Okay, you may be seated. I don't doubt that we'll sing
at least some version of that in glory. Holy, holy, holy, a
newer, more glorious one. All right, back to Philippians
3. Philippians chapter 3, Paul is
writing to believers. In verse 1, he says, My brethren. Finally, my brethren. And I address many brethren in
here this morning, brothers and sisters. Rejoice in the Lord. Rejoice in the Lord. I was struck
by how many times Paul talked about joy and rejoicing in this
letter to the Philippians. Go through for yourself and just
be thinking about that word and just glance through and it will
jump out at you. How many times? Rejoice in the
Lord and remember where he was writing from. And he tells us, Brethren, finally,
my final, some of my final words to you are rejoice in the Lord.
Rejoice in him. In him. The Lord's true disciples
rejoice in him. Rejoice in the Lord. God's people
rejoice in Him. Many, if not most, rejoice in their religion or their works
for the Lord. Many people do that. That's what
they're taken up with, signs and wonders, things like that.
But believers rejoice in Him, His person. who he is, and what
he has done, where he is now, the person and work of the Lord
Jesus Christ, the person and work of God the Father, the Son,
and the Holy Spirit. They, God's people, rejoice in
him, rejoice in the Lord. And we'll say more about this
in a moment. But he says in verse one, he writes, to write the
same things to you. to me, indeed, or that is, I'm
not lying, indeed, to write the same thing, to keep repeating
the same thing, to tell over and over again the same things,
indeed, honestly, indeed, to me is not grievous. It's not grievous. We've looked at this very passage
together since I've been here. More than any other one single
passage scripture. I looked at some old bunch of
old notes and there's message after message after message after
message after message. Honestly, indeed. To preach this
again is not grievous. It's not grievous at all. Do I look like I'm, that this
is grievous to me, that I can't wait for this to get over? That's
why I talk so long. That's why I exceed the time
limit so often. It's not grievous at all. I sure
don't like to hear myself talk. But for you, it's safe, he says.
For you, it's safe. This is safe. There's safety
here. There's help here. Salvation is here. Let a man
examine himself, see whether he'd be of the faith, all right?
Paul's going to write to us and tell us three things whereby
we may know if we're believers or not. Three infallible ways whereby
you may know a believer. I'm interested. I'm invitally interested. We
read there, well we didn't read it all, but Paul went on to say,
I'm not there yet. He said, I haven't already attained. So he, the things he's writing
to us, he's, he himself is thinking about for himself. He's examining
himself. Are these three things, is this
what I? feel and believe and do. And so I want to examine myself
here, too. It's not grievous at all. If I quit smiling in the course
of this message, it got grievous. It's safe for you. Same things. He says about the same things.
If the world hears a grace preacher Sovereign Grace preacher such
as myself and these other men. They'll think he's that he's
only got one thing to say he does. He does. He's got one thing to say. Did
you hear the radio message this morning? John, they came three
separate days. They kept coming to John and
he every day. He said that the whole of the
land. Well, you preached that yesterday,
John. Yes, and I'll be singing it through
eternity. The Lamb, the Lamb. Well, to write the same things,
and Paul's theme, theme of his writing in every epistle, as
well as this one, is who God is. Wholly just, sovereign, omnipotent,
omniscient, omnipresent God. merciful, gracious. What man
is in the hands of this sovereign God to do with as he pleases
at the mercy of this God, but God who's rich in mercy. And
the theme of his writing is God came to this earth to save some
of these unworthy creatures. None of them deserved it. I didn't
deserve it. He said, I was a chief of sinners,
the worst of the worst, but God. This is my story, and this is
the story of all believers, that God, who is rich in mercy for
his great love, wherewith he loved them before the world began,
quickened them by his grace. Yes, it's by grace you say. That's
the theme of his writing. He'll write the same things.
He indeed is not grievous at all. And for you, it's safe. You need to hear the same thing,
you know. If I ever get up, if any man
ever gets in this pulpit and says, I've got a new revelation,
hit the door as fast as you can. Henry, lead the parade, buddy. Henry, you two dickens there.
