You can go ahead and be turning
with me to the book of Philippians chapter three, if you will. Philippians
chapter three. My introduction to my message
this morning will be a little different than normal. I was
doing some reading this week and I ran across some staggering
statistics concerning this world's religion. Let me quickly share
some of them with you. Did you know that in today's
religious world, statistics show that Christianity rates number
one in religious following, 29% of the world's population with
roughly 2.4 billion people profess to believe in Jesus Christ as
their Lord and Savior. Islam rates closely at number
two at 24%, with 1.9 billion people being Muslim, believing
in one God with Muhammad as God's prophet. Hinduism is at number
three with 15.4%, 1.3 billion followers, 95% of those living
in India. That leaves roughly a billion people, about 14.1%
of the world's population, to secular agnostic or atheist
beliefs. And then that leaves about 17.5%
of the world population, nearly 900 million or so people with
no religion at all. I found it also interesting that
in the polling of American adults, over 65% of the population in
the United States claim to be Christians. 65%. Even more interesting
is found in the fact that this figure was 75% five years ago,
and 78% eight years ago, and 85% in 1990. So that's down 12%
in 10 years, 20% in 30 years. It seems to me that modern day religion
is failing. Of course, you and I both know
that if there was a truly an accurate way to calculate the
correct figures and percentages, America's population of true
believers, true Christians would be much, much lower, probably
less than 1%, not 65. While just in Hopkins County
alone, there are 150 self-professed churches that claim to worship
the Lord Jesus Christ, but those who worship Him according to
the truth of scriptures is a very low percentage. I don't know
why that should surprise any of us. The scriptures bear witness
also to that fact. What do I mean by that? Well,
let me tell you, only eight people, only eight people out of the
whole world's population that lived in Noah's day got into
that ark. Only eight were spared from the
flood. That percentage is far lower
than 1%. Only two, only two men, two people over
the age of 20, just two out of over 2 million, 2 million or
more that made Exodus out of Egypt entered into the promised
land. That percentage far lower than
1%. That gives us some clarity and
some credibility to the many and the few that scripture speaks
up. The Bible reveals narrow is the
way which leadeth unto life and few, few, there be that find
it, Matthew 7, 14. And it's no wonder that our Lord
Jesus said, strive to enter in at the straight gate, for many,
I say unto you, will seek to enter in and shall not be able. So with all that said, I want
you to, again this morning, consider with me what is a true Christian,
a true believer. I want you to consider who a
true follower and disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ is and
what they do. I want you to consider who is
really saved. And the reason is there are many
who claim to be saved and only a few that actually are. This
morning, I have three qualifying characteristics that marks a
man or a woman who knows and loves Christ. So look with me
here at Philippians chapter three, verse one. Verse one, Paul writing
to the church at Philippi, and he warns the believers there
of false teachers. He begins this way. He says,
finally, my brethren, and that includes sisters too, he said,
rejoice in the Lord. Now that is a key statement in
the matter of salvation. Jesus Christ is the chief joy
to every true child of God. The true child of God rejoices
in the greatness of Christ's person. He's very God of very
God. And we rejoice in that, don't
we? I rejoice in the fact that Jesus Christ is God. The true
Christian rejoices in the fact that God became a man. Jesus
Christ is bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh. The true
believer rejoices in the sufficiency of Christ's righteousness that's
imputed to them. The believing child of God rejoices
in the comfort of Christ's providence and his purpose as God. Listen,
if my Lord and Savior, my God, is in control of all things and
He's working all things together for my good, that brings me great
joy. Doesn't it, you? And the elect
of God rejoice in Christ's substitution, his sacrifice, his intercession
for them as their one mediator between them and God. The fact
that my Lord and Savior stands between me and God and mediates
a perfect righteousness that he accomplished for me himself,
that brings me great joy. Now the word rejoice here in
verse one means to be calmly happy. I like that. I like that. The child of God is calmly happy
in the Lord Jesus. We don't have to jump up and
down and act like children. We're calmly happy. God's people
are. We can rest happily and calmly
in who Christ is. He's God and he's out to do us
good. Doesn't that bring you great
joy? We can calmly rest and be happy in Him as our Savior and
our substitute. Well, He did for me what I couldn't
do. He kept God's law perfectly. He satisfied God's justice on
my behalf. And that brings me great, great
joy. I'm calmly happy about that.
