0:00 ♪♪♪ >>Eric Flickinger: Welcome to "Sabbath School," brought to you by It Is Written. We're glad that you are with us. Today we are continuing our journey through the writings of Paul in the books of Philippians and Colossians. Our theme this quarter is "Uniting Heaven and Earth," and this week, lesson number 6, "Confidence Only in Christ." We're going to be looking at salvation in a very profound way, and we are glad that you are with us. Let's begin with prayer. Father, we're grateful to be here once again to study Your Word, to look at pictures of You in the books of Philippians
0:48 and Colossians. We're grateful for Paul and his insight that he gives us into Your character and the subject of salvation. We ask Your blessing as we study today, and we thank You, in Jesus' name, amen. So we're glad to have you here with us, and we're also glad to have the author of this quarter's "Sabbath School" lesson, Dr. Clinton Wahlen. Clinton, welcome once again. >>Clinton Wahlen: Thank you very much, Eric. >>Eric: So this is an exciting study that we're looking at today. Lesson number 6, we're about halfway through our studies now, and we're getting into some very significant ground here, "Confidence Only in Christ." Paul is writing to the Philippians here, and we've kind of been working our way through the book of Philippians. And here Paul begins to warn the Philippians about something significant.
1:35 What is that warning that Paul gives to the Philippians and why is that significant for us? >>Clinton: Well, Eric, it's very important for us because it actually connects with how we're saved and what is required for our salvation. Interestingly, Paul begins Philippians, chapter 3, which--in a way that sounds like he's wrapping things up. And then he launches in to this warning. So he says in Philippians 3, verse 1, "Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord." And then in verse 2: "Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the mutilation!" So this is a startling warning, actually.
2:21 It's the only place in the New Testament where we have this word "beware" mentioned three times, right, one after the other. So it gets your attention. >>Eric: It really does. What is this warning all about? What is the danger that Paul wants to draw the Philippians to and, through them, us to as well? >>Clinton: Well, when he says "dogs," he's not talking about the canine variety, let's say. [laughs] This was a derogatory reference to people who were misleading the Philippians, teaching things that were wrong, that were dangerous, even.
3:06 That's why he calls them evil workers. And the "mutilation," it's translated here-- it's a play on words in Greek with "circumcision" and "mutilation." So this is the issue here. That's why he says in verse 3, "For we are the circumcision"-- some add the word "true"-- "circumcision, "who worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh." And that's the key: no confidence in the flesh. What we can do, that has nothing to contribute to our salvation. It's only Christ who saves us, nothing we can do. >>Eric: So salvation is not a combination of faith
3:53 and works or something that we do and that Christ does. Salvation is all through Him. Is that correct? >>Clinton: Yes, exactly. I like to say, "Not faith and works, but faith that works." >>Eric: "Faith that works," I like that. Clarify that. What does that look like in practical terms for us living today, the difference between faith and works and faith that works? >>Clinton: Faith is always first. And so when we believe in Christ, we do what we do because we love Him; we believe in Him; we obey Him. It all is a package as part of the trusting relationship that we have with Jesus. So He tells us, "Follow Him," and He tells us how to do that. And so we follow Him by the way He shows us through His Word.
