Turn with me, if you would, back
to Philippians 3. Philippians 3. I have a fervent, I believe it's
a very fervent message of exhortation tonight. I feel very, very, very
burdened to preach this message and I pray that it will be profitable
for all of us. Let's read the first three verses
here again. Philippians 3 verse 1 says, 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 that
is so true. For me, it's not grievous. I
love knowing that. Let's preach that same thing.
And it's so safe. Verse two, he said, beware of
dogs. And he's talking about false
preachers. There's a reference right there
to Isaiah 56. Don't turn there, but you can
just read it on your own sometime. Isaiah 56, 10 to 12. He's referencing
false preachers. He calls them dumb dogs. He said,
they can't bark. They can't warn anybody. But he said, beware of dogs.
That was our Lord's number one warning. Beware of false preachers. He goes on to say, beware of
evil workers, evil workers, those who have confidence in the flesh,
evil workers. Beware of the concision, that
means division, that's what the word means, those who cause division,
bring in heresy, that's what heresy is, cause separation. Verse three says, for we are
the circumcision. That means we are the chosen
people of God. We are God's elect, which worship
God in the spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence
in the flesh. Now, as I was thinking on what
to bring for this message tonight, As I often do, as I pretty much
every time I prepare do, I started thinking about you. As I'm pondering
and wondering what's next, what's next? I think about you. My calling is to bring a message
to you. That's my calling, right here,
inside this room. Now, if it goes out over the
internet, that's wonderful. And if somebody hears it, I thank
the Lord for that. But my calling is right here. It's to you. It's to you. As
I was thinking about you, thinking about this congregation, and
thinking about what it is to be a pastor, and thinking about what it is
to truly preach the word, and what it is to truly be a
believer. We talk about being believers,
what it truly is, not just a person who agrees with some true facts. There are people that do that
all over the place. I'm talking about what it is to truly be
a child of God. What it is to be one of His people.
As I think on myself and as I think on each one of you, this thought
goes through my mind. It sincerely goes through my
mind. I want this to be real. I want this to be real. I don't want us to just assemble
together. I want us to worship God. I don't want us to just be faithful
to come. I do want us to be faithful to
come. I want every brother and sister
to be faithful to come. I want us to make the effort.
I want us to get in our car. I want us to drive down here.
Let's present ourselves before the Lord. But I don't want us
to just be faithful to come. I want us to worship God. I don't want us to just be a
people of lip service. You got it right, right here.
Amen, brother. I don't want us to just be a
people who go through the motions. I want us to worship God. That's
what I want for us. I want us to worship God. Verse
three says, for we are the circumcision. which worship God. God's people worship God. It's what they do. You don't
have to coax them into it. You don't have to bribe them
into it. You don't have to do anything. It's what they do. God's people are worshipers of
God. Heaven worships God. What are we gonna do there? What's
heaven gonna be like? Heaven is worshiping God. Heaven is worshiping God, but
heaven is worshiping God. It's what makes heaven, heaven. A man made the statement one time
and this is so true. This is so true. He said, if
people don't enjoy worshiping God on this earth, They're not
going to enjoy heaven too much. If worshiping God here on this
earth is not life to a man or a woman, heaven won't be life
to a man or a woman because that's what it is. It's a continual
state of uninterrupted, perfectly pure, Worship of the true and
living God. Jesus Christ is his name. Don't
you just love hearing that name? Oh man, what does it make your
heart want to do at the hearing of that name? What does it make
your knee want to do at the hearing of that name? Every time that name rings out. Knowing all of this makes me
want to cry, Lord, make this real in us. Make this real in
us. I mean this. Lay hold of me. Grab hold of me. If I can say
it this way, shake me. Quicken me. Make this real in
me. Teach me and teach us to truly
worship you. Teach us what it is to worship
you and teach us to worship you. Teach us to do it. Paul said
in verse three, for we are the circumcision which worship God
in the spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence
in the flesh. I want us to look at the subject
of true worship tonight. After we see it in the word,
may God give us the ability to not just know it, but to do it.
I pray we might worship God tonight. That's the goal, that's the aim,
that we might worship Him. The first time that the word
worship is mentioned in the scripture is in Genesis 22. Turn with me
over there to Genesis chapter 22. Genesis 22 verse 1, it says,
and it came to pass after these things that God did tempt Abraham
and said unto him, Abraham, and he said, behold, here I am. And
he said, take now thy son, thine only son, Isaac, whom thou lovest. and get thee into the land of
Moriah, and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of
the mountains, which I will tell thee of. And Abraham rose up
early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his
young men with him, and Isaac his son, and claimed the wood
for the burnt offering, and rose up and went unto the place of
which God had told him. Then on the third day, Abraham
lifted up his eyes and saw the place afar off. And Abraham said
unto his young men, abide ye here with the ass and I and the
lad will go yonder and worship. Abraham said, what we are about
to do, this is true worship. This is true, true worship. What are you about to do, Abraham?