Stand up and say, everybody out. Holler fire. Honestly. I see these places that call
themselves New Vision. New vision in such and such a
church. You don't want a new vision.
You don't need a new vision. You need the old paths, wherein
is the good way, and you'll find rest for yourself. So if you hear a man stand up
and say, I'm going to preach the same things you've been hearing
all these years, you say, hit him. Lead the course, Henry. Stand. Pay him another twenty
dollars. Good job, preacher. Same thing. It's safe for you. It's not grievous
to me. Now, he gives a warning. He starts out with a warning. What is a watchdog good for,
but to give a warning? God's preachers are called watchmen
through the scriptures. His watchmen a under-shepherd. What does a shepherd chiefly,
other than feed the flock? What is his other chief duty
to do? There's basically two things that a faithful shepherd
does. He feeds the sheep, and he watches
out for them. But guess what? The world out there is not friendly
to sheep. There's wolves everywhere just waiting on that shepherd
to turn his back so they can pounce on him. And a watchdog is no good
unless it warns. You want to know who my best
watchdog is around my plate? Annie. That little dog I saved from
a dog pound. Oh, she jealously guards me. She will not, if I walk outside,
she won't leave my side. She literally will not leave
my side. I feel like renaming her Underfoot. And boy, she just thinks she's
guarding my honor and she weighs about thirty pounds, you know.
She just gets her fur in a ruffle whenever she hears anything.
I like that. But a faithful watchman now,
he guards, and so Paul issues a warning here, verse 2, beware
of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision. He starts out using an analogy,
dogs. He said they're evil workers,
and then he names them, they're the concision. You want to turn with me? I know
you've seen this before. Isaiah 56. Why does he call them
dogs? Why would a man say such a hard
thing? Because God said it first. We
just say what God says, you know? You'll hear terms come out of
the mouth of preachers like worms. stinking, worthless dogs. Why? Are they just mean and mad
at everybody? No, that's God's word. That's
God's description. Isaiah 56 is what Paul is referring
to. Isaiah 56, verse 10. His watchmen
are blind. They're all ignorant, they're
all dumb dogs. Who's he talking about? Watchmen.
He's talking about those Jewish religious leaders who are supposed
to be watchmen. They're supposed to be watching
for the Christ. They're supposed to be watching,
guarding against error. They're supposed to be guarding
the people against being like themselves. Isaiah, who was one of these
faithful watchmen, he said, they're a bunch of dogs. Why? Because, look at it, they're
not very good dogs, they can't bark. They can't even bark. People,
I hear these preachers and I think, they can't even preach. They're
good cheerleaders, but they can't half-quote a verse of Scripture. Sleeping, or sleep dreamers is
what the word means. Lying down, living to slumber.
They're greedy dogs, verse 11. Greedy dogs who can never have
enough. Boy, doesn't that describe them. Bring a friend in. Let's pack
a few Sunday. Why don't you just, why don't
you preach to two or three faithfully? And don't worry about those that
don't come. Why are you always going to have
more? Because we've got a budget to meet. I want to get paid. Look at it. They cannot understand. Shepherds that cannot understand.
I heard a man this morning, a fundamental independent Baptist preacher,
read from Ephesians 1, verse 4, and he didn't stop and say
a word. He absolutely just passed over
that like You see, the word, Isaiah 29,
says the word is delivered unto him that's supposed to be learned.
He said, read this. I can't. I don't understand it.
I know it says that, but I don't. They don't know. They really
don't know. They don't. If they do, they're
hiding it. They all look to their own way,
man's way. Everyone for his own gain, for
his name, for his church, for his denomination. You know it's
so, don't you? I'm just telling you what Isaiah
the prophet said there. And Paul, go back to the text.
Paul, the faithful apostle says, beware of them. They're dogs,
they're greedy dogs. And one, I didn't say this, one
of the old Puritans, you know they've been using that degree,
doctor of divinity. The men have been going to religious
schools to become preachers for years. That's not biblical. That's
absolutely not biblical. It's contrary. You need to absolutely
beware of any man who's come out of a seminary. The only one
you need to listen to is the one who renounced it. Paul did. We're going to see that movie.