4:41 That's--it's as simple as that. >>Eric: So I've heard some people say that we obey Christ or we follow Christ not in order to be saved but because we are saved. Does that sound about the same? >>Clinton: Yeah, that's exactly right, yeah. We, you know, obedience is not a way of salvation. Faith is the way of salvation, grace through faith. >>Eric: So here we got Paul giving this warning to them. He also speaks in terms of gain and loss here. Walk us through this passage that he's talking about. >>Clinton: Okay, yeah, because if we go a little bit further, he says in verse 7, "What things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ." So he has just listed all the things
5:27 that were gain to him. You know, he was, from a Jewish standpoint, you couldn't have a better pedigree, let's say. He lists it right here: "If anyone thinks he may have confidence of flesh, I more so," verse 4. Verse 5: "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." You know, he was sitting at the feet of Gamaliel, one of the most famous Jewish rabbis of that time, and learning all that was necessary to be a teacher of the law, a Pharisee,
6:13 keeping the law accordingly to their traditions that we read about in the Gospels. So, yeah, if anyone could say, "I am--have arrived," it was Paul. But he says, no, these were loss. He uses-- it's kind of a economic model here of what was gain to him personally was loss for Christ because it contributed nothing to what Jesus really wanted for his life and for his work. >>Eric: So there are things that we may consider benefits to ourselves as far as salvation goes. Maybe we're a third or fourth generation Christian,
7:00 or, you know, our grandparents planted a church somewhere, or our parents were missionaries, or maybe we grew up in the mission field or something like that. Not bad things, but they don't contribute to our salvation. Having our name on the church books, a good thing. But that's not the measure of whether a person is saved or not, is that correct? >>Clinton: That's right. And not only that, but even if someone-- I mean, there are lots of, let's say, "good people" out there in the world that they think they're fine. I was that way before I came to Christ. I was a excellent student. I was, you know, headed places, let's say. It was actually counterproductive,
7:46 because it blinded me to my need. And so it was loss in that sense as well. It was loss for me. I was a lost person. >>Eric: You run into a lot of people out there who say, "I'm good, I'm good." Well, being good, we're not saved by our goodness. Being good doesn't save us. It's that relationship with Christ. Now, as a result of the relationship with Christ, there should be goodness that springs up in our lives. But "I'm good" doesn't get you there, does it? >>Clinton: No, not at all. And Paul describes this very clearly, where he says, verse 8, "Indeed I...count all things loss for the excellence
8:35 "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." Because, you know, if we have Christ, we have everything. By accepting Christ into our lives, we have a future, a hope. We have confidence in this life. We have guidance and wisdom. We have everything that comes with knowing Jesus. >>Eric: You mentioned something, "having Christ in our lives." Paul also talks about being in Christ. That's a phrase that he uses with some regularity. What does he mean by that? What does it mean to be in Christ? We want to have Christ in us, but we want to be in Christ as well.
9:20 What does Paul mean when he talks about being in Christ? >>Clinton: Well, yes, he goes on in verse 9: "And be found in Him"-- in Christ--"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." So, you know, the Jewish paradigm at the time was that, you know, the law was pretty straightforward. Like the person that came to Jesus, you know, he listed the commandments and he said, "All these things I have done from my youth, what more do I need?" You know, so there were rules, even hedges around the law,
10:06 you know, to even not get close to disobeying the law. But that was actually not enough, in fact, because they missed the most important thing, that is, faith in the Messiah, Jesus. That was the person when Jesus called him to sell everything and give to the poor and follow Him because He knew that the wealth, it's not for everybody, but He knew the wealth was what was an obstacle to keeping him from committing himself fully to Jesus. So when we're in Christ, we are fully His, we belong to Him. Nothing stands in the way.
10:52 It's like Paul says in Galatians 2, verse 20: "I am crucified with Christ: "nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ "lives in me: and the life which I now live "I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me." >>Eric: We may come back and visit this "in Christ" theme here after our break, which we have to take in just a moment. But before we do, you've written a companion book to this quarter's "Sabbath School" lesson. That book contains more than what we find in the lesson. It goes a little deeper. Why would somebody want to pick up that book, specifically for this week's lesson? What's in there that they might wanna dig a little bit more deeply into? >>Clinton: Well, it goes into quite a bit of detail, actually,
11:39 Eric, about the plan of salvation and how we're saved. It talks about what justification is, sanctification, and this has to do with also the topic of being in Christ, because when we are in Christ, we receive His righteousness, pardon for sin, forgiveness. You know, it's not just only as if we had never sinned, but it's as if we lived His life already. You know, His perfect life is credited to our account. And then the process of sanctification, where we live by faith in Him, and He lives in us.