Sometimes I'm not so calmly happy about it, but that's another
story and another sermon. We can rest and be happy finding
great peace and joy and having His perfect righteousness as
our own. The fact that I have the perfect
righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ, boy, that makes me happy. We can calmly rest and find great
joy in the fact that He's working all things, as I said, together
for our good. Those who are the called according
to His purpose. And Paul goes on to say in verse
one, that to write these same things to you, these things that
Paul speaks of, his gospel of substitution, his gospel of redemption,
the gospel of God's grace. Paul said to me, to write these
things, these same things to you, to me indeed is not grievous. Now I want you to think for a
moment with me as to what that means. What Paul is saying here
is that he rejoices to write these things and preach them
again and again and again. That's what he's saying. It's
not tiresome. He rejoices to repeat the gospel
of Christ over and over again, for it's necessary. That's what
that word safe there means in the original Greek. It means
necessary. And this is why it's necessary.
First, it keeps our thoughts and our hearts on Christ. Every
time I hear the gospel preached, it reminds me of who my Lord
is and what He's done for me. It keeps our minds and hearts
on Christ, who is our sure foundation. Well, we sung about it a moment
ago. He's the solid rock. It keeps us also from the error
of false teachers and their false doctrines. You know, there's
nothing that exposes error, false preaching and teaching more than
the truth. The true believer is not gonna
hear a false gospel. They just won't. They can't stand
it. They can't bear to hear someone
lie on their God and on their Savior. When the truth is repeated
again and again, it guards the believer against their own self-righteousness
and self-worth. I never get tired of hearing
that I'm a sinner. You know why? Because that's
who Christ came to save. He came into the world to save
sinners. Paul said, of whom I am chief. And it reminds us of our
inability and our unwillingness to bow to Christ in all things. The scriptures are very clear.
No man can come. He doesn't have the ability and
no man will come. You will not come to me. The
Lord said that you might have life. God has to make us able
and God has to make us willing. If you're able and you're willing
this morning to trust in Christ, it's because God has done a work
of grace in your heart. And it's not grievous. And it's
no burden for me to preach the same things to you week after
week. I'm telling you it's not. It's safe for those who love
Christ. It's necessary. That's what the
word means. It means to guard against. The
gospel, it means security. The gospel's our security. It
guards us against falling into damnable heresies. And when Paul
spoke to the great city at Corinth, you remember what he said? Oh,
that city was known for its great education, its philosophy, all
man's so-called wisdom. And he said, I am determined
not to know anything among you except this, Jesus Christ and
Him crucified. That's it. All men's philosophies,
all higher learning, all that, it pales in comparison to that
blessed truth. The gospel never, ever gets old. Not to a believer. In the last
years of his life, every single gospel message that Brother Mahan
heard, he would always say, that's the best message I ever heard.
Paul told me that anytime I was there, as soon as you finished
preaching, he'd say, that's the best message I ever heard. And
what he meant was, it was the best news ever reported. And the last message we hear
is always the best one, really. Because we're reminded again
of who Christ is and what He's done for us. Paul always spoke
very frankly. We had better. I'm telling you,
we had. He always spoke with great boldness.
Paul didn't pull any punches. He didn't try to please men.
He said, if I please men, I'm not the servant of God. Now look
at verse two, you'll see what I mean. He said, beware of dogs. Well, that's not very nice. Beware
of evil workers because of the concision. Now, when Paul declares
to true believers here to beware of dogs, to whom is he speaking? Well, he's speaking of those
men who were hucksters, who were merchandisers, the men's souls. He's talking about false teachers.
That's who he's warning against here. Paul's talking about those
who profited through religion. He says, beware of dogs. He's
talking about those who are wolves dressed in sheep's clothing.
He tells them to be aware of evil workers, those who work
iniquity. Now listen, anyone who tells
you that you need to trust in what you do as the means of your
salvation is a worker of iniquity. You know that. We've talked about
it how many times? Numerous times. Matthew chapter
seven, our Lord talked about those who would say in the day
of judgment, Lord, Lord, haven't we preached in your name and
haven't we cast out devils and haven't we done this and that
and all these wonderful works. And it'd be then that Christ
will say, depart from me, ye that work iniquity. It's iniquity. Especially when you begin to
trust in it as your means of being saved. It's iniquity. He
said, I never knew you. See, that's the issue. Does he
know me? If he knows me, I'll know him.
