Now, last time, whenever Brother
Greg was preaching, the Lord, just like a sunbeam, struck me
in my heart with something that just rejoiced me. to no end,
and I preached it to my wife as soon as we left here on the
way home. And I'd like to preach it to
you. So if you'll turn with me back to Philippians chapter 3. Beginning in verse 1, we read,
Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same
things to you, to me, indeed, is not grievous, but for you
it is safe. And I began to walk around with
this message all week, and when I began to sit down towards the
end of the week and to write down some things here, I began
to realize that I've preached these things, these scriptures,
time and time again. And I realized that some of the
same scriptures that I'll go to here tonight to look at some
of these things, Paul mentions these same exact words and expounds
upon these same doctrines to the Romans, to the Ephesians,
here to the Philippians, to the Colossians, and those were all
Gentiles. The things he's writing about
were things that were his confidence when he was under the Mosaic
covenant and put confidence in those things. And yet he's writing
to Gentiles who never were under that covenant. You know what
that tells us? That tells us that you and I
will do exactly what those men and women in Israel did, who
had not been born of the Spirit of God, will take these things
that are gloriously shadowing the excellency of salvation in
Christ Jesus, these things that are meant to shut our mouths
and they're meant to bear witness of the righteousness of God manifest
in the faithfulness of Christ Jesus, And we'll do just what
Israel after the flesh did. We'll grab onto the shadow and
hold onto the shadow and say with the mouth, we worship Jehovah. We'll say with the mouth, we
worship Christ, but all the while we'll be holding on to the shadows
rather than Him. That's why Paul had to say these
things over and over and over to the Gentiles. That's why we
have to hear them over and over and over. The problem's the same,
brethren. It doesn't matter what nation
we come from, what physical descendants we come from. The problem's the
same. And he says here, beware of dogs, beware of evil workers,
beware of the concision. Now, he's moved by the Holy Spirit. the apostle of Jesus Christ,
and he's about to tell us the difference between dogs, evil
workers, the concision, which is all the same, different name
for the same thing. He used this language to the
Galatians. Be careful that you not bite and devour one another. That's what a dog does. Mutilators. Mutilators. He's going to tell
us the difference, and then he's going to contrast the rejoicing
of true brethren what our rejoicing is as the true brethren of God
with what his former confidence was. Now this is God declaring
for us these things through Paul. This is not Clay speaking. This
is not Paul speaking of himself. This is God speaking through
Paul. And we're going to hear God speak
in what he says about these things. Verse three, For we are the circumcision
which worship God in the Spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus."
Now, those first two things is the glory, the very glory
of these things he's going to use to say he wants to put his
confidence in. That's what I want you to see.
That's what just lit up my heart as I heard Greg preach the other
night. He says, we worship God in the
spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence
in the flesh. Now, first of all, brethren,
you know this, who are saved by his grace. Sinners are saved
by grace, by grace. And sinners who are saved by
grace, first of all, worship God in the spirit. The Lord Jesus
Christ was clear, a man has got to be born a second time. He cannot see the kingdom of
God unless he is born a second time. All he can see in this
word are carnal things, just the letter, just the shadow,
men, the acts of men. And he'll imitate those things,
but he can't see that this word is concerning Christ Jesus, the
Son of God, the glory of God in the face of Christ Jesus.
Jesus said he's got to be born of water, of his mother, and
he's got to be born of the Spirit. He's got to be born twice. He
can't enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of
the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is
spirit. And the reason is it's because the carnal mind, the
fleshly mind is enmity. The word is hatred against God.
It's not subject to the law of God, not subject to the word
of God, cannot hear God speak and will not bow to what God
says. The carnal mind won't do it.
