Go with me if you would back
to Philippians 3. Philippians chapter 3. I have
enjoyed this book so much. The book of Philippians. And
our God has said so much in this particular chapter. Chapter three,
there are so many things that he says in this one chapter. These are Paul's words, but he's
writing under the inspiration of God. And these are God's words. Everything he has to say in this
is his own word. And this one chapter contains
about everything a preacher would ever be called to say. This one
chapter. The warnings are in here. The
true warnings are in here. of repentance a changed mind
is in here that clear probably the clearest changed mind that
has been recorded is right in here the gospel is in here the
sweetness of the gospel i mean it is sweet in this chapter The
exhortations to those who believe are in here. It is all in this
one chapter. There are 21 verses. You could almost do a verse per
week. That's almost six months. And
then you could just start it over again. You could just stay
in this one chapter till Christ returns. And I think we would
love every minute of it. If we had one chapter, every
single chapter in this word is blessed. There's not one word
of God that's more precious than another word. But if we had one
chapter to hold, how blessed would we be to have this chapter
right here. It begins in verse 1 by saying,
finally, my brethren. Finally, my brethren, how good
and how pleasant it is to have brethren in Christ. We just had
a men's meeting before this service and nothing special happens other
than the specialness of reading God's word and praying. And it's
a moment that I really enjoy. And one of the men just said
to me, it is good to be in here. And it is. It is so good and
pleasant to have brethren in Christ. Isn't it such a relief?
Isn't it such a reprieve from this chaotic world
to come in and see your brethren? We get to have a family reunion
Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night. How good and
how pleasant it is to have brethren in Christ. I'm so glad I don't
stand alone. Martin Luther thought he stood
alone, didn't he? Here I stand, I can do no other.
Elijah thought he stood alone. Aren't you so glad you don't
stand alone? Aren't you so glad we have brethren? And he said,
finally, my brethren, there's love in his voice right there.
Finally, my brethren, dear brethren, those of you that God has united
with me, united in the blood of Christ, united in his spirit. We come into this service, we
call on him, we pray to him, we sing to him, we read his word,
and what we're doing is begging for his spirit. Lord, would you
fall down on these deaf ears? Would you descend down on these
dead hearts? Would you kindle a flame of sacred
love? Those who have been united in
the spirit of Christ, those that Paul said, I will be joined to
for all eternity in the sinless presence and kingdom of God.
Finally, my brethren, he said, rejoice in the Lord. Rejoice in the Lord. That is
our great reminder for happiness. That is our great, great reminder
for happiness. Rejoice in the Lord. Don't you
love it when that reminder comes? Whenever you have a moment where
it's like, oh yeah, I do have something to be happy about. Rejoice in the Lord. Look at
chapter four, Philippians four, verse four says, Rejoice in the Lord always, and
again I say rejoice. Rejoice always, and again I say
rejoice. Turn with me over to 1 Thessalonians
chapter 5. 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. And
look with me at verse 16. He said, rejoice ever more. How on this earth do you do that? Considering the world we live
in, considering the flesh we live in, how on this earth could
we possibly do that? Verse 17 says, pray without ceasing. in everything give thanks, for
this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you." If we
could do that, we would rejoice in the Lord, wouldn't we? We
would rejoice in the Lord. I just cannot rejoice in the
things that are going on around me, usually. But you know what? It's okay. We're not commanded
to. We're not commanded to. Some might say, I cannot rejoice
in the things that are going on in my home. It's okay. We're not commanded to. Somebody might say, I cannot
rejoice in myself. I just cannot rejoice in my walk
through this life. I'm so unhappy with what I see. I cannot rejoice in anything
I am, inside or out. That's okay. We're not commanded
to. We're not commanded to. When
there is nothing left in this world to rejoice in, we can always
rejoice in our Lord. Always. No matter what it is. No matter what. You know, you
can be absolutely Heartbroken. You can be going through the
middle of the most intense trial. Oh, are you happy about this
trial? No, I'm not happy. I don't rejoice in this trial.
No. But I rejoice in my Lord. We can rejoice in his will. We
can rejoice in his providence. We can rejoice in the end result. Have you ever had something happened
to you that has turned out bad, truly, truly bad. Have you ever
had something happen that you can just turn around and say,
that just flat wasn't good? We can always rejoice in the
good that our Lord is going to bring from whatever he has us
in. Always there will always be good.
We can rejoice in his mercy. We can rejoice in his blood. We're you know, Sunday is Christmas
Day. Christmas Day and everybody's
going to be thinking on the birth of the Lord and I don't have
a problem with that. I think we ought to do it 364
more days. And I've been thinking about
Christmas songs, and Hannah's been playing Christmas songs,
and hear the words say, God and sinners reconciled. Born of a virgin. Hail this God incarnate deity. Born that man no more may die. God was manifest in the flesh.
God in mercy came down and prepared a place for us. Died for us,
prepared a place for us. This world is not it. This world
is not it. We have careers that we're so
involved in and we need them. We're thankful for them, but
it's not it. No more than the womb being the
end of a person's life. Well, they had the womb and then
that was it. It was all over. That's not even the start of
it yet. Life was there, but it started when they were delivered. We're going to be delivered.