If he loves me, I'll love him. Why? Because we love him because
he first loved us. Paul calls them dogs. Where did
Paul get that from? He got it from Isaiah. Let me
show you that. Isaiah said the same thing about
the preachers in his day. Hold your place here in Philippians
3. We're coming back to it. But I want you to see this in
your Bible. Turn with me to Isaiah chapter
56. Isaiah chapter 56. And I want you to look at verse
10. I'll give you a moment to get there. Isaiah 56, verse 10. Got it? It says his watchman, that's
speaking of preachers, are blind. They are ignorant. They are all
dumb dogs. They cannot bark, sleeping, lying
down, loving to slumber. I like what George Whitfield
said about that. He said that these watchmen had
a D.D. degree, dumb dog, dumb dog degree. They cannot bark. They sleep. You know, a dog doesn't bark
when he's asleep. They're always lying down. They
love to slumber. Isaiah said they're dumb dogs.
Look at verse 11. Yea, they are greedy dogs, which
can never have enough. And they are shepherds that cannot
understand. What do you mean they cannot
understand? Have no understanding of the scripture. The Lord hadn't
revealed it to them. They cannot understand. They
all look to their own way. Everyone for his gain from his
quarter. Boy, I tell you, if that don't
give you a good illustration of what we got going on today,
nothing does. These false and greedy teachers,
preachers never have enough. They're always wanting more,
never satisfied, never fulfilled. They're shepherds that can't
understand the truth. They look to their own way, not
God's way, because Jesus Christ is the way, and they very seldom
ever even mention Him. They're out for their own game. They're looking out for their
own positions. I cannot tell you how many men
I've heard say things like, oh, I believe in the doctrines of
election and predestination, but I couldn't preach them. Why? I'd lose my position. They'd
throw me out of church. My, my, the greedy dogs, which
never have enough, always making converts and proselytes only
to religion, not to God. That's why we have churches on
every corner, proselytes. They look to their own way. They're
concerned for their own success. They're promoting their own programs.
John said, try the spirits, whether they be of God. That's what we
better do. And it's not tarson friends.
It's not grievous for me to preach the same things to you over and
over. I remember someone asking, actually, it was my cousin, first
cousin. She deals with real estate over
in Greenville. And Clayton and Jeff had built
some houses over there. And she knew that I was the pastor
here where they attended. And she said, what did David
Lee, that's what my family calls me, by the way. Y'all better
not call me that. But she said, what did David Lee preach this
Sunday? And Clayton said, the same thing he does every Sunday.
And she goes, the same thing every Sunday? It's not tarson. I'm telling you, it's not grievous
to preach the same things over. We preach Christ and Him crucified. You know why? Because it's safe.
It's necessary for you and me both. Necessary. So, who are
the people of God? Who makes up the true church
of God? Paul's very clear about who they
are. Now turn back with me to Philippians 3, and I want you
to look at verse 3, and it's here that we find those three
characteristics of the true believer. Three marks here of the regenerated
and saved soul. Have you got it? Philippians
3. Paul says, for we are the circumcision which worship God
in the spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence
in the flesh. Paul first says, we're the circumcision. And what Paul is saying by that
statement is that we're the true ministers of God. We're the true
Christians. We're the true children of God
because true circumcision is a inward work of grace, friends. It's not an outward work of our
righteousness. True circumcision is having the
heart pierced and prick, and it's our heart being laid open
by the Spirit of God. Those of you that know Christ,
you know what I'm talking about. True circumcision is a renouncing
of our own righteousness. We say it all the time, Shelley.
It's taking sides with God against ourself. True circumcisions of
the heart, not of the flesh. It's to draw nigh to God with
the heart, not with the body. So we see from verse three that
the first characteristic, the first mark of being a true child
of God, a true believer, a true Christian. Sometimes I don't
even use that word anymore because everybody claims to be a Christian.
But the first mark of being a true child of God, a true believer,
look at it, is to worship God in the spirit. You see that?
Worshiping God in the spirit is worshiping God with a spirit
of holy reverence and fear. That's not what we have today.
It's not at all what we have today. Holy and reverent is his
name, teaching his disciples how to pray. The Lord Jesus said,
after this manner, therefore pray ye, our Father, which art
in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Holy be thy name. That's the
first thing. God, you're holy. Paul in Acts
chapter 17 said, God that made the world and all things therein,
seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, he dwelleth not in
temples made with human hands, neither is he worshiped with
men's hands as though he needed anything. Now let me tell you,
you can raise your hands and wave and sway back and forth
to the music, and it's no more worship than I am a gourd or
a pumpkin. It's just so. God doesn't need
anything. That's what he said in Acts 17. God that hath made the world
and all things therein. He's not worshiped with men's
hands as though he needed anything. He doesn't need anything. He
said, if I was hungry, I wouldn't tell you about it. He said, for
the world is mine and all the fullness thereof. It all belongs
to him. He don't need anything from us.
