Philippians chapter 3, Paul begins
by saying, 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. Same things. We're going to look
at the same things this morning that we have looked at so many
times. Maybe not familiar to some, but
to most, we've looked at this many, many times. And Paul said,
to me, it's not grievous, nor is it to me. It's glorious. Paul
really is going to tell his story. That's what he's doing. He's
telling his story, what the Lord did for him. And do you not enjoy
telling your own story more, even more so than hearing somebody
else? In fact, you probably are waiting for them to finish so
you can tell your story. This is Paul's story. This is
my story. This is every sinner's story, saved by grace. Same thing. I write the same thing. He said,
it's not grievous to me. It's glorious. It's not grievous. He said, for you it's safe. It's
safe. It's salvation. Salvation. I hope this is your story. I
hope that everyone in here, if not today, at some point, will
count all things but loss. Christ. And we'll want nothing
more. This is what Paul's going to
say. I want nothing more than to be found in Him. To know Him. I hope that's what
you feel or will feel. Verse 2. Paul said, beware of
dogs. Beware of evil workers. Beware
of the concision. He's talking about religious
workers. He's talking about religious
leaders. Look at Matthew 7 with me. Matthew chapter 7. He calls
them dogs. And I'm quite sure he got that
from Isaiah 54, I believe it is. Let me turn there. If you
turn to Matthew 7. But over in Isaiah 56. The Lord, through Isaiah, talked
about the false prophets, and he said they're dumb dogs. They're dumb dogs that cannot
bark. Wouldn't want to offend anybody, you know. Sleeping,
lying down, loving to slumber. Greedy dogs. He says they can't
get enough. Greedy. Covetous, which describes
most preachers today, money-hungry, men-pleasers, wouldn't dare say
or do anything to offend anyone for losing memory. But in Matthew
chapter 7, our Lord Himself, the Lord Jesus Christ, said in
the end, in the judgment, verse 21, Matthew 7, 21, Not everyone
that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom
of heaven. But he that doeth the will of my Father which is
in heaven. What is that? What is it to do
the will of God? Christ said, this is the will
of him that sent me, that everyone that seeth the sign believeth
on him should have everlasting life. To believe him. When we
want to see in the next message when our Lord came to be baptized. God spoke from heaven. He hadn't
spoken in 400 years. And he spoke from heaven. He
said one thing. This is my beloved son. Hear him. Shut your ears to everybody
and everything else but him. Hear him. You need to hear him.
You need to see him. You need to believe him. You
need him. He that doeth the will of...
Verse 22, Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord. And
just because someone calls Him Lord doesn't mean they believe
He is. They said, Have we not prophesied? Now this is people
standing in the judgment. Have we not prophesied in thy
name? In the name of Jesus. In thy
name have cast out the devil. And in thy name done many wonderful
works. Do you see what they are pleading?
They're not pleading what Christ did for them. But they're bragging
and boasting of what they did for Jesus. Does that sound familiar? Alright, read on. Our Lord said,
Then will I profess unto them, I never knew you. Depart from
me, ye that work iniquity. Workers of iniquity. Evil workers. How can preaching Jesus, how
can doing wonderful work, how can casting out devils be a work
of iniquity? If it's for man's glory, if it's
talking about man's works, man's will, man's decision, man accepting
him, man doing this for him, doing all these things for him.
And it's not talking about the sovereign Lord doing all things
in mercy and grace to unworthy sinners. It's a work of iniquity. It's pride. It's self-righteousness. The Lord hates it worse than
anything. And our Lord said to the Pharisee,
Jesus Christ said to the Pharisee, the harlots and publicans, we
want to go into the kingdom before you do. He said, it'll be easier
for the harlots and publicans in the judgment than it will
be for Those who are doing what they're doing in the name of
God, but it's all a facade. It's all fake. They're playing
games. They're doing it for their own
glory. All right, go back to the tape.
