Why Did Paul Call His Former Life Trash?

Welcome to Through the Bible with Les Feldick, a 30-minute walk through the Scriptures, teaching in-depth Bible truths that change people's lives. Now, here's your host, Les Feldick. Okay, good to have everybody back in here, and we trust there are a lot of good cookies out there today, and Irish didn't make them this time. Laura, did you bring them again? Boy, they're good. Okay, again, for our television audience, we just want you to know that after every half -hour program, we do take a coffee break, and I used to let people know that Irish made the cookies, but now lately, Laura has been doing it, and so Irish has been kind of off the hook for a while. And others? Are there others? Okay, I don't want to lose any credits for people, but anyway, we do. We just have a good time here on a Wednesday afternoon, and we've already announced we've got a lot of folks here from Minnesota and Indiana, Arkansas. So we do, we just have a good afternoon of taping these four programs, and after each one, of course, we take a coffee break. Alright, glad to have you with us out in television, and again, we like to always remind you that all the programs are available on videotape and audio, and they've all been transcribed into a little 12-lesson booklet, word -for-word from the program. If you're interested in any of those things, you call us on the 800 number, drop us a line, and we'll get the information to you. Okay, let's get right back to where we left off now in Philippians chapter 3, and we're talking about Paul, how he is writing from this place of adversity in the prison right next door to Nero's palace in Rome, but the little book of Philippians is filled with the word, Rejoice, Rejoice, Rejoice. Now again he is going to set us up for a tremendous thought, and that is, how much did he give up for the sake of the Gospel. Well we've already looked at seven of the great things that he had going for him as a religious Jew up there in verse 5 and 6, and now come into verse 7. What a statement! How many American Christians could say something like this, but what things were gain to me, I counted loss for Christ. Now let's look at one verse first in Galatians, and then I'm going to take you back to Acts. So the name of the game is, see how all of Scripture fits so beautifully. You know this is what I'm always trying to bring out, that this Book is supernatural. It is intricate in how it all fits together. It's not just a jumble of thoughts and ideas, but it is an intricate whole from Genesis through the last verse of Revelation. Now in Galatians chapter 1, starting in verse 11, verses that we've used quite often over the years, and Paul is again rehearsing how he came into the ministry of being the apostle of this age of grace. So in verse 11 of Galatians 1, he says, Galatians 1. I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man, for I neither received a man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ. Now here it comes, for you have heard of my conversation or manner of living in times past in the Jews religion, and how beyond measure I persecuted the assembly of God, that is those Jewish believers at Jerusalem, and wasted it. The guy was heartless, he put them to death, threw them in the dungeon, anything to get them off the scene where they could oppose his religion. Now in verse 14 he says, Galatians 1. I profited in the Jews religion, above many my equals in my own nation, being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my father. What kind of a prophet do you suppose he�s talking about? Financial! He was a big wheel in Judaism, and as I�ve rehearsed in this program before, you go down into the lower diggings of the city of Jerusalem, and they�ve excavated some of the houses of the high priests of Israel. They were gorgeous, umpteen bathrooms, and beautiful walls, and no doubt Saul of Tarsus enjoyed the same lifestyle, because he was one of the highest paid fellows in the business. Because he was the most zealous, and that�s what he says. How I profited in the Jews religion, because he was more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my father. That�s what he had going for him. Now then he says in Philippians he counted all of that but loss, but now I want you to see what the word loss meant to the apostle, because the same word is used in Acts chapter 27, and he said unto them, and this is during the height of the storm, and the ship is about to be wrecked, or sunk, or whatever, and so he said to all of his fellow shipmates, Sirs I perceive that this voyage will be with hurt, and much damage. That�s the same Greek word translated loss in Philippians. Now you know what happened to the ship and its contents, it was sunk, it was destroyed, it was totally lost. Now that�s the same Greek word, and it�s used again in Acts chapter 27. But after long abstinence Paul