I consider everything a loss, compared to the
surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus,
my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things.
I consider them rubbish. That I may gain Christ
and be found in Him, not having a righteousness
of my own that comes from the law, but that which
is through faith in Christ. the righteousness
that comes from God and is by faith. This week,
Los Angeles burned and all America smelled the
smoke. I would suppose that every one of us,
at some time, have seen over the past months
the 81 seconds of video tape that showed the
beating of Rodney King by the LA police officers.
No one who looks at that tape can think anything
other than that it's sickening It's horrifying
and it's brutal Because we saw the tape over
and over again I suppose most of us like most
of America made up our minds That these officers
were guilty of a crime And yet it was given to
a small group of men and women, including people
of color, to look not only at 81 seconds of videotape,
but to hear a great deal of testimony and see
other evidence that took weeks to present. If
you've ever been on a jury, you know that that
is not an easy task, and I think few people ever
take it lightly. the kind of decision that must
be made. And I believe those people took their
job seriously. And after seeing the tape and
putting it into the context of everything else
that they heard over the weeks of testimony,
they concluded that the prosecutor had not proven
guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, which is what
was required by the system. Perhaps you were
shocked, you were outraged as were many other
people upon hearing what the jury had concluded.
The anger in LA in particular overboiled and
LA burned. Why did Los Angeles burn this week?
There are several politically correct answers
to that question. One answer is that it burned
because of the trial's outcome, because we had
concluded they were guilty. How dare the jury
conclude otherwise? Los Angeles burned because
of poverty, which is so acute, especially in
the south central section of Los Angeles. Los
Angeles burned because of unemployment, especially
among young black men. Los Angeles burned because
of disadvantage caused by years of prejudice.
Los Angeles burned because of racial discrimination
and oppression. I would say that in all of these
responses there can be found some truth, undoubtedly
some truth. But I want to suggest to you this
morning that these are but contributors. external
contributors as to why Los Angeles burned. I'd
like for you to think with me about what I believe
are the causes for Los Angeles burning. The contributors
are external and partial. The causes are internal.
and all consuming. I believe that we can isolate
at least three of them. All three deal with the
heart. All three deal with attitudes, with ideas,
and motives. The first cause for Los Angeles
burning is the sinfulness of the human condition.
I know that doesn't play well in some churches,
in some groups, but I'm not concerned about that
this morning. We need to evaluate it in the light
of what God says. The human heart is depraved.
The will, the mind, the emotions of man are twisted
and perverted by sin. The reason that Los Angeles
burned this week in the first place is because
of the sinfulness of the human heart. Secondly,
Los Angeles burned because of the pain of alienation.
This last week I was privileged to be a part
of a briefing in Washington, which was sponsored
by the National Association of Evangelicals.
It was an interesting week to be in Washington.
We had a number of speakers from the government.
One of them was Ed Meese, who was the Attorney
General of the United States under most of Reagan's
years. He spoke to us the morning that Los Angeles
was in flames the day after the decision. and
said that the riots that were caused there could
be laid to the feet of leftists, committed leftists,
who are manipulating the whole situation. Well,
I don't doubt that there are leftists involved
in that. But I don't think that Ed Meese spoke
to the real cause. I became closer to hearing
the cause in another one of the speakers. who
was chaplain of the U .S. Senate, Dr. Halverson.
Dr. Halverson said that in his thinking over
recent months regarding the variety of social
problems in America, that behind most of these
problems he found the problem of alienation.
