By the time we're finished today, I'm hoping that you make two big discoveries: one, that God is better than you ever thought, and two, there is a life waiting for you better than you ever dreamed possible. This is the promise we believe.

Last weekend, this room was filled with proof of that promise... new life received, through salvation... and new life declared, through baptism.

Every single person saved and baptized is a big WIN in the spiritual battle.

A week ago, Wednesday, we were given a brutal reminder of the cost of that victory. Our brother in Christ, Charlie Kirk, joined the great cloud of witnesses who have sealed their testimony with their own blood.

I can tell you that since that day, the total number of professions of salvation we have seen is 146, and the total number of baptisms since that day is 66.

No man, no woman, no bullet, no demon, no hatred can ever silence the Gospel of the love of God in Jesus Christ.

But the spiritual battle is real. You can run, but nobody can hide. Part of that battle is a steady stream of messaging from the dark side's mouth to your ears.

That's what I want to talk about today.

Welcome to part 12 in a series of talks I have been giving. The series is based on a book in the Bible called Philippians. It's called that because there was a band of Christians in a city called Philippi. This was a colony in the roman Empire. A man named Paul, St. Paul, wrote them a letter, and Philippians is that letter.

The series is called: Quit Telling Yourself I Can't.

My talk today is based on Philippians 3:1-3. I'm going to read this. I promise you it will sound weird. But I also promise to do my best to explain it, and even more to uncover a powerful and motivational secret in these words, hiding in plain sight.

"Finally, my brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord. For me to write the same things to you is not tedious, but for you it is safe. Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the mutilation! For we are the circumcision, who worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh," (Philippians 3:1-3)

I'm calling my talk today: Quit Listening to Trash Talk

This is not a pep talk. This is me, inviting you to victory.

This is me, also inviting you to Jesus. Jesus said, Come to me and I will give you rest. And today, I am hoping you will have your own come to Jesus moment... I'll show you how. I won't embarrass you, or single you out. Just an open invitation and a silent prayer.

 

That's coming.

These are words written to people under attack. The attack is spiritual; in this case religious... specifically a bunch of religious people.

Imagine a group of people showing up at our church. They believe in Jesus, they talk like Christians, and they seem incredibly faithful. They're not outsiders trying to attack our faith; they're insiders trying to "upgrade" it to standards that are simply not biblically defensible.

That's what made them so dangerous.

Their core message was this:
"It's great that you believe in Jesus. He gets you in the door. But if you want to be a complete Christian, a first-class member of God's family, you have to live like we do. For men, that means you must be circumcised. For women and men, it means you need to follow our dietary laws and observe our sacred festivals and a thousand other picky rules."

This group is called Judaizers, because they want to put Christians under the umbrella of Judaism, so sacrifices, priesthoods, rituals and all that.

They're also called legalists, because they want to put Christians under the practices of the Laws of Moses... which were powerful to teach us about Christ, but now that Christ has come, they retain their teaching powers, but not their requirement powers.

Everywhere in the Bible, salvation with God is a free gift. The formula is faith alone in Jesus alone. Faith in Jesus plus nothing, equals salvation.

But their message was not Jesus plus nothing. It was not Jesus Alone.

Their message was Jesus plus. Jesus + Your Religious Performance = Salvation.

The very nano-second that Paul hears "Jesus-plus" his blood boils, and he goes on high alert.

He knows that IF the devil can't get you to deny Jesus, he'll get you to undervalue Jesus. Because when you undervalue Jesus, you start thinking he didn't do enough to save you so you have to add stuff to make it work.

And that is why Paul doesn't just play defense; he goes on offense. He trash-talks the trash-talkers. He takes every single of the their attacks... the Jesus-plus people and their attacks—and he turns it into a weapon against them.

TRASH TALK #1: You're dogs.
The Jesus-plus leaders called everybody who wasn't in their super-holy club "dogs." Unclean. Outsiders. Unworthy.

So Paul looks them dead in the eye and says, 'Let's talk about dogs. He says to Christians... Beware of dogs... and he points to the very people who are calling the Christians dogs.

You. You're the dogs. You're the ones to watch out for. You who say you have to work your way to heaven. You who say you have to become religious and hyper religious. You're the dogs. You're the ones outside of a real relationship with God. You're the ones disrespecting Jesus.

BEWARE OF DOGS: To deny Jesus—the only one who can cleanse you from your sins—is to lock yourself into a permanent state of uncleanness before God.

Hey Christians, beware of those low-down, mangy, self-righteous, hypocritical, sanctimonious, dirty, hyper-religious, judgmental, dogs. Don't let anybody steal your confidence in Jesus.