We are about to come to a sacrifice. We are about to gather around
a very sacrificial sacrifice, a sacrifice that's gonna cost
much. It's gonna cost all, picturing
Our Lord Jesus Christ and his sacrifice on the cross, the father
giving his son. Abraham said, we're about to
deny ourselves. That's what we're about to do.
I'm going to deny myself. Isaac's going to deny himself
in this. We're about to deny ourselves.
We're about to take up our cross and we're about to follow him.
That's what our Lord said in light of His sacrifice on the
cross. He said, if a man is going to come after me, if a man is
going to belong to me and going to worship me for my sacrifice
that I made for his sin, He said, let him deny himself. Let him deny his desire. Let him deny his thoughts. Let
him deny his ability. Let him deny that there's anything
good and worthy in his flesh before God. Let him deny himself. And he said, let him take up
his cross. Let him say, I die in you. I
die in you. That's what I want. I want to
die in you. What do you want? I want to die
in Christ. Where He died, that's where I
want to die. His cross is my cross. My life is nothing. It's nothing. My flesh is nothing but grass
before Him. That's all I'm worth. Grass to
be cut down and burned in a furnace. That's it. Without Christ, I
have no life. He's my life. In him only I live
and move and have my being. May God mercifully allow us to
deny ourselves. May he allow us to take up our
cross. And may He allow us to follow Christ. I mean follow
Christ in His death, in His burial, in His resurrection, in His ascension,
in His Word. The reason is because if He does,
we'll be worshipping Him. We'll be worshipping Him. Look
with me at Psalm 95. Psalm 95 verse 6, it says, Oh come, let
us worship and bow down. Let us kneel before the Lord
our maker. Worshipping God has everything
to do with bowing down. Everything to do. It has everything
to do with kneeling before him in heart, in mind, in spirit. Our Lord said, a broken and a
contrite spirit. That's what I'll hear, the bowed
down. The bowed down. Look right here
at Psalm 96 verse 9. It says, Oh, worship the Lord
in the beauty of holiness. Fear before him all the earth. True worship sees the beauty
in his holiness. His beautiful justice, His glorious
righteousness. True worship says, oh how beautiful
it is that the judge of the earth must do right. How beautiful
it is. How beautiful it is that He must
punish sin. That He must put sin away. How
beautiful it is how He punished sin. How beautiful His justice
is. That Ed Hale song, Oh How Merciful,
it says, when I was lost in sin and shame, how thou let me take
the blame. Oh, I took the blame. But I took
it in him. Blessed Lord, how merciful that
was to me. True worship. has a reverent
fear before God. Verse 9 says, Oh, worship the
Lord in the beauty of holiness. Fear before him all the earth.
Say among the heathen that the Lord reigneth. The world also
shall be established that it shall not be moved. He shall
judge the people righteously. Look at Psalm 99 verse 5. It says, exalt ye the Lord. Oh, that's what His people love
to do. Exalt ye the Lord, our God, and worship, where? At His footstool, for He is holy. Verse 9 says, exalt the Lord,
our God, and worship at His holy hill. That's where His footstool
is. For the Lord our God is holy, holy, holy, so holy. It's not who I am. That's what the whole world is
about. That's what the whole world is about. Don't you know
who I am? Don't you know who I'm gonna be? It's not who I am, it's who He
is. Oh, may God truly put that in
here. John the Baptist, I'm so endeared
to that man. I love him. I just love him. He has endeared himself to me.
He would not tell anyone his name. Never mind who I am. That's what
he said. Behold him. Never mind who I am. Behold him. It's not who I am. It's who he
is. It's not where I am. It's where
He is. My place on this earth doesn't
matter. All that matters is that He is
seated in the heavens. That's all that matters. It's
not who I am, it's who He is. It's not where I am, it's where
He is. And it's not what I've done.
It's what He's done. Our Lord told that Gadarene lunatic,
boy our Lord is so kind. Here this man was, he lived in
the tombs, he mutilated himself, he couldn't be bound, you wouldn't
want to be anywhere near this man. Possessed with evil spirits. The Lord called that man and
he rid him of all that evil. And he clothed him, and he sat
him down, and he put him in his right mind. And then this is
what he said to him. He said, I want you to go and
tell all your family and all your friends how great things
the Lord has done for you. It's not what I'm going to do
for him. It's what he has done for me. Oh, what he's done for
me. Until God reveals to us that
life and existence, and I pray God will reveal this to us. You
young people, you know, you're gonna go to school and you're
gonna go to college and do all that. Go get good jobs and have
families and all that kind of stuff. But until God reveals
to us that life and existence is not unto us, It's unto Him. Do you know why we exist on this
earth? For Him. Everything we have is
because of Him, therefore it's for Him. Everything that we are
is for Him. It's unto Him. But until God
truly reveals that to us, we will never truly worship Him. Worship Him. I've told you this
before, but a long time ago I was invited to an all singing worship
service. Somebody invited me to an all
singing worship service and I said, an all singing worship service?
