Alright brethren, let's turn
to Philippians chapter 3. Philippians chapter 3. There is a very great difference. Very great difference. Between
having an old heart full of doctrine. even if it's true doctrine. There's a very great difference
in having an old heart full of doctrine and a new heart full
of grace. There is a difference between
having an old heart who is focused on your walk, focused on your
way, focused on your brother's way, your brother's walk, and
having a new heart that rejoices in the Lord Jesus. There's a very great difference
between continually trying to cut out things from your life
and reform your life and having Christ to circumcise
you in the heart and make you a brand new creation so that
you have absolutely zero confidence in your old flesh. I want to
talk to you about the difference for a little while. Men and women
almost always almost always come to this congregation out of religion asking questions about what do
you preach concerning the believer's walk. And they ask very few questions,
if any at all, what do you preach concerning
Christ. That's the difference between
what vain religion teaches and what Christ teaches His people.
That shows you what religion focuses on. What do you preach
concerning our walk? You that have come here from
places where that's what was majored on, you came here with
the heart saying, I want to hear Christ. I want to hear Christ
exalted. If I can hear Christ exalted,
if I hear Christ speaking to me in the heart, in the message,
He will reprove me. He will rebuke me. He will edify
me. He will strengthen me. He'll
do everything necessary to keep me trusting Him alone, looking
away from myself, and even conducted myself in a way that's honoring
to Him. Christ does that. He does that
through this gospel. Christ does that. Now let me
show you this difference here between having a head full of
doctrine and a heart full of grace. If you notice in verse
2, the Apostle Paul gives three characteristics and these three
characteristics are all speaking of the same kind of people. It's
just one people, it's just three characteristics describing them.
He says there, beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware
of the concision. And then in verse 3, he speaks
of the circumcision. We are the circumcision. He said,
now here's God's true people. This is God's true people. This
is the true Jew. This is the true, chosen, redeemed,
regenerated children of God right here. We're the circumcision.
And he gives three characteristics describing God's people. And
he says here, we worship God in the spirit. We rejoice in
Christ Jesus and we have no confidence in the flesh. Now, the three
characteristics that he gives in verse 2 of the carnal religionists,
the false religionists, and that's who he's speaking about. Look
down at verse 18. He says, Many walk of whom I've
told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they're
the enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction, their
God is their belly, their glory is in their shame, they mind
earthly things. That's 99.9% of religion right
there. Whatever it goes by, whatever
title it goes by, that's 99.9% of the religion. Wide, broad
is the way that leads to destruction, Christ said. Narrow, narrow is
the way that leads to life eternal. He's talking here about false
religionists and those three characteristics he gives in verse
2, each can be contrasted with the three
characteristics he gives in verse 3. The three characteristics
of the false can be each contrasted with the three characteristics
of the true. Let's look at that for a minute and we'll look at
a few other verses. Verse 2, he says, beware of dogs. Beware of dogs. Now when you
hear these descriptions, I want you to have in your mind's eye,
this is what I want you to get in your mind's eye. forget thinking
about the harlot and the whoremonger and the drunkard and forget those. That's not who we're talking
about. The Lord said they'll go in the kingdom of God before
these people we're talking about right here. People we're talking
about right here were those who had the broadest phylacteries
They're the people who made the most beautiful prayers you could
ever hear standing in the corners of the street. They're the people
who were in the synagogue every time the doors were open. They're
the people who were making sure they tithed mint, cumin, and
anise. And they were people that were
making sure that they were disciplining one another and holding one another
accountable and holding one another's feet to the fire. And they were,
oh boy, they were whitewashed on the outside. And God said, you're just a bunch
of dogs. You see, this word dogs is contrasted
with this thing here of being, of worshiping God in spirit.
The word dogs actually carries a meaning with it that means
to be corrupt minded, to be impure, to have your mind corrupted.
