All right, let's turn back to
Philippians chapter three. As I told you at the opening
of our service, the title of this message is True Children
of God, True Children of God. Now, in the past several weeks,
I've been dealing with the issues of salvation from the scripture,
from various passages of scripture, What is it to be saved? What
is salvation? Why do I need to be saved? Need
to be saved from sin, from death, from hell? How do I know that
I'm saved? Can I know for sure? All of these
issues I've tried to deal with and I'll continue dealing with
them. But one of the things that the scripture describes as salvation
is this, to be saved is to be a true child of God. And every
aspect of salvation we see from Genesis to Revelation, every
aspect of salvation is of the Lord. That's clear from God's
Word. It's not of man. It didn't start
with man. It's not enacted by man. It's not continued by man. And
it's not culminated by man. It's all of the Lord, salvation
of the Lord. And then every aspect of salvation
is by God's free and sovereign grace. It's not of works, lest
any man should boast. It's according to God's own purpose
and grace, given in Christ Jesus, given us in Christ Jesus before
the world began. And then all of salvation is
in and by the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the key. He's the significance
of this issue of salvation as to the ground of it, as to the
to the perpetuation, continuation of it, every aspect of it. Jesus
Christ and Him crucified. Everything that we know and learn
and teach and preach about salvation, in any aspect of it, must be
founded and grounded upon the glorious person and finished
work of Christ. And anything that's taught or
preached or learned without Him and without these issues of Christ
and Him crucified and risen and seated at the right hand of the
Father is just religion. It's not gospel. It's not grace. It's not salvation. And there's
a lot of religion going around. So we know this. We've talked
about salvation in this realm. Salvation is what God has done
and is doing for us continually. If God saved you, He did it for
you and if He's keeping you saved, He's doing it for you. Salvation
is what God has done and is doing in us. It's a heart matter. It's not just outward show. It's
not just outward reformation. And that's what this passage
here, one of the things that it speaks of. It's more than
just an outward change or a change of ethics. It's a heart change. It's salvation by God through
Christ and the power of his spirit reaches to the very heart. What
we cannot change. You know, religion can change
a person outwardly. Religion can make a person turn
over a new leaf, but it cannot change the heart. Only God can.
That's what John the Baptist, he recognized that right off.
He told the Pharisees and the Sadducees when they came out
to see his baptism, he said, now I can baptize you in this
pool. But he said, there's one coming after me who is preferred
before me, and he said he can baptize with fire and with power. Talking about changing the heart,
talking about the new birth. And then salvation is what God
will do with us. We will be glorified. If we're
saved, we'll be kept, preserved, and glorified in Christ. The
cause of salvation is God's sovereign will and purpose. The ground
of salvation is the work of Christ on the cross, his blood and his
righteousness alone. The fruit of salvation is the
new birth and our perseverance in the faith. And the culmination
of salvation is final glory. That's the whole realm of it.
One of the things that got me onto this message, look at verse
one of Philippians chapter three. Paul, he's beginning to conclude
the letter to the church at Philippi here. And he's writing to believers. And he says, finally, my brethren,
who are the brethren, that's brothers and sisters in Christ. He's talking about a spiritual
family here. Spiritual brethren, not physical. Paul recognized that he had brethren
according to the flesh. That was his Jewish brethren
according to the flesh, but they were not his spiritual brethren.
So we're talking about a spiritual family. We're talking about true
spiritual children of God. And so he says, finally my brethren
rejoice in the Lord. That word rejoice there simply
means to be glad in the Lord. It's not just an emotional gladness
or happiness or feeling, but it's the It's the contentment
and the peace that true children of God, brethren in Christ, brothers
and sisters in Christ, have by looking to and resting in the
Lord Jesus Christ. That's the kind of rejoicing
he's talking about. That's one of the themes of the book of
Philippians, as the commentators will say. It's an epistle of
joy. Then he says this, look here,
he says, to write the same things to you. In other words, I'm not
telling you anything new. I'm not telling you anything
I haven't told you before. You know, the nature of religion
and false religion and human-oriented religion is that it's always
looking for a new twist on things, something new, something novel.
