Turn to the book of Philippians
chapter 3. Now before I turn this microphone
on, right before we started, and I should have made me a note
because I know, I remember them right now, but I'm going to forget
them. So I'm going to ask you to help me at the end. Philippians
chapter 3. Now, we're still actually in
the book of Romans chapter 10 and verse 10, which in part reads,
with the heart man believes unto righteousness. With the heart
man believes unto righteousness. But I thought we have worked
Romans 10 over pretty good recent weeks, so we might just read
a different passage. And this one speaks very directly
to those issues. Third chapter, the book of Philippians. 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, and he's not talking about pit bulls or rottweilers
or German shepherds. He's talking about people, particularly
religious people who think they've been appointed on this earth
to act as God's agents in making people behave. Beware of evil
workers. Beware of the concision." That's
the cutting of the flesh. That's doing anything to your
body that you improve your favor with God. In this particular
instance, when these words were written, it's talking about the
Jews going all over the world trying to get people to be circumcised. Beware of the concision. Paul and the persons to whom
he writes, and other people in this world who are like them,
followers and believers in our Lord Jesus Christ. We are the
circumcision, the truly circumcised people. This was the Jews' pride
of every generation, that they, unlike all other people who lived
on the earth, they were circumcised. But physical circumcision does
not change a man's heart. It doesn't change his standing
before God. God told Moses, after he had
been back to Egypt and led the children of Israel out of Egypt,
He said, if you don't circumcise your sons, He said, I'm going
to kill them. And Moses did so over the protest of his wife.
We are the circumcision. We are the truly, spiritually,
circumcised in heart that do. We worship God in a spiritual. Worship is not lifting up our
hands. It's not clapping our hands.
It's not dancing a jig. That's not the worship of the
God of the Bible. God's children worship God in
the spirit. in the Holy Spirit and in their
spiritual part of themselves. It's not designed to just create
an atmosphere of worship in which people begin to weep because
of the psychology being employed from the pulpit. That's demonic. That is not a thing in the world,
but Satan at work. Pity of our world. Worship God
in the spirit. Number two, rejoice in Christ
Jesus. If we've been introduced to him,
we won't ever get tired of rejoicing. Christ is all. He's our all in
all. And thirdly, have no confidence. You mean not a little bit? Not
a little bit. No confidence in the flesh. Our
flesh is just like it was the day we were born. It's just like
it was the day you walked the church aisle and took the preacher's
hand. It is pure, rotten sin, and it will remain that until
we go to our grave. It does not get better. If you
ask the believer about himself, he'll tell you it gets worse.
These people who claim to live the victorious life They didn't
read Philippians 3.3. They missed that lesson some
line. All right, verse 4. Paul now speaks to the legalist
of his day, the self-righteous Jews and plenty of Gentiles in
the same boat. In fact, all of us in that boat
until God delivers us. Though I might also have confidence
in the flesh, He just told us to have no confidence in the
flesh. But he said, if you want to talk
about the flesh, I'll talk with you about it. If any other man
thinks that he has whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more. He's talking now specifically
to the Jews because of this statement in verse 5. He was circumcised
the eighth day, not the seventh and not the ninth, the eighth
day. which is what God required when
He instituted circumcision through Abraham. Of the stock of Israel,
of the tribe of Benjamin, and Hebrew of the Hebrews as touching
the law, you couldn't get any better than this. It's like saying,
I'm a Baptist. You can't get any better than
that. So you can't get any worse. Paul said, I was a Pharisee.
and not just any Pharisee. He was the most committed, the
one who gave his all to what he believed to be right, only
to discover that it was complete. Verse 6, concerning zeal, persecuting
the church, people who believed and worshipped the Lord Jesus.
Touching the righteousness which is in the law, without blame. This man thought that he was
living life without sin. And do you know there are still
crazy people like that among us? And we ourselves have entertained
that thought, no doubt. But alas, we discover we are
not anything but certainly not sinless. All right, verse 7.
Now listen carefully. But what things were gained to
me, the things that I thought stood me in good stead, the things
that were gained to me, I counted loss for Christ. When he met
the Savior on the road to Damascus, he lost all of his good works. They went up in smoke all at
one time. What things were gained to me,
those I counted loss Yes, doubtless, and I count all things but loss
for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for
whom I have suffered the loss of all things, his place in the
Jewish religion, his prominence among them, his reputation. Can you imagine every time he
went in a Jewish synagogue, those people virtually worshipped this
man, and now he's lost. all of that. And now they have
but one goal in mind, and that's to kill this man. I've suffered
the loss of all things, and do count them but done, that I might
win Christ. Now, what is winning Christ?