Whether it be homelessness or gangs, drugs or
divorce, abuse or abortion. At the root of these,
in his thinking, is alienation. I believe that
what exploded in Los Angeles this week was the
pain of alienation. And thirdly, Los Angeles
burned this week because of a hunger in the human
heart for significance. Every person wants to
count. wants to mean something, wants to make
a difference in the world. This week, in some
cases in some very wrong ways, and in some cases
in some very wonderful, heroic ways, there was
a hunger for significance. And I want to say
to you this morning that the only solution to
what caused Los Angeles to burn this week is
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is only
the gospel of Jesus Christ that addresses the
internal causes for what caused Los Angeles to
burn. Our politicians, our government, the constitutional
systems, the programs, none of those address
the causes. They try and they try sincerely to
address some of the contributions. But only God
and only the gospel that He has given to us in
His Son Jesus Christ goes to the heart, to the
root causes which are internal. Paul has something
to say about that gospel. You see in the midst
of loss, in the midst of adversity, in the midst
of pain, in the midst of injustice and oppression,
there is only one way to find real joy. To find
real joy. And that is through the eternal gain
that we have in our salvation. It is that eternal
gain that provides a foundation for life even
when it seems to be in rubble. Paul, in the verses
that we've read this morning, points to the value
of eternal gain which every believer has in his
salvation. And he gives two very instructive
insights regarding eternal gain. You'll notice
in the first place he gives us this insight.
Beware of what can rob you of eternal gain. And
as Paul thinks about what can rob us of eternal
gain, he points to a couple of things in this
context. The first is false religion. False religion
can rob a person of salvation and eternal gain.
In Paul's case, the false religion was coming
from the Judaizers. a fanatic cult of Jews professing
to be Christians, who followed Paul around, especially
in his later ministry. They would come to converts,
gentile converts especially, and try to teach
them that in order to truly be saved, they had
to do more than to simply believe in Christ.
They had to also submit to the law of Moses,
especially that part of it that relates to circumcision.
They said the males have to be circumcised as
prescribed as a sign for the Abrahamic covenant
in order to be saved. That's necessary in addition
to believing in Christ. Paul evaluates what's
happening as these Judaizers, these false teachers,
spew forth their teaching. He evaluates those
who teach this kind of stuff. He uses several
phrases to describe them. He says they are dogs.
Beware of the dogs. Now you could not call a
Jewish person much worse than a dog. Dog was
unclean. He's talking about scavengers, wild
dogs that run in packs. And so he turns a term
on these Judaizers that they used for Gentiles,
because they called Gentiles dogs. And he says,
in fact, they are the dogs. They're the scavengers
who root around trying to find something. Undoubtedly,
he's talking about the fact that they come to
the ministries he's established, to the churches
he's planted, and they begin to root around scavenging
there and destroying them by their false teaching.
He says they're evildoers. They're busy doing,
but what they do is in opposition to the Gospel.
So they're evildoers. And he says they are mutilators
of the flesh. He does a play on words here that
some English translations pick up on. He says
they're the concision, we're the circumcision.
The word concision, as it is in some translations
in the NIV, is mutilators of the flesh. He does
a parody on their insistence of circumcision
for salvation. He says they are nothing but mutilators
of the flesh. And in contrast to them, he says,
are we who are the true circumcision of God.
Here he's talking about not physical circumcision
of flesh. He's talking about circumcision of
the heart and the cutting away and removal of
sins. He says we're the true inward spiritual
circumcision. Who? Well, he describes those who
believe this way. He says, we who worship by
the Spirit of God, that is, who don't follow
vain traditions and rituals, but who worship
God out of the Spirit, being enabled by the Holy
Spirit. We who glory in Christ Jesus, who have
their hope in Him alone, who do not worship using
rituals and the external demands of the law,
but who boast in a living Savior. He says, we
who put no confidence in the flesh and what the
flesh can produce in terms of attempting its
own righteousness before God. We put no confidence
in that sort of thing. False religion will rob
one of eternal gain. False religion has no message
for Los Angeles. False religion is any system
of beliefs, values, and actions which circumvents
the cross of Jesus Christ or which adds to the
simplicity of the cross work of Jesus Christ
for our sins. Anything that circumvents the cross
or seeks to add to the work of Christ at the
cross is false religion. Paul makes no bones
about it. False religion does not have an answer
and indeed false religion can rob a person of
salvation. It is tragically, sadly true that
hell today is populated by people. who were religious
in this life, and who thought they were doing
what God wanted them to do, who listened to religious
teachers and religious doctrine that was false,
and it robbed them of eternal gain. False religion
leads to eternal ruin, not gain. And if you be
a part of a religion today that adds anything
to the work of Jesus Christ, to the simplicity
of the gospel, through simple faith in what He
did on our behalf at the cross, flee that religion.