You see, men in religion, They want to take the things of God
and the things that are liberty to true believers and they want
to take those things and they want to use those things to bite
one another and devour one another just like a dog will. Because
these things they can see. These things they can focus,
see with the carnal eye. That's all a natural man can
see. That's it. All he sees is this
eye right here. So his religion has got to have
a lot of this in it. It's got to have a lot of the
hand in it so he can see it. Because if it's not, there's
nothing to it. He can't even see it. He don't
even understand it. They stood, the Pharisees stood,
they'd hear Christ preach, and they'd hear the spiritual things
He would say, and Him teaching the Spirit of the Word, and the
Spirit of Grace, and the Spirit of Love, and the Spirit of True
Worship. And they sat and looked at Him and stared at Him like
a calf staring at a new gate. They had no idea what He was
talking about. Because they couldn't see it
with these eyes right here. And so here's what they do. Look
over Galatians chapter 5. And this is what you and I did
when we were in this. This is what our flesh is and
all our flesh is. Right here brethren. Now listen
to this. Paul said in verse 13, Brethren,
you've been called to liberty only to use not liberty now for
an occasion to turn back to your flesh. You see, that's what we're
talking about. According to me, I always want
to mind earthly things. And he said, but by love serve
one another. That's the spirit. That's the
spirit. The believer understands that
this word spiritual. We worship God in spirit and
in truth because you've been born of God and given a new heart
by God. You're led of the Spirit of God.
You're taught by the Spirit of Christ. He's really walking in
the midst of the candlesticks teaching His people in the midst.
People don't believe that. Carnal religion will ask you
this. If I come to your church, And I commit fornication, how
are you going to discipline me? How is your church going to discipline
me? Well, first off, I would answer that question with this.
When have you never, ever done anything but commit fornication? What is your heart? What is your
flesh but a whoremonger? That question comes from a heart
of legalism. And secondly, let me tell you
this. Let me ask you this. When God came to you in the beginning,
where were you? I was in whoredom. In all my
religion, the finest cathedral in the land was a whorehouse
I was trying to worship my idol in. Well, who disciplined you
from that? Who turned you from that? Who
gave you a new heart and brought you out of that and brought you
down and set you at the feet of Christ and gave you a new
heart and made you worship Him in spirit and in truth? Who did
that work? Christ did it. How did He do
it? He did it through this gospel
right here. You know who's going to discipline His child? If a
child of God We see our sin, our nature constantly being whoredoms
and if we do fall into some outward grievous sin, do you really need
the church of God to discipline you? I don't. Christ brings me down and breaks my heart and teaches
me and corrects me And He can do it in a way that no preacher
and no people can ever do it because He knows exactly what
I need. Exactly what I need. But here's
what's going to happen now if you start doing that in your
flesh. Men and women don't believe Christ can do that. Men and women
in religion don't really believe Christ is working through His
gospel. That's why they don't put any emphasis on the gospel.
Where's the emphasis? I gotta run around all week,
I gotta go from this house to that house and that house, and
I gotta make sure you're living right, and I gotta make sure
you're doing right, and I gotta check up on you, and I gotta
be meddling in your business, and you know what I'm not doing?
I'm not in my study, I'm not getting a word from God, by which
He does all that for His people. That's why religion's so full
of, I gotta have this, we gotta have this cabinet over here to
watch this group, and this cabinet over here to watch this group,
and this board to watch that group, and everybody's gotta
be yoking everybody. Because we're not hearing the
gospel, that's what we're focusing on. And therefore we're just
a bunch of dead, God-hating, Christ-dishonoring rebels. That's
what religion is. Dogs. Dogs. God brought you out of being
a dog, and gave you a new heart, made you worship him. Look, now
here is what happens though if you are left in your dog-ism. Look here in verse 5. He says there in verse 13 at
the end, but by love serve one another. And then verse 14 he
says, for all the laws fulfilled in one word, even this, thou
shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. See the Spirit, those that worship
God in Spirit. I'm in Galatians 5 verse 14. Those that worship God in Spirit,
our desire is, I'll go over there in Galatians 6 too, we want to
bear one another's burdens so we can fulfill the law of our
Redeemer. We can fulfill His word to us,
His command to us. Love one another. Love one another. But now watch this. Verse 15,
but if you bite and devour one another, if you think it's all
up to you to correct and bust down and all that, you're going
to bite and devour one another, take heed that you may not consume
one another. Look here, look how opposite
that being a dog and walking in the Spirit is. This I say
then, walk in the Spirit, you shall not fulfill the lust of
that flesh. For the flesh lusts against the spirit, and the spirit
against the flesh. And these are contrary, the one
to the other, so that you cannot do the things you would. But
if you're led of the spirit, you're not under the law. Works
of the flesh are these. This is what being a dog is.