Here it is in the very next verse. And be found in him, being found
in Christ, not having my own righteousness. You can't have
but one. Which one is it going to be?
It is the imputed, perfect, absolutely perfect righteousness of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Be found in Him, not having my
own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through
the faith. Now watch this little tiny preposition. It is of. There are about five
or six of these, once here in Philippians, several times in
Galatians, and a couple of times that I don't remember where they
are, but there are several of them in our Bibles. Not having
my own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is
through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of
God by faith by faith. Now I'm going to pick up speed
because I'm taking it. "...that I may know Him, and
the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings
being made conformable, if by any means I might attain unto
the resurrection of the dead. Not as though I had already attained,
either were already perfect, but I follow after it that I
may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of crisis."
What happened on the road to Damascus described first in our
Bibles in Acts chapter 9? The Lord Jesus Christ apprehended
Saul of Tarsus, and ultimately named him Paul, who is the person
writing these words. Verse 13, Brethren, I count not
myself to have apprehended, but this one thing I do, forgetting
those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those
things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize
of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Let us, therefore,
as many as be perfect, He's referring to those persons that are in
Christ, and in Christ all believers are perfect. It's not the best
believers that are perfect. It's all of them or none. Let
us, therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded. And
if in anything you be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even
this unto you. Nevertheless, whereto we have
already attained, let us walk by the same rule. Those rules
were found in verse 3, verse 7, and verse 9. Let us walk by
those same rules. Let us mind or tend the same. Brethren, be followers together
of me, and mark them which walk, so as you have us for an example,
and now this parenthetical statement. For many walk of whom I've told
you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies
of the cross of Christ." Do you know the average Baptist in America
doesn't know that Christ has any enemies? But what he really
doesn't know is that he's one of them. And so are we, until
God conquers us by His grace. Verse 19, whose end is destruction,
whose God is their belly, and whose glory is their glory, who
mind or tend earthly things. For our conversation, my margin
says this word should have been translated citizenship, for our
citizenship is in heaven, from where also we look for the Savior,
the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile body. Paul is still referring to his
natural self as a vile body? Yes, we do. When the Lord Jesus
returns, He'll change our vile body, that it may be fashioned
like unto His glorious body, according to the working whereby
He is able even to subdue all things unto Him. Now, if you'll
turn to Romans chapter 10, Romans 10, and we're just going to take
a half of a verse. That would be the first half
of verse 10. Now, let's have prayer together. We often pray at this point. I just wait
until the end. If God doesn't do something,
it ain't all. a million times true when it comes to me. Lord, we have your Word opened
in front of us. We beg of you to reveal to our minds
and our heart that are stated so plainly and clearly in your
Holy Bible that these things may as well be in a language
that was lost thousands of years ago. because we do not understand
this book through just the natural mind. Our mind and our hearts
are prejudiced against the God who sent it. So if we are to
profit in our souls, if we are to receive blessing and benefit
from what we read, And from what this preacher tries to preach,
Lord, unless you make it alive to our souls, it will not only
not help us, it will make us work. We beg for your blessing. We know that you're in heaven,
that you are the God who is everywhere present, and your presence yourself
is magnified and lifted up. Lord, help us this day. We must
have your help. Send your precious Spirit. Show
us who Christ is and what He's done for us. All right, Romans
10 and verse 10 and the first half of that verse. For with
the heart, man, mankind, men, women, whatever, boys and girls,
with the heart, man believes unto righteousness, and then
it goes on to add, and with the mouth confession is made unto
salvation. Now listen carefully. You can
go to heaven if you're in Christ without confession, but you can't
go to heaven without believing. So the most important half of
this verse is, with the mouth we believe. It doesn't say a
thing about working to be righteous. So when you see the word believe,
or as it is here in verse 10, believeth, which I just simply
say believes, I'm not into these E.T.s. I don't know how long
ago I started doing this, but I just read it like we used to. Here's the whole thing in a nutshell. With the heart, man believes
unto righteousness. Any time you see the word believe
in whatever form, it has to do with what? Faith has but one
what that is. It's actually a who. The Lord
Jesus is the only object of saving. He's everything to us. With the
heart, Man believes. Now, many people think too much
of their faith and far too little of faith's object, which is Christ. Somebody hasn't heard the truth.