God is not disabled. He doesn't need anything from
us. Why do men declare Him to be that way? They do. Well, God
wants to do that. God wants to save you. If He
does, He'll save you. God's trying to get your attention. No, He's not. No, He's not. Not the God of this book, He's
not. God's not disabled. This is the first mark of true
Israel. We worship God in spirit and
in truth. And you don't need to wear a
robe to worship God, and you don't need to burn candles to
worship God, and you don't need stained glass windows in your
church to worship God. You know what you need? You need
a broken heart. That's what you need. Those who
are of true Israel have a broken heart. Romans chapter two, verse
28 says, for he's not a Jew, which is one outwardly, neither
is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh, but he
is a Jew, which is one inwardly. And circumcision is of the heart
and the spirit and not in the letter, the letter of the law,
whose praise is not of men, but of God. That's what it means
to worship God. We praise God for who he is and
for what he's done. Worship is not an outward form
or ceremony. True worship comes from the heart. And it's from a broken heart,
I might add. Worship comes from a heart of
faith. A heart that knows the living God. God told that Samaritan
woman at the well, very plainly and simply, he said, you know
not what you worship. You don't know what you worship.
Oh, you go through the motions, you go through the ceremonies,
you worship according to your traditions. Why do you go to
that church? Well, that's where my grandmother
went. Christ said, you're worshiping in ignorance. You don't know
what you're worshiping. That's what ignorance is. It's
not knowing. Young Samuel. You remember this
story. Young Samuel heard from God and
he thought it was Eli calling his name. And he went to the
old prophet and he said, here I am. And Eli said, I didn't
call you. He said, go back to sleep. And
the Lord called Samuel yet again. And again, Samuel went to Eli
and he said, here I am. And Eli said, I didn't call you. I wish you'd go back to bed.
And then the third time the Lord called Samuel and he arose and
he went to Eli and he said, here I am, you called for me. And
Eli then perceived that it was the Lord that had called Samuel. So he told Samuel, he said, lie
back down again. And he said, if the Lord calls
you again, you say to him, speak Lord. And the Lord came and he
spoke to Samuel again. And Samuel did what Eli said. And Samuel said, speak Lord for
thy servant here. And the Lord spoke to Samuel.
And then later Eli asked Samuel, what did God say to you? And
Samuel said, God said that your sons have violated his word and
his law. and he's gonna kill them. And
because you didn't discipline your sons, because you didn't
deal with them yourself, God's gonna deal with them. Now I'm
paraphrasing a bit, but that's pretty much what he said. Do
you remember what Eli said? He said, it's the Lord. Let him
do what seems good. God will do what he will do,
and I'll bow to it, Eli said. Friends, that is what it is to
worship. What about Job? He lost everything
he had, including all 10 of his children. They came to him one
after another. All your sheep are gone. All
your oxen are gone. Everything's gone. All your children
are dead. My, my. He was rich, but now
he's poor. He had a big family, but now
all his children are gone. He was a famous man, but now
he's despised. He was once honored, but now
he's laughed at and ridiculed. He was a healthy man, but now
he's struck with bulls from the top of his head to the bottom
of his feet. Did Job say, poor, poor, pitiful
me? No, sir. He said, the Lord gave
and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
Friends, that's what it is to worship. That's a work of grace. That's a God-given spirit of
worship. That's a contrite spirit and
a broken heart. That's what that is. That's true
worship. That's worshiping in spirit and
in truth. Now, Paul said in our text here,
in Philippians 3.3, that the true circumcision, the true believer,
the true child of God are those which worship God in the spirit,
in the heart. Secondly, the second thing, the
true mark of the people of God are those who rejoice in Christ
Jesus. Now, the Greek word here in verse
three that is interpreted rejoice is different from the word rejoice
used in verse one. Remember it meant be calmly happy. Here the word rejoice in verse
three means to boast or to glory in someone or something. And
he tells us who we are to boast and glory in here, in Christ
Jesus. That's what he said. Rejoice
in Christ Jesus. That's pretty plain, isn't it?
You know who to rejoice in now. Rejoice in Christ Jesus. You
see, the true Christian is one that boasts not in themselves,
but in the Lord Jesus. And it's such a degree of joy
that it amounts to glorification and adoration of Christ alone.
Paul said in Galatians chapter six, verse 14, but God forbid
that I should glory save in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, what is it to glory in
the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ? Well, I'll tell you what it's
not. It's not to wear a cross around your neck or to hang one
on your wall. It's not that. It's to boast
to glory in all that Christ endured hanging on that cross in your
room instead. That's what it is. Jesus Christ
is God in human flesh. God in human flesh died in the
room instead of sinners to satisfy God's justice and justify His
elect. That's what it is to glory in
the cross of Christ. We glory and rejoice in the work
that Christ did for us on that cross. We rejoice that He has
made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption.