I've seen something that you've never seen before. I'll tell
you what, I told a couple of fellows one time, they got off
on this tangent and they started separating from people they used
to call brethren. I don't know if they do or not
now or not, but I said, you realize if what you're saying is true,
you're the first ones in the history of Christianity to come
up with this. And that's what people like,
you know. They like to get into things. Paul says, I'm writing
the same thing to you, the gospel of how God saves sinners. Somebody
told me, and I said, you always preach the same thing. I said,
well I do and I don't. I preach the gospel every time.
I preach Christ and Him crucified, but I'm just going verse by verse
through the scripture. We went through 1 John 5, took
me two or three lessons to do it, two or three messages, and
we're going to go through Philippians 3. Talking about salvation. Talking about the evidence of
salvation. How God saves sinners. What is
a saved sinner? What do saved sinners do? I want
to know, am I a true child of God? Isn't that an issue for
you? Don't you want to know about that before you leave this? Am
I a true child of God? So Paul says, to write the same
things to you, to me indeed, is not grievous. It's not a burden
for me to write these same things. But for you, it is safe. It's a refuge, that's what he
means by that. Do you realize for me to tell
you these same things over and over again, as Isaiah the prophet
said, line upon line, precept upon precept, that's your refuge. That's your safety. And that's
what you want. Refuge from the wrath of God.
Safety. Now he says in verse two, he
says, beware of dogs. Beware of evil workers. Beware
of the concision. Now what in the world is he talking
about there? Well, what are these dogs? The kind of dog he's talking
about there, incidentally, is not a purebred. The kind of dog
he's talking about there is an old cur dog that nobody wants. Junkyard dog, I guess they call
it. And it's a term that the Jews
commonly used of the Gentiles. You remember when that poor woman came to Christ
and begged for his mercy, and he said, it's not right to give
the children's bread to dogs. And she said, yes, Lord, that's
what I am, but even the dogs eat from the crumbs of the table.
That's the kind of thing, it was a term of derision. So he
said, beware of them. And he goes on to identify them,
he said, evil workers, beware of these evil workers, the dogs
and the evil workers and the concision, they're the same person
here, same group. Evil workers, what does he mean
by that? And then he identifies them, beware of the concision.
Now, what does concision mean? Well, he gives you a clue in
verse three, when he says, for we are the circumcision. Now,
he calls these evil workers, these dogs in verse two, the
concision. But then he says in verse three,
for we, as Brother Joe explained there, that's true children of
God, saved sinners here. Now, talking about brethren here,
for we are the circumcision. We're not the concision, we're
the circumcision. It's a play on words a little bit, but it
makes a good point. That word concision, you could
translate it mutilation. Or as some translations go with
it, false circumcision. False circumcision. Well, you
know about circumcision in the Bible. Circumcision was a physical
sign that was given to Abraham as a sign of a covenant relationship. It's a physical sign that was
to be performed upon the male children of Israel on the eighth
day after their birth. And it was a physical sign. that
identified them with the covenant of Abraham. You see, circumcision
didn't start with Moses. It started with Abraham. And it was a physical outward
sign of something more important. And I'll show you that in just
a moment. So what Paul is doing here by inspiration of the spirit
is he's making a distinction between groups here. Two groups
of people. One group are the dogs, the evil
workers, and the false circumcision. The mutilators. The other group,
verse three, is the true circumcision. For we are the circumcision.
That's true children of God. That's what he's doing. Now,
it is common for people to think, when they study religion, that
all religion have, all the religions of the world have three things
in common. Now this is not correct, but
this is the way people think, okay? It's a myth. But here's
what most people think that all religions have in common. Three
points. Number one is the universal fatherhood
of God. God's the father of everybody.
Well now, even Paul made this statement in Acts chapter 17.