12:24 He lives His life out through us as we surrender to Him moment by moment, day by day. And this is the process of sanctification and growth. So this goes into more detail in terms of the plan of salvation. Paul in Philippians 3 details it to some extent. It's also unpacked even more in detail in Romans and Galatians, so the book unpacks that. >>Eric: Very good. So if you are interested in picking that up-- and I hope that you are-- you can find it at itiswritten.shop. Again, that's itiswritten.shop. Incidentally, if you happen to be joining us for the first time, I want to let you know that you can go back and watch past episodes of this quarter's "Sabbath School" lesson by going to itiswritten.tv or by going to
13:14 the It Is Written channel on YouTube. We have all of our past episodes, past lessons archived there, and you can watch them anytime you want. Again, that's itiswritten.tv or on the It Is Written YouTube channel. So we hope that you'll be blessed. We hope that you'll share these programs with others. We're going to come back in just a moment or two as we continue looking at this week's lesson. God bless you, we'll be right back. ♪♪♪ >>Eric: At It Is Written, we are passionate about the study of the Word of God, and we encourage you to be serious about it also. I want to share with you a way that you can dig deeper into the Word of God to mine its depths for those precious nuggets of truth. And here it is:
14:00 itiswritten.study. Go online to itiswritten.study and you can access the It Is Written Bible Study Guides. They're 25 in-depth Bible studies that will walk you through the Bible. It's going to be good for you, and it's the sort of thing you'll want to tell somebody else about so that they can dig deeper into the Word of God and come to know the things of the Bible intimately. As you get into the It Is Written online Bible Study Guides, you'll understand the prophecies of the Bible, the plan of salvation, and so much more. So don't forget: itiswritten.study, itiswritten.study. >>John Bradshaw: He was a troubled child and a troublemaker, but when he gave his life
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15:32 Don't miss "Men of Faith: George Müller," brought to you by It Is Written TV. ♪♪♪ >>Eric: Welcome back to "Sabbath School," brought to you by It Is Written. We're glad you're back. We are continuing to look at lesson number 6, and that is "Confidence Only in Christ." Clinton, before we went to break, we were talking a little bit about Paul and his use of the phrase or the term being "in Christ." Help us to understand that just a little bit more because it's important for us, and we're talking about salvation-- it doesn't get much more important than this-- about how we can be in Christ. What did Paul mean when he talked about being in Christ and its importance? >>Clinton: Well, Eric, when we look
16:18 at all of the expressions Paul uses in connection with this, it's really very broad. It's much broader than a lot of people maybe have thought. For example, in Ephesians, chapter 1, verse 4, he says, "Just as He"--that is, God-- "chose us in Him"--in Christ-- "before the foundation of the world, "that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love." So already He planned for our salvation before we even existed, and that was in Christ. If we look at verse 10, it says that "in the dispensation of the fullness of...times He"-- God--"might gather together in one all things in Christ,
17:04 both which are in heaven and which are on earth--in Him." So it comprehends actually the beginning of the plan of salvation even before the Fall. God was not taken by surprise. He had a plan of salvation already in place through Jesus, the Son, and to our final redemption and reunion with the heavenly beings when we get to heaven, the full reconciliation in Christ. So it comprehends not just justification, sanctification; it includes glorification and really the restoration of everything God had in mind for us from the beginning.
17:49 >>Eric: So this concept of being in Christ is not-- it's absolutely not limited. It is just--it stretches from beginning to end of the whole human history. Just a beautiful picture of Christ being involved with us. >>Clinton: This is how He unites heaven and earth. >>Eric: Is through being in Him-- >>Clinton: Exactly. >>Eric: ...His role in this, which is fantastic. You also mentioned in this week's lesson, the faith of Christ. So we know that it's important for us to be in Christ, and all these things happen in Christ. What about the faith of Christ? What does that look like? >>Clinton: Well, first of all, we look to Jesus and His living here on earth. He lived by faith, in a sense. He did His Father's will, looked to His Father for guidance,
18:37 just as we look to God for guidance in our life. So He has provided us an example in that sense of what a life of faith looks like. The word "faith" in Greek, "pistis," can also mean "faithfulness." So when we think of the faith of Christ, it includes the faithfulness of Christ, His obedience, His continual surrender to His Father's will. And so that is-- it's not just a belief. Sometimes we think of faith as something almost, you know, on a statement of what we believe. It's connected with that, obviously. We talk about "the faith," but, you know,
19:24 the teachings of the Bible, but faith of Christ, it involves not just belief. It includes that, but it involves an obedience, a faithfulness, a faith that works. That comes back to that expression, not faith and works, but faith that works. Because I trust God, because I have put my faith in Him, surrendered my life to Him, I will do everything that He asks me to do. >>Eric: You know, there's a passage in this week's lesson-- I think it's on Wednesday, if I'm not mistaken, on Wednesday, at the bottom of Wednesday's lesson, that says this: "As Paul came to realize, "having one's 'own righteousness' "is not real righteousness "because the law cannot give life;
20:11 "only Christ can, through faith. "And not just any faith. "After all, the devils believe and tremble. "The only saving faith is 'the faith of Christ.' "Only His faith has obeyed fully and can obey. "So, if we are in Christ and He lives in us, then we live by His faith through our faith in Him." I don't know how much more simply you could put that, but I think that really does explain it well. It's not so much our faith that saves us, but it's being in Him and latching onto His faith. >>Clinton: Everything is a gift. Even faith is a gift. So the faith of Christ is a gift to us. >>Eric: That's powerful, absolutely powerful. We know that Jesus is important.