And I'm preaching in context here. He said, beware of dog. Beware of evil workers. He's
talking about religious people. Beware of the concision. The
concision, he's talking about Judaizers, the Jews. Cup us the sea and land to establish
one proselyte." And our Lord Himself said, when they do, they're
two-fold more the child of hell than they started. Who does that
remind you of? Well, you've got the Jehovah
Witnesses, you've got the Mormons, you've got all these different
ones. Proselytizers, trying to build
up their memberships and their coffers, steal their coffers.
doing what they're doing in the name of God is love for God's
glory. Beware of them. Beware, beware,
beware. Beware, beware, beware. Preacher,
don't preach against this again. Beware, beware, beware. A true watchman, that's what
he does. Beware. Our Lord said, beware
of the scribes and Pharisees. They come to you in long rows.
Make pretense of long prayers. Love the greetings in the marketplace.
Beware." He said, beware that you don't do your alms and be
seen of men. Beware, beware. He was always
saying, this is the great watchman come from heaven. And he said,
beware. Because sheep can't spot wolves. They're in sheep's clothing. They're in sheep's clothing.
Our Lord said it's so close, if it were possible, it would
deceive the very elect. But not if God sends him a faithful
watchman, an under-shepherd who says, right there's a wolf. Beware
of him. Paul, before he was leaving Ephesus,
he said, grievous wolves are going to come in right after
me. He said, out of your own midst. Out of your own midst. The church at Rome started, Roman
Catholicism started at the church of Rome. You have the book of
Romans? That's where it started in that
thing, that had the truth. Many will fall on the last day,
depart from the truth. Well, he said, beware. Beware. Verse three, we are the circumcision. We are the true people of God,
he said. You remember when John said,
John the Apostle said, we are of God in the whole world, life
and wickedness. John, how can you say that? Well,
he did, didn't he? We are the circumcision. Circumcision
was a mark in the flesh that God gave to Jews to distinguish
them from Gentiles. Go over with me to Romans 2.
Romans chapter 2. Many of you know these verses.
Everyone does it. Romans chapter 2. Circumcision
was a mark in the flesh for men, of course, and they were to be
brought to aid today and be circumcised. Every male that was to be circumcised,
it was a mark of God's chosen people, His elect people, Israel,
the sons of Jacob, were to all have this done for them. It was
a mark in the flesh. And yet, it was covered, though,
wasn't it? It was covered. But nevertheless,
it was there. God saw it. It was covered. Here's what Paul said in Romans
chapter 2 concerning circumcision. Verse 28. He is not a Jew which
is one outwardly. Or, you can replace the word
Jew with Christian. He or she is not a Christian
who is merely one outwardly. Who appears to be so. Whom you
think to be so. Who looks like it. I knew a man one time He claimed
he was a preacher of the truth, at least he had the doctrine.
Some of you know him well. He approached a woman in the
store and she was dressed very modestly. A long dress and sleeves
and maybe no makeup or whatever. And he said, are you a Christian? And she said, yes I am. He said,
I thought so. How ignorant can you be? That means the Amish are the
most Christian people on earth then. No, no, no, no, no, no. He is not a Christian which is
one outwardly. For show, seeing, it's not something
that's seen clearly. Although it will manifest itself
in modesty and so forth, but that doesn't, just because somebody's
dressed up, it doesn't mean they're a follower of Jesus Christ, a
believer on the Lord Jesus Christ. Most are trusting that dress. Most are trusting their morality. Most think because I look this
way and do this and don't do that. Touch not, taste not, have
not. They think I'm a Christian. That's not a Christian. Read
on. Verse 28. Neither is circumcision
outward in the flesh, but he is a Jew. The true chosen, the
true elect of God, the true people of God, which is one inwardly.
Circumcision, this operation of God, is in the heart. It's
in the Spirit, it's the Holy Spirit of God working on the
heart, inwardly, not in the letter, not the law, whose praise is
not of men. What a good man, what a moral
man, what a righteous man. Look at him, he's a good Christian.
