be turning back to Philippians
3. This message, I could not help
but think about a certain person
preparing this message, and that person is not here. Never fails. So now I don't have any idea
who this is for, which is good. which is good. We've looked at this many times.
I suppose we've looked at this one chapter as much or more than
any other. And I think I would be a little
disappointed if you couldn't quote verse three. I really do. We've looked at
this as much or more than any other passage. But like Paul
said in verse 1, when he was writing this, he
said to write the same things to you. It's not grievous to
me. You'd think if anybody would
get tired of this, it'd be me, looking for something new. And
this is not, I didn't just grab an outline. I totally studied
this all over again, and it's like I studied it the first time.
Now, it says brethren, doesn't it? Verse 1. Finally, my brethren.
And I hope that can be said about every person in here eventually. I reserve that term. I don't
call everybody brother. That term belongs to God's family,
God's people, brethren in Christ. He says, finally, my brethren,
rejoice in the Lord. Rejoice in the Lord. Now, let
me ask you, and you ask yourselves, what is it that we rejoice in? Or in other words, what gives
us the most joy? You have to answer that honestly. You have to take an honest, if
we would judge ourselves, we wouldn't be judged. To a believer,
and I'll tell you what it is to a believer. To a believer,
it's not the world. It's not family. It's not friends. Though, God said, love your enemies. He said love.
It tells us to love, and there's nothing wrong with loving. It's
right, loving your family. Right? Sure you could do it. You'd be a monster if you didn't. But this rejoicing, I mean, what
gives you true joy, real contentment, real joy, real enjoyment
or peace, then, is the Lord Himself. To a believer, it's the Lord
Himself. Especially when you come here. When we come in here
in this place, men call it church. I'm trying to change my vocabulary
about a lot of things. This is the church house. Trying to refer to it always
as such, the church house. This building gives me no pleasure. It's very plain. The carpet's
wearing out. Heat. It doesn't always work. It's hot and it's cold. To a believer, it's him. We come here to hear him. To
see him. That's the reason we don't need
a fancy building. which we'll look at in a minute. Now Paul
says in verse 1, to write the same things to you is not grievous
to me. He says, and I always think of
when he was going about, when he was imprisoned in Rome and he was
going about telling his story to different men, you remember?
And one time After he'd already told the same story two or three
or four times in a row, he came to another fellow, I think, was
it Festus? He said, man, Paul, tell me,
tell me your story. And he, you know, he didn't say,
I just told it. I just told it. I've been telling
everybody. He said, well, I just think,
I think myself happy to tell it again. Oh, thought you'd never
ask. You know, the gospel, the word
gospel means what? What's gospel mean? That's right.
What's gospel mean? What's the word gospel mean?
I want to see if you're listening to me. All right. What's it mean? The word gospel. It means good news, alright? Gospel. If you said Christ, you
were right. But the word I'm looking for
is good news. That's what gospel means, alright?
It's good news. If it's gospel to you, it's always
good. It's always good. You see? Good news. Good news. If it's gospel to you, it's good
and it's always news. Something new, you'll learn something
new, but it's the same thing with something new. But here's the paradox. If it's
gospel to you, if it's good news to you, the gospel, then you
don't need anything new. You don't need anything else
at it. You don't need a new vision, you don't need a miracle, you
don't need a sign, you don't need a wonder, anything like
that, but the same things. You just need the same thing.
Let me see if I can illustrate this. A horse. A horse is a creature of habit. Horses prefer things to always
be the same. Always be the same. They have
a time clock. That buddy there, they get it
right. Right, Joe? They get right down
to old Prince and Dick. They knew when it was time to
eat, didn't they? They were waiting. They weren't
late. You were, right? They came right
on time. They prefer things to always
be the same. They prefer their stall to be
the same. They prefer everything on the outside and the passengers.
Don't they, Mac? They like things the same. Don't
do anything different. Don't put anything out there
that hasn't been there before. If they want anything, buck it. And they shy away from it, scared
of it. They run from it. What's that? It's news. Believers don't like new things. Don't give me anything new, anything
strange, anything novel. Now, on the other hand, dogs.