This is what all religion is. The very best religion is adultery,
fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred,
variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,
envy, murder, drunkenness, revelance, and such like. And those that remain in that,
that's their hope and that's their confidence. They won't
see the Kingdom of God. They won't inherit the Kingdom
of God. God's got to save us out of that. That's what I am
and what you are by nature. But look at this, but the fruit
of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness,
faith, meekness, temperance, I need the church to make me
temperate. That's a fruit of the Spirit.
Do you see that? You can't a church and a people
discipline one another into loving one another. You better love
one another or else I'll bite you with a fist of wickedness.
That's so backwards. Love's the fruit of the Spirit.
God's got to give that. You see that? And we trust Christ
to do that, don't we? We are the circumcision which
we worship God in spirit and in truth. Now look at the next
thing. Let me hurry. Philippians 3 verse
2. Beware of evil workers. What's
the opposite of that? What's the opposite of being
an evil worker? Verse 3. We rejoice in Christ
Jesus. That's the direct opposite of
being an evil worker. Those folks came, they crossed
the sea. Remember when the Lord's disciples,
He sent them across that sea and that storm? Those people
left and came across the sea to find the Lord. They were zealous
to follow Him. Why? They got to Him and they
said, what must we do that we might work the works of God? That was desiring. They were
asking Him, what evil works could we do? Tell us some evil works
we can do. You mean to tell me when men
are compassing land and sea to try to make proselytes that they're
working an evil work? Christ said, you're making them
two-fold more the child of hell than when you found them. Giving
them a false hope, false confidence. You mean to go back to the Ten
Commandments and to tell men, now, you better be working on
keeping these Ten Commandments. It's okay to believe on Christ,
but you better be keeping these Ten Commandments. Hear me and
hear me clearly, that's an evil work. Oh, you can't say that. Paul
said down below here, he said, when I put confidence in my flesh,
he said, as touching the law, I was blameless. I was a Pharisee.
He said, you know what I count that now? Dung. You can't tell
people that. What I'm telling you is this.
You can't keep that law. And I can't keep that law. Christ
said, those Pharisees, they're the most righteous people you'll
ever find as far as people go. And He said, an exceptional righteousness
exceeds theirs. You can't enter the kingdom of
God. And the righteousness that exceeds the Pharisees is the
Lord our righteousness. To rejoice in Christ is to know
He's the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believes. To
rejoice in Christ Jesus is to have Christ formed in me so that
sanctification is not just a doctrine I'm debating and trying to get
a little bit higher and a little bit on another little plane for
my other folks here. No, sanctification is to have
Christ made sanctification to me so that I'm not looking anywhere
but to Christ. That's when you can rejoice.
That's when you can see that even though sin dwells in my
flesh and no good thing dwells in my flesh, yet in Christ Jesus
I'm complete. And I got rejoicing. Oh, I can
rejoice in Him. But everything else that says,
well, they said it's okay now if you want to believe on Christ,
but if you accept you'll be circumcised, that's taking them back to Sinai.
except you do this." Peter stood up there and he looked those
Pharisees, those Jewish men in the eyes, those Judaizers in
their eyes, and he said, let me tell you something, I'm a
Jew just like you are. I was born from the stock of
Abraham just like you are, naturally speaking. And he said, you know
how God's going to save me and you? Just like He saved these
people we called heathen dogs that were outside of Israel.
He's going to save us like He saved them. He's not going to
save them like He saved us. He's going to save us like He
saved them. Making us see Christ is the... He's all. Christ is
all. I think I'm going to start answering
men with their questions. I think when they ask me a question.
What do you believe concerning such and such about this doctrine?
I'm going to say Christ is all. What do you believe about this
doctrine? Christ is all. That's the answer, Christ is
all. And you know when we've learned theology in the finest,
best, deepest sense in which we can learn it, you know what
we've learned? Christ is all. Alright, look at this third contrast. He said, verse 2, beware of concision,
the concision. That's sort of a tongue-in-cheek
way of saying circumcision. Because the word concision means
mutilate. Mutilators of the flesh. Cutting
you. Always cutting you. Oh, you got
to cut that out. Oh, you got to cut that out.
Now, if you don't cut that out, you can't have fellowship with
us. You got to cut that out. Paul said in another place, I
would, they were cut off. That trouble you? I would, they
were just cut, slammed off. That trouble you? That's strong,
isn't it? That's strong. No, we're not of the concision.