And everywhere you preach, some rejoice, some are glad, and some
just get mad. But that's this, we don't discern
that, we just say it. This is what I'm set to say,
this is God's Word, so we just say it. But they that are in
the flesh can't please God, he said in Romans. But you're not
in the flesh, now listen to this, you're not in the flesh, but
in the Spirit, if so be the Spirit of God dwell in you. And if any
man doesn't have the Spirit of Christ, he's none of His. But
brethren, If we have it, if we have it, this Spirit of Christ,
Christ is in you and your body is dead because of sin. When
Paul said, when sin revived, when the commandment came, sin
revived and I died, he said, that's when I started not having
any confidence in my flesh. I realized my flesh is dead.
It's not only spiritually dead, it's put off. The body of sin
has been put off in Christ. It died. I'm not regarded in
what I am in my flesh anymore by God, I'm in Christ. And the
Lord told the woman at the well, the hour's coming when those
that worship God are going to worship Him in spirit. She was
talking about a mountain. She was talking about Jerusalem.
She was talking about the temple. She was talking about the carnal
things, all the rudiments of the world. She said, that's how
we worship. That's where we worship. He said,
the hour's coming when you're not going to worship in any of
those things. He's gonna worship in spirit
and in truth. For the Father seeketh such to worship him.
That's the first thing. Believers worship God in the
spirit. And then those saved by grace rejoice in Christ Jesus.
You take a puzzle and it's got all its pieces missing and just
a few little pieces here and there put together, but everything's
missing. That's what we are in ourselves. But in Christ, when
the Spirit enters in and God makes us to behold Christ, we
behold that in Christ Jesus all the pieces are together. It's
called being complete in Him. He said, Beware lest any man
spoil you through philosophy, through vain deceit, after the
tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, after carnal things,
after the shadow and not the substance. Because Christ, in
Him, dwelleth the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And you're
complete in Him. Complete. Fullness of wisdom,
fullness of righteousness, fullness of holiness, fullness of redemption,
fullness of everything God requires to receive His children. Completely full. Accepted in
the Beloved. God doesn't accept anything that's
not complete. Not anything. Beloved believers,
worship God in the spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus. We're completing him. And then
we have no confidence in the flesh. Do you know what it is
to be under the law? I know that that, you know, we
know the doctrine, the believers not under the law, he's under
grace and any man can receive that doctrine and embrace that
doctrine. But do you know what it is to be under the law? is
to have confidence in the flesh. That's what it is to be under
the law. Adam came under the law when he turned to self. That's
when he came under the law. Natural men can't get this, brethren,
but if one little act of the sinner, one little act of the
sinner, if you put any confidence in one little act that you've
done, You've got confidence in your flesh, and you're under
the law. You're a debtor to do the whole
law of God. Christ profits you absolutely
nothing. He's become of no effect unto
you. You can say with the lips you believe him, but if you got
confidence in one thing you've done, you might as well be worshiping
a stump, because that's what you're putting your confidence
in. Deteriorating, rotting, nothing. It doesn't matter if this confidence
is from the Old Testament scriptures or if it's from the New Testament
scriptures. It doesn't matter if it was spoken by Moses or
if it's something that was spoken by Christ. It doesn't matter
if it's confidence in thou shalt and thou shalt not or if it's
confidence in your faith or confidence in your self-denial or confidence
in anything you've done. That's all got to go out the
window. every bit of it. God won't share his glory with
me, you, or anybody else. That's why Paul was so adamant
about this thing when he wrote to the Galatians. And he said,
brethren, if you're circumcised, Christ won't profit you anything. You're under the whole law. And
he's writing to folks who were Gentiles. He told them, he said,
you were never even under the law. Do you not hear what the
law says? I've been under that law. I know what it says. You
don't want to look to your flesh and think you can do something.
Well, here's the second point for you. So that's the true worshipers. We're rejoicing the spirit or
worshiping the spirit, no confidence in trinket. We don't worship
in ceremony. We don't worship in things of
that nature. We worship in spirit. We rejoice
in Christ Jesus. We have no confidence in the
flesh. Now, here's the contrast between true faith and false
religion. Verse four. Paul says, though I might also
have confidence in the flesh, if any other man thinketh that
he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more. Now you
listen to this now. Listen to what Paul's saying.