Dogs, they'll go after anything. Why, the newer the better, they'll
go after it. Anything and everything. And what happens? You see, horses
protect themselves that way. Anything new, they'll run from
it. Dogs run to it, go after it, sniff it, chase it. And they end up with their leg
in a trap. They end up shot. They end up lost. We found one
just yesterday, a lost dog. Ran away from home. Well, Paul said, now listen to
what Paul said. Listen to him. When Paul said,
you keep the traditions which you've heard of us, whether by
letter or deed, you keep the traditions. What was he talking
about? What traditions? When Paul said, you keep the
traditions that's been handed down, what was he talking about? Tradition. Let me ask you what
traditions they held in the early church. Tradition. When you think
about traditions, you think about things that men hand down for
people to do, don't you? What traditions did the church
follow? Paul said, you keep them. That's
inspired, Dan. That's not advice. That's a command. You keep your tradition. Now,
let me ask you what the early church did. What did they do
when they got together? What did they do? And if we're not doing it just
like they did it, It's all wrong. We've added something. We've
got to do it just like they did. It's a tradition. It's a church
tradition. What do you do? You sing hymns. You don't bring anybody in to
sing for you. You sing hymns yourself. You
read the Word of God. You do a lot of that. You read
the Word of God, don't you? You pray. And you don't all pray
at once. And you hear somebody preach
the Word. That's it. Know what they did? At the Lord's
table on occasion. Is that it? That's their tradition. He said, you keep that. Don't
add anything. Don't take anything away. Don't do it. That's all
you need. Don't add anything new. Nothing
new. Come in. You sit. You sing. You read. You pray. You preach. That's it. Well, that'd get tiresome. No. It's good news. It's good. It's enjoyable. It's
safe. It's safe. What if I said this morning,
I had a vision last night, people. God told me. God told me, spoke to me last
night. And he said that we're all to
get up. And, you know, whatever. Hang
from the chandelier. It's getting wild, isn't it?
We're to lay in the floor. If you ain't got this yet, God
told me you've got to get this. You've got to lay in the floor
and roll around and laugh and carry it. You've got to do this. God told me. Run, of course,
run. Same thing. It's safe, you see. This is what the prophets, the
people back in Josiah's time, Hezekiah, the prophets, that's
what they did, Sam. They did it just like Ezra. Stan,
that's what Ezra and the people did. They sat down. The man stood
up in the pulpit and preached. It caused them to understand
what the Word was. That's it. It's safe, you see, on safe ground
here. I've never considered that word
safe there. That's what it means. It's safe. It's safe. This is what God's
people have always been doing. All right, look at the next verse.
He said, now beware of dogs. Beware of dogs. You know who
he's talking about, don't you? Do you? What's he talking about,
dogs? He's talking about, now there's
a bunch of rabbit dogs running around here, and I've heard that
you're going to have to watch out. Well, yes. Who's he talking about? What's
he talking about? Beware of pit bulls? If you don't know, turn
with me to Isaiah, Isaiah chapter 56. As many times as we've looked
at this, perhaps someone hasn't. Isaiah 56, dogs. He said, beware
of dogs. Beware. All right, look at it. You got it? Isaiah 56, verse
10. His watchmen. Now, you go back
sometime on your own and read this, but he's talking about
men who are supposed to be watchmen, watching out, watching over the
people. guarding over when in fact they're
bad watch dogs. Look at it. They're blind, they're
all ignorant, they're dumb dogs. They cannot bark, sleeping, dreaming,
my margin said, lying down, loving to slumber. Greedy dogs can't
ever get enough. They're shepherds. They don't
understand. They look to their own way for
their own gain. What dogs is he talking about?
Preachers. Why does he call them dogs? When I go out in the morning, dogs surround me. They're just all over me. Dogs. They're all over me. They hound
me. Dogs will hound you. They'll
jump on you. Now get all around, get away
from me. I don't do that to Abner. You
know I don't do that. But the term here is used in
a bad sense, that they're persistent pests. Dogs will hound you. Anybody run into one of these
dogs at work? Huh? Ever gone to some place,
so-called church, and had one of these dogs hound you? Just
as soon as you walk in the door, Brad, here you are, there are
women waiting on you. Church is not church without
you, you know. And then, oh, there's the first
one to greet you at the door. And that's the reason that sometimes
I don't stand back there. But when you get home, they call
you up before you get home. Come visit you. Leave me alone. Are
you safe? Are you safe? Get away from me. That's exactly what he's talking
about. Now, I didn't say this. Paul, the apostle, said, Beware
of dog, didn't he? Shouldn't talk like that about
it. I didn't say it. Another Paul said it. Beware
of dog. All right, look at it. He gives three bewares. Beware
of evil workers. Evil workers. I want you to turn
with me to Matthew 23 now. Matthew 23. Our Lord warns us
of these religious rovers. That's who these dogs are, pharisaical
phidos. And he warns us of these fellows
doing all they do in the name of God and so forth. They're
supposed to be good workers, but he calls them evil workers.
