Alright, brethren, we're going
to begin in Philippians 3. We'll be in verses 1-9 this morning. Philippians 3, verses 1-9. In
chapter 2, Paul, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, provided us with three, he outlined
three spiritual blessings that the Lord provided his church
with, and therefore her good, for her glory, and for her salvation. And these blessings are the blood
and sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ, It is the indwelling
gift of the Holy Spirit that makes us alive, that reveals
Christ to us. And then we saw that there are
gifts which he gives to his people for the ministry of the people. As your gracious God said, I
have loved thee, therefore will I give men for thee and people
for thy life. So in this chapter, chapter 3,
Paul here warns against false teachers. and having confidence
in the flesh about your salvation. And he inspires the brethren
to once again look to the Lord Jesus Christ. So our title this
morning is Beware the Flesh. Beware the Flesh. Alright, our
first point we'll look at is the safety of the gospel. The safety of the gospel. Let's
begin in verse 1. Philippians 3, 1. 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. So for all the many spiritual
blessings that we have in Christ, that God has blessed us with
in Christ, we rejoice in him. We're made to rejoice in him
and to joy in the things that he rejoices in. Christ made himself,
when he came here, he made himself a fit sacrifice for his people
so that he accomplished the salvation of his people perfectly. He did
all that was necessary to save His people, and He sends His
Spirit, His Holy Spirit, into our hearts to dwell in us that
we might know Him. The Holy Spirit reveals to us
our salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ. He gives us His Spirit
that we would know Him, to know what He has done for us, to know
Him who is truth, Him who is life and Him who is the light
of men. And He provides ministers to
declare this gospel to us and grow us thereby. And so because
of all these things, because of these spiritual gifts, we
rejoice in the Lord, as Paul says. Now he says there in the
second half of that verse, to write the same things to you,
to me indeed is not grievous, but for you it is safe. And he teaches it, what he's
saying there is that he's teaching the truth of the gospel repeatedly. He's always declaring to the
brethren the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's the
reason why your ministers today in the churches that we fellowship
with, why we labor to preach Christ and to declare this gospel
consistently because we know that this is for your safety,
for your benefit, and for your good. And we do that. We exalt
the Lord Jesus Christ in salvation and the salvation he's provided
because we see this is exactly what the apostles did. This is
exactly what the apostles did. They preached Christ It says
in Ephesians 2.20 that the church is built upon the foundation
of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the
chief cornerstone. So all the apostles agreed that
there is given unto men under heaven no other name whereby
we must be saved. We must be saved by the Lord
Jesus Christ. If we're saved, it's in Christ
and in his name alone. And they went on in Acts 5.42,
we're told that daily in the temple and in every house they
ceased not to teach and preach the Lord Jesus Christ. Now why did they do this? Turn
over to 1 Corinthians 3. 1 Corinthians 3 and go to verse
11. We'll look at a couple of verses
in 1 Corinthians here. Paul reminds these brethren here,
he says, And Paul took a great deal of care in affirming the
Corinthian church to know that their salvation is in the Lord
Jesus Christ. And he made He made them aware of what He
taught them. He wanted them to understand,
I am purposefully teaching you the Lord Jesus Christ. Look over
in 1 Corinthians 2.2. Chapter 2, verse 2. For I determined
not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Look over in chapter 1, verse
18. 1 Corinthians 1.18. For the preaching of the cross
is to them that perish foolishness, but unto us which are saved,
it is the power of God. All right, so turn back over
to chapter two now, 1 Corinthians two, 1 Corinthians two, and we'll
pick up in verse three. So Paul's telling them, I was
with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling, and my
speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's
wisdom, but in demonstration of the spirit and of power that
your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the
power of God. And so Paul, he emphasizes that
our salvation is in the power of God, and he contrasts it with
the wisdom of men, and the wisdom of this world, because that's
so prevalent among us, that wisdom of this world, which men teach
and preach in churches all over the place to this day. How be
it, he said, we speak wisdom among them that are perfect,
yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world
that come to naught, or come to nothing, because When it comes
to our salvation, we don't turn to the natural wisdom of man
and the wisdom of this world. This world turns us to the flesh
because that's what the world knows. This world turns us to