We are the circumcision. Look with me now. Look with me
over at Colossians chapter 3. To your right there. Colossians
chapter 3. I'm sorry, Colossians chapter 2. And look at verse 10. You're
complete in Christ. He's the head of all principality
and power. And in Christ also, you're circumcised. With the circumcision made without
hands. And here's what it means. He
has put off the body of the sins of our flesh by the circumcision
that He accomplished. That's what circumcision is.
It's putting off the filthy flesh. That's what it is. Cutting off
the filthy flesh. Christ circumcised us when he went to that cross
and was immersed. We were baptized with him on
Calvary's tree and at baptism with which he was straightened
till it be accomplished. when He went to that cross and
bore our sins and laid down His life and was immersed, immersed,
baptized in the justice of God, in the judgment of God, in the
room instead of His people, and He satisfied justice. Paul said
in Romans 6 when he did that, the body of our sins was crucified
with Christ. The picture there is When He
came down off that cross and His body, lifeless body, went
into that grave, you just look at that and you see, brethren,
the body of your sins going into the grave, being put away. That's circumcision. That's circumcision. And then He came out, a new man,
and we came out a new man with Him. Well, we didn't know anything
about that because we had this old dead fleshly nature. What
had to happen then? Look here. Look at Colossians
2. Look here in verse 13. And you being dead in your sins
and the uncircumcision of your natural In your nature, your
flesh, hath He quickened together with Him, having forgiven you
all trespasses, blotting out the handwrite of ordinances that
was against us, which were contrary to us, and took it all out of
the way, knelling it to His cross. He spoiled Satan in all principalities
and powers. He made a sure of them openly,
tromping over them in it. And he says, now don't let any
man bring you back under the judgments of meat and drink,
respect of a holy day or the new moon or the Sabbath days,
because every one of those, verse 17, was a shadow of things to
come. But the true figure, the body that that pictured and figured
is Christ himself. See, Christ is all. Romans chapter
2. Let me read this to you. Romans
chapter 2. He's a Jew. He's not a Jew which is one outwardly. Neither is that circumcision
which is outward in the flesh. Paul said, they're the concision. That's just a bunch of mutilating
of the flesh to try to look like impress you. Christ said, they
wash the outside of the cup and it's like a whited sepulcher.
But inside it, I don't care. I've been to New Orleans. You
ever been to New Orleans and seen no sepulchers above ground?
You can wipe the outside of them all you want to. We were walking
around one day in one of those cemeteries, and one was just
freshly painted, but there was a crack in it. And I looked in
it. You know what was in there? Dust
and cobwebs and death. That's all that was in there.
And he said, that's what's in the heart of these self-righteous,
outwardly moral... As one preacher used to say,
they're straight as a gun barrel and twice as empty. No, that's not circumcision.
Look at verse 29 of Romans 2.29. He's a Jew, which is one inwardly.
Circumcision is out of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the
letter, whose praise is not of men, but of God. Now when God
does that work for you, let me show you what's going to happen
then. Instead of being of the concision, instead of putting
all this confidence in your flesh, what you do, and trying to get
better, and saying that you're getting more perfect, more perfect,
more perfect, and you're just conquering sin, and conquering
sin, and conquering sin, and just until you've got so much
confidence in yourself, you don't even need Christ anymore. No. When He does this work in your
heart, the end of verse 3 says, We don't have any confidence
in our flesh whatsoever. It's getting worse and worse
and worse and worse. Now Paul says there now, you want to talk
about confidence in the flesh? Let's read on a little bit. Verse
4, he said, I might also have confidence in the flesh. If any
other man thinks that he has worth, he might trust in the
flesh. I got him beat hands down, Paul said. Listen to this. I circumcised the eighth day.
What's today's equivalent of that? What do men say today's
equivalent of that is? Not what it is, what do men say
it is? Men say the equivalent of that today is baptizing your
children. That's trusting in the work that
some man did for you when you didn't even know what was going
on. See, now he knows what that pictured. He said, because now I've been
circumcised in the heart. Now I see Christ circumcised
me on Calvary's cross. Now I understand what that circumcision
was picturing. Now I see how that father, that
father taking that helpless child in his hand and circumcising
his flesh when he didn't know what was going on and what was
happening and couldn't understand what was taking place. He said,
now I understand what that was. That was a picture of my God
who circumcised me with that circumcision made without hands.