stood forth in the midst of them, and said, Sirs, ye should have hearkened unto me, and not have loosed from Crete, and to have gained this harm, and loss, damage, a complete loss of everything, gone down into the depths. Now come back to Philippians, that�s exactly how he treated everything that he had going for him as a religious Jew, and don�t forget that I pointed out that the stock of Israel implied his whole family. Now of course I am convinced in my own mind that Paul had a wife and children, which he had to have had if he was a member of the Sanhedrin, and we know he was a member of the Sanhedrin. Then again come back to Acts chapter 26, and again he�s rehearsing for the 3rd time in the Book of Acts his experience on the road to Damascus. Chapter 9 of course is written by Luke, but in chapter 22 he�s doing the same thing in the first person as he�s doing here. So he�s telling of how all of this brought him to the place where he was on his road to Damascus. Let�s go back to Acts chapter 26, and let�s look at verse 9 of Acts chapter 26. Acts 26. 9. I verily thought with myself that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth, which thing I also did in Jerusalem, and many of the saints did I shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priests, and when those same people were proudly pulled out of the dungeon, and brought before the Sanhedrin on trial, and when they were put to death, I gave my voice against them, and so he had to have been a member of the Sanhedrin, or he wouldn�t have been in that position of voting on the result of his faith. And so as a member of the Sanhedrin then, he had to have had a wife and children, because that was one of the bylaws that you couldn�t be a member of the Sanhedrin unless you had the experience of raising a family. That�s common sense isn�t it? Who but a father knows how to handle teenagers. Who but a husband, now I hadn�t better say any more, but nevertheless, he gave all of that up. Now back to Philippians. Philippians 2.8 I count all things but loss, like that ship that sunk at sea, it�s all gone, his family, his wealth, his home, his prestige as a Pharisee, and his clout amongst Judaizers, I count it but loss, for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. Now how many believers in America ever stop to put Christ in that comparison? Does He mean more to us than everything that we own, or possess, or enjoy? Is He number one on our list of priorities? My wife and I often kid about it, she thinks that my beautiful black cattle are first. Well I just shared with Paul at lunch, no, I love them, I enjoy them, I�ve got a couple old herd bulls, they come and they just lick me like a dog, and that just thrills me. But listen, they are not first in my list of priorities. This Book is first, I love to teach it, you know I do. But I still cannot come close to imagining what it was like for this man to have lost everything, including his family, for the sake of Christ. No wonder he is constantly affirming his authority as an apostle. Now you stop and think, the other twelve disciples and apostles, now they all died a martyr�s death, no doubt about that, but they didn�t suffer for 20, 25 years like this man did. This man suffered constantly, and the only thing that kept driving him was his love for the Lord and his gospel of salvation. And so here again, finishing verse 8, he says, For whom I have suffered the loss, the total loss of all things, and on top of that he�s not crying about it, because he said, I do count them but dung in the King James, I like the word in another translation better, trash, just trash. Something that had absolutely no attraction to him anymore. It was down the tube, it was out of his life, and as we�re going to see a little later on in this same chapter, he says, forgetting those things which are behind. Well we�ll talk about that when we get there. Now then verse 9, you know it�s amazing what you can pull out of a verse. You know I can look at this when I first start thinking about it, and I can just about go all the way from verse 1 to the end of the chapter in the first half hour. That�s the way I usually look at it, and then all of a sudden I start thinking about it, and dig into it, and you can�t exhaust it. So now then verse 8, not only that he would have Christ, but be found in Him, that�s the same phrase that he uses throughout Ephesians, in Christ, in whom, in Him, it�s a positional term, that�s where we are. We are not just here on the planet and hoping to go to heaven some day, we are already in Christ. That�s our position, so that I may be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith. Now Matthew chapter 10, maybe this will help us understand how he could look at the loss of family, and house, and prestige, but especially family, that he could look at the loss of his loved ones, and consider it as he says