This person said, yeah, there's not going to be any preaching
there. It's just going to be all singing.
And this person said, it's gonna be all new and it's gonna be
all current. You won't hear anything like
how great thou art. It'll be songs like here we come
to worship. Now do we see the problem there? Obviously I didn't go. If the
title of that last song represented the theme of the evening, there
was no worship there. None whatsoever. True worship
says it's not about where we are. And it's not about what
we're gonna do. It's all about how great thou
art. That's worship. That's true worship. Well, how can sinners like us
truly worship? Saying and seeing what true worship
is, not about me, it's all about Him. I'm asking this sincerely,
really, really. How can sinners like us truly
worship God? When I look at myself, all that I see is selfishness. That's all I
see. And I hate it, but that's all
I see. When I look at myself, all I
see is pride. That's all I see. I'm being serious. All I see is all about me. All about me. Sin. So how can a sinner like me truly
forget about myself, concentrate on Him, and worship Him? How
can a sinner like me honestly worship Him? There's only one
way. What is the one and only way
that sinners against God will be made able and made worthy
to worship Him? Look back at our text, Philippians
3. Verse 3 says, For we are the
circumcision which worship God in the Spirit. in the Spirit. True worship can
only be accomplished in the Spirit, in His Spirit, by His Spirit. God's Spirit has to create worship
in the heart of His people. It's a work that the Spirit produces. And it's a work that the Spirit
gets all the credit for. all the credit for. The Apostle
Paul told the people of Athens, he said, God is not worshiped
with men's hands as though he needed anything, seeing he giveth
to all life and breath and all things. Man cannot worship on
his own. The Spirit of God must worship
for man in man. God has to do it for man. It's
a work He performs. It's a work He gets all the credit
for. If we worship, He did it, and
He gets all the credit for it. The Spirit of God must come into
our hearts crying for us, Abba, Father. That's the only way. That's the only way. And if the
Spirit does that, this is how we'll know it. Verse 3 says,
For we are the circumcision which worship God in the Spirit and
rejoice in Christ Jesus. That's how we'll know it. Every
true Spirit-filled worshiper of God will find all of His rejoicing
in Christ Jesus, His Lord, all of it. In John 15 and John 16,
our Lord said, when the Spirit comes, He will testify of me. He will not speak of Himself. God's people won't go out of
the place going, boy, the Spirit was there, but the Spirit got
a hold of us. He will not speak of Himself.
He'll glorify me. He'll take the things of mine
and He will show them unto you. He'll point you to me. That's
what Christ said. He'll point you to me. He will show you my
glory. I'll have mercy on whom I'll
have mercy. He will show you my accomplishment. He will show you my death. Everybody
knows Christ died, but when the Spirit comes, he will show a
sinner the death of Christ. He'll show a sinner the payment
of Christ. He'll show a sinner what it was
and why he did it and what he accomplished in it. He'll show
a sinner the fullness of it. He'll show a sinner the satisfaction
of it. He'll show that sinner his redemption
in it. And then he'll make that sinner
glad. And that sinner will thank God
for everything that he's ever done for him in the person of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, he'll rejoice in Christ Jesus. Verse three says, we are the
circumcision which worship God in the spirit, knowing it's only
by and because of his spirit that we're even able to worship
him. We're the circumcision which worship God in the spirit and
rejoice in Christ Jesus. Find all our joy and all our
hope and all our life and all our substance, our all, all our
happiness. Longer we go, we're gonna see
that's where all our happiness is. All our rejoicing, our all
is in the one who gave all, gave his all for us. We're the circumcision
which worship God in the spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and
have no confidence in the flesh. That word confidence means persuasion. It means to side with. It means to make friends with
the flesh. No confidence in the flesh. Our
Lord said, no man can serve two masters. You can't serve God
and mammon. Can't do it. It's one or the
other. So here's our prayer. Lord, cause us, you're going
to have to do it. You're going to have to do it.
I can't do it. But if you would, if you would
be willing, we're begging, we're pleading, cause us to be enemies
of our own flesh. Not to side with. Not to make
friends with. Cause us to be enemies of our
own flesh and cause us to side with you. I can't do it. With man it's impossible, but
with God all things are possible. Give us a love for Christ and
give us a heart to truly worship Him. Don't we beg for that? Don't we beg for that? Don't
we fervently, fervently beg for that? Give us a love for Christ
and give us a heart that worships Him. May we not become lax in our
doctrine. May we not. God forbid. God help us. Here we cry. Here we beg. Lord, please, please
don't let us become lukewarm in our faith. We feel it, don't we? Please,
please, we need to press toward the mark which is Christ. That's what he said right here
in verse 14. He said, I press toward the mark
for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. May God
enable us to do that. He's gonna have to do it. He'll
have to do it in us. But may God give us a heart of
worship. A heart of worship and a heart
to worship. A heart of worship and may God
give us a heart to worship for Christ's sake. All right. Let's all stand together.