If there's anybody here who's got confidence in anything, hear
this man who says clearly and simply, I once had great confidence
in myself. And hear these things that he
said he had confidence in. He says, I will circumcise the
eighth day of the stock of Israel, the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew
of Hebrews, as touching the law of Pharisee, concerning zeal,
persecuting the church, touching the righteousness which is in
the law, blameless. Now, there's three headings here
that we can list these under, that they all fall under. And
these three headings take in everything that the natural man
has got to be saved from everything. Everything. Every time the gospel
is preached, these are the things that we have to be saved from.
This is what the gospel is declaring to us. It doesn't matter what
the subject is, where we are in this book, this is what this
book is declaring we have got to be saved from. The first thing
is the will of man. The will of man. Philippians
3, 5, he says, I will circumcise the eighth day. That's the will
of man. Paul didn't have anything to
do with this. Nothing whatsoever to do with this. This was done
by his father and his mother. This was their will. And they
did this. Paul was eight days old. He didn't
have a thing in the world to do with this, but Paul grew up. And Paul knew that that circumcision
was a religious ceremony. And Paul said, I had all my confidence
was in the fact that my mother and my daddy circumcised me when
I was eight days old. He said, I was putting great
confidence in that. Turn over to Romans chapter four
with me. We looked at these things. I think we looked at these things
before, but Romans chapter four. I've preached on these many times.
I've preached on Philippians before, this passage before. But these things were a real
blessing to me as I began to see that when he said we worship
in spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus, the spirit of God in Christ
Jesus, the triune God in Christ Jesus receives the glory for
every one of these things that Paul mentions here. That's why
this is such an offense to God is because we're trampling on
the glory of God if we put confidence in these things. Now, there's
three particular passages of scripture that deal with circumcision
just as plainly as they can be dealt with. We have to be willfully
ignorant, willfully rebellious to not look at these things and
say truth. But the carnal man can't subject
himself to this truth. Just can't do it. Paul couldn't
do it. This is why he put confidence
in it. Now these three passages of scripture, and I want you
to turn to all of these, so you can go ahead and mark them if
you want. Romans 4, Romans 2, let's be easy, we'll get to those,
Colossians 2. Let's look at both of these.
Romans 4 now. It says at the end there, it
says, Faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness. Verse 10 says,
How was it then reckoned? When he was in circumcision or
in uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision. Now look back at Romans 2.28. Paul says he's not a Jew which
is one outwardly, neither is that circumcision which is outward
in the flesh, but he's a Jew which is one inwardly. Circumcision
is that of the heart in the spirit. There he is again. saying the
same thing to these Gentiles at Rome. It's in the Spirit. It's not in the letter. It means,
when it's not in the letter, it means we don't look at the
actual act of circumcision and say, we need to do that. Paul's
saying, no, you don't need to do that. That was a shadow to
teach something, and the shadows come about. The shadows have
been, they've come to this earth, and the veil of the temple's
been rent in two. It don't have any application
anymore. It's in spirit, not in the letter, a spirit. It's
a spiritual thing. It's a spiritual application.
And that's how we're going to come into an understanding of
it. And he says, he says, uh, it's not in the letter and whose
praise is not of men. Paul said, and I was praising
my mother and my father for doing that for me. And he said, and
I had confidence in that, but I can't praise them anymore in
it because this thing's not of me. It's of God. Now back to
Romans 4, 9, God had to teach Paul this in the heart by the
Holy Spirit, that it's God the Father, God the Son, and God
the Holy Spirit whose glory, do you care about His glory?
To God be the glory. How many times do we say that?