The thought of physically being with Him. My cell phone told
me today that my voicemail was 90% full. So I started deleting voicemails
and it went back months. And I had one on there from September
from a dear friend named Cody Groover. And I listened to his
voice today. He sees God. He's with God. Does that make
your heart rejoice at all? We're going to get that. If we're
in him. The thought of one day being
completely sinless. I wish I could ask my brother
Cody right now, what does it feel like to be sinless? You know what he'd say? It's
not possible for a man's mouth to utter it. I would tell you,
but you just, you don't even have ears to hear it yet. We can rejoice in the thought
of being conformed to the image of the Lord who saved us. I mean,
I know what I am down here. I know what I am. But do you
know what I'm going to be? All we have to do is flip the
page. Look at him. Look at him. Rejoice
in the Lord. Rejoice again, I say. Rejoice. Go with me back to 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's safe. I am
so glad we have the gospel. I'm so glad that God has convinced
us of these two things. I believe the Lord has convinced
us of these two things. The first one is, when it comes
to religion, there are thousands and thousands of different messages
out there. Aren't we convinced of that?
There are thousands of different beliefs. thousands of different
doctrines, thousands of different stances on the scripture. He's
convinced us of that, hadn't he? The other thing that he has
convinced us of is there is only one message out of all those
thousands. There's only one belief. There's only one doctrine. There's
only one stance on the scripture that will save our souls. He's
convinced us of that, hadn't he? The one that Christ has declared,
the one that gives Christ all the glory. Has he convinced us
of the fact that he is true and every other man is a liar? Has
he convinced us of that? Has he convinced us that we don't
need an opinion on his word, we just need his word? We just
need his word. Aren't you so glad we don't read
his word? clearly, word for word, in black
and white, and say, well, it doesn't mean that now. Now, see,
what you've got to do is you're going to have to go back to that
original Greek. You're going to have to twist
that until you finally get it to say the exact opposite of
what it says. 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's safe." We have some
grasp on eternity, don't we? We have some very, very small,
small grasp on how short this life is and how long eternity
is. And you know what that tells
us? We cannot afford to be wrong. We cannot afford to be wrong,
and we do not want our eternal souls hanging on a sinner's opinion
of the Scripture, do we? We want our eternal souls hanging
on the Word of Christ Himself, the Word of Jesus Christ Himself. I have physically heard men say,
that they're not interested in the simple, plain message of
Christ. Not interested. And the reason
is because they're looking for something that can more so challenge
their mind. And that's fine. If that's what
they want, that's fine. The only problem with it is it's
not safe. It is not safe. Our Lord said,
it pleased His Father to hide these things from the wise and
prudent and reveal them to babes." Isn't that what he said? Babes
who are not able to feed on anything more than the simplicity of Christ,
the absolute simplicity of Christ. Our Lord also said, not many
wise men after the flesh are called. God has chosen the foolish
things, what arrogant man calls foolish. Simple and foolish,
that's what God has chosen to confound the wise. God's apostle
said, for that reason, I have determined not to know anything
among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. It's safe. It's safe. Verse one 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 then he says in verse two,
beware of dogs. There's the warning. Beware of
dogs for the sake of being safe. Beware of dogs. What does he
mean by that? Who are the dogs he's talking
about? He expounds on it here. Verse
2, he said, Beware of evil workers. Beware of the concision. Those
who preach and believe and hold to the works of man. Look with me at Revelation 22. Revelation 22 verse 14 says,
blessed are they that do His commandments. And what is His
commandment? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Come unto me, all ye that labor
and are heavy laden, I'll give you rest. Blessed are they that
do His commandments, that they may have right to the tree of
life and may enter in through the gates into the city. They're going to be allowed to
enter into the eternal kingdom of God. But verse 15 says without
our dogs, dogs will never be allowed in. Dogs are, it goes
on to say, sorcerers. Those who use trickery, they
try to hypnotize people to get followers. Dogs are, he goes
on to say, whoremongers, those who try to steal man's affection
away from Christ. Dogs are murderers, those who
hate the true and living God. They hate God being God. They
hate His word, and they murder men's souls in the process. Dogs
are idolaters, it goes on to say, those who worship another
God, and there's not another one. There's not another. Beside Him, there is no God.
Dogs are whosoever loveth and maketh alive, those who stand
up behind pulpits, And they love lies and they tell lies. They
love them and they tell them. Our Lord said they're not coming
in. They're not my prophets and they're not coming in. Look with
me now over at Isaiah 56. Isaiah 56, this is talking about
false prophets. Verse 10 says, his watchmen are
blind, blind to the truth, blind to the word of God. They are
all ignorant, ignorant of the truth, ignorant of the word of
God. They are all dumb dogs. They cannot bark. Sleeping, lying
down, loving to slumber. Just like if you had a dog in
your house for safety. And a thief breaks into your
house and starts stealing everything you have. And that dog looks
up at that thief and then lays his head back down and goes to
sleep. Never barked. never one time,
never warned of the danger, that is a false prophet, that's a
false prophet. Verse 10 says they cannot bark,
they cannot bark. Verse 11, yea they are greedy
dogs which can never have enough and they are shepherds that cannot
understand, they all look to their own way, every one 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. They say, smile, it's
all health, wealth, and happiness. And they never bark, they never
warn of the danger, never. They seem friendly, they seem
like man's best friend. Oh, you're gonna love him, he's
a preacher. They seem harmless, but our Lord
said in Matthew 7, they come to you in sheep's clothing, but
inwardly they are ravening wolves. And he said, beware of them,
beware of them. Go with me back to 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. Beware
of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision." Those
who preach and believe in the necessity of man's works. Those
who try to destroy grace. Verse three says, for we are
the circumcision. We are the true people of God.