the works of the law because that's what this world knows. That's what this world can feel
and touch. And it doesn't understand the
power of God and the spirit of God because it doesn't have the
spirit of God and it doesn't have the power of God. They only
have their wisdom, that wisdom of man, and so this subtle wickedness
is what Paul is warning against to these brethren here in chapter
3 verse 1. To write the same things to you
to me indeed is not grievous, but for you it is safe. So that's
why we preach the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ repeatedly,
because that's safe for us because we know how the wisdom of man
creeps in. We know how the wisdom of this
world creeps in and turns us away from Christ and back to
something that we do in our flesh to gain some kind of comfort,
some kind of assurance, some kind of feeling that what we're
doing is of value and will earn us or obtain for us eternal life
when all is said and done. but through the gospel we are
reminded and the power of God we are reminded that our salvation
is in the Lord Jesus Christ alone. Alright, now let's move on to
our second point. The true circumcision. The true
circumcision. Look at verses 2 and 3. Philippians
3, 2 and 3. Beware of dogs, beware of evil
workers, beware of the concision. For we are the circumcision which
worship God in the spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have
no confidence in the flesh. So it was just as prevalent back
in the Apostles' day, as it is in our day, as it's always been
since Cain was on the earth, that the wicked, when they preach
salvation, when they speak of salvation, they turn the people
to the flesh. They turn the people to the law. They turn the people to some
wisdom of their mind that they think is providing them salvation. Some spirit of this world, some
spirit of man, that they turn you to. They don't point to Christ
and resting in Christ alone. They turn you to the flesh so
that they're looking to the flesh and man's works for salvation. And so, for this cause, We preach
the gospel because it's for your safety. It's for your good and
your safety. Now, there was a lot of Pharisees
at that time that believed, that professed to believe in the Lord
Jesus Christ, but they couldn't let go of the law. And Paul had
a great deal of contention with those men. Turn over to Acts
21. Acts 21, and we'll pick up in
verse 18. I'm going to read from 18 to
22, and just notice here what James is saying to Paul. And
he's speaking of these brethren that are from the Pharisees,
and they're zealous for the law. And it says in verse 18, And
the day following Paul went in with us unto James, and all the
elders were present. And when they had saluted, and
when he had saluted them, he declared particularly what things
God had wrought among the Gentiles by his ministry. And when they
heard it, they glorified the Lord, and said unto him, Thou
seest, brother, how many thousands of Jews there are which believe,
and they are all zealous of the law. And they are informed of
thee, that thou teachest all the Jews which are among the
Gentiles to forsake Moses, saying that they ought not to circumcise
their children, neither to walk after the customs. What is it
therefore? The multitude must needs come
together, for they will hear that thou art come." So there
was definitely a contention between Paul and the Pharisees, whether
they were Pharisees that professed to believe on Christ or they
were Pharisees that professed to hate Christ and not to believe. But listen to what Paul said
to the Galatians in 5.11. Galatians 5.11, And I, brethren,
if I yet preach circumcision, why do I yet suffer persecution? Then is the offense of the cross
ceased. So law workers and those that
are looking to the law of Moses, those that believe that there's
some work that they can do in the flesh to earn a righteousness,
whether it's for complete justification or their sanctification, they
always take offense with grace preachers. And they always call
them names and call them antinomian and charge them with turning
the people towards licentiousness, towards sinfulness, towards filthiness
of the flesh. And they have a problem with
people that really trust Christ and lift Him up and exalt Him
before the people for their salvation. But we know that Christ is the
only means of our salvation. He, in Him alone, is our forgiveness. In Him alone is our acceptance
with holy God. So that's why we lift them up,
but they get offended, because now what we're saying is, all
the works that we do in the flesh, in turning away from Christ and
looking to the law for some portion of our holiness, for some portion
of our righteousness, such as sanctification and especially
justification, all those things that they're dumb, that they
don't save, they don't contribute or add to our salvation in any
way. And so they begin to persecute
the Brethren. They begin to persecute the Brethren
by saying evil things against them, by saying things that tear
them down in the eyes of others in the hopes that no one will
listen to them. And if they could, they have murder in their hearts
toward them. Think of Cain. Turn over to Genesis 4. Genesis 4, verses 3 through 6.