Is Jesus Christ all you need? Well, Scott Richardson used to
say, if he's all you have, he is. And you know, you think about
that. If you have something else that
you're trusting in, then you're gonna need more. But if Christ
is all you have, he's all you need. And then thirdly, in verse
three, we see that the mark of the true children of God is to
what? Have no competence in the flesh. How much? None, no confidence. The word flesh in the scriptures
can mean several different things. The word flesh in the word of
God can mean physical and material luxuries. It can mean the things
of the world, wealth, honor, strength, fame, power, privilege,
all the things that the world offers and promises to give. Thus saith the Lord, let not
the wise man glory in his wisdom. Neither let the mighty man glory
in his might. Let not the rich man glory in
his riches, but let him that glorieth glory in this, that
he understands and knows me." That's what God said. That he
knows me, that I am the Lord. Now, if you want to glory in
something, glory in that. What shall it profit a man if
he should gain the whole world and lose his own soul? The word
flesh in the Bible can also refer to the outward duties of religion. We cannot have any confidence
in the works and duties of religion. Now I'm telling you we can't.
Look at verse four. Paul said, if any other man thinketh
that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I do more. He said, I'm a Pharisee. I was
zealous in the Jews' religion. He said, touching the law, I
was blameless, without fault. I dotted all the I's and crossed
all the T's in God's law, blameless. But those things which I thought
were gain, oh, there's a lot of people today that think they're
doing is gain. But Paul said, what I thought
was gain, I found to be but dung, manure. That's what dung is. He said, that I may win Christ. Oh my, that I may win Christ. Verse nine, that I may be found
in Him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that
perfect righteousness, which is through the faith of Christ,
the righteousness, which is of God by faith. that I may know
Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings
being made conformable unto His death. Do you see what really
matters here, friends? It's to know Christ. It's to
know who He is. It's to know what He did. He's
God the Son. He died for our sin, but He didn't
stay dead. He fulfilled the law of God.
He satisfied the justice of God. He worked out a perfect righteousness
for his people and death in the grave couldn't hold him. He rose
again, proving that God is satisfied and no longer angry with the
true child of God. God no longer angry with you.
The true child of God has no confidence in the flesh. You
know why? Because all our confidence is in him. All of it's in Him. There's no confidence that can
go anywhere else, because it's all in Him. Isaiah saw that. You better believe he did. He
saw the Lord high and lifted up. And you remember what he
said? He said, woe is me. When you see the Lord high and
lifted up, that's where you'll be. Woe is me. I'm undone. I'm undone. I'm cut off. I'm
a man of unclean lips. and I dwell in the midst of the
people with unclean lips. They're all just like me. We're
all in the same boat. They're just like me. Job saw
this. Job was a righteous and a moral
man. God said, was none like him.
And he said, I've heard of thee, O God, by the hearing of the
ear. He said, but now my eyes see
you and I hate myself. I abhor myself. He was right
there in the dust with Isaiah. Oh, I hear people say and sing
that the greatest love of all is learning to love myself. No
sirree, it is not. The greatest love is loving God
with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind,
and loving your neighbor as you love yourself. Now you're getting
somewhere when it comes to love. I don't guess that'd be a very
popular song today though, Paul saw this. Isaiah saw it. Job saw it. Paul saw it. When
he saw the Lord, you remember what he said? He said, oh, wretched
man that I am. He said, in me, that is in my
flesh, dwelleth no good thing. Well, you know, I'm not perfect,
but I'm not all that bad. No, no good thing. He saw himself
as what? Less than the least. He saw himself
as the chief of sinners. No confidence in the flesh, none. Get rid of it. Don't put any
confidence there. In the flesh, no man can please
God. What is a Christian? No, that's
probably not the right question. Who is a Christian? Well, he
or she is one who worships God in the spirit, first and foremost.
He or she is one who rejoices and boasts and glories in Christ
Jesus. There's no glory in me. There's
no glory in you. nothing about us in and of ourselves
to glory over, while we deserve hell and eternal condemnation.
The true believer says with the psalmist, not unto us, O Lord,
not unto us, but unto thy name give glory for thy mercy and
for thy truth's sake. We don't put any confidence in
the flesh. We put our confidence in Christ, all of it. That's
who a true Christian is. That's who a true believer is.
That's the kind of sinner that Christ came into the world to
save. May God be pleased to make it so concerning you and me for
Christ's sake.