Sermon Tone Analysis

Philippians 3:17-21

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stephen Caswell © 2004

Abraham & Lot

 

Because the flocks of Abraham and Lot had increased greatly, they could no longer dwell together.

Abraham graciously allowed his younger nephew to have first choice as to where they would settle.

Lot chose the fertile Jordan Valley.

He pitched his tent toward the wicked city of Sodom and eventually became a citizen of that city.

He lost everything when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.

Abraham, however, dwelt in the more arid land of Canaan.

He dwelt in tents considering himself to be an alien or stranger in a foreign land.

He looked for a heavenly city whose maker was God.

As a result, God blessed Abraham and all the families of the earth through him.

Abraham lived for the future and God blessed his faith.

So far in Philippians chapter 3 we have seen Paul's attitude to the /past/ and /present./

He evaluated his past as an */Accountant/.*

He/ counted/ all things */loss for Christ/* and all things */gain in Christ/*.

He had *new values*.

Then we saw Paul the */Athlete/* pressing on toward the goal for the prize of Christ's home call.

He didn't live in the /past /but pressed on for Christ.

He had *new vigor*.

Today we see Paul's attitude for the /future/.

He is not a resident of earth but an */Alien/* looking for His Savior's return.

Like all aliens, Paul knew that he didn't belong here.

His citizenship was in heaven where he longed to be.

He had *new vision*.

Paul contrasts the lives of the earthly citizens with that of heavenly citizens.

Earthly citizens live for the present whilst heavenly citizens live for the future.

Today we will see two things, */The Conduct Of Earthly Citizens, The Conviction Of Heavenly Citizens/*

 

*/Firstly/*/ /The Conduct Of Earthly Citizens

 

/a.

Disobedient /

/ /

*Philippians 3:18-19:* /For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ:/

/ /

Firstly Paul calls earthly citizens enemies of the cross of Christ.

/Who are these enemies described in verse 18? Are these people believers?/

They are folk who claim to be God's people yet live contrary to the Christian life.

I believe that this refers to people inside the Christian Church who live worldly lives.

*/Paul weeps for them/ *because they should know better.

They have heard the Gospel but denied its power in their lives.

Therefore, Paul calls them /enemies of the cross of Christ.

/The cross of Christ was the means of our redemption.

The believer has died to the old life and now lives for Christ.

God freed his people from both the */penalty and power/* of sin on the cross.

When people who hear the Gospel live for earthly pleasures they become Christ's enemies.

Because they treat the cross with contempt.

/ /

At Cross Purposes?

Jesus is a great divider of life.

One must walk parallel with Him or directly across His way.

/Charles M. Sheldon/ The cross of Christ divides between the righteous and the wicked.

Everything depends upon our relationship to the cross.

We will be either God's friends or His enemies.

/b.

Depraved  /*Phil 3:19b:*/ whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who set their mind on earthly things./

/ /

Paul describes their lifestyle.

They eat and drink and indulge in physical pleasure.

/You might say what is wrong with eating, drinking and sex?

Hasn't God ordained a proper use for all of these things?/

Yes, He has!

But it was the abuse of these same things that brought God's judgment in the days of Noah.

*Matthew 24:38-39:*/ For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be./

In Noah's day people were eating and drinking and giving in marriage.

But that's all that they were doing.

They had no interest in the things of God.

They gloried in shameful living and filled the earth with violence.

This describes life today.

Often professing Christians get drunk; some are unfaithful to their spouses.

They glory in shameful living.

Far too many Christians listen to the worlds music, watch immoral movies and behave like earthly citizens.

/Do you desire godliness or worldly pleasures?/

/ /

In chapter 2 Paul */commanded/* believers /to have Christ's mind/.

These enemies of Christ */set their minds on earthly things./*

They don’t God a thought; they live totally for themselves.

They indulge in sinful pleasures without considering the consequences.

They live for time, not eternity.

The enemies of Christ are earthly citizens in every way, body, soul and spirit.

*James 4:4 *warns believers about friendship with the world:*/ /*/Adulterers and adulteresses!

Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

/The believer must not befriend this wicked world.

/c.

Doomed   /*Philippians 3:19a:*/ whose end is destruction,/

 

However God has decreed that they will end in destruction.

The people of Noah’s day were taken by surprise when the flood came; so too will these be taken by destruction.

The word */destruction/* *ἀ**πώλεια* means */perdition, ruin/*/./

It does not mean */annihilation, /*but rather*/ eternal suffering./*

The enemies of Christ give no thought for tomorrow.

They don't consider God's coming judgment day.

They think that all will be well.

Life will go on as usual and when they die everything will turn out okay.

God loves people and He won't condemn them to hell.

But they are wrong.

God has appointed them to destruction.

These worldly citizens will be ruined, separated from God for all eternity.

*/This is the opposite of salvation showing that they were never saved./*

Signs of the Times /-- Michael Bogart/

 

The May 1984 National Geographic showed through color photos and drawings the swift and terrible destruction that wiped out the Roman Cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum in A.D. 79.

The explosion of Mount Vesuvius was so sudden; the residents were killed while in their routine: men and women were at the market, the rich in their luxurious baths, and slaves at toil.

They died amid volcanic ash and superheated gasses.

Even family pets suffered the same quick and final fate.

It takes little imagination to picture the panic of that terrible day.

The saddest part is that these people did not have to die.

Scientists confirm what ancient Roman writers record -- weeks of rumblings and shakings preceded the actual explosion.