Maybe. Paul did. He went to the best
religious school of his day. He said, that was a bunch of
dung. I didn't learn anything. I got unlearned everything I
learned. I didn't know God. I was religious. I was pastor
in a church. I was lost. Didn't know Christ. Persecuting the truth. Angry
against it. But now where am I? Beware of
dogs. Beware of dogs. Beware, and here's
what it was. One of those old writers said,
this is where they came up with the D.D. behind their name. Dumb
dogs. I didn't say that. One of the
old Puritan writers who, you know, those fellows, he said,
that's where they came up with that title. D.D., that's what
it means. As if it's six, it's ten. Paul warns the people, and Buddy,
if you're jealous over God's glory, and if you're jealous
for the people seeing that glory, and if you're zealous for the
truth, anything contrary to it will just fill you full of fire.
If you're zealous for the protection of your people against those
greedy dogs, you'll call a dog a dog. Paul named sixteen names
in his epistles. Named people by name. He said,
you watch out for Hymenaeus. Alexander the coppersmith, he's
an evil man. Have you heard us name names? And that's not without being
careful. It's after plainly seeing what
they are. All right, back to the text now.
He calls them evil workers. Why does he call them evil workers?
Would you turn with me? Matthew 5. Paul didn't coin this
phrase, evil workers. The Lord Jesus Christ did. The
Lord Jesus Christ. You know, he used stronger terms
when he was talking, when he was referring to creatures of
his day. Teresa, he called them snakes. Dogs, hypocrites, to their face. Matthew chapter 7, our Lord here
says that most of these religious leaders are evil workers, many
of them anyway. He says in verse 21 through 23,
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. Many will say unto me in that
day. Many. Now, if our Lord says many, that's a lot of people,
isn't it? He has the stars numbered. He says many. All right, he says,
Many will say unto me, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied
in that name? And by name, that means preached.
We preached in the name of Jesus. You know who's talking here,
don't you? Jesus. And many will say, Now, this
is not out-and-out heretics who are denouncing the Lord Jesus
Christ. These are those preaching in
the name of Jesus. Is that clear to you? Have we
not prophesied in your name? Jesus, read on, in thy name cast
out devils, and in thy name have we not done
many wonderful works? Have we not done many works for
Jesus? We've served the Lord for years. Lord, Lord, we've served you
for Jesus. Everything we did, we did in
the name of Jesus. Is that clear to you? Am I twisting
that? Look at the next word. He says,
Then will I profess unto them, I never knew you. I don't know
who you are. Well, aren't they his children? Doesn't he love
them? I never knew you. Depart from
me, ye that work iniquity. You see that? But they're preaching
in his name, they're prophesying in his name, they're casting
out devils, they're doing many wonderful works, and he says,
you're evil workers. You see that with me? Why? Why does he call it evil workers?
Why does he call it workers of iniquity? Because, let a man
come in his own name. Any man who's in it, really,
for the glory of God, would not allow his name to be displayed
in the way that these men do. No way. Recoil at it. Had his face put on the national
publication, his face showing him in prayer, deep in prayer.
They—hypocrites love that. They love to be seen standing
on the three-cornered page. They love that. write books just
as I am," using the word, the name of God himself, with their
face on the front of the cover saying, I am. Works, workers
of iniquity, sharing God's glory. If John the Baptist, well, John
the Baptist did write a book. He didn't even use his name,
let alone his face. And workers of iniquity, Paul
says, don't listen to them. I don't care how good they look,
how good they sound. I don't care if the whole world's
going after them. They earn it for their glory,
and then you'll be listening to them. Don't listen to them. You can't use strong enough language
for these fellows, honestly. And as I said, if God's
glory is at stake here, If a man is Venice for God's glory, he
can't abide these fellows. That's why our Lord looked at
these fellows and said, you're a bunch of hypocrites. You're
in this for yourself, you're in it for your own gain and fame
and fortune and name, and you're dragging these people in the
ditch. Blind leaders of the blind. Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, don't
listen to these snakes. Don't listen to a thing they
say unless it's from God's Word. You listen to it, but they're
snakes! Not my preachers. You can listen
to them. You can tell the difference.