Flee that church. Flee that denomination. Have
nothing to do with it. It's false. And false
religion is a thief. It robs people. of eternal
gain. Secondly, Paul points to self -righteousness
and that flows right out of false religion because
in false religion so often a person is called
upon to do something, to contribute toward his
own salvation. It may be some church prescribed
ritual or it may be some hybrid idea that the
person has in his own mind, if I do this, it
will please God. The point is that something
is done by the person to help his salvation along.
He makes a contribution toward it, and it builds
towards self -righteousness, which does not save.
Paul says if you want to talk about works religion,
if you want to talk about something to boast
in, If you want to talk about self -righteousness,
listen to me. And he begins to pile up over here
all the things that he can boast in about himself.
If somebody can boast in who they are and what
they've done, Paul can beat any of them or at
least match them. And he piles up layer upon
layer of language. describing his advantages,
his benefits, what he could boast in. Paul here
outlines the very heart of man -made religion.
In the first place, it denies the sufficiency
of Christ's sacrifice for our sins, and it adds
to it human works of one sort or another. And
secondly, it promotes self -righteousness. by
appealing to the religious and fleshly nature
of man that wants to do something to impress
God and believes it can. That kind of religion
robs the soul of eternal gain and it condemns
its followers before God to hell. Beware of what
can rob you of eternal gain. Paul gives us a
second insight regarding the joy of eternal gain
and salvation. He says, not only beware, but
be aware of what can assure you of eternal gain.
Be aware of what can assure you, guarantee to
you salvation, eternal gain. What is that? Well,
Paul expresses it a couple of ways. He says in
the first place, It's the knowledge of Christ
Jesus, the Lord. He says, I look at all of these
things in this pile of self -righteousness, and
He says, I want you to know they mean nothing.
He says, in fact, I count all of these things
but dung, rubbish. He uses even a stronger term
for human excrement. He says, that's what all
of that stuff amounts to compared to knowing
Jesus Christ, my Lord. It's possible to think
one knows Jesus Christ without knowing Him. Because
the kind of knowledge that Paul has in mind here
is not merely intellectual knowledge. It is the
kind of knowledge that comes by experience and
by relationship. We were honored this week to
be allowed a time at the Supreme Court with Justice
Clarence Thomas. He has not given any speeches
in all these months that he, after he's been
appointed to the court, affirmed to the court
by the Senate. But he has had a few meetings,
I suppose, with people he perceives to have been
supporters of his. And in the hour or so that
we had with him, he talked about what he went
through and what's happened to his life since
last fall, last October. At the end of it, someone
asked if we might have our pictures made with
him. And there was just an intimate little group
of 85 of us. So, he kindly consented to do that
and we went up in groups to stand by him while
someone took a picture if they had a camera.
And everybody that went up there shook his hand,
right there, shook his hand. I can say today,
I know Clarence Thomas. Please don't ask him
if he knows me. But I can say I know Him in one
sense. I mean, I knew Him before I shook His
hand because when He came into the room, I recognized
Him. I'd seen Him on television. And I'd heard
His voice, that rather monotone, deep voice with
a certain dignity to it. I recognized His voice
and I can even say I've shaken His hand. I know
Him, but I don't know Him in the sense that Paul
was talking about knowing Jesus here. There are
a lot of people who say, well, I know what Jesus
said. I know Jesus came to the world. I know
He died on the cross. I know He rose from the
dead. I know all of that. I know Jesus. But they
haven't experienced Him in a personal relationship.