20:58 That almost goes without saying: Jesus is important. And we know that it's important that we know Him, not just know of Him, not just mentally assent to the fact that He existed or exists, to be more accurate. But how do we get to know Him? Not know of Him, not know about Him, but how do we get to know Him and have that personal relationship with Him so that we can have not just faith in Christ, but we can be partakers of the faith of Christ? How does that knowing Him happen in a real practical way? >>Clinton: Well, in Philippians, chapter 3, Paul describes it this way.
21:45 He says in verse 10, "That I may know Him "and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings." So, you know, there are three parts here, right? Knowing Him, we come closer to Him because we experience the power of His resurrection. We have Him living His life through us. We recognize His presence in us. And because He has, through the process of conversion and the gift of the Holy Spirit, He has raised us into newness of life, as Paul says in Romans, chapter 6. And so knowing Him is knowing that life that is in union with Him.
22:32 Then he talks about knowing Jesus through the fellowship of His sufferings. Because, let's face it, it's not always easy to live out of harmony with a lot of what goes on around us, to make different choices than a lot of people make today. And not only that, but we sometimes face challenges and trials as a result of obeying Jesus. And every trial faced, every experience that we bear for Him, helps us to know Him, and even more so, more importantly, appreciate what He has done for us. Because any suffering we might have for Him pales in comparison to the suffering
23:17 He went through for us. But that pain, that experience draws us closer to Him, gives us a deeper appreciation for His love and all He went through for us-- fellowship of His sufferings. And third is he says in verse 14: "I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." This word "goal" in Greek is "skopos." We get our, of course, English word "scope" from it. It means simply a target, like you would with a bow and arrow, you know, to hit a target. So we have this goal in front of us, really,
24:04 the prize that Jesus holds out for us, of heaven, and He lived, died, was resurrected, and ascended to heaven. This is the pathway that we follow. Hopefully, even we won't have to die, we will live to see Him come, but this is the goal that we press onward for. And so, knowing Him is also knowing that hope and looking with expectancy to His soon return. >>Eric: So He's laid out the path for us. He's made it possible for us to go down that path through His life, through His love, through the faith that we can have in Him to latch on to His faith, as it were.
24:50 We can't make it down this path alone, although we are tempted through our human nature to think that if we can do this or do that or whatever, we can somehow make it there. You know, I've often heard people say, "I'm not good enough to be saved." That statement has always kind of-- I've found it interesting, because if we were good enough to be saved, we wouldn't need to be saved. We wouldn't need Jesus, you know? It kind of negates it. The fact is, we're all bad enough. And when we realize that, I think hopefully that'll give us the impetus to go to Him, to choose to be in Him and let Him be in us. >>Clinton: Well, actually, Eric, the more we know Jesus, the closer we come to Him,
25:36 we recognize our failings even more acutely. We see His love, His example, all that He is for us, and we strive to be like Him. But we fall short and we recognize that we have still a long way to go. So, knowing Him reminds us constantly of our need of Him. >>Eric: So let me ask you this as we're about to close. We've got just a minute or so left. If there's somebody who's watching this program and they've been a believer, at least intellectually, and their life has been one of going to church and maybe even going to prayer meeting, and they've listened to sermons and they've sung the songs
26:23 and given the offerings and so forth, but they're concerned that maybe their heart isn't yet completely and totally fully surrendered to Christ, what kind of encouragement would you give them? What kind of guidance could you give them to help them to be, as Paul says, in Christ fully? >>Clinton: Well, that's a vital question. And I guess I would just say to those who may be in that situation, Eric, to read the Gospels, how Jesus dealt with people who were unsure, uncertain, and understand that He hears our prayers, He cares about us, and when we pray,
27:13 we can open our heart to Jesus as to a friend. Just recognize that He knows better than we do our doubts, our hesitancy, our uncertainty, and He will help us. He will teach us. He will guide us day by day. >>Eric: So we hope that that will encourage you as well. We are walking through the books of Philippians and Colossians, two amazing books that help us to get a clearer picture of exactly who Jesus is. And this week, we've looked at how we can have confidence, not in ourselves, but we can absolutely have confidence in Christ. And we hope that your confidence has been encouraged today. We look forward to having you join us again next week here on "Sabbath School," brought to you by It Is Written.
27:59 ♪♪♪ [Captions provided by Aberdeen Captioning www.abedeen.io]