No, no, no. Whose praise is of God. And how is God pleased with
any child of God? How is God pleased with anybody?
How are they accepted? They're accepted in the blood
of Him. Now this is what Paul is going
to talk about here in Philippians 3. Go back to Philippians 3.
That's what he's going to say. I don't want to stand before
God having my own righteousness. I want to stand covered. So this circumcision, a true
marx of God's people, is inward. It's in the heart. It's a cutting,
all right, but it's a cutting of the heart. It's the Word of
God that's a two-edged sword that cuts and pierces and breaks
and slays the heart. Over what? Sin. And it's not done by us. It's
done by the Spirit of God. It's done by Jesus Christ. When
he hung on that cross, he was the one that circumcised the
flesh of God's people, cut them to the heart over sin, and did
both wounded and healed it. Some of you know what I'm talking about. And it's a removal of
flesh, alright. In circumcision, outward, it's
a removal of flesh. Well, so is the new circumcision.
It's a removal of all trust. Confidence in the Flesh. I had to give three marks here
in verse three. He says, here it is. We're the
circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, number one. Rejoice
in Christ Jesus, number two. And have no confidence in the
flesh. Three marks. They're inward. They're in the
heart. God sees them. And yes, they
will manifest themselves outwardly. They will show themselves outwardly,
number one. The true people of God, the true
elect of God, true Christians worship God. They worship God. They come to
the house of God not to be seen, not to be heard, not to be entertained,
not to find a mate, but to worship God. To worship God. To thank God. Because every good and perfect
gift comes down from our Father, the Father of lights, with whom
there is no variableness or shadow of turning. He said, I am the
Lord, I change not. Therefore, you sons of Jacob
are not consumed. Our God is a consuming fire,
yet has provided that thing we need more than the sun and the
sky. He's provided the sun of righteousness. That's the next point. Worship God in the Spirit. That is truly, really. God's people really do fear God. They won't use His name like
other people do. No sir. They fear His name. They wouldn't dare use God's
name in any way but thanksgiving, praise, reverence and fear and
worship. God's to be thanked. Oh, they
grieve. They grieve over times when they
murmur and complain, and they repent of that, and they ask
God to forgive them for murmuring and complaining, and then they
start blessing His holy name. They fear Him. They thank Him.
They thank Him while the whole world is complaining. God's people
are thankful people. They praise Him. They praise
Him in spirit, from the heart, and in truth. Remember the Lord
Jesus Christ said, The time cometh, and now he is, when the dead
shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and live. That's not
the verse. Where he said, the Father seeketh
such to worship him in spirit and truth. He seeketh such to
worship him in spirits, that is, from hearts, not outwardly. Now, it's not worship with men's
hands. But he's worshiped from the heart
and in truth. Truth. What's truth? Well, right here, the Word of
God. God's people, in order to worship
God, don't need props. Don't need all this stuff, all
this paraphernalia and religion. Don't need holy water. Don't
need statues. Don't need pictures and all that. We've got the Word.
This is the truth. And we hear this read, and we
hear it preached, and we hear who God is, we hear what we are,
we hear what God has done through Christ, and we worship. to the
Word. Christ is the truth. We worship
God in spirit from the heart for sending Christ who is the
truth. Which brings me to the next thing.
Now that's all God's true people. This is what they do. They come
to worship God in the spirit from a heartfelt gratitude and
thanksgiving to God for Jesus Christ. Number two, they rejoice
in Jesus Christ. God's true people. What is a
Christian? What is a Christian? It's one
who rejoices in Jesus Christ. Rejoice in the Lord. Again, I
say rejoice. Rejoice in the Lord, Jesus Christ. That God hath laid the same Jesus
whom man crucified, both Lord and Christ. Christ the prophet,
the priest, the king, Christ the mediator, the one mediator
between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. Millions of people right up here
on the corner, always talking about a woman named Mary. Huh? No, no. We rejoice in Jesus Christ. Mary rejoiced in Jesus Christ. Didn't she say that? My heart
rejoiceth in God my Savior. You rejoice in Jesus Christ.