Look at it. Matthew 23, verse 4, talking
about pharisees that sit in Moses' seat. Verse 4, they bind heavy
burdens and grievous to be born, and lay them on men's shoulders,
but they themselves will not move them with one finger. Oh,
they love to have people under their yoke and under bondage. Do this, I have. Verse 5, all their works they
do, this is it right here. Our Lord said, they do what they
do to be seen of men. Verse six, they love, oh, they
love the uppermost rooms at feasts, chief seats in the synagogue,
greetings in the marketplace. Good morning, reverend. And change their voices accordingly.
Good morning. warning here. Verse 14, the Lord
is. Verse 14 says, ìWoe unto you,
scribes, pharisees, youíre nothing but a bunch of hypocrites. Devour
widowsí houses. Instead of helping them, take
them from them. For a pretense, make long prayer.î
Verse 15, ìWoe unto you, scribes, pharisees, hypocrites, compass
sea and land.î Why are they going from door to door? Because they're notching their
belts. They're reporting to a committee
of how many they've bagged. How many they're running on Sunday.
How many like deer, deer tags, running cattle like Scott said.
How many do you run on Sunday? That's exactly what our Lord
said. That's what he said. All right, back to the text. He says, you beware of these
evil workers. I know it's all under the name
of religion and Jesus and God, but Paul says beware of their
evil workers. Our Lord said they're a bunch
of hypocrites. He'll know them. He'll especially
know them if they're wearing a collar. Beware if they've got
a collar on. There's only one reason a man
would wear a clerical collar. He's a dog. Is that too strong? Only dogs wear collars. All right,
now look at it. He said, Beware of the concision. What's that? The concision. This is special reference to
eunuchs. Concision means cut off. back then who made themselves
eunuchs. And there's a lot of these celibate
sissies running around today, aren't there? He says, especially
beware of them. All right, that's exactly what
that's talking about. The scriptures God's Word is
so bold and so plain that you don't mistake what He's saying. You know what Paul said? He said,
I would that these fellows were cut off. You know what he's talking
about? Look it up. It's the same Word. I wish they'd just cut off. God's Word doesn't mince words
until human beings say, Did you say what I think you said? That's
exactly right. Didn't misunderstand it, did
you? I mean, when he talks about anything,
election, you know, he gets down to Romans 9 and says, Elections
are going to listen to me. There's two children that are
not even born yet. I hate this one. I love this
one. We can't misunderstand that, can we? They haven't even done
any good work, good or evil, at the purpose of God according
to the election. Now, no mistaking what that's saying. God's Word
is plain. Concision. You beware of the
concisions. They're not really. They're not
really. Let's see. They want to be, well,
let me go on. All right, verse 3. He says this.
Verse 3. We are the circumcision, not
the concision. But the circumcision, now circumcision, God gave circumcision as a mark
that distinguished his people from the rest of the world. Right? Circumcision. Everyone in here
knows what that was. Circumcision. Paul deals with
circumcision in Romans, doesn't he? And he says circumcision is not
outward, true circumcision. He said it's not of the flesh,
it's not an outward mark, but it's something that happens to
the heart. A cutting away of old useless flesh from the heart. Stay with me now. I'm talking
in spiritual terms here. And he is a Jew, or that is,
the true people of God, not outward, not because they look like a
Jew. Are you with me? All right. He
says we're the true, the circumcision. We're the ones whom God has truly
put a mark on, three marks. It's not outward. It's inward. All right, let's look at it.
All right, three marks. Three marks. Ask yourself, do I bear
these marks? You can know whether you're a
brethren, whether you're one of the circumcision. All right,
look at it. Verse three, we're the circumcision
which, here's mark number one, we worship God in the spirit. Preacher, why don't you wear
a robe? Why don't you wear a collar? How else is anybody going to
know you're a preacher? By what I say, that's how. Right? Our Lord wore the same clothing
as any ordinary man, didn't he not? How'd they know he was the
Son of God? things he said. We worship God. What's worship all about? He
said we worship God in the Spirit. God is not worshipped with men's
hands. Now, what do you see to that
going on in religion? A whole lot of this. They derive
that from one verse of Scripture. Let us lift up holy hands without
wrath and doubting. God does not worship with men's
hands. Those two scriptures are not in contrast. Turn with me
to John chapter 4. Our Lord met a woman at the well. John chapter 4. John 4. This is the most important message
you'll ever hear. You heard it before? It's still
the most important message you'll ever hear. It sure is. You're a brethren,
you're a true child of God if you worship God in the Spirit.