We see that it's always been this way since Cain and Abel
were on the earth. It says in Genesis 4 verse 3,
this is right after the fall, maybe some 20 years, maybe a
little less, I'm not sure, but since Adam and Eve were cast
out of the garden, it says, In the process of time it came to
pass that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering
unto the Lord. And Abel, he also brought of
the firstlings of his flock, and of the fat thereof. And the
Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering, but unto Cain
and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth,
he was angry, and his countenance fell. And the Lord said unto
Cain, Why art thou wroth, and why is thy countenance fallen,
if thou doest well thou shalt thou not be accepted?" And he's
saying if Cain had come in faith, that is, looking to the Lamb,
trusting in the coming Christ, believing the gospel, then he
would have been accepted. And you know Adam taught his
sons the gospel because he had heard it there in the garden.
He heard what the Lord said, and that's why Abel knew to come
in a lamb looking to the Christ, looking to the promised seed
of the woman. But Cain, he didn't believe.
Instead, he rose up and he slew his brother because he had murder
in his heart. And that's the same spirit that's
in the Pharisees. It was in the Pharisees when
they took vows to not eat a thing until they had killed Paul. And it continues to this day,
except that there's laws in the land that prevent people from
getting away with murder and doing that for religious things.
But there are some that would murder you if they could, because
you preach the gospel and hold to the Lord Jesus Christ. Turn
over to 1 John 3. 1 John 3, verses 11 through 15.
This is what John... is saying to us, he's revealing
this to us. 1 John 3.11, he says, For this
is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should
love one another not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and
slew his brother, and wherefore slew he him? Because his own
works were evil, and his brother's righteous. Because Abel came
by faith, believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, he hated them.
And he says, marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you. So as long as we speak peaceably
to the world, as long as we comfort them in their vain, dead works,
they don't have a problem with us. You do what you're going
to do, as long as it makes you happy and you feel good about
it, that's good. You just keep on doing that.
As long as we're saying that, nobody has a problem with what
we say. But as soon as you narrow it down to the Lord Jesus Christ
and you say it's in Christ alone and it's not our works, that's
where the flesh gets offended. And they may not show it right
away, but eventually it keeps working and eating away at their
flesh, and it just bugs them, and it gets them angry, because
they're confused, because they don't have the Spirit of Christ,
and they don't know what you're even talking about, and so they
become flustered and angry, and hatred develops in their heart. And John goes on saying, we know,
verse 14, 1 John 3.14 We know that we have passed from death
unto life because we love the brethren. He that loveth not
his brother abideth in death. Whosoever hateth his brother
is a murderer, and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life
abiding in him. The fellowship that we have with
our brethren, that fellowship that we have, it's in Christ. It's in our confession and our
profession that Christ really is all our righteousness and
all our salvation. That's what unites us in love
to one another, is that confession of Christ. And so Paul's warning
the Philippian brethren to beware, to beware the wisdom of men,
because they're coming in and they're saying things that sound
good in the flesh, that sound like they're of profit, but it
doesn't align with the gospel. It doesn't align with the gospel
of Christ. And it's just vain wisdom, and
it was witnessed there in those that Paul called the concision.