here, dung, trash. Well I think I can make a point, that in Matthew 10 we have a statement that a lot of people have gotten confused about, and it throws a curve at them, and I think it�s because they don�t understand the basic language. Matthew 10 verse 37, it�s kind of disconcerting if you don�t know how these things are to be applied. But in Matthew 10 verse 37, Jesus is speaking during His earthly ministry, and He says, He that loveth father or mother more than me, is not worthy of me. He that loveth son or daughter more than me, is not worthy of me. And then of course in another verse He puts, Unless you hate your father and your mother, you cannot be my disciple. Now we know that the Lord God does not expect us to hate our parents, as we understand the word hate. We are not to hate our children, but it�s a comparative term. Our love for Christ should be so much greater than it is for our family, that comparatively speaking it�s as if we hate them. Well now the same way here, back to Philippians chapter 3. How could Paul just glibly seemingly cast off all of his family relations and everything, and count it as trash that he might win Christ, is again a comparative thing. I�m sure that deep in his heart Paul longed to be reunited with his family, but he knew it would never happen, because of what had transpired between him and Christ, who of course was hated by the Jew on the street, and no doubt his family as well. But always keep those things in mind, that it was a comparative thing. Now back to verse 9, where he says that it�s not by his own righteousness, which he was attempting to do in Judaism. He was keeping the Law, he was a Pharisee of the Pharisee, and now he realizes that his own righteousness had nothing to do with it. But all of his relationship with Christ, his position in Christ was based on one Word, and that Word was faith. And what was the faith? Believing what God said. Faith is taking God at His Word. First for salvation, to believe the Gospel, absolutely, but it doesn�t stop there. Faith is something we practice every day as a believer. Now you�ve got to stop and think, why is America in the horrible, wicked state that it�s in? And it is, whether you like to admit it or not. What�s our problem? Hey it�s not drunkenness, it�s not drugs, it�s not sexual immorality, it�s only one word. America has lost faith in the Word of God. That�s our problem. If we could get America back to believing what God has said, we�d solve all our problems in short order. And so for us as believers, never forget that we have to practice faith, not just for salvation, but for Christian living. Let me give you a good example, and the reason this comes to mind is that we had this Friday night in our Tulsa class, and I probably never saw it as distinctly before, I learn as I teach whether people know that or not. But Numbers chapter 20, children of Israel are still out there in the wilderness during their 40 years of wandering, and as has happened at least once before, they�re out of water. And their herds are bellowing, they�re thirsty, the people are getting thirsty. And so Moses goes before the Lord, and the Lord tells him to go get his shepherd�s rod, but instead of striking it like he did back in Exodus, this time he�s to speak to it. And so now we pick up the account in Numbers 20, and the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Take the rod, gather thou the assembly together, thou and Aaron thy brother, and speak to the rock. And it shall give forth his water, and thou shalt bring forth to them water out of the rock, so thou shalt give the congregation and their beasts water to drink. Now then, you know what happened. Verse 10. And Moses and Aaron gathered the congregation before the rock, and he said unto them, Here are now ye rebels, must we fetch you water out of this rock? And Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod he smote the rock, instead of speaking to it. Just a simple change in modus operandi, but instead of speaking to that rock, he again did like he did back in Exodus, only he didn�t just strike it once, he struck it twice. And so he smote the rock twice, and of course the Lord condescended and did it anyway, and so the water came forth abundantly. Now verse 12. I�ve had so many people ask, was this the only reason that Moses did not get to go into the Promised Land? No. Yes, he broke the type. He should have spoken, instead of smiting, because when Christ died, He died once, smitten once, and from then on He was to be spoken to as Lord and Savior. So he did break the type, the typology. But that was not why God lowered the boom on him and said, Sorry Moses, you�re not going into the Promised Land. Now don�t you know that must have been a heartache. We were at Mount Nebo not too long ago, and on a clear day, it wasn�t that clear when we were there, but I�m sure on a clear day he could see clear up