Soul-saving faith rests solely, s-o-l-e-l-y, solely upon Christ. Christ is the sole object of
faith. His being, that's who He is. His actions as God and as not
only His being, but He came down here not just to die. He came to live from an infant
to a man of some thirty-three years of age, and then to go
to the cross and die. So why all those years, thirty-some
years, to earn a perfect righteousness before Him? Because the righteousness
of Christ is in people, all of them. That's the only righteousness
we have, is the righteousness of Christ. Not only His being
and His works, but also His precious offices, and they are primarily
Our prophet, our priest, Christ is all three to all of his people. These are sometimes called his
mediatorial offices. That is, the offices that inherently
belong to Christ because he is the one mediator between God
and men, the man Christ Jesus. So let's work on Christ as the
object of faith. Faith rests upon Christ, first
of all, as God manifests in the flesh. Christ is the object of
faith as God manifests in the flesh. I'm going to turn to 1
Timothy 3.16 and read you that verse. It's the last verse of 1 Timothy
3. This is an awesome and glorious statement. 1 Timothy 3, 16, and without
controversy, without debate, without question, great is the
mystery of godliness. Now Christ is the mystery of
godliness. And it has six parts to it, and
they're all in this one verse. But the most important for us
this morning is the first one. Without controversy, great is
the mystery of godliness. Number one, God in Christ was
manifest. Can you imagine that? God wearing
human. Why was it necessary? Because
in order for Him to represent us, the people that God chose
out of the human race from the beginning of time to the end
of time, in order for Christ to redeem us, in order for Him
to earn a perfect righteousness for His people, He has to be
like them. You can find this again, we're
not going to turn there now, but in Hebrews chapter 2, I think
it's about verse 16, it says that He took not on Him the nature
of man, but Christ took on Himself the nature of man. Christ is
what now? God manifest in the flesh. Now, if you and I get to glory,
and if we're in Him, we shall. You won't see but one God. And
that'll be the God-man Christ Jesus. There's a man in glory
right this very hour. His name is the Lord Jesus. He's
sitting on a throne making requests to his Father. Father, save that
sinner. I loved him and died for him.
He saves all his. He never loses one. Now if you
like this Jesus that died for everybody Most everybody's going
to hell anyway. You can have it. That ain't no
God at all. This is the Almighty God in human
flesh. Then it says, while we're in
this verse, we'll go ahead and finish it. Justified in the Spirit, seen of angels on several occasions,
we might add, preached unto the Gentiles. believed on in the world, and
when the disciples last saw him, he was received up into glory.
Now that is called in our Bibles, six parts, the mystery of godliness. I was a deacon in a Baptist church,
preacher and pastor, and I didn't know up from down. All I knew
to do was to tell what I had been told, and that turned out
with the heart. And not only does it have to
do with Christ in the flesh, but faith also rests upon Christ
in His life. Why do we have four biographies,
if you can call them that, in the four Gospels? Because each
of those Gospels is written from a different perspective. And
even when you have all four of them, they will tell you. Doug
was taking us to John chapter 20, and it must be in chapter
21 at the end of it. John says, this world couldn't
hold the books to tell you everything that the Lord Jesus said and
did. Or the books that should be written, maybe is the way
he put it. But we have told you what you need to know in order
to believe. Let me read it to you. I'm not
satisfied leaving it like that. Yes, the last verse in chapter
20, John is referring now to his gospel, and I suppose also
to his letters, as well as the book of the Revelation. But in
verse 31 of John chapter 20, he said, But these are written,
this gospel and all the other gospels, and for that matter
this whole book is written to this one end and purpose. that
you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Christ, the
Son of God. Yes, He's the Son of Man, but
He's the Son of God. He's God and man in just one. That Jesus is the Christ, the
Son of God, and that believing you might have life through Him. That's the purpose of Holy Scripture.
That's the purpose of the Book of Romans, and it's the purpose
of the Gospel of John and all the other books. Thirdly, this
faith that delights to adore Christ in His complete and perfect
obedience to the law of God in His life. He lived a perfect
life, and He completely honored and magnified and glorified the
law of God. the only person in human flesh
ever to do so. Are you back to Romans 10? If
you look back to verse 4, we ought not even need to look at
it to be able to tell you what it says. Christ is the end of
the law for righteousness to everybody that believes. But
preacher, I'm a believer and I don't believe I don't believe
he satisfied the law of God for me. I think I have to do some
of it. Well, you just go right ahead, but you'll find out you're
going to perish. If Christ is not your righteousness,
you're not going to have any. There's plenty of churches and
preachers and people that will just give you all kinds of compliments
and tell you that you're the greatest person they've ever
known, and there's no way that you're not going to be on the
highest heaven, and there ain't no There ain't but one high seat
in heaven, and Christ is sitting on it. So faith not only rests
upon Christ as God manifests in the flesh, but as Christ in
His life and in His living. And then faith looks to Christ,
offering up Himself on the cross. It's not enough to say that He
lived for me. It must also be required of us
to see that He died for me. He is our substitute in that
sense. He died for everyone whom he
represented. And those persons that he represented
were persons who had already lived, persons who were then
living, and persons who have lived on this earth till now
and however long this world lasts. It will be every generation.