How many times do we say, let God be glorified in every man
alive? Do we mean it? Do we mean that? Do we really
mean that? Let's see if we do. The Lord
God circumcised Abraham's heart by the Holy Spirit. That's what
Paul just said. Abraham was circumcised by the
Holy Spirit. He was uncircumcised in his flesh. He didn't even know what circumcision
was. In fact, he was in the land of
Ur of the Chaldees, an idolatrous land, Probably worshiping just
like his mother and his father, absolutely nothing. Now, this is what Paul said.
When he did this, this triune God brought Abraham to spiritual
life. See, this thing's in the Spirit,
it's not in the letter. He brought him to spiritual life,
and he brought Abraham into the realization. Giving him life
and faith, he brought him into the realization. of what the
everlasting covenant is. It's a covenant between God the
Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, absolutely in
no way whatsoever dependent upon man at all. Not at all. And he made Abraham to see that
in Christ, The Lord said, Abraham, the Lord Jesus Christ said, Abraham
saw my day and he rejoiced to see it. And he was glad he saw
it. And what did he see when he saw
that? Now, look at Colossians 2. Hold
your place there in Romans 4. We're going to come back, but
go now to Colossians 2.11. What did Abraham see way back
there, way back there, before none of the Mosaic laws been
given? None of the promises concerning
the physical children of Israel have been given. None of that.
Here's what Abraham saw, Colossians 2.11. I just read to you that
you're complete in Christ. Don't be led astray by the rudiments
of the world, Paul said. Don't be turned around back to
that which was a shadow of the letter to declare spiritual things. And now he says, verse 11, in
Christ also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without
hands in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the
circumcision of Christ. That's what circumcision pictured. It removed the body of sin. It
removed the veil on Abraham's heart so that he was given a
new heart to behold Christ. And when he beheld Christ, he
beheld that in Christ the body of his sin, the whole body of
his sin was put onto Christ. And when Christ died, he died. And in his surety, it was as
sure as it had already happened. That's why God revealed it to
Abraham. And it says here, buried with
him in baptism, wherein also he arisen with him through the
faith of the operation of God who hath raised him from the
dead. Buried. Buried. Buried. and raised from
the dead. Christ was buried. Did you know
he was buried? He was put in a tomb and enclosed
in a tomb and buried. And his death put away the sin
of his people. And when he came out of that
grave, they came out of that grave with him by the faith of
the operation of God. And this circumcision of the
heart through the Holy Spirit is the only way we're going to
be enter into the everlasting covenant with God. Now, back
to Romans 4, real quick. Now, God's purpose in physical
circumcision was this. God has to communicate with us
in some way because we're finite, ignorant people, creatures. He
got to communicate with us some way. God's able to communicate
using an entire nation. And so God purposed to use a
physical nation with some physical, earthly, temporary promises to
that nation and some physical, earthly, temporary ordinances
to teach everlasting spiritual things. That's what he did. And
he determined, he gave them circumcision the 8th day. Christ rose from
the dead on the 7th day. And the 8th day was the beginning
of newness of life. And that's what happens when
the Holy Spirit circumcises the heart. It is the beginning of
newness of life. And I think that maybe, typified
here, the Lord did it when the child was eight days old because
the child didn't have anything to do with it, the Father did
it. And that's who does this. It's God who does it. But, just
like Israel, this is what Gentiles do. When the Lord said, in the
last days, I'm going to pour out the Spirit upon these people
and they're going to, this whole earth is going to reel to and
fro like a drunken man. When the veil was rent and the
gospel opened up to all the world and this scripture went forth
into all the world, you know what happened? The drunkenness
that prevailed was men did exactly what unbelieving, fleshly Israel
did. They latched onto these things,
onto the shadow, and they've been walking around in drunkenness
ever since. Just trying to recreate, imitate these things that are
dead and gone! They're gone. They're gone. Now
watch this, Romans 4, 11, back there now. I just said that he
symbolized this with a fleshly sign and these promises. And every one of those promises,
he brought them to pass. Every one of those physical promises
he made to physical Israel, he brought every one of them to
pass to show us that everything he's promised in the everlasting
covenant, he brings to pass. But now when he finished with
physical Israel, it's done. When that temple ran into a veil,
it was saying loud and clear to you and me, don't you imitate
these things anymore. Don't grab a hold to this shadow
anymore. The very substance has come. Christ Jesus, the Lord. Romans
4.11, Abraham received the sign of circumcision. That's what
it was, a token, a sign. You know what a sign is? A sign
says Philadelphia, 100 miles. Now you don't grab hold of that
sign and go, oh, I love Philadelphia. I'm in Philadelphia, boy, I'm
gonna go to some good restaurants in you Philadelphia. You're holding
on to a sign. That's not Philadelphia. That's
what a sign is. A seal, it says here. You see
what this is right here? This is a seal. This is a reminder. So I can look at this and I can
go, I have a wonderful bride. I have a lovely bride. But you
know what? If I have my choice, if I had
to choose between one or the other, that right there, it can
go in the trash can. I want her. I don't want the
seal. I don't want the sign. And it
was a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet
being uncircumcised. Before any of that came about.