They're not in it for their glory and their honor. They don't build monuments for
themselves. They don't build works in their own names. They
don't call it the such-and-such ministry. People can't use strong enough
language against this stuff. Now, back in the text. Beware
of evil workers. Beware of the concision. Now,
who's the concision? Who's the concision? It's a form
of the word circumcision, right? The concision. He's talking about orthodox,
law-keeping Jews. The concision. Those who looked,
now listen, I'm just telling you what this is saying here. I'm rightly dividing this. The
concision, Jenny, were the men who lived according to the Bible,
according to the law. They kept the Sabbath strictly. They tithed, they fasted twice
a week, they made many long prayers, they wore long robes. long beards,
and all the right things, and they had scripture verses all
over them, and all over everything around them, and they looked
good, and everybody was, they were highly esteemed among men. They were highly esteemed among
everybody. All the people highly esteemed
these Pharisees, and these scribes, and these Sadducees. Everybody
asked them, to a man, Are they God's men? Yes, without a shadow
of a doubt. The scripture says that which
is highly esteemed among men is an abomination to God Almighty,
an abomination. That means God absolutely hates
it, detests it, depairs it. Did you hear that? That's God's
word. They were highly esteemed. They
were the concision. They looked right. They did right. They talked right. They were
in all the right places. Paul says, beware of them. They may look good, but they're
wolves in sheep's clothing. He said that in another place.
He said, Satan's ministers have transformed themselves into ministers
of righteousness. Well, everybody's afraid to say
anything against them, because they look so good, they sound
so good. They have to be good. No, they don't. You listen to
me. The Son of God came down here.
They called him a sinner. The Son of God who—no sin in
him. No possibility of sin. Separate
from sinners. They said, He's a sinner. Who said that? These fellows. And they call on His prophets,
His apostles. Now, here's a bunch of sinners.
Now, they didn't go to school. Look at them. Look how they're
dressed. They look like men. Look what they're doing. They're
eating and drinking. You ought to, don't you? But look who they're
dissociating with, look who they're rolling shoulders with, a bunch
of sinners! We don't do that. He said, you beware of them.
Concision. Do you hear the words of God,
the words of Paul, which is truly the Word of God? Beware of them,
people. He said that. Now listen to the next thing
he says, we are the circumstances. Paul, so you think you're right
and everybody else is wrong, huh? We are, John, you remember John
said, we are of God. The whole world lies in the name
of God. They're not of God, they're of
the world. They that hear them are of the world. We're not of
the world, we're of God. Now you know Paul wasn't bragging
about himself or any of the apostles. He's just stating the fact. Beware
the circumcision. You remember in Romans chapter
2 where Paul said, now this is circumcision. What's this all
about? Circumcision. Why does he bring
this up? Beware the circumcision. Why
does he say that? Because God gave a mark in the
flesh called circumcision to the Jews of old, which distinguished
them from his people." All right? Who saw that mark? Nobody. But God. Huh? Nobody saw that, but God. It was a mark in the flesh. It was still hidden, right? Hidden
from view. Men couldn't run around and flaunt
that. Please, I'm not getting lewd
here at all. I'm just telling you the truth.
It was still hidden. It wasn't something that you
could look at an average crowd and say, well, there's not a
Jew. There's a Jew. There's a Jew. No way. It's hidden. Who knew?
Who knew? God knew. And Paul in Romans
2 said, now, these circumstances, the mark of God is not upward.
It's not in dress, it's not the way you dress, it's not the way
you talk, it's not the way you, what you eat, what you don't
eat, what you don't drink, that's not it at all. John the Baptist came neither
eating or drinking and they say, well, he's got a devil. The Son of Man, the Son of God,
came eating and drinking, and they said, well, he's a glutton
and a wine-bibber. But you can't tell. This circumcision,
Paul talked about many times in the book of Galatians and
the book of Romans. He said, this is the mark of God. It is
the work of God, not with the hands. It's not a cutting away
of actual flesh. It's work on the heart. It's
something God does on the heart of his people. lose the flesh. They have no confidence in the
flesh. That's my third point. Getting
ahead of myself here. The flesh, they don't look at
things like the world does. They don't look at things. Spirit. He gives them a spiritual understanding.