When he was preaching to the Athenian philosophers, the Greek
philosophers, he said, we know that we are all God's offspring. What was he talking about? He
was talking about by creation. And here's one thing everybody
on God's green earth has in common, is that the breath that you have
in your body was given to you by God. He's the creator. And the next breath you'll take
is given to you by God. So by creation, you could say,
well, we're all God's offspring. But now when people talk about
the universal fatherhood of God, they're talking about something
different, aren't they? They're talking about, well, it's almost like
they're saying, well, God is all, he's our father, and he
wouldn't do anything bad to us. He wouldn't, you know, he'd just
treat us like a father. Well, the second point is the
universal brotherhood of men, or man. We're all brothers. Well, in creation, you could
say that. But not in salvation. And the
third point is the golden rule. And, you know, do unto others
as you would have them do unto you. Well, not all religions teach that,
believe me. We know one that doesn't. Do unto others as you
would have others do unto you. But a lot of them teach do unto
others before they do unto you. But anyway, that's just a myth. But here's the point now. When
it comes to a spiritual, eternal relationship with God as Heavenly
Father, our Father, and when it comes to a spiritual, eternal
relationship as brethren, finally my brethren, this is talking
about salvation here. This is not talking about creation.
This is not talking about what we all have in common as created
beings. But, now listen to me now. When
we talk about the universal fatherhood of God, the universal brotherhood
of men, man by creation, we have to realize what the Bible teaches
us and what we know by reality that the created world is a fallen
world. Man fell. Ruined by the fall. When we talk about salvation,
we talk about the three R's. Ruined by the fall. We fell in
Adam. And we fell, in essence, you
could say it this way, we fell out of God's family and into
another family. Now let me show you that. Turn
over to John chapter 8. This is our Lord speaking to
the ones that Paul has already identified as the dogs, the concision,
the evil workers. Our Lord's talking to such people.
They're religious. And they're called the Pharisees.
And look at verse 44 of John chapter 8. See, in essence,
we who are created by God, we fell out of God's family into
another family. You could say it that way. Ruined
by the fall. Now whose family did we fall
into? Who is our spiritual father as fallen, sinful human beings
by nature? We'll look at it in verse 44.
Christ speaking to the Pharisees there. Now you'd think he's speaking
to the dregs of society here, but he's not. He's speaking to
the most religious men and women of their day who outwardly appeared
righteous. Who studied the scriptures. And
he says in verse 44, you are of your father the devil. The
devil's your father. And the lust of your father you
will do. That is the unlawful desires
of your father you will do. Now what was that unlawful desire?
Well look at it. He said he was a murderer from
the beginning. Now how did Satan murder in the
beginning? Now think about this. Satan didn't
drop a bomb anywhere. Satan didn't pull out a knife. How did he murder in the beginning?
He brought about the fall of man when he deceived Eve and
enticed Adam to go against God, to disbelieve God, to disrespect
and dishonor God. And how did he do it? Now what
was his weapon? Look at it, verse 44. He abode not in the truth,
because there's no truth in him. And when he speaketh a lie, he
speaketh of his own. What he's saying there is when
the devil tells a lie, he's just doing what's natural to him.
When a man tells, we come forth from the womb, David says, speaking
lies. You know, you talk about little
children telling lies. Do you know what they're doing? They're
not doing what you taught them to do. They're just doing what's
natural. That's what we are by nature. Sinners and that's what
Satan did when he told a lie, you know what you know what his
lie was It's some the natural man wants to hear Remember what
it was what was Satan's first message that he the lie that
he told Thou shalt not surely die You go find you a preacher
somewhere who will tell you you're all right, you won't die you're
saved That's okay if he can back it up with God's Word in Christ. But what if he's telling you
Satan's lie? Here's a fellow that comes along.
He's doing his best to work his way into God's favor, to work
his way into salvation by doing the deeds of the law. And some
preacher comes along and says, you're all right, fellow. You're
a brother in Christ. That's a lie because you can't
get to heaven by works. That's not how you do it, it's
by grace. And so he says, when he speaketh
a lie, he speaketh of his own, for he's a liar and the father
of it. Look back here at John 8, look at verse 32. Christ says
here, he says, and you shall know the truth and the truth
shall make you free. What is the truth? It's the gospel
of his grace in Christ. That's the truth that liberates
us from legalism and bondage and sets us on the road of grace,
grace, grace. Trust in Christ. Now here's their
answer to him. It says in verse 33, now these
are the same ones that he said, you're of your father the devil.