In the Spirit. Look at John 4. This woman kept
arguing with the Lord. Verse 20. She said, Our fathers
worshiped them in the mountain, you Jews. You say in Jerusalem's
a place you ought to worship. We worship out in the open. Y'all
worship in a temple. We worship down here. You worship
down there. Well, we're Methodist. You're
Baptist. We're Presbyterian. You're Episcopalian. What's that
got to do with worship? And what did he answer her? He
said, verse 22, you worship, you know not what. You've tried it all and still
don't know what you worship. Now, look at his answer here.
Verse 23, he says, The hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers
shall worship the Father in spirit, and in truth, for the Father
seeketh such to worship him." Now, boy, I've heard this many
times. I've heard so many quote this verse of Scripture and abuse
it. What does this mean, God worshiping
spirit and truth? I think it's got a small s, doesn't
it? Not a capital s, a small s. It doesn't mean Not saying you've
got to worship in this wildfire emotion. You've got to have the
tongues of fire and so forth of the Holy Spirit. It's not
talking about the Holy Spirit there. It says in spirit. That
means the inner man. The inner man. The heart. With
the heart man believeth unto righteousness. Scripture said.
Not outward. Not with flesh. heart, God's
worship of the heart, this is where it starts. You don't start,
and you don't, you don't, the flesh can't make the heart
do anything. Out of the abundance of the heart,
mouth speaking, as a man is, that's what he does. And it says, true worshipers
worship the Father in spirit, that is, on the inside, from
the heart. And now you've got to have these
two together. They go together. You can't have
worship without them. Truth. Truth. What is truth? I remember a man asking someone
that one time. Pilate had a man standing before
him in a bound and a crown of thorns on his head, and he looked
at him and said, What is truth? Pilate never did find that. And
our Lord said this, that one that stood there stood with his
disciples one day, and he said, I am the truth. The Bible is truth. Is that not
right? It's his word of truth. You can preach a lot of messages
using the Bible, but unless you preach Christ, If not, there's
truth. Christ is the truth. All he is,
said and did for our salvation, is the truth, the whole truth,
and nothing but the truth. So help me, God's Word. You can't worship God. You must
worship God that is in spirit, from the heart, which has heard
and believe and receive the truth as it is in Jesus Christ. You
follow me? You understand? You understand? The gospel. The gospel. This is what Paul says the next
thing there in Philippians 3. He says, we worship God in the
Spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus. We worship on the inside
because we've heard the truth as it is in Christ Jesus. is
who we rejoice in. He, him, find joy, pleasure,
delight in who Christ is and what he's done. 2 Thessalonians
2. I promise you I won't be very
long. I don't know why I don't have your ear. I do know why
I don't have your ear. I can't get your ear. I can't
do it. Maybe somebody does. is listening
intently to this. 2 Thessalonians 2. Let me see
if I can't simply tell you what happens when God saves somebody.
All right? From God's Word, that is. 2 Thessalonians
2. From God's Word, what happens
when God saves somebody? Every time. Never fails. Always
the same. God saves the same way. God's
Son saves the same. Yesterday, today, and forever.
God, Paul thanks God here in 2 Thessalonians 2 that some of
these, that he saves some of these Thessalonians. And here's
what he said, verse 13. We're bound to give thanks always
to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord. That is for loved,
loved before, loved long time before of God. Because God, now
here it is, God had from the beginning, when's that? That's
beginning, whenever that is. That's way before time. From
the beginning, chosen you. God elected you to salvation. Elected you to save you someday. Yes, to save you. Through, now here's the means
that He uses. Here's the means that God uses
to save. Sanctification of the Spirit
and belief of the truth whereunto. That is, this sanctification
and this faith, he called you by our gospel to the obtaining
of, and this is salvation, glory, obtaining glory, the glory of
our Lord Jesus Christ. by the means of the Holy Spirit
setting them apart, giving them faith, when they hear the gospel
call. That's it. The gospel call. This is how God saves every single
person that he saves, without exception. They hear the gospel. This is the call. The gospel
call. All right? God has a man, yes
a man, and it doesn't have to be this man, it can be any man.