Who He is. What He did. Who He did it for.
Sinners. The God-man. Our substitute.
The Lamb of God. We rejoice in Christ Jesus. Dear Lord. And verse number 3. Verse 3. The third thing. Here's the true people of God.
They have no confidence in the flesh. No trust. They don't look to, they don't
depend upon, they don't derive their assurance from flesh. Anything that has to do with
the flesh. I like what, I think it was Newton,
John Newton wrote the poem that feelings, is it Newton or Luther? Feelings come and feelings go. See, our religion, our confidence,
our faith is not based on feelings. One day you feel like you have
faith, one day you don't. One day you feel thankful, the
other day you don't. You don't have any feelings.
Right? Faith answers to faith. Feelings
come and feelings go. Feelings are deceiving. Like
one preacher said, you know, you can take a pill and get a
feeling, And religion is much of that. Music will give you
a feeling. I love music. Sometimes I hear
music and it's not just, I'm confessing here, it's not just
hymns. It sends a chill up my spine. Well, big deal. Feelings come and feelings go.
Feelings are deceiving. He said, My hope is in the Son
of God, the Word of God. Nothing else, no one else is
worth believing. Don't put your trust in flesh. Anything you are, anything you
feel, anything you've done, your baptism, your church attendance,
your good deeds, your works, that's filthy rites. Don't do
it. Don't do it. I'm saying that because I just
feel Say, well, don't put your confidence in
someone else. The preacher, the priest, the
pastor, don't put your confidence in anyone else. Put your confidence
completely and wholly and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ and
Him alone. Don't trust outward forms, flesh,
There are no holy things. There's no such thing as a holy
thing. No holy water. No. People go over to the Jordan
to be baptized. Why? We've got good, clean water
up here. That doesn't... People go to the Holy Land. It's
not holy anymore than Franklin County is. It's just dirt. No
holy things. No holy places. days. There are no holy days. This
is not a holy day. Easter. Nowhere in the scripture
says observe holy day. No, no, no. His name is holy. We don't worship a day. We don't
worship a place. We don't worship a thing. We
worship a person. The Lord Jesus Christ. Holy,
holy, Holy is the Lord God of hosts. We worship, have all our
confidence in Him. Put no trust in anything in the
flesh. It's all a vain thing. Sinking sand. So Paul said, if
anybody has any confidence, he said put no confidence in anything
you've ever done, ever thought, anything you've done for God
or not done. Though I might also have confidence
in the flesh. Any other man think he hath whereof
he might trust in the flesh, I've got more. Listen to this. Now Paul, evidently Paul was
very zealous and religious, devoted from a young man. Brother Nybert
and I are fairly confident that the rich young ruler was solitaristic. He fits the description perfectly.
It was about the same time when a young man named Saul, a rich
young ruler named Saul, wreaked havoc upon the church. He heard
what Jesus Christ said to him and he went away sorrowful. He
wasn't ready to lose all that was gained to him and renounce
all of his goodness. He said, all these things have
I done from my youth up. I'm blameless. Isn't that what
Paul said? He went away sorrowful, but I
think he got mad after that. Barnard used to say, preach for
a verdict. Men will go away sad, mad, or
glad. You want one of the two. Not indifferent. That means you
didn't hear a thing. Go away sad, anyone who really
mourns, they'll come away glad. Or mad? I'd rather see somebody
mad than indifferent. Like a sister one time said,
she first heard this and said, I don't believe that. I'm going
to go home and prove him wrong. And she got her Bible out and
you know what? God proved himself right and proved her wrong. And you know, she's sitting here
this morning. Mad, sad, or glad? Preach for
a verdict. Well, Saul of Tarsus got mad. And he said, I'm blameless. Look
at verse 5. He says, I was a tribe of Benjamin,
stock of Israel. You and I can't trace our roots
back to Jacob, sons of Jacob. Paul could. I've got my genealogy. I like that ancestry thing. I've kind of seen it. I'm Irish.