That he might be the father of all them that believe, though
they be not circumcised. That means Gentiles. That righteousness
might be imputed unto them also. And the father of circumcision
to them who are not of the circumcision only. who also walk in the steps
of that faith of our father Abraham, which he had being yet uncircumcised.
He said that he'd be the father of spiritual Israel who were
made up of Jews and Gentiles. Circumcision don't have anything
to do with it. That was a temporary physical
thing to show this is how I make this everlasting covenant. This
is how I bring people, my people into covenant relationship. Verse
13, for the promise that he should be the heir of the world was
not to Abraham or to his seed, that is, his spiritual true sons,
through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. For
if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void,
and the promise made of none effect. How many times can Paul
say that? And how much more clearly can he say that? If you be circumcised,
Christ won't profit you anything. If you start trying to dig up
that law and do things in that ceremony, Christ won't profit
you anything. Absolutely nothing. Nothing,
nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing of no effect. Christ will profit
you nothing. You're glorying in the flesh,
not Christ. Secondly, Paul trusted in his
birthright. Back in our text there, back
in our text there, he said, Philippians 3.3, this is the second heading. He said, I not only rejoiced
in what my mother and father did for me in circumcising me,
but I also rejoiced in who my family was. The stock of Israel,
of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews. Well, the glory that makes the
believer rejoice in spirit and in Christ Jesus is that my earthly
father and my earthly mother has no glory whatsoever in determining
who is God's child and who is not God's child. Absolutely none. The glory goes
to God. The father, the glory goes to
the everlasting father, the second Adam, Christ Jesus, the Lord,
the glory goes to the Holy Spirit through whom we're born of the
incorruptible seed. The glory is not in me or you
or any man whatsoever. The glory is his. I know you
want your children to be saved. I want my children to be saved,
but you can want all you want to. It's not going to save them. If that offends you, then you're
mad at God, but that's the truth, friends. God saves, and God makes
His sons and daughters His sons and daughters. It says, they
which are the children of the flesh are not the children of
God, but the children of the promise are counted for the seed.
Salvation. Oh, we're just doing what we
do because we want to glorify the covenant of God. Do you?
Do I? Is that what we all want to glorify? Is the God of everlasting covenant?
Then He said the children are determined by promise, by everlasting
covenant, by His will and purpose, and not by men, not by men. Now here, let me give you the
first example. And I'll have you turn here. John 7, 3. This
will be my only example. I'm running short here. John
7. Oh, surely, surely, If a man is a good, believing
believer that's been born of the Spirit of God, that rejoices
in Christ Jesus, and is turned from His flesh, and worships,
loves these doctrines of grace and glory, surely God will do
something for His children. Just simply because out of respect
for Him. Surely He will. Let's see if
He will. John 7, verse 3. The Lord Jesus
Christ's brethren therefore said unto him, Depart hence and go
into Judea, that thy disciples also may see the works that thou
doest. For there is no man that doeth anything in secret, and
he himself seeketh to be known openly. If thou do these things,
show thyself to the world. These are his brethren after
the flesh. For neither did his brethren believe in him. Now, these were natural descendants
of Abraham. Of the Lord Jesus Christ, even
himself, according to the flesh, the males had all been circumcised. And here is the everlasting Father
standing right in front of them, and they don't believe Him. They
don't believe Him. You know why they don't? Because
they're not His children. Because he didn't choose them. Cousin John the Baptist believed.