Here's what they said. Here's their answer. They answered him
and said, we be Abraham's seed. We're physical descendants of
Abraham. And the outward sign of being
a physical descendant of Abraham was circumcision. You see, the
Jews boasted and had confidence in three things to prove themselves
as they would see it and judge it to be children of God. Number
one, their physical connection with Abraham. Number two, the
physical circumcision of the males who represented the whole
family. And number three, their keeping the law of Moses. Those
three things. And so they said, we be Abraham's
seed, and we're never in bondage to any man. How sayest thou,
you shall be made free? Verse 34, listen to this. Jesus
answered them, verily, verily, I say unto you, whosoever committeth
sin is the servant of sin. You see that? Those who commit
sin are slaves to sin. Without Christ, that's all we
are. That's what he's saying. If we haven't been set free,
even our religion is sinful in the sight of God. And he says,
and the servant abideth not in the house forever. In other words,
a legal slave who owes a debt, he, listen, his service in the
house of his master is always conditioned on his doing his
duty. If he ever stops doing his duty, he's a goner. Well,
what are we under the law? We're sinners. But look in verse
35, he says, but the son abideth forever. Now Christ is the only
begotten son of God. And he says in verse 36, if the
son therefore shall make you free, you shall be free indeed. Verse 37, listen, he says, I
know that you're Abraham's seed, but you seek to kill me because
my word hath no place in you. I speak that which I've seen
with my father and you do that which you've seen with your father.
And who's their father? The devil. Now here's what I'm
saying, go back to Philippians 3. My friend, unless we know
Christ and trust Him and follow Him, whose family are we in spiritually? We're in Satan's family. That
describes the best of us and the worst of us. Now, we don't
have any trouble looking at the dregs of society, the most immoral,
rebellious criminals that ever hit the earth and saying, well,
they certainly are Satan's family. But what about these religious
folks? Now, that's who Paul's describing in verse 2 of Philippians
3. That's the dogs. That's the evil workers. That's
the concision. Why does he call them the concision?
Because they claim, now these are men and women who claim to
believe in Christ. Jewish converts, they would say. But they said, but you have to
be circumcised to be saved. And Paul called them the mutilators.
The concision, the false circumcision. Circumcision will not save you.
Being a physical descendant of Abraham will not save you. Keeping
the law of Moses will not save you. What will save you? Only Christ, by the grace of
God, can save a sinner. If the Son, therefore, make you
free, you'll be free indeed. We sang that hymn, redeemed by
the blood of the Lamb, His child and forever I am. How do you
become a child of God? God chooses His children, chosen
in Christ. God justifies His children, justified
by the blood of Christ. God adopts His children, adopted
in Christ. God redeems His children, redeemed
by the blood of Christ. God sanctifies His children,
sets us apart in Christ. God regenerates His children,
born by the Spirit of Christ, by the life of Christ imparted
to us, given to us. God preserves His children, those
who abide in Christ. God causes His children to persevere
in Him, abiding in Him. And God glorifies His children
in Christ. What's the key to it all? I must
be in Christ. Look at verse 8 of Philippians
3. He says, Yea, doubtless, and I count all things but loss for
the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for
whom I've suffered the loss of all things, and do count them
but none, even those things which men esteem by nature. all things,
and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ." That word
win there doesn't mean win like in a competition or a contest.