This helpless dead sinner didn't know what was happening. And
when Abraham brought his child into his house and into covenant
with Him, now I understand that picture is Christ Jesus my Lord
who brings His child into everlasting covenant with Him through this
work of grace. Now I see that. So what about
that eight-day circumcision? Paul said, Just a bunch of dung. I don't put any confidence in
it whatsoever. Look now at the next thing he
says here. I was of the stock of Israel. I was a tribe of Benjamin.
I was a Hebrew of Hebrews. And when it came to the law,
I was a Pharisee. Now, Baratheon, let me tell you something. That
don't get no better right there. You talk about, you trust in
a denomination. You trust in your race. You trust
in your blood, your genealogy. You trust in anything like that.
You can't beat what Paul just said of the tribe of Israel. of the tribe of Benjamin. That
was Judah and Benjamin. You know who that was? That was
the two preserved tribes through whom the line of the tribe of
Judah came. That was something, boy, if you put trust in that,
that was something else. He said, I was a Hebrew of Hebrew.
We came to the law, forget those Nicolaitans, forget those Sadducees. Man, I was a Pharisee. I was,
I was a big B Baptist is what I was. He said, but God showed me. That
in Christ there's neither Jew nor Gentile, there's neither
bond nor free, there's neither male nor female. Circumcision
nor uncircumcision avails nothing. What avails is God making me
a new creation by His grace, by the blood and righteousness
of Christ. That's the only thing it avails.
So Paul, what about all that stuff you once put your confidence
in? Just a bunch of dung. That's
all it is. Look what he says next there.
He says now, concerning zeal? Don't talk about zeal. Don't
talk about, oh, you got to serve the Lord now. You see, let me
tell you about serving the Lord. Tell you about serving God. He
said, I was so zealous, I was going. He said, not only would
I discipline people, he said, I got letters from the highest
courts and I'd go find those people and I'd bring those people
out. And you talk about disciplining them now. I'd throw them in prison,
and if they didn't get straight things up and fly right, I'd
hold the coat of my brethren so they could stone them to death
like they did Stephen. Oh, I was zealous for God. I
said, but I was blind and dead and dumb and didn't have a clue
what I was doing. What about the law? Oh, you want
to talk about the law now? Look here, he says, touching
the law, as far as that outside of that cup goes, as far as what
men could see, he says, touching the righteousness which is in
the law, I was blameless. He said, you would not find any
man that could come to me as far as just outward keeping of
the law goes and say, you're guilty of this, Pa, Pa. I said,
no sir. I'd dot my I's and cross my T's. Well, surely that's a
good thing. He said, no, that's an evil worker. He said, when God came, the commandment
came. And when the commandment came,
He said, sin revived and I died. He said, He made me hear what
that law said. And I heard that law said, Thou shalt not covet.
And I realized all my religion was, was coveting the glory that
belonged to my Redeemer only. You go through those ten commandments.
You take that law and you try to come to God in that law, you're
making the law yourself, your work, your doing of the law,
you're making that your idol. God said, you can't have an idol,
you can't have any gods before me. You try to come to God in
that law, you're committing spiritual adultery. God said, thou shalt
not commit adultery. How am I committing adultery?
You're turning from Christ our husband who's the only one that
can provide for his bride. Spiritually you go through the
law look at it everyone. I'm like that you try to come to
God in that law You're breaking every one of them that law was
given to shut us up to Christ that we might be saved by him
alone So Paul, what about you? What about that law keeping surely
now surely now you're not gonna say that's dumb. Well, let's
see. I Verse 7, The things that were gained of me, those I counted
lost for Christ. Yea, doubtless, and I count all
things lost for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus
my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do
count them but dumb, that I might win Christ and be found in Him.
You see that? You see, that's the only way
you and I are going to have the righteousness of the law, is
to be found in Christ. You really want the law to be
honored? These folks going around claiming they want the law. We're
doing this for the glory of God. No, you're not. No, you're not. If you were doing it for the
glory of God, you'd be telling sinners you can't keep the law.
You have got to rest in Christ only. That's the only way God's
law can be honored and magnified. The only way. And if you really
were zealous for that law, that's what you'd be telling sinners.
You'd be doing what Christ has taught you, and you'd be teaching
others to do the same thing. resting in him. But now you take
that law and you bring it down and you make it to be at a level
where some sinner thinks he can obey it. You haven't kept it
and you're teaching others not to keep it. It's exactly what
Christ said. Then he starts to show, that
law speaks to the heart. Speaks to the heart. Now let
me show you something. Now this is what Paul is saying
here. He's saying now, here's what
happened. He's saying I was I was saved
when I was in all that. The Lord saved me when I was
in all that. And you know, I heard the Gospel. I heard the truth. I hated it. I despised it. But I was saved.