Half-brother James believed. Cousin Joseph Barabbas believed.
Cousin Simon believed. Jude believed. Mary believed. But these others of the same
family, God had no regard to them. Not at all. Let me ask
you a question. Were they not children because
they did not believe in Him? Is that why they weren't children?
Because they didn't believe in Him? Or were they not, or did
they not believe in Him because they were not children? You know
what He said to those who came to Him and said, we've got Abraham
as our father. He said, if Abraham was your
father, if you were children, you'd believe. You'd believe. Before time, those who shall
be called are called because as Ephesians 1.5 says, they were
predestinated unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to
God Himself according to the good pleasure of His will. Boy, that's offensive to our
flesh, you know that? Ooh, that goes against the dignity
of the man that has confidence in his flesh. Grates on him.
Grates on him. Fills his heart with fury. He
sits and says, if I can just get away, I'll never come and
hear that gospel again. I'll heap on me somebody that'll
tickle these itching ears of mine, but I won't hear that gospel
again. Oh, but you will if God gets
ahold of your heart. And if you don't, Why didn't
you believe Him? Huh? You're not His children. Aren't you glad, though? Now,
here's the third thing. Paul rejoiced in the will of
his own flesh. Verse 5, he says, as touching
the law, I was a Pharisee. He says concerning zeal, I persecuted
the church. Touching the righteousness was
in the law, I was blameless. A Pharisee, that's about the
same as saying in our day, Putting confidence in a denomination,
about the same thing, what it amounts to. And I don't want you to, I hope you
do not think that Paul is somehow different when he was in, when
he was under the law and putting all his confidence in those things.
I hope you don't think that he was somehow different from men
who fly under the banner of Christianity in our day and put confidence
in the flesh. He was saying, I believe Jehovah, just like
they're saying, I believe Jehovah, when they're saying, I believe
Christ. But both camps, regardless where they are, the principle,
the issue is the same. God's no Baptist. He's no Presbyterian. He's no
Methodist. He's no Pharisee. He's no Sadducee. He's no Herodian. Not at all. I'll tell you what we are before
God. Every one of us in this room
right here, as equal as we can get, here's what we are in ourselves. Maggots. Worms. Thou worm, Jacob. That's what we are. Maggots,
worms, in need of mercy. And it's his will, his compassion
to have mercy on whom he will. He said here are concerning zeal. I persecuted the church and those
today in our day, just like what Paul was doing when he was on
the road to Damascus in the name of God, he was going to kill
believers. And in the year 2010, if God
takes his hand off of this nation and he takes his hand off of
people around this world, men who set up in the first Baptist
church and the biggest church building in the greatest city
in this nation will take up sticks and stones and rifle. They'll
be all, everybody will be all four guns then. Let's get rid
of these ones called Christian. If you don't think that's so,
look to Calvary's tree. Look to Calvary's tree. Let's
get him down off that cross so we don't break the law. Because
all this letter that he gave us to picture him, what we're
rejoicing in, get him out of the way. That's a stumbling block.
Get him out of the way so we can go on making disciples and
building the church and creating people that believe God, that
are consecrated to God, that are holy to God. Let's get him
out of the way so we can go on and do that. But now though, he said, I was
zealous of that law, the letter of that law, he said, I thought
I was blameless. The righteousness of God. Whose righteousness?
Without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and
the prophets, even the righteousness of God. Whose righteousness?
