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It Is Written

Sabbath School 1st Quarter 2026: Uniting Heaven & Earth: Christ in Philippians and Colossians

Eric Flickinger

Clinton Wahlen

01 Persecuted but Not Forsaken

06 Confidence Only in Christ

02 Reasons for Thanksgiving and Prayer

03 Life and Death

04 Unity Through Humility

05 Shining as Lights in the Night

07 A Heavenly Citizenship

John Bradshaw

Great Characters of the Bible: Abraham

08 The Preeminence of Christ

09 Reconciliation and Hope

10 Complete in Christ

11 Living With Christ

12 Living with Each Other

Welcome to Sabbath School brought to you by It Is Written.

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.

Father, we're grateful to be here once again to study your Word, to look at pictures of you in the books of Philippians 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 are also glad to have the author of this quarter Sabbath school lesson, Dr.

So this is an exciting study that we're looking at today.

We're about halfway through our studies now, and we're getting into some very significant ground here.

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.

What is that warning that Paul gives to the Philippians and why is that significant for us?

Well, Eric, it's very important for us because it actually connects with how we're saved and what is required for our salvation.

And 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.

It's the only place in the New Testament where we have this word, beware, mentioned 3 times, right, 1 after the other.

What is the danger that Paul wants to draw the Philippians to and through them us to as well?

Well, When he says dogs, he's not talking about the canine variety, let's say.

This was a derogatory reference to people who were misleading the Philippians, teaching things that were wrong, that were dangerous even.

It's a play on words in Greek with circumcision and mutilation.

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.

No confidence in the flesh, what we can do.

It's that has nothing to contribute to our salvation.

It's only Christ who saves us, nothing we can do.

So salvation is not a combination of faith and works or something that we do and that Christ does.

I like to say not faith and works, but faith that works.

What does that look like in practical terms for us living today?

The difference between faith and works and faith that works?

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.

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.

Yeah, we, you know, obedience is not a way of salvation.

Faith is the way of salvation, grace through faith.

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.

Okay, yeah, because if we go a little bit further, he says in verse 7, what things were gained to me, these I have counted loss for Christ.

So he has just listed all the things that were gained to him.

You know, he was, from a Jewish standpoint, he couldn't have a better pedigree, let's say.

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." He was sitting at the feet of Gamaliel, 1 of the most famous Jewish rabbis of that time, and learning all that was necessary to be a teacher of the law, a Pharisee, keeping the law accordingly to their traditions that we read about in the Gospels.

So yeah, if anyone could say, I have arrived, it was Paul.

He uses, it's kind of an economic model here of what was gained to him personally was loss for Christ, because it contributed nothing to what Jesus really wanted for his life and for his work.

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 or 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?

Oh, 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.

It was actually counterproductive because it blinded me to my need.

And so it was loss in that sense as well.

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.

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?

And Paul describes this very clearly where he says, verse 8, "'Indeed, I count all things loss for the excellence 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 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.

You mentioned something, having Christ in our lives.

That's a phrase that he uses with some regularity.

We want to have Christ in us, but we want to be in Christ as well.

Series

Sabbath School 1st Quarter 2026: Uniting Heaven & Earth: Christ in Philippians and Colossians

06 Confidence Only in Christ

Transcript

Description

Parent Series

Sponsor

Recorded

Sabbath School 1st Quarter 2026: Uniting Heaven & Earth: Christ in Philippians and Colossians

05 Shining as Lights in the Night

28m

Sabbath School 1st Quarter 2026: Uniting Heaven & Earth: Christ in Philippians and Colossians

01 Persecuted but Not Forsaken

28m

Though These Three Were in the Land

02 Daniel

54m

Sabbath School 1st Quarter 2026: Uniting Heaven & Earth: Christ in Philippians and Colossians

07 A Heavenly Citizenship

28m

Sabbath School 2nd Quarter 2024: The Great Controversy

09 The Foundation of God’s Government

28m

Living in the Day of Atonement

1h 1m

The Sanctuary, God's Answer to the Sin Problem

The Good News of the Judgment

53m

Sabbath School 2nd Quarter 2024: The Great Controversy

08 Light from the Sanctuary

28m

Sabbath School 4th Quarter 2023: God's Mission My Mission

02 God’s Mission to Us Part 2

28m

Breakout Session 6

The Growers Purpose

46m

Testimony

1h 5m

GYC 2012 Seminar: The Reformers Speak to Today's Church

Last Generation Theology: A Different Salvation?

1h

Sound Doctrine