That means to gain. It means to acquire. In other
words, what Paul's saying here is everything else is dung. I
must have Christ. Now that's it. Circumcision won't
do me any good. Physical circumcision. Being
a physical Jew Morality won't do me any good, I must have Christ. That's what he's saying. Verse
nine, and be found in him. That's my only hope, is to be
found in him. Not having mine own righteousness,
which is of the law, not according to my works, that's what that
means, but that which is through the faith of Christ. His faithfulness
to accomplish the work, and he says, the righteousness which
is of God by faith that I may know him. I've got to know him. To be saved is to be in Christ. Now go back to verse three there. He says, for we are the circumcision
which worship God in the spirit or by the Holy Spirit, you could
say, and rejoice in Christ Jesus. And that word rejoice there is
not the same word in the original as you see up in verse one when
it says rejoice in the Lord. The word rejoice in verse three
means to glory, or to boast, or to have confidence. In other
words, he says, and have confidence in Christ Jesus. It's a different
word, you see. And have no confidence in the
flesh. Think about that. no confidence
in the flesh. Well, what is it to be a true
child of God? What is it? Well, first of all,
it's to be born of God, born from above. When he says we are
the circumcision, he means we're the true children of God. He
means we are the true circumcision, not a false circumcision, not
a physical circumcision, not a mutilation. But we've been
born again by the Spirit and this is circumcision of the heart. Spiritual circumcision, that's
what he's talking about. Born again by the Spirit of God.
You see, now listen to me. Physical circumcision, that outward
sign for the male children among the Jewish nation. It was given
to that nation as a sign of their need of a spiritual circumcision. Circumcision of the heart. The
cleansing of the heart. That's what it was given for.
Now, look at Romans chapter two. Let me show you this. And that
was, listen, that was taught in the Old Testament just as
well as the New Testament. You remember, you turn to Romans
chapter two, do you remember when Stephen preached in Jerusalem? The evangelist Stephen. And he
preached that message that pretty much went through the whole history
of the nation Israel from Abraham on. And what his message was
basically showing them that their whole history was really for
one main purpose, and that was to bring Christ, the Messiah,
into this world to save sinners by his blood and righteousness,
by God's grace, and that they were to look to Christ. And all
of their Jewishness and all of their circumcision and all of
their law keeping was no good. That's what Stephen told them.
It was no good as far as salvation. It had its place, but it would
not save them. You know what happened? You remember
what happened to Stephen in Acts chapter 7? They picked up stones
to kill him. Remember what he told them when
they rejected the message? He called them this. Here's how
he described him. He says, Oh ye uncircumcised in heart and
ears. He says, you do resist the Holy
Ghost. You're rejecting the testimony of the Holy Spirit. That's what
he means by that. Because the Holy Spirit leads
sinners to Christ. You haven't been born again.
Look at Romans chapter two. Look at verse 17. Listen to what
Paul says here. He says, behold, thou art called
a Jew. and rest us in the law, and make us thy boast of God."
We keep the law. We're true children of God. And
then we be circumcised. Back then, you know, it was a
common way to refer to the Jews as the circumcision, and it was
a common way to refer to the Gentiles as the uncircumcision.
So keep that in mind. So he said, you call yourself
a Jew, you rest in the law, you say you keep the law, That's
where you have confidence. And he says, you make your boast
in God. We're true children of God. And then he goes down here
and he says, he says in verse 25, look at this, he says, for
circumcision verily profiteth, circumcision will profit you
if you keep the law. Now you boast in your physical
circumcision because that connects you with Abraham physically.
Well that's okay and it'll do you some good. if you keep the
law. But what's the problem? We don't
keep the law. They didn't keep the law. They're
sinners. And so he says, but if thou be a breaker of the law,
thy circumcision is made uncircumcision. What he's saying is if you're
a breaker of the law, it does you no good. You're no better
off than the uncircumcised. It's a moot point. You can go
over here and talk about how you've been circumcised all day
long, how you're a physical child of Abraham all day long. But
if you're a lawbreaker, that does you no good. If you're a
sinner, that does you no good. Sin demands death. That's what
it demands. For all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God. He says in verse 26 of Romans 2,
Therefore if the uncircumcision keep the righteousness of the
law, if you find a Gentile and he keeps the law perfectly Shall
not his uncircumcision be counted for circumcision?" In other words,
if you find a Gentile who's not been circumcised physically,
who is not a physical descendant of Abraham, and he keeps the
law, he's okay. He's a true child of God. But
you're not going to find a Gentile who keeps the law. He's going
to tell us that over in Romans chapter 3. There's none righteous.