Spiritual. Not a flesh. Fleshly mind. Fleshly
understanding. You understand where I'm coming
from? It's the work of God. Who can see it? Well, they don't
look any different than than the people of the world. How are you going to know? I've
heard people say this. The reason I pray in restaurants
and all that and the reason I have this on my bumper is so everybody
knows I'm a Christian. Does that prove you're a Christian?
In no way. In no way. It proves you're idolatrous. That's what it proves. When God plainly says, don't
make any graven image, does that mean Does that mean anything? Certainly it does. The circumcision, do you understand? Do you understand? Does everyone
in here understand? This is not an outward thing
that everybody can see and say, hey, there's a Christian. I heard
a preacher, supposedly. I heard him with my own ears.
This woman comes up, and she's dressed in a long dress, and
she looks no makeup and all that, and he says, you're a Christian,
aren't you? She said, yeah, how'd you know?
He said, you dress like that. That man's a ignoramus. There's nobody dresses more reservedly than a Muslim. Are
they Christians? Not at all. Not at all. David went running around one
day with a loincloth on. Did he, John? He was dancing
before the Ark one day with a little ephod on. And his wife, who was a real
religious woman, you know, said, You sure did show yourself today. He said, I'll just be more vile,
woman. I wish I could tell a story about
Jack Shanks. It has me in pride sometimes.
It wasn't Jack Shanks, it was R.J. His wife hated the gospel
and hated him, and one day, well, ask me, and probably. All right. It's not an outward sign. Do
you see that? It's not something outward you
can't tell outwardly. It's inward. Look at the next
verse now. I've got to get to this. We lay
with circumcision, verse three. Here's how you know them. Three
marks. They worship God in spirit. They rejoice in Christ Jesus.
And they have no confidence in the flesh. They worship God in Spirit. Now,
it's not a capital S, is it? Or we're of God, we have the
Holy Spirit anointing. Look at it. We're talking like
blooming idiots. We're rolling on the floor. We're of God. You
see that? We have the Spirit. He doesn't
say, The Spirit. Although all who worship in the Spirit
do so by the help of the Holy Spirit, but it's not like they
say. This in the spirit and the word
is the inner man. That's what the spirit means,
the breath. The word, same word for Holy Spirit and this spirit
is similar in the breath. Breath. Now, try not to breathe
right now. In five minutes. You can't do
it, can you? Why? You're alive. What keeps
you alive? Breathing. They that worship God, worship
Him. They just worship Him. It's their makeup. It's their
inner being. They can't anymore live physically
without breathing and they can't they can't live spiritually without
worshiping. It's not an isolated thing it's
not in a place it's not worth a thing. This thing of worship
doesn't involve things. I was going to have you turn
to John 4 where our Lord was dealing with that woman at the
well remember and she said Well, you're a Jew, and I'm not. I'm
Samaritan. I think. She said, well, you're
a Jew, and I'm not, and your fathers say Jerusalem. That's where you've got to be
in the temple. Ours is in this mountain over here. But we're
Presbyterian, and you're Methodist, and we're Episcopalian, and we
worship here, and we holy water. You don't use holy water. We
sprinkle, but you dunk, and we you use why you use grape juice
and. I don't sit there well you don't
know what you. He did he said that there are
women you know not what you were. It's out of the Jew. And I don't have time to go into
that but he went on to say in John four he said now true worshippers
worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father
seeketh such to worship him." He said, the time is coming,
and now is, when two true worshippers worship the Father in spirit. They don't need a place, although
they do come to a place, but that's not what they worship.
They don't worship the place. They worship, this is wood, hay,
and stone. There's nothing sanctimonious about this building. You know
why we have this building? To keep the rain off our heads. That's it. Honestly, there's nothing sanctimonious
about this. This is really not ineffective.
Not the sanctuary. Oh no. There's nothing holy about
that thing. That's just a bathtub. I'm not being blasphemous here
at all, am I? It's wood, hay, and stubble.