Not any false preacher that is, but any man sent of God. How shall they preach except
they be sent? God has a man preach the gospel,
the gospel. And that man doesn't stand up
and ask anybody to do anything. He doesn't go down front and
make appeals to people to do anything for God, and his whole
message is about who God is and what Christ has done. And that's
it. And then he sits down, or he
goes home, and then he waits. And God, if he's set that person
apart, has planted that gospel seed and creates faith. Well, listen to this. The man
comes, and turn with me to Romans, the book of Romans, chapter 3,
all right? A man comes preaching, and this
is what he preaches. Romans, chapter 3. This call of the gospel, this
call of the gospel, says this, that God, and there's
no preaching without this. There's no gospel without this. This gospel says God is, number
one, holy. Not love. It doesn't say that's
not the first thing out of the gospel preacher's mouth. It's
God is holy, meaning he's just too good, too righteous for us
to please. That's what that means. God is just. That means he will
by no means pardon one single sin. He shall be paid for. There's no gospel, you see. There's
no mercy. The gospel's of mercy, isn't
it? Who's that for? Guilty. Guilty of what? Breaking God's
law. Romans 3.19 says this, that whatsoever
the law saith," you got it, Romans 3.19? "...whatsoever the law
saith, it saith to them who are under the law, that every mouth
may be stopped, and all the world may become," what? "...guilty
before God." Nobody is going to need this gospel, the gospel. of God's sovereign mercy and
grace unless they understand they're guilty. And then there's
repentance. Back in chapter 2, verse 4, it
says the goodness of God leads a man to repentance. Repentance
of what? Sin. Christ said in John 16,
beginning with verse 8, when the Holy Spirit's come, he'll
convince us of what? Sin. Next thing. Righteousness. Next thing. Judgment. There's no gospel without this
message, all right? And he makes a person, be it
man, woman, boy or girl, realize that they're sin or guilty before
God, okay? And then there's the next thing
he tells. Your guilt is charged. Look at verse 20, Romans 3. By the deeds of the law, no flesh
will be justified in God's sight. Nobody's going to be accepted.
Nobody God's not going to approve of. God's not going to spare
or save anybody by what they do. I mean nothing of the You understand that? Nothing. By the law is just a
knowledge of sin. But now, listen, verse 21, the
righteousness of God, being accepted by God, being acquitted, be pardoned
by God, saved by God, without the law, that is, without us
keeping the law, is clear now. It's witnessed by the law. The
law tells us that. And the prophets, they all tell
us this, that the righteousness of God is by, verse 22, the righteousness
of God, being saved by God, being accepted by God, is by the faith of who? Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ, unto all and upon
all that believe, just simply believe, and that's not a yourself.
It's a gift of God. Ah, you all have sinned and come
short, but be justified freely by His grace. Not your grace,
not what you do with His grace, but through the redemption that's
in Christ Jesus. Why did Jesus Christ come to
this earth and die? Not to get us to feel sorry for
him. Not because those men took him and he was helpless and couldn't
escape. There were several times they
tried to kill him and he escaped. He died as a substitute. A sin
offering. God made his soul a sacrifice. God, it pleased the Lord to bruise
him. He had put him to grief. God
killed his own son. Why? Because that's what it took
to save me. That's what it took to save every
sinner. Absolute, strict justice poured out on flesh. The soul that sinneth must surely
die. But Christ, because of who He
was, took the place of all that God loved, all that God elected. Consider how great this man is.
He can represent trillions of people. And did. And when God
saw Christ, he saw me guilty. And God's holy and just, and
God had to kill his son. Because that's what I deserve.
That's why he died. And because he died, sin's gone. Penalty's been paid. There's
no condemnation in that. The law has no claim over it.
Kinsman, Redeemer. He met the conditions. Kinsman,
Redeemer. He had the right, the power,
the will to redeem. He had the payment. He redeemed
me. Huh? Nothing to be... He did
it all. Boaz did it all. Christ did it all. Well, back
to the text now. And this is why we rejoice in
Christ Jesus. We worship God in spirit, realizing
who God is. God looks on the heart. And in
truth, we hear God's Word, which is truth as it is in Christ.
We hear of the gospel of concerning Christ, of who He is and what
He did, what God demands of us, and see how that Christ paid
it all. He fulfilled it all. And so we rejoice in Christ Jesus.
