Counting all as Rubbish

Isaiah 5:1-7; Philippians 3:4b-14; Matthew 21:33-46

We all have a past. From the people whose names are known to all to the anonymous known only to God, we all come with history that has marked us for sin and death. The gift of God is that He forgives that sinful past, removes all condemnation, and bestows a future upon us. Nowhere is this more obvious than in the story of Paul. The Lord forgave his past, restored him beyond every expectation, and gave him a future serving as an apostle in life with the prize of eternal life in death. No matter who we are, we have the same promise. God forgives all our sin, restores us to be His own and live under Him in His kingdom, and bears in us the fruit of the Kingdom now and the prize of everlasting life in His own time. All of this we know now by faith, trusting in the righteousness that God has given to us in Christ and not in ourselves.