These are things. We don't use props. Believers don't need props. They
don't need a place. They don't need props. They don't
need symbols. True worshipers worship God from
the heart. And our Lord said, in spirit,
and you can't have one without this, without the other. You see, when you know the truth,
you don't need props. What is truth? Christ is truth. You don't need
props. Why do we need holy water, John? Why do we need holy water? We
got Christ, the water of life. Why do we need an altar down
here? It'd just make your knees sore
if you stay kneeling at it. We've got some folks who can't
kneel down for five minutes, but we've got an altar. Hebrews says it's in the heavens.
It's Christ himself. It's a person. We don't need props. We worship
the Father in spirit and in truth, the Word of God. Listen, worship
is not a highly charged, emotional, religious pep rally. That's not
worship. Worship is not a feel-good, tear-jerking,
while the choir sings and the organ or the piano softly plays,
we'll have a good time. Now, don't disturb the spirit
now. We're really starting to worship now. Hurry on that. That's flesh. Spirit doesn't
need flesh to worship. Spirit doesn't need a piano.
You, husband and wife, when you're in the privacy of one another
and you love one another and you're enjoying one another,
do you say, well, wait a minute, honey, listen, while the choir
sings slowly and softly, I'm going to tell you I love you.
I want this wonderful feeling. Do we play soft music whenever
we want something to have effect? That's ridiculous. Somebody said
the less you have on the inside, the more you have to have on
the outside. Somebody said, a hollow bucket makes the loudest sound.
Try it sometime. Fill up a bucket full of water
and hit it. An empty pail, clang, yang, yang,
makes all the noise. Those are filled with a spirit
now. It's a spirit of quietness. It'll take a lot to get them
excited. I'll tell you what will get them excited. I'll tell you
whether we'll find their joy in rejoicing. Look at the next
thing. They're rejoicing Christ Jesus. They won't rejoice because
the choir sounded good. They'll say, there's a bunch
of good singers. Oh, she can play, she can tickle an ivory.
But it didn't do my heart any good. Can't touch my heart with
an ivory. Only one thing that can touch
the heart. Only one thing that can speak peace to the heart.
Only one thing that can speak joy to the heart. That's right. As it speaks of Christ. Person
and work of Christ. They rejoice in Christ Jesus.
Remember he said rejoice in the Lord. You know what gets God's
people rejoicing and excited? Is to hear a message of their
sovereign God. Let a man stand up and begin
to declare God to all his character, his attributes, and his glory,
his honor, and his people smile, and they get to rejoicing, but
they don't jump a pew, and they don't do cartwheels and hang
on a chandelier. That's not proper. That's madness. That's flesh. That's emotion.
They don't, but on the inside, they're bubbling over. They don't need the choir. As
a matter of fact, they want the choir to shut up. We want to
hear what he's saying. Stop the organ. Please. They rejoice in a person. It's
a person that they rejoice in. His person and his work. What
about the person in work? What is it that gives them the
greatest joy and rejoicing in Christ Jesus? They rejoiced in
Christ Jesus. You know that? Christ Jesus. Christ Jesus. Christ Jesus. Not just Jesus. Christ Jesus. Do you hear me? Christ Jesus. They rejoiced in the substitute,
the lamb, the redeemer. The atonement for sin, the blood
sacrifice, the American righteousness, the Christ, not just a man named
Jesus, not just a miracle worker, not just the one who got rid
of their arthritis, the one who got rid of their sin. To write the same thing is not
grievous to me. Every other sinner, the thing
that causes him joy and rejoicing is he's got a substitute. He's got a blood sacrifice at
the right hand of God right now. He's got a sovereign Lord reigning
and ruling. He's in His hands. He doesn't
need the choir. He doesn't need anybody but to
hear of Him. Huh? And if I was a little bit
charismatic, I'd say, somebody say amen. I'll do it for you. Amen. Huh? They rejoice in a person. Not a place, not a thing, not
a feeling. Drugs can give you feeling. And that's what religion, a lot
of it is. It's a drug. Another spirit. Yet he has given people good
feelings and they don't have a clue about Jesus Christ. They're right. They couldn't
tell you a thing about why he came, the covenant and so forth. They worship Christ Jesus, Christ
Jesus, Christ Jesus, Christ Jesus. Can't emphasize that enough.