Be aware of what can bring you eternal gain.
It is a personal relationship with God through
Jesus Christ. Paul says, I count all the advantages
of my life but a pile of rubbish compared to
knowing Christ personally. Do you know him personally?
Has there been a point in your life where you
have acknowledged your sinfulness? And you've
opened your heart and received Him as an act
of faith, asking Him to forgive your sins and
to give you eternal life. It's that which introduces
us, which establishes a relationship that then
goes on to grow. Paul puts it a different way.
He says, that I may gain Christ and be found
in Him. that I may be found in Him. Paul says
my identity in the past that's identified with
all of these things, it doesn't mean anything.
The only thing that counts is that I be found
in Him. That He be my identity. Los Angeles burned
this week. It burned because of the sinfulness
of the human heart. Is there an answer? Praise
God, yes. There is an answer to the will and
to the emotions, to the mind that is affected
and twisted by sin. The answer is Jesus Christ.
He changes the heart with all of its corrupt,
bigoted, prejudiced attitudes. He changes the
heart. Los Angeles burned this week because of
the pain of alienation. Is there an answer? Yes.
To be found in Christ. To know Him. To no longer
be alienated from God makes it possible for me
to be restored to others. Los Angeles burned
this week because of the hunger for significance.
Is there an answer for that hunger? Only one.
Really, only one. And that is to be identified
with Jesus Christ, the Lord of Glory. He brings
significance to one's life for this world and
for the world to come. That's why I'm saying
to you today that the only answer to what made
Los Angeles burn this week is the gospel of the
Lord Jesus Christ. But it's possible to be right
here in this room and to have never done anything
like what happened in Los Angeles. To have a
fire burning inside of you of the same kind of
pain and hunger and sinfulness that was overtly
expressed so tragically this week. You may not
have acted it out in the same way, but it's there
inside and you know that. And what you need is
Jesus. He is the only answer to the emptiness
and to the hurt and to the pain inside of you
caused by sin. And today you can have Him. Today
you can know Him. You can gain Christ. You have
to lose everything else you're depending on.
But do you mind laying down garbage to pick up
Jesus Christ? Let's pray together. I don't know
what you may have been trusting in in the past,
whether it be religion or works, good works even.
But understand that all of that means nothing.
It is less than zero. compared to the eternal
gain that you can have by coming to know Jesus
Christ and gaining Him as the Lord and Savior
of your life. And right where you're seated,
in the quietness of your own heart, you can open
the door and let Him come into your life by simply
acknowledging before Him, in whatever words you
choose to use, the fact that you know you're
a sinner. acknowledging your need for Him and
for forgiveness and receiving Him, asking Him
to come in and to bring cleansing, to bring healing
and wholeness, to bring eternal gain. And He
will do that. He will. For you. Right now. Will
you let Him do it? Will you let Him do it as
He knocks on your heart's door? Dear friend,
if you will, if that is your internal sincere
desire, let him know it. And let me know it by
lifting your hands so that I can pray for you
before we go. I'm not going to call you up. I'm
not going to embarrass you or point you out.
But as a tangible indication, an outward action
of your inward faith, right where you're seated,
will you just lift a hand so I can see it? Acknowledge
it. Is there someone? Today, I receive Jesus
Christ and I desire to know Him. Is there one?
Would you stand together with me please? Father,
I pray that today all of us who name Jesus Christ
and who would profess as Paul did here to be
found in him and to know him that all of us would
be taking this gospel to a world that is crumbling
around us into fiery rubble because of its need
for this message. Open our mouths, Lord. Give
us the words, give us the courage to share this
message this week with those whose lives are
on fire and being destroyed by sin. We bless
you for the grace that is evident at the cross
and for the simplicity of the saving message
of the gospel. Amen. that saved a wretch like
me. I once was lost, but now am found. Was blind,
but now I see. Amen. God bless you.