When the last sheep is in the fold, this world is not needed
any longer. Thirdly, that was thirdly, Christ
on the cross. I met, I think it was last Sunday,
it could have been the Sunday before, but there was an article
in the Bulletin by Tim James. Well, when those words were uttered
by our Savior on the cross, John 19, verse 30, every believing
sinner Reading those words ought to just glorify God for that
glorious work of redemption. It doesn't need us to add not
one single thing. Faith builds her all on Christ
crucified. Faith is never done with Christ. We never get to the point that
we're so strong in faith that we don't need the Savior. Faith
ain't nothing without Christ. It's worthless. I mean, it's
a counterfeit if it doesn't constantly ever point us to Christ. No matter where He goes, in His
birth, in His life, in His death, in His grave, in the resurrection,
in the ascension, seated in glory. We need Christ in all those places
because wherever He goes, faith follows Him. Faith sees that
if Christ is risen from the dead, my soul is justified. When God
raised Christ from the dead, it declared that the price of
sin is paid in full and paid for in faith. Faith has to know
something about that. With the heart, man believes
unto righteousness. This is not some dry doctrine. This is a glorious truth upon
which our souls must depend. And if we are in Him, they do.
Now, I've got another page or two I want to talk to you about
in regard to this statement in Romans 10 and verse 10, and I'll
try to make it as brief as I can. What is it to believe with the
heart? With the heart, man believes
unto righteousness. Now, how come it's not with the
brain? because we're even more apt to enhance what we think
we have up here when what we have down here is quickly deteriorating. We have a mind, you know, that
is just beyond anything. Heart faith has but one object,
and that object is the Lord Jesus Christ. But this believing with
the heart, that we're going to call heart faith. Heart faith
is always born out of need. We are brought to the place.
We know that we need Him and we must have Him. Let me read
you a couple of verses here. How about turning? I won't keep
you too long. Matthew chapter 11. Matthew 11. Let me shorten it just a little bit.
Matthew 11, 23. Our Lord is pronouncing judgment.
I think it's four different cities, Chorazin, Bethsaida, maybe it's
three, Capernaum in verse 23. Now, Capernaum is where our Lord,
after He left the village of Nazareth at about the age of
30, He spent three to about three and a half years somewhere in
that vicinity in his public life and ministry, and it was all
conducted from this little town called Capernaum, which was on
the Sea of Galilee, or as it was called this morning in Doug's
reading, the Sea of Tiberias. Tiberias and another place calls
it the Lake of Gennesaret. It's all the same body of water.
And our Lord was in and out of that town more than any other
single place. And yet, look what happened. Verse 23. Our Savior Himself
is speaking. And you, Capernaum, which are
exalted unto heaven, what a privilege, the Son of God to make that His
headquarters for three and a half years. You shall be brought down
to hell, for if the mighty works which were done in you had been
done in Sodom, Sodom would have remained unto this day." Now,
buddy, that's a mouthful. But I say unto you, it shall
be more tolerable. Hell will be less suffering for
Sodom than for you. And what does our Savior say
after such awesome words? At that time, Jesus answered
and said, I thank you, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because
you have hidden these things from the wise and the prudent,
and you have revealed them unto... Christ said we must become as
little children, hopeless. unless Christ does it for us. And he adds in verse 26, Father,
for so it is. That's how God purposed it to
be, and that's heart faith agrees with the justice and holiness
of God. You can find this written in
Luke chapter 7, verses 29 and 30. in which the Pharisees refused
John the Baptist's baptism. And it says that those that were
baptized of John glorified God and declared Him to be just and
righteous in all that He did, especially with themselves. But
the Pharisees refused the baptism because they did not take God's
side against themselves. When a man is saved, God makes
us so jealous of God's right to reign and rule over us that
we agree with God everything he says about us in this book. Heart faith agrees with and loves
God's way of salvation. Heart faith continues and perseveres. Well, I can't read this one.
It's on the fold of my paper. There we go. Finally, heart faith
is sincere and personal. It does not rest in God's gifts. It rests in the giver. With the heart, man believes. And with the mouth, confession
is made.