Or Scottish, lots of it. Or English, yes, some of my heritage. Lots of Edwards, my middle name's
Edward. But so many people. Do you know that there's a group
called Landmark Baptists, where the Daniel Parks came out of?
And they say, unless you can trace your baptism, Unless you're
baptized by a Baptist, baptized by a Baptist, by a Baptist, all
the way back to John the Baptist. You're not in the church. I'm
not kidding you. Ask him. Ask Daniel. He'll tell
you. He did that. He believed that. And now Daniel
said, how could I have been so stupid? The Lord opened his eyes through
a man named Henry Mann. Paul said, I was a Hebrew of
Hebrews, a Baptist of Baptists, as touching the law, a Pharisee,
a doctor of the law. Can you be a doctor of divinity
and not know God? Paul was. One reason I believe Paul knows
the scriptures more than any other apostle or any other preacher,
for that matter, because he was a Pharisee. He was a zealous
buddy. And I believe the Pharisees,
part of their requirements was to memorize so many scriptures,
the law. could actually quote the law. And they would have these phylacteries.
They were little boxes, little leather boxes full of scriptures
that they'd memorized. And the broader their phylacteries, kind of like wearing a t-shirt,
you know, with scripture on it. The broader their phylacteries
were, the more, oh, you know lots of scripture. And they wear
them on their head. You still see Jews today. You
see a box on their head? That's a phylactery. It's full
of scripture. I know these scriptures. Paul said, I knew the letter.
I didn't know the Lord. I knew the law. I didn't know
the Lord. He said, look at this. Verse 6. Concerning zeal, persecuting
the church. Oh, was he ever zealous for the
God he believed in? He hailed men and women to jail. what he thought was heresy. Touching
the righteousness within the law? Blameless. I don't. I touch not, taste not,
handle not. I am pristine. I am righteous. You know, that's more obnoxious
to God than the drunk lying in the street. My father used to say this, most
people mistake their own personal morality, that is they mistake
the restraining grace of God for their own personal morality.
Most people mistake the restraining grace of God as their own personal
morality or holiness or righteousness. In other words, the only thing
that keeps a woman or a man moral or upright from not being a harlot
or not being a thief or a murderer is the restraining grace of God. The only difference is the restraining
grace of God. God allows one to just waste
their substance, like the prodigal son, and the other son, he would
stay pretty much upright and all that, all of the day. Who
made the difference? God did. Alright, who appreciated? Who's
going to appreciate mercy? Who's going to appreciate grace?
Who's going to appreciate a blood redemption? Who's going to appreciate
forgiveness of sin? Who? The Pharisee? The moral? He doesn't need it. He doesn't
need it. Paul didn't need it. He didn't
like it. He heard about it. They heard him preach it. Saul
of Tarsus heard that. It's not your righteousness.
It's filthy right. It's Jesus Christ's righteousness.
That's the only one that God will accept. Everybody else is
not good enough. Saul said, mine's good enough. Saul said, I've been to church
all my life. And if he heard one of those
preachers like Simon Peter say, nothing you've ever done ever
in all your life for God accounts for anything. In fact, if you
plead it, it will count against you. Saul of Tarsus said, I don't
like that. I don't like that. Well, the thief on the cross
did. Mary Magdalene did. Come hide me, O my Savior. Read
on. He said, verse 7, what things
were gained to me? And there's great gain in religion.
There's great gain to be a Christian today. Oh, yeah. Lots of favor
in this and that and the other. So-called Christian. But he said
he was lost. All a loss. Lost time. Wasted
time. Yeah, he doubtless first said,
I count all things. Everything I am. Everything I've
ever done. Everything I ever accomplished.