Look at verse 2. Again, Philippians 3, 2. He says,
Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision. So this concision were those
people that were looking to the law for some form of their righteousness,
their justification, or their sanctification. And those people
that are of the concision, they're not like how Paul described Timothy. They seek their own. They don't
seek the things that are Jesus Christ's. They're seeking those
things that profit them, that build them up and that do what
they would have done. So they turn from Christ, they
look to the law for some part of their righteousness. And in
the process These dogs, as Paul called them, these dogs, they
profit themselves. They hurt the people, they begin
to abuse the people, they begin to turn the people away from
Christ and turn them to some work in the flesh that they may
glory in the flesh of what they've got someone else to do for Christ. So that they can boast before
God and say, look what I got these people to do for you, Lord.
I did all this. I whipped up their flesh, got
them all zealous for the law to do all these works for you.
And yet they hated God in their heart and there was no love for
Him in their heart. Turn over to Isaiah 56 and we'll
see this. Isaiah 56 and go to verse 10. It says, Isaiah 56, 10, His watchmen
are blind, they are all ignorant, they are all dumb dogs. They
cannot bark, sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber. Yea,
they are greedy dogs which can never have enough, and they are
shepherds that cannot understand. They all look to their own way,
everyone for his gain from his quarter. Come ye, say they. I
will fetch wine, and we will fill ourselves with strong drink,
and tomorrow shall be as this day, and much more abundant."
And so Paul and Christ's ministers warning the people, continually
warning them to beware of these types of dogs, beware of those
ministers that come speaking religious things, but are in
it for themselves, that are in it to gain a following, that
are in it to turn you away from Christ and trust in some work
of the flesh, because the law cannot save. The law cannot save
us. It's not our righteousness. God didn't provide the law to
be our righteousness. God provided the law to shut
our mouths, because when we look in the law, we see, I'm a sinner,
and I can't keep that perfection of the law perfectly to satisfy
God. So it shows us instead when you're
made alive, when you're pricked by the Spirit, you see, wait
a minute, I'm not doing this perfectly. And if God is holy,
if he's really holy, I'm not measuring up, and I'm coming
short, and there's going to be trouble for me. And that's what
Paul said in Romans 8, verses 3 and 4, he said, For what the
law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God
sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin
condemned sin in the flesh. that the righteousness of the
law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh,
but after the Spirit." That is, we walk looking to Christ, trusting
Him, and the Spirit teaches us. It's not like the Spirit just
says, hey, just run off naked and just go do as you will and
do what you want, and there's nothing. to worry about at all. It doesn't matter if we sin,
but we know the Spirit teaches us through the Gospel so that
we understand what the flesh lusts for and the flesh desires
certain things of this world. But the Spirit teaches us, don't
do those things. It's not profitable to you. It
grieves the Spirit. It's not profitable to your brethren.
Because oftentimes in our sin, we're sinning against the Lord,
we're sinning against our brethren. And so we don't want to do that,
but we don't see that in looking to the law, because the law is
only as deep as the skin, as deep as the flesh. If you don't
do anything, then you're fine as far as the law is concerned.
But the law of God is spiritual, and it goes deeper than that.
And that's why if we harbor hatred in our heart for our brethren,
it says you've murdered them in your heart. And so the Spirit
teaches that, and it's not looking to the law of Moses, it's trusting
Christ. It's trusting that he laid down
his life to put away the works of the flesh. And to put away,
that's both the confidence that we have in our flesh when we
do good or avoid something, and it's also doing those things
that we know are wicked and hurtful that we ought not to do. The
Spirit teaches us that. through his gospel, and he grows
us. That's why Peter said that we
grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus
Christ. That's 2 Peter 3.18. So we grow thereby. But all the concision did was
walk after the flesh. That's all that they taught.
And concision means to cut or to mutilate. So they cut the
flesh through all their law keeping, all they're doing is cutting.
It's cut, cut, cut, cut, cut, snip, snap, snip, snap, snip,
snap, cut, cut, cut, don't do this, don't do that, don't go
there to that place, don't dance, don't play cards, don't have
a drink of wine, don't drink coffee, don't do this, don't
do that. So there's all this condemnation
of what people are doing because that's all that their righteousness
is. It's looking to the law for their righteousness. And so that's
it. But Paul said to the Galatians
in 221, if righteousness come by the law, some voluntary humility
that we subject ourselves to for righteousness, if that is
our righteousness, then Christ is dead in vain. There is no
need for Christ. And that's really what religion
does today with Christ. He's just a supplemental help.
