speak to all of us students that had questions. And so a couple of us, me and my buddy went up to him. We were looking at the book of Philippians. We said, this is a great verse, but I feel like I'm struggling to wrap our minds

around exactly what it means. And I'm not going to quote him perfectly, but this is the general idea that he said. He said, the idea behind verse nine of Philippians chapter three is that when you lay your head down on your pillow at night, you can rest easy because you know that all of your righteousness has been settled in Christ and there's nothing else you have to do to earn it. You're as righteous as you will ever be.

And now you can rest. And I remember that that has resonated in my mind because what I really want is just simply to be found in him. At the end of the day, I want people to look at me and say, his life is hidden in Christ and he has a righteousness that's not his own because he's absolutely resting in the righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ by faith. It's beautiful, isn't it?

I have people say to me, how are you supposed to receive the gift of righteousness? Well, let me present it to you. Let me present it to you like this. You know, if I were to come to you and say, you know, after church, come see me. I have a gift for you. I don't have a gift for anyone. Okay, so don't come see me after church. But if I were to say, I have a gift for you

and I just want you to come receive it. And then you believed me. You believe that I had that gift for you. And then you came to me and you said, you said you have a gift for me and I simply hand it to you and then you receive it. That's receiving the righteousness of God by faith. You believed. So you asked. And it was given. It's as simple as that. Now, can you imagine if I came to you and I said,

hey, come see me after church. I have a gift for you. And I come to you or you come to me and I start to hand you this gift. And you say, oh, that's an incredibly gracious gift. I can't imagine anybody even doing that for me. And I say, I know. I hope you're going to be blessed for it. But wait, you can't have it till you roof my house. At that point in time, that gift is no longer a gift.

It's what? It's wages, right? Because it's something that you earned. It's no longer a free gift of God. But that's not what the gift of God is. It's free because he already paid for it. And all I have to do is receive it. I'd be found in him having a righteousness, which is not my own, but the righteousness which comes from God through faith. He goes on from there to say in verse 10,

that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being conformed to his death in order that I may attain to the resurrection. Resurrection from the dead. I love verse 10. He says that I may know him. I want to read to you how the Amplified Bible translates this. It says that I may know him experientially, becoming more thoroughly acquainted with him,

understanding the remarkable wonders of his person more completely. It's an experiential knowledge that continues to grow. You know what the beautiful thing about my relationship with Jesus Christ and your relationship with Jesus Christ is? However well you know him, now you're going to know him better later. However well you know him now, you'll know him more in the future.

And in 20 years, you'll say, however well I know him now, I'm going to know him even better in the future. And I think that's what's hit me. Sometimes I think about the fact that I've been teaching the Bible for a really long time. And I look back every now and then on studies that I taught a long time ago. And I'm like, no one should listen to that because Ryan didn't know anything at that point in time.

And that's genuinely how I feel. It's like, I feel like I didn't hardly know anything about Jesus at that point in time. I feel like I didn't know anything about Jesus at that point in time. I felt like I was so new. I was so new to my understanding of the Bible. I was so new to my understanding of him. And the beautiful thing is, I know that 20 years from now,

I'll look back and go, no one should listen to Ryan from that time because I know so much more now. I know him so much better now. And that's okay because every stage of life, you know him just a little bit better. And that progressive manner of a deepening knowledge of Jesus Christ that I may know him. And what does it mean to know him? Well, first of all,

that I may know verse 10, the power of his resurrection. In the book of Ephesians, Paul prayed that we would know the power of God that dwells in you, the same power that raised Christ Jesus from the dead. I want to know him and I want to know his power for the resurrected life, his power to live as he has called for me to live, his power to live as one who is no longer bound by the death of sin that's around me, but by the life of the spirit that's in me. He says that I may know him and the power of his resurrection.

Well, y'all get pretty excited about that, right? But also that we may know him and the fellowship of his sufferings. Well, that's way less popular, isn't it? You know what the word fellowship means? The word fellowship is koinonia, to have in common. In other words, that we would have in common the same sufferings with him. Brothers and sisters, we need to know something about

being believers in Jesus Christ. It does not exempt you from the sufferings of this world. It actually sometimes is an invitation to a deeper suffering. Now, some people have suffered a great deal and some people haven't. If you haven't suffered very much, don't go start asking God for suffering, okay? That's stupid, right? It's going to come. Trust me, sufferings,

whether you want them or not, they're coming. So don't ask God for them. All in good time, that's going to take place in your life. But God will always use those sufferings to teach you more about him. To where you'll sit back and say, I'd never choose that again. But I also know that I would never know what I know about Jesus apart from that. I would never choose to walk that path again.

But I also know that if it weren't for that, I wouldn't know Jesus the way that I do because it taught me an even deeper lesson about who Jesus is. And now I know him to an even greater degree because of the fellowship of his sufferings. That I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings. And the last thing he says is being conformed to his death.

What kind of a death did Jesus die? He died a substitutionary death. That's something that only he can do. But what example did he give us? He gave us the example of giving his life sacrificially for others. That's something that we can all do. And as we know him, we find that we are more conformed to the idea of living our lives and sacrifice for others, even if it means in giving our lives

and sacrifice for others. Because that's knowing Christ. And he closes up here by saying this. In order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. That word attain, I don't feel like is the best translation of that word. I actually think Kenneth Weiss gives the best translation of that word attain. That word attain, if you were to look at it in the Greek dictionary,

you'll find that the idea behind the word attain means to arrive at a goal. And so literally what the Kenneth Weiss translation says is this. He says, in order that I may arrive at the goal of the resurrection from the dead. Because brothers and sisters, our knowing Christ always has a goal in mind. Our knowing Christ has the goal in mind of one day being conformed to him in his image.

Having brand new bodies, this old body being put away and a brand new body being put on just like Jesus. Amen. Brothers and sisters, we need to focus in our lives. And if you want to live a life of joy, it means a living a life of focus. And so you have to put away the distractions. Don't put confidence in the flesh, but understand the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ

that far surpasses any accomplishment that this world has to offer. Amen. Let's all stand.

And if you'd bow with me. Father, we come to you now. I praise you for who you are. I praise you for how good you are. And Lord, I thank you that you have given us your word. And so father, as we go out from this place, I pray that you would give us your word. I pray that you would give us your word. I pray that you would give us your word. I pray that we would be focused.

Lord, that the things of this earth would grow strangely dim in the light of your glory and grace. So Lord, help us to turn our eyes upon you. Help us to see you for who you really are. And Lord, may we with Paul declare, I have counted all things as loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ. In Jesus name. Amen. Be blessed. Be blessed. Be blessed.

In our lives, in our communities, in our homes, in our families. In Jesus name. All God's people said. Amen. You guys have a wonderful week. God bless you.