I was saved through the preaching of Gamaliel who was preaching
a lie. I was saved through the preaching
of Caiaphas who was preaching a
lie. When I was entrusted in all that stuff, I was really
saved. But I hated the gospel when I heard it. But you know
what happened? One day I was on the road to Damascus. I had letters
going down there and I was fixing to go down there and really discipline
some folks. And I sat down and I took my
scrolls out. I sat down in a nice little shady
spot there. I started studying the doctrines
of grace. And I looked at them and I said,
you know, this just makes sense. And I decided, you know what? I have come to the doctrines
of grace. I've come to the doctrines of grace. Now I saved back there,
you know, when I was trusting all that stuff. But then that's
when I came to the doctrines of grace. Now I'm just on a little
higher level now than my pharisaical brethren. that back there who
crucified Christ. We just differ a little on doctrine,
that's all. I've come to a higher place in
doctrine than they have. Is that what Paul's saying? He's
saying, I learned about the doctrine of repentance and the doctrine
of faith, and I learned about the doctrine of sanctification
and the doctrine of righteousness. No, he's saying, Christ was made
unto me wisdom. and righteousness and sanctification
and redemption. It happened on the road to Damascus
whenever he put my face down in the dust and made me see face
to face what my humanity really is, nothing but dust. And he spoke into my heart and
he said, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? And he sent
a man to me and he said, you go tell that man He's a chosen
vessel unto me to bear my name to the Gentiles." You go tell
him that. And Paul said it. I'm here to
tell you this. Flesh and blood didn't reveal
that to me. But my Father which is in heaven,
when it pleased God who separated me from my mother's womb to reveal
Christ in me, He did not fail. He succeeded in doing it. And
He didn't just teach me the doctrine of sanctification and teach me
what it is in theory to come out. He brought me out. He didn't
teach me the doctrine of repentance and what it is to have a mind
changed. He changed my mind. He didn't
teach me the doctrine of faith. He made me change gods altogether. And now, Everything that I thought
was my religion and my hope and my confidence is just dung. And Christ is everything. Now, I don't care to discuss with
folks doctrine of theology, just to be talking doctrine. I want
you to know Christ who is the sanctification. and the sanctifier. I want you to know Christ who
is the righteousness of His people. I want you to have the mind of
Christ to know wisdom from above. I want you to have Redemption
from that yoke and bondage that you're under in dead religion.
I want you to have redemption from your flesh through the regeneration
of the Spirit. I want you to have redemption
from the curse of the law through the righteousness of Christ.
I want you to one day be redeemed from this earthy pilgrimage that
we're in, redeemed into His presence. I want you to know Christ our
Redeemer. Do you see the difference? I hope you do. You know what
the difference is? Who makes thee to differ? That's
the difference. That's the difference. I'm not
patting myself on the back saying I taught myself something and
I wrestled with it until I came to a little better knowledge
of something. No, sir. God finally blinded me like He did Paul to
everything I thought was something good and everything I thought
was in the plus column. He blinded me to all of that
so that I finally shut my mouth and He opened my ears to hear
Him speak. And He saved me by grace. That's the difference. Alright,
let's stand together, brethren. Lord, thank You for this Word.
Thank You for what grace You've had to us,
what mercy. We were just dogs, just evil,
working, cutting and devouring one another, and our dead self-righteousness. You made us see that's the one
thing that was keeping us from You. Our righteousness was the
one thing keeping us from uniting with your people. It was the
one thing keeping us from rejoicing and enjoying worshiping you. And Lord, thank you that you
gave us a true heart, true spirit to worship you, to rejoice in
you, to have all our confidence in you and none in us whatsoever. Lord, we trust now, like the
Apostle Paul said, that anybody that doesn't know this, we're
not going to be able to subdue them and teach them what's given
them some cliff notes, short version of theology, just answering
their question. You're going to have to teach
them. You're going to have to subdue them just like you're
able to subdue all things unto yourself, just like you subdued
us. And Lord, we pray that. Teach. Continue to teach us. We're ignorant. We're just ignorant.
Teach us and teach your people everywhere and turn us from ourselves
and our flesh and earthly things and turn us to Christ only. Lord,
forgive us our sins. We ask it now in Christ's name.
Amen.