Christ Jesus, the Lord Jesus Christ, they worship. The next
thing is, the last mark is, they have no compass in the flesh. They have no compass in the flesh.
That means feelings. Oh, I worshipped last Sunday
because I had such a good feeling. People, honestly, a lot of things
give me good feelings. Music. I was telling one of,
somebody, I forget who I was talking to, how music can be
such a wonderful yet a dangerous thing. He really can. I know what I'm talking about.
I've been involved and been around and been consumed with music
since I was a boy. There was a group of fellas that
came over from England that absolutely just captivated the youth of
this. It turned it inside out. You
don't tell me that there's no power in music. It'll make you
feel good. Tell me about it. Tell me about
it. Everyone in here has got a pretty slick car and a radio.
Come on now, you turn that radio on, your favorite cruising song,
and how do you feel about yourself about that time? Come on now, come on now, unless
you're a self-righteous hypocrite. Whoo, I'm one bad dude now. Look at me. Music gives you a
good feeling. That's a bad feeling to have. It can give you—you can run the
gamut of emotions with music. It can be a wonderful thing.
It can make you think of truth. You know, when you hear the piano
playing as a prelude to the offertory, come thy fountain, you'll be
thinking of the message and rejoicing in the message, but don't catch
yourself rejoicing in the music. Don't put incompetence in a feeling.
Oh, I felt good the other day. Oh, I prayed through the other
night, and I just know I'm saved. Why? Because I felt good. Uh-uh. Don't do that. Don't do that. Don't put any confidence in feeling.
Don't put any confidence in in the flesh. Anything to do with
the flesh. Anything you are, anything you have done, anything
you quit doing, anything you don't do, anywhere you don't
go, anything to do with the flesh. Anything you have never done, Don't do it. Works of the flesh. Don't put any confidence in that.
The Lord will try you. If you're a child of God and
you put confidence in anything to do with yourself and pride
in that, He'll try you. He'll make you fall and realize,
I'll do anything. No confidence in the flesh. And
Paul went on, especially to talk about religion, didn't he? Religion,
that's what the rest of that chapter is about. Paul said,
you want to have some confidence in the flesh? I've got more. That's what we're going to brag
on. He said, my mama and my daddy were Hebrews. I was brought up
in the church. Circumcised the eighth day of
the stock of Israel, the tribe of Benjamin, Hebrew of Hebrew
that's touching the law. I was blameless, strictly kept
the Sabbath, wore my clothes right, liquor never touched my
lips, righteous. He said, I was lost. He said, all that I thought would
gain me favor with God, all I thought God looked on with pleasure,
he said, it almost damned my soul. He says, Now I have no
confidence in the flesh, not in this flesh. In my flesh dwelleth
no good thing, he said. Here's all my confidence in Christ
Jesus the Lord. All my hope, all my hope of salvation
is not in my works for Jesus. It's the work of the Lord Jesus
Christ for me. How about you? worship in the
spirit only props only roads candles fires soft music statues
all that. Worship from the heart you have
to you have to if this building burned down we have to worship.
You worship every day God's people worship every day they worship
daily they wake up in the morning. Like breathing. They will think
about God they will worship him and thank him praise him They
rejoice in Christ. It's not in themselves, it's
not in the preacher or their denomination. They rejoice in
Christ. He is their joy and rejoicing. And they have no confidence in
feelings, places, people, things, works, anything. All their confidence
is based on the Word. Based on the Word. Based on Christ. Is that you? Oh, this wasn't
grievous to me. That's what I feel. I feel that.
Do you, Mary? I do. That's me. Maybe I'm the circumcision. Ah,
boy. All right, let's stand and sing
a hymn, number 186. 186. The church is one foundation.
I like this hymn. is Jesus Christ her Lord, elects
from every nation. Sweet communion, happy and holistic The Church's one foundation is
Jesus Christ her Lord. She is his new creation by water
and by word. and all her life she died. The second is the last. He left
from every nation. One love, one faith, one birth.