Which is by faith of Jesus Christ. Whose faith? Now, if you'll read Romans 5.1
with me, I'll give you some light on Romans 5.1 and 5.2. Did you just hear what I said?
If you got a new King James Bible, and I know everyone has, I check
them every time when I'm preparing a message for y'all, because
I know that's what y'all are using. In every place where you get
your King James Bible, and where it says in, you mark in, and
where it says of, you mark of. Because in Christ means your
faith in Christ and of Christ means his faith. And if you get
those two confounded, you'd be doing just what Paul said he
was doing right here. It's not your faith that justifies you.
It's the faith of Christ. And it's by Christ that you have
faith to enter into the fact that you've been justified by
Christ. You'll see that, Romans 5.1. Therefore being justified
by faith, whose faith? His. by the faith of Christ,
we have peace with God. How'd we get this? How'd we get
this justification, this peace with God? You sure that's talking
about his faith? We got it through our Lord Jesus Christ. It's exactly
what it says. Look at verse two. Now what about
our faith? By whom also? By Christ also,
who be given power over all flesh to give eternal life to as many
as the Father has given Him. By Him also we have access by
faith that He gives to us, to His redeemed. We have access
by faith into this grace that He accomplished by His faithfulness
wherein we can just walk in and not have to do anything at all,
just stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Now, does
that, does that float your boat? Does that trip your trigger?
It does mine. That thrills me to hear that. Are you smiling? Hmm. That's wonderful. You're smiling. You hear this? It's wonderful.
This is how God saves sinners. It's marvelous. It won't be marvelous
until you realize what your hands looked like before God and what
our flesh looked like before God. All right, here's the third
thing, and I'll be brief right here. Let me ask you this question.
What is sovereign grace? What is sovereign grace? When Abraham was in Ur of Chaldeas,
in a land of idolatry, rejoicing in his mom and daddy's religion,
loving everything his mom and daddy was teaching him. As soon
as God circumcised his heart and made him to see that the
body of his sin had been put off in Christ and that he was
forever, eternally, everlastingly secure and had been from everlasting,
God said this to him, leave your father and your mother and this
land you're dwelling in and this idolatry Leave every bit of it
behind. And he didn't tell him where
he was going. He just said, go out into this land that I've
promised you. And you know what Abraham did?
Sovereign grace makes a man do this. Abraham turned his back
on it all. And he walked after the spirit
of the Lord, not knowing where he was going, but following Christ
Jesus, the Lord. That's what sovereign grace does.
What did Sovereign Grace do for Paul? Verse 7, those things that
were gained to me, those I counted lost for Christ. Yea, doubtless,
I count all things lost for the excellency of the knowledge of
Jesus Christ, for whom I have suffered all things and do count
them dung, rubbish, that I might win Christ. Now I want to give you something
here, and you think long and hard on this. Paul was calling
out on Jehovah and claiming he was doing everything worshiping
Jehovah just like men in our day are calling on the name of
Jehovah and claiming they're worshiping Jehovah by calling
on the name of Christ. But when the sovereign grace
of God came, It made Paul realize he was worshipping a molten calf
named Jehovah. He was worshipping a molten calf. Men do this nowadays, they worship
a molten calf named Jesus. Men have named Jesus. And when
God saves a sinner, you know what he does? He realizes everything
I've been putting confidence in is the same as me trying to
walk up to God with dung and saying, God, would you receive
me by this because of this? Last Saturday night when we got
here, did y'all just fertilize the field out here? Was that
apple pie heaven? bearing on that pig. I don't
know what it was. You smelled it when you pulled
up here, didn't you? You know the word God says about our works
being an abomination. That's it. That's it. It smells
like dung. That's what it smells like. And
Paul said, when sovereign grace saved me, I counted all those
things lost for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus. the wisdom. Them that are called,
Christ is the wisdom of God. He said, I beheld the wisdom
of God in the face of Christ Jesus. And look what he said.
