Philippians 3:8-9 (NKJV)
8 Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith;
The Apostle Paul writes in verses 4-6, “If anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh, I more so: circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews; concerning the law, a Pharisee; concerning zeal, persecuting the church; concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.” In other words if there was anyone who could boast about conforming to the law, being religious, coming from a background of people who loved God’s laws and was considered blameless in concern to the law – it would be Paul. However Paul knows he has lost his freedom, he has lost his status, he has everything he counted as meaningful and he is content having found faith in Jesus Christ. It is from his faith that he has found righteousness and now he considered everything else in his past dung.
Martyn Lloyd-Jones, a great preacher of Reformed theology at the Westminster Chapel in London posed a thought to his congregation. He said, "I want to talk to you today about the baptism of the Holy Spirit. You may call it what you want, but I want to know, have you experienced the fullness of the Spirit I know all of you listening to me come as I do from a Reformed background. But it's not good enough. I know that all of you would want to say to my question about the Holy Spirit, 'Well, we got it all at conversion; there's no need for any more experience.' Well", said Martyn Lloyd-Jones, "I have only one other question to ask you. If you got it all at conversion, where in God's name is it"
The questions to ask yourself – Are you holding on to things of the past or are you allowing God to work in your life? Are you depending upon yourself and what you are or are you depending upon your faith in Christ?
Let go of the former rubbish in your life and allow your faith in Christ to fill you with the righteousness of God.
8 Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith;
The Apostle Paul writes in verses 4-6, “If anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh, I more so: circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews; concerning the law, a Pharisee; concerning zeal, persecuting the church; concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.” In other words if there was anyone who could boast about conforming to the law, being religious, coming from a background of people who loved God’s laws and was considered blameless in concern to the law – it would be Paul. However Paul knows he has lost his freedom, he has lost his status, he has everything he counted as meaningful and he is content having found faith in Jesus Christ. It is from his faith that he has found righteousness and now he considered everything else in his past dung.
Martyn Lloyd-Jones, a great preacher of Reformed theology at the Westminster Chapel in London posed a thought to his congregation. He said, "I want to talk to you today about the baptism of the Holy Spirit. You may call it what you want, but I want to know, have you experienced the fullness of the Spirit I know all of you listening to me come as I do from a Reformed background. But it's not good enough. I know that all of you would want to say to my question about the Holy Spirit, 'Well, we got it all at conversion; there's no need for any more experience.' Well", said Martyn Lloyd-Jones, "I have only one other question to ask you. If you got it all at conversion, where in God's name is it"
The questions to ask yourself – Are you holding on to things of the past or are you allowing God to work in your life? Are you depending upon yourself and what you are or are you depending upon your faith in Christ?
Let go of the former rubbish in your life and allow your faith in Christ to fill you with the righteousness of God.
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