He's just a guide, just a little signpost there for people to
go about doing their own righteous deeds and works. And in Galatians
5, 1 and 2, Paul said, "...to stand fast therefore in the liberty
wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again
with the yoke of bondage." Behold, I, Paul, say unto you, that if
ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. And that's
what the concision was all about. It was about performing a cutting
work in the flesh, so as looking back at the law of Moses for
some form of righteousness, for some assurance, for some comfort
in themselves, in their own flesh. And the scriptures teach that
Christ really is all the believer's salvation. In Philippians 3.3,
Paul said, for we are the circumcision which worship God in the spirit,
not the flesh but in the spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and
have no confidence in the flesh because Christ himself is our
justification and Christ himself is our sanctification and he
is the one who has taken full responsibility to put away our
sin And that means he continues to teach us, and lead us, and
guide us, and give us various gifts which we exercise and use
in the church for the benefit of his people. And so we rest
in what Christ has done knowing that we ourselves were dead in
trespasses and sins. Christ's blood is effectual and
has purged us of our sin. His blood has made atonement
for us so that we are now the very perfection which God requires
of us because we come in him, not our own works. And he has
made us alive unto the things of God so that we know and are
taught and are assured not to trust in this flesh. and he keeps
strengthening us and growing us in that very gospel. Paul said, listen to this in
Romans 2 29, but he is a Jew which is one inwardly and circumcision
is that of the heart in the spirit and not in the letter whose praise
is not of men but of God. So we're trusting in the salvation
that God has provided. And the Holy Spirit is the one
that pricks us in the heart, not in the flesh. And we draw
near to our God in the heart and not in our flesh. It's not
a physical thing in that way. It's by faith that we are drawn
to the Lord. And it's by faith that we know
him and believe him and believe his word and trust him and know
We have his law written on our hearts, not the law of Moses,
but the law of liberty in the Lord Jesus Christ to rest in
him and to trust him and to know that this isn't my inheritance,
so I don't have to go and gobble up all the things of this world
with greed and zealousness, but I can rest in Christ knowing
that this isn't my inheritance. And there's all kinds of foolish
things in this world that take my eyes off of Christ. And so
I don't want to look at those things and set my heart and my
eyes on those things. I'm taught by the Spirit to look
to Christ and set my heart and my desire upon Him. and rest
in Him. Colossians 2, 9 through 11 telling
us, In Christ dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily,
and ye are complete in Him, which is the head of all principality
and power, in whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision
made without hands, and putting off the body of the sins of the
flesh by the circumcision of Christ. We're looking to and
trusting Him, because in Him we stand complete, we know that
we are accepted of God, and that brings rejoicing, because we're
joying in that which pleases Him. We're rejoicing in what
Christ Himself rejoiced in. So we're not still trying to
work a righteousness, but resting in Him. Isaiah 56 verses at the
end of verse 3 Isaiah 56 it speaks of a eunuch and he says neither
let the eunuch say behold I am a dry tree. He's saying of the
eunuch that were the eunuch that can produce no fruit of the flesh. We're that dry tree in the flesh.
We can produce no fruit. And he said, don't let the eunuchs
say, behold, I'm a dry tree, and be fearful and worry about
that. For thus saith the Lord unto
the eunuchs that keep my Sabbaths, that is, those that rest in Christ's
work. That's our Sabbath. Christ is
our Sabbath. And choose the things that please
me. What is it that pleases the Father?
Christ pleased the Father well in all things. We choose the
things that please the Father, brethren, and look unto Christ
and take hold of my covenant. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
covenant, right? He said to Christ himself, behold,
I have given thee as a covenant to the people, a covenant of
the people. So we're taking hold of that covenant. We're choosing
the things that please the Father well, the Lord Jesus Christ.