God made a promise to his people. His promise was an inheritance. That's what he promised to his
people, an inheritance. And he promised it to his particular
people. Not to the whole world. It was
to his chosen nation. He promised it to the Jews. He
gave the Jews a token of His promise, which was circumcision.
And that's why it's always talked about through the New Testament.
All of these books we're in, they keep talking about circumcision.
The reason is because that was God's token of His promise. You're getting the inheritance.
Here's your token. Circumcision. Only the Jews will
be saved. Only the Jews will receive His
promise. Only the Jews. But good news
came to us Gentiles when Christ came. Good news came to us. He told His Apostle to write,
He is not a Jew which is one outwardly. Neither is that circumcision
which is outward in the flesh. That's not what I was talking
about. But He is a Jew which is one inwardly. And circumcision
is that of the heart in the spirit, and not in the letter. It's not
in the birth certificate. Whose praise is not of men, but
of God. What does that mean? Verse three,
it means, for we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit,
and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the
flesh. All of the promises of God, every
single promise, all of the eternal inheritance of God is to those
who worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and
have no confidence in the flesh. That is comforting to me. That's
comforting to me. How can a dead sinner truly worship
God? How can a dead sinner truly worship
God? The answer is God has to quicken
him. God has to send his spirit to him. If we do worship God,
God made us worship God. Isn't that true? If we worship
the true God, the God of this scripture, then it's God who
made us worship God, and that's our evidence that we're the people
of God. We, by evidence, worship the true and living God in His
Spirit, made to bow, made to bow, but we love to bow. We are
His true people who love to bow. We rejoice in Christ Jesus. Is He our God? Yes, He is. Do we say every knee must bow
to Him? Yes, we do. But there's nothing
we'd rather do. We love to bow to Him. We rejoice
in Christ Jesus. That's how we started. Rejoice
in the Lord. It's our favorite thing to do.
Rejoice in the Lord. Has God made this promise to
me? That's what I want to know. Has
God made this promise to me? Well, do I rejoice in His mercy? Do I rejoice in His shed blood? Do I rejoice in His will and
in His providence concerning me? Can my heart say He has done
all things well? Can I say that? He's done all
things well. One more question regarding it.
Do I put any confidence in my own flesh? any confidence in my own flesh.
You know, that's so easy for us to do. Even now, this flesh
will try as hard as it can to say, I do have some role in this. I am growing in grace. Don't
you see it? I am getting better. I am showing
evidence Am I happy with what I see in
myself? Do I make me happy? Can I make it to God on my own? Can I make it to God on my own? Can I make it to God on my own? Do you know the whole world can?
Only God's people can't. The entire world believes in
their heart, I can make it to God on my own. It's only a small
remnant of people who believe in their heart. I cannot make
it to God on my own. No confidence in my flesh. If this describes me, this is
his word of promise to me. Verse three, we are the circumcision
which worship God in the spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and
have no confidence in the flesh. If God has given us a heart to
say amen to every bit of that, zero confidence in this flesh.
We bow to God, we thank him for Christ. If he's given us a heart to say
amen to that, then this is what he has to say with us. I'm gonna
close with this. I love this. Go with me to Colossians 2. I love this. Colossians chapter
2, verse 10 says, you are complete in him. which is the head of all principality
and power, in whom also you are circumcised with the circumcision
made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the
flesh by the circumcision of Christ. He was cut off for you,
buried with him in baptism, that one true baptism, the death of
Christ, the shedding of His blood, immersion into His death, wherein
also you are risen with Him through the faith of the operation of
God, who hath raised Him from the dead. And you being dead
in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath He quickened
together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses if you've
ever done anything that's important to you you ever done anything
you ever done something you know you shouldn't have done why did
i do that i am the man Can you say that about
anything? It says, verse 13, you being
dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened
together with the perfection of a holy Christ, having forgiven
you all trespasses, blotting out the handwriting of ordinances
that was against us, which was contrary to us and took it out
of the way Nailing it to his cross. Isn't that wonderful? The Lord did that. Isn't that,
it's amazing. That's amazing. The Lord did
that. The Lord Jesus Christ did that. Let's all rejoice in the Lord.
Let's all, whatever, whatever we do, may we rejoice in the
Lord. Whatever this bind is filled
with, Lord, fill it with the goodness of Christ toward me.
Whatever this heart is filled with, blot it out and replace
it with rejoicing in the Lord. Rejoice in the Lord always, and
again I say, rejoice.