You mean it's gone? Like that woman caught in the
act of adultery? The law, whose accusers brought
her in and cast her down at the Lord's feet? So she's guilty. She deserves to be stoned. And
the great lawgiver stooped down where she was and wrote in the
sand. I believe he wrote every charge
against him and them, her and them. And her, he wrote paid. Them, he said, guilty. And they
all dispersed. And Christ rose up. He said, Woman, where are your
accusers? She looked around. There was nobody there to accuse her. No man accused her. She
looked around, looked, trying to find somebody that had caught
her. She couldn't find one person.
There wasn't one person in there who'd seen or heard. No accusers
whatsoever. Bring forth the witnesses. Nobody. Nobody. Who shall lay anything
to charge of this woman? And he said, Neither do I. No condemnation. None whatsoever. It's gone. Your sins are gone.
She didn't do a thing. Now, who do you reckon she was
in love with from that day forward? What did she attribute all her
joy and her peace and her comfort and her health to? That man Christ
Jesus. He rejoiced in Him. So it is
with every true believer. Here's the next thing, the last
thing. No confidence in the flesh. You
got it? Philippians 3, 3. They rejoice
in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. What flesh? Well, our flesh. My flesh, number
one. I put no confidence in my flesh.
Flesh is flesh. Flesh has feelings, doesn't it?
That's what flesh has, feelings. You can get it to feel all sorts
of ways. If you feel hot, cold, some of
you that does that to you whether you like it or not. Up, down,
hot, cold. You can feel anger, you can feel
happy, you can feel whatever, circumstances and this and that
and the other, you know, makes you feel up one day and down
the next. Depressed and just nobody can depress you. Sun,
up, you're happy. A little bit of rain, just you
ready to, it's all over. Feelings, you know. Somebody
can preach or sing or whatever, and, oh, well, I know I'm ready
to go, and the next day, I'm lost. Feelings come, feelings
go. Flesh is flesh. Don't put any confidence in the
flesh. Zero. Don't put any confidence in how
you feel. Don't put any confidence in what you do. Well, I've done
it now, quit smoking, quit my drinking, going to church now,
never missed a sermon. Oh, that's bad, that's bad. That's what's called self-righteousness. Don't do that. But wait a minute,
on the other hand, I can't seem to quit this. What I want to
do, I don't do. What I don't want to do, that's
what I'm doing. I must be lost. No, wait a minute now, don't
you? Don't you? That's just flat. That's going to hound you till
the day you die. I've asked old men, have you
got the victory yet? Seventy-five, eighty-year-old
men. Is it over? All the lust of the flesh? No,
you're through with it. It doesn't hound you anymore.
You're done with it forever. You've got the victory. Finally,
it's worse than ever. Eighty? Oh, no. Christ said, Be of good cheer. Don't put any confidence, or
don't put any Doubt in yourself because of
the flesh, works or lack of works, morality or immorality, anything
to do with the flesh. Especially don't put any confidence
in a piece of flesh standing up in front of you, just a vessel. A man, ooh, don't do that, please
don't do that, would you please not do that, because every time
that happens, God brings that man down to his true people,
every time. Impressive things, you know,
anything that has to do with the flesh. Signs, wonders, miracles,
emotional services, well, we'll get to that after this is over
now. I'm going to stand there in front
of the chair, he's going to play softly. You've got to play softly. The
effect won't be there, you see. Emotions, soft music. You see,
while we're praying and all that, just people are feeling. Don't
do that! Don't come down here either!
Don't do that! Everybody's all going to be weeping
over you. Don't do that! Go home! Get in the closet! There is no flesh around!" And crying to God whose Spirit,
who seeth in secret, and he'll send peace in the heart,
real peace that no man can take from. The believer's confidence
is Christ's, altogether Christ's. Let me finish the rest of that
Martin Luther's poem. Feelings come, feelings go. Feelings are deceiving. It's
flesh. He said, My hope is in the Word
of God, the Christ of God. There's nothing else worth believing. You can't trust it. So Paul says
we're there. Here's what we are. We worship
God in the Spirit. Not an outward show, but it's
on the inside. And we rejoice in Christ Jesus.
There's no worship without blood, without considering him. And
that's what gives us our greatest joy. And we put no confidence,
absolutely no confidence, anything that has to do with the flesh.
Can you say that? You see, this is still the most
important message you'll ever hear. It's all said and done,
Henry. And you and I are seventy-five
and eighty, well, you'll be there a lot sooner than I will. But
when you're seventy-five and eighty, all your hope now, this
better be your confession right here. This better be it. We're the truth, the circumcision.
All right, Brother Joe, you got a hem picked out, buddy? Two
fifty-eight. Two fifty-eight. Number 258, stand with me. Okay. Thank you. you.