He said, and I will go on, verse 9, to be found in him, not having
mine own righteousness, but the righteousness which is of the
law, that is, which is of the law, but that which is through
the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith. And
he says, And I want to know Him and the power of His resurrection.
What did He tell the Corinthians? When God saves you, Christ is
made unto you the wisdom. He said, I'm following the excellency
of the knowledge. I'm following the excellent knowledge.
I'm following Christ, the wisdom of God. And He says, because
I want to know more of the power of His resurrection. You know
what made Him turn? Read the end of Ephesians 1 sometime.
You know what made Him turn? Because the same power and excellency
that demanded Christ died when Paul's sin was laid upon him,
demanded that Christ be raised from the dead, and it also demanded
that that power be exercised in Paul, and that he be saved
from all that dung he was putting his trust in, and follow Christ. And he said, I've experienced
it, and you know what I want to do? I want to know more of
it. I want to know more about his wisdom and his power. That's
what he, in Ephesians 1 at the end, that's what he's praying
for them. The whole first chapter of Ephesians, he's talking about
the wisdom and power of God. And at the end, he's talking
to believers and he says, and my prayer for you is that you
might grow in knowledge of this wisdom and that you might know
this power of God. That's what a believer wants
to know. That's all we want to know. Well, Let's look here to
the end. Is He really able to do this?
Is Christ really able to do this? Look at verse 20. Our conversation, our life is
in heaven from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord
Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ who shall
change our vile body that it may be fashioned like unto His
body. when he raises from the dead,
listen, watch now, according to the working whereby he's able
even right now to subdue all things to himself. And I say, well, if I preach
that, nobody'd show up. Well, if you don't preach that,
why do you want them to show up? If you're not preaching Christ,
why do you want them to be there? Huh? Y'all might as well be meeting
at the movies. Go join the YMCA. Don't join
a church. Don't attach God to it, because
God ain't in it, if the gospel of Christ ain't preached. Well,
it'll run off, folks. Not to she. Not the ones who he's able to
subdue and shall subdue. Didn't you see what happened
to Paul? Height of religion. I'm so glad he saved a thief
on the cross in the depths of immorality and degradation, and
he saved Paul in the heights, let me say that, in the depths
of religion. To show us that he's able to
save to the uttermost all them that come to him by faith. Listen,
and here's why he did it. That no flesh should glory in
his presence. Of God are you in Christ Jesus?
I think I quote this. Our people are so probably heard
me say this in every message I preach because this is the
passage that God busted my heart open with. This is the passage
that God made me to see I was trusting in nothing but my flesh.
That no flesh should glory in his presence. Of God are you
in Christ? He sovereignly elected His people.
Of God is He made unto you, irresistible grace, sovereign grace in the
heart. Of God is He made, is Christ made unto you, wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. That, my friends,
is everything a hell-deserving sinner needs to come into God's
presence. As it is written, He that glories
Oh, now we're doing this for the glory of God. Paul says,
let me repeat that. God says, through Paul, if we're
doing something, and pointing men to that, he can't let that
thing go because we think it's somehow glorifying and just a
carryover from the Old Testament. It won't profit you anything.
Art, you grew up in Catholicism. You know something about it.
Well, don't get on your soapbox and run down Catholicism, because
that's every man by nature if God don't save us. The priests
stand right now ministering daily, offering oftentimes the same
sacrifices, which can't ever take away sin. They're holding
on to the picture, holding on to that sign, holding on to that
thing that was just given to show Christ, and they've missed
Him altogether. For by one offering, He has perfected
forever them that are sanctified. Now, let me ask me, and let me
ask you, do I fit with the mutilators, or am I the circumcision? That's a question to ask. Am
I a mutilator or am I the circumcision? Here's the only test of that. We are the circumcision who rejoice,
who worship God in spirit, who rejoice in Christ Jesus, and
who have no confidence in the flesh. There's absolutely no
other way to worship God.