We are resting in his Sabbath, the Lord Jesus Christ, the one
whom he's provided to give us rest from all our labors. It's the Lord Jesus Christ. Even
to them, he says, will I give in mine house and within my walls
a place and a name better than of sons and of daughters. I will
give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off. It's
a good thing that we're not bringing forth sons and daughters in this
flesh. Our fruit comes from the Lord Jesus Christ. He says, you
don't worry about your fruit by the law in the flesh. You
rest in me, you eunuchs. You look to Christ. You take
hold of Christ and choose that which pleases the Father. And
that's what Paul was saying in 3.3. We rejoice in Christ Jesus
and have no confidence in the flesh. And then Paul uses himself
as an example. Look at verses back in Philippians
3, verses 4 through 7. He said, 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. Circumcised
the eighth day of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin,
and Hebrew of the Hebrews, as touching the law, a Pharisee.
Concerning zeal, I persecuted the church. Touching the righteousness
which is in the law, blameless. But what things were gained to
me, those I counted loss for Christ. So at one time, Paul,
he trusted those things. He was a good, law-abiding Pharisee. But now he knew that all those
things didn't profit him in any way, because we're not saved
by those works. And so he counted all those things
as dumb. And that's what the Spirit teaches
us, right? We take all the bad things. Most people think God's
going to put the bad things on one side of the scale. and then
the good things and hopefully it's going to bounce out in your
favor on the good things. But the Lord takes all the bad
things and all the good things and they go on one side, that's
all you and your righteousness and your works, and he puts Christ
on the other side. And all those without Christ,
they're gonna come up short because our righteousness is nothing
compared to his righteousness. It's all dumb. And that's what
Paul said in 3.8. Yea, doubtless, and I count all
things, good or bad, but 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 may win Christ. everything that we've done in
this flesh. Anything that we think is something, it's all
dumb. It's all dumb. It doesn't compare
to the Lord Jesus Christ. And so Paul was warning these
brethren Beware, beware of those that are coming in and they're
gonna turn you away from Christ and back to the flesh. In Colossians
3.10, we see that we've put off the old man and rather have put
on the new man which is renewed in knowledge after the image
of him that created him. We're created in the image of
Christ. We that are his, we are created
in Christ's image. We're not to be created in Moses'
image. We are to look to the prophet
that Moses spoke of and said, him you shall hear. Hear this
one who's coming. He's going to have the Spirit.
He's the one who's going to teach you all things. Hear Him. And
Christ has come and we are created in His image where there is neither
Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian,
bond nor free, but Christ is all and in all. He's our rallying
point. He's the one to whom we are gathered
as our banner. If you would know and worship
the true and living God and be assured of your salvation, get
to Christ. Look to Him. Just look to Him. Look to Him in your heart, knowing
if God has convinced you that you're a sinner and that Christ
is salvation, believe. Rest in the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's what He teaches. That's what He reveals in our
hearts, that Christ is all-sufficient even to save me, the wickedest
sinner. most vile sinner and he convinces
us that of that now philippians 3 9 and be found in him paul
said we let go of our religious dung and be found in christ not
having mine own righteousness which is of the law but that
which is through the faith of christ the righteousness which
is of god by faith So for this reason, we continue to preach
Christ because he's the gospel. He's our salvation. And in him,
we are safe and secure from all harm, from the dogs, from the
concision, from the workers of the law. We're saved from that
and delivered from that. Our righteousness is Christ.
look to the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. Let's
pray. Our gracious Lord, we thank you
for the salvation you've given to us in Christ. And Lord, we
pray that you would settle us there. Lord, don't let us be
turned away by the wisdom of this world and the wisdom of
men and the flesh, our own flesh, Lord, but keep us looking to
the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray, Lord, that you would
reveal Christ in our hearts, that you would Give us the faith
to look to him alone and lay hold of Christ, who is the salvation,
the Sabbath rest that you provided for your people. We pray this,
Lord, that you would bless this word to our hearts. In Christ's
name we pray. Amen.