Everything I did for God. Loss. for this, the excellence of the
knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord. Oh, my. He said, now I have suffered
the loss of all things. He did. He gave up. He renounced
everything. Everything he'd ever done, he
renounced it. Paul was baptized. Listen to me. Stay with me. Soon
as Christ came to him and confronted him, told him who he was, and
put Saul in the dust, and the Lord told Saul what he was going
to do with him, called him one of the chosen vessels, Saul was
baptized. Soon as he believed on the Lord
Jesus Christ, he was baptized. Do you know what it meant for
Saul of Tarsus to enter into that pool? and before the whole
public to confess Jesus Christ. You know what that meant. Oh,
man, all the Pharisees, they would come to John's baptism.
They witnessed Saul of Tarsus. You mean you didn't know God? You were a teacher, a master
in Israel, and you didn't even know God? No, I didn't. You weren't even saved, and you're
leading me? No, I was blind leader of the
blind. And Saul is saying when he's baptized, I renounce all
of my religious past, all I thought I knew about God, all I thought
about Jesus, all I thought about myself. I need to be crucified, buried
with Jesus Christ and arise to do one thing, witness of Him. It cost him something to be baptized
in. Now, you know, I keep laboring
this point because we're at that point, our baptism. We're going
to look at our Lord's baptism. Roberta, you probably know about
this, but 10 or 15 years ago, Brother Henry Soar came to me
and something was troubling him. He said, you know, he said, I
was like your typical religious person. Several of you were in
the same so-called church together. He said, I believed on Jesus.
I believed God, but I didn't know God. I didn't know the Lord
Jesus Christ. And he said, I was baptized.
I confessed that Jesus. He said, now I know the true
Christ, the true Lord Jesus Christ. And he said, I'd like to confess
in baptism. He's 75 or so. You remember that,
Roberta? About 75 or something like that. Another man, an older man than
Henry, years ago, asked my dad, that 80-year-old man, asked him
that. And he said, no, everybody knows you're a
believer. And so I took that cue and I
said the same thing to Brother Henry. If I had to do it over
again, I think I would. I think it would. It might really
mean something. But I can't. But he did. You know that? He wanted to.
And he did. Like the people on the cross.
He wanted to. He did. He did. Saul of Tarsus, it cost him.
It cost him everything to confess Jesus Christ. to renounce all
his religion. He lost all his favor with men. Oh, but he had favor with God. He lost all his riches. Oh, but
now he has riches exceeding the riches of Christ Jesus. And he
said, I discount it but horse maneuver. It's a bunch of bovine excrement. Seriously. Is that too blunt? That's what Paul said. He said,
I want to be found in Him. I want to win Christ. And you
can't win Him by anything you do. You'd be chosen and put in
Him. I want to be found in Him. Covered
by Him. Not having my own righteousness. Verse 9, I don't want God to
look at anything I've ever done. I want him to look at Jesus Christ,
the faith of Christ, His faith, the righteousness which is of
God, imputed, given, which is by faith, that I may know Him,
the power of His resurrection, the fellowship of His suffering.
I want to enter into what He's done for me, and if necessary,
I'll suffer for Him, being made conformal unto His dead, crucified
with Him. if by any means I might attain
unto the resurrection of the dead. And yes, Paul, there's
but one means. There's only one means to obtain
the resurrection of the dead. Jesus Christ. I remember years
ago, a young believer, my pastor, said these three things. He said,
I have three wishes, three great strong desires. And I wrote it
down in the back of my Bible. And to this day, I've never forgotten
it. And this is my heartfelt desire. I hope it's yours. Number
one, he said, I want total commitment to the Lord Jesus Christ. A union with Him. A total commitment
to the Lord Jesus Christ, like a bride with her husband. I want total communion with the
Lord Jesus Christ. Walk with Enoch, walk with God.
Noah, walk with God. God's people. A Christian is
one who follows Christ, who talks to Christ. He is their husband,
their friend, their lord, their master, their shepherd. He said,
I want total communion with the Lord Jesus Christ. And lastly,
I want total conformity to the Lord Jesus Christ. I want to
be just like Him. Is that true? Total commitment,
total communion, and total conformity with the Lord Jesus Christ. I
pray God will make it so.