beyond Galilee, he could see over Jerusalem and almost to the Mediterranean, he could have seen just about all the way down to Gaza from that high point in Mount Nebo. I can just imagine the heartache that Moses must have felt, that simply because of one act of disobedience, he lost it. Now he didn�t lose his salvation, Moses was going to be in glory, but he lost that reward. But it wasn�t just because of his anger, it wasn�t just because he smote the rock, but the key word is in verse 12, and I want to bring this home for us as believers today. Verse 12, And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron, and it�s the LORD who saith, Because you believed not. God doesn�t say a word about striking the rock, God doesn�t say a word about his temper, God says, You didn�t believe Me. Isn�t that something? That was his error. He did not take God at His Word. Now come back to Philippians, and as you�re turning back, just put your mind in high gear. How many times does even the Apostle Paul give us commandments, that is the Word of God, that should have an effect on our everyday life? For example, husbands, love your wife. What is that? That�s a commandment, and when husbands don�t do it as a believer, what are they failing to do? Exercise faith in God�s Word, because that�s what God said. In another place Paul says, Flee every appearance of evil, not just the evil itself, but the appearance of it, it�s a commandment. And when we don�t do it, we�re showing a lack of faith. Paul says, Pray without ceasing, and when we fail to pray, we are acting in unbelief. And you can go on and on throughout Paul�s letters, and just see these things, that the Word of God is instructing us, is telling us how to behave, 7 days a week. And when we do not abide by that, we are showing unbelief. And as I point out, whenever I teach going into the Promised Land, or not going into the Promised Land, and bring people up to Hebrews chapter 3, let�s look at it. Hebrews chapter 3, verses 18-19. And to whom swear he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that they believed not. So then the final statement of the chapter is, so we see then that they could not enter in, not because of what they had done, not because of anything that they would do, it was all because of unbelief, and that�s no faith. Now even as a believer we can be guilty of being weak in faith, when we do not obey the Word of God. Now that goes back to what I just said a moment ago, what�s America�s problem? That�s it. America no longer believes what this Book says. You may not agree with me, but if you know anything about our society today, you have to agree with me. America as a nation today does not believe what this Book says. They scoff at it, they ridicule it, and if they do pay lip service to it, it�s for an hour on Sunday morning, and that�s about it. But God expects us to believe what He has said, and that�s the whole idea of faith. Back to Philippians for the minute or two that we�ve got left, and so he wants to be found in him, not relying on the righteousness of self or flesh, which of course is legalism or the Law as he says here, but that which is through the faith of Christ, and the righteousness which is of God, that is now I think as a believer, as we walk day by day, by faith, by taking God at His Word. Now I guess we�ll go on into verse 10 for just a moment or two, and then we�ll pick it up in our next half hour. All of this is not only bringing the apostle, but you and I as well, because this is written for our admonition, that I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection. Now there again very few Christians today put any emphasis on this word, power. It�s the English word dynamo, or if you ever go down in one of the great hydroelectric Hoover Dam or Bonneville, have you ever been in there? These huge generators, one turn of that dynamo sends out humongous amounts of current. Well that�s where the word comes from. Only God�s power makes a dynamo look like nothing. And so Paul says, that I may know Him, and the power, not of His creation, which is tremendous, but the power of His resurrection. And that�s where we are today, we�re on resurrection ground, and we have to depend on that resurrection power, not just for salvation, but for our everyday existence. It�s that resurrection power that gives us the ability to live a victorious life. It�s that resurrection power that can bring a drug addict out of his habit. It�s resurrection power that can break nicotine. It�s resurrection power that can break alcohol. It�s resurrection power that can break any other addiction that man may have. But even believers today are prone to forget that that�s where it is centered. It�s the core of our belief. Thank you for watching Through the Bible with Les Feldick. Through the Bible is a partner-supported ministry. 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