No, not one. There's none that do a good.
Scripture hath concluded all under sin. But look at verse
28 of Romans 2. For he is not a Jew which is
one outwardly, neither is that circumcision which is outward
in the flesh. But he is a Jew which is one
inwardly, and circumcision is that of the heart. In the Spirit,
that is by the Spirit of God, and not in the letter, that is
not according to the written law, whose praise is not of men,
but of God. Spiritual circumcision. Now,
go back to Philippians 3. Now, here's the question. Am
I a true child of God? Have I been spiritually circumcised?
Have I been born again by the Spirit? How can I tell? How can
I know? Three things right here. Number
one, the circumcision, the born again, the true child of God,
worships God by the Spirit of God. We worship God in the Spirit. What does that mean? Two things.
When it says we worship God by the Spirit of God, it means we
worship God as He reveals Himself through Christ. That's what the
Spirit of God does. The Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit,
when we're born again, He convinces us of sin in light of Christ. Turn over to John chapter 16. This is one of the first messages
that I preached in this pulpit as pastor here from John chapter
16. And listen to this. The Holy
Spirit convicts us of sin. Shows us that we're sinners and
depraved, and not just in what we do, but what we are. and the
impossibility of any part of salvation based upon anything
that we do or anything done in us or by us or through us, anything. He leaves us with no hope of
salvation, no assurance of salvation, no way of salvation, but in Christ
and Him crucified and risen again. And that's how you know the work
of the Holy Spirit. That's how you know spiritual
circumcision. Look at it in John 16 and verse 8. He says, when
he has come, that's the Holy Spirit, he will reprove or convict
or convince the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment.
Verse 9, of sin because they believe not on me. Now some people
say, well that, he's going to convince you of the sin of unbelief.
It's more than that. In other words, he's gonna convince
us that we are sin, nothing but sin, and everything we do and
are is sin without Christ, without a Redeemer, without a sacrifice,
without an advocate, without a high priest, without a mediator,
without a sin bearer to die for my sin. Without Christ, all I
am is sin, and all I deserve is death and hell. That's what
he convinces us of. Verse 10, of righteousness because
I go to my father and you see me no more. Now how did Christ
go to his father? He went as the victorious savior
who put away sin and established righteousness for his people. The Holy Spirit's gonna convince
us that we have no righteousness before God but Christ. And then thirdly, verse 11, of
judgment because the prince of this world is judged. What does
that mean? That means my sins were judged
at the cross and that matter was taken care of at the cross. And Satan, who's the prince of
this world, who is the accuser of the brethren, he'll accuse
me, but his charges don't stick, because my sins were charged
to Christ. He was made guilty for me. He
was made a curse for me. He put away my sin. Who shall
lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies.
Who can condemn us? It's Christ that died. Yea, rather,
is risen again and seated at the right hand of the Father.
That's what it means to be convicted by the Holy Spirit. And that's
what he's talking about. We worship God by the Spirit
of God who leads us to Christ. But secondly, it means this.
We worship God from the heart. This is a heart matter. This
is not just grace on the lips or in the head, but this is grace
in the heart. Christ has shown me my need of
salvation by grace. And it's not in outward forms
and outward ceremonies and physical signs, but it's from the heart
in the Word of God by the Spirit of God. And that's what John
chapter 4 tells us. Look at John chapter 4. This
is the Lord talking to the woman at the well. And it means this,
to worship God from the heart means to worship Him in truth.
In verse 24 of John chapter 4, He says this, God is spirit and
they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. Back
in verse 23, he said, the father seeketh such to worship him.
We worship him from the heart. This is not just to impress people
or to be seen of men, but it's from the heart of a sinner whose
heart has been drawn away from self and to Christ. That's what
it means. We believe in Christ, we rest
in him and his grace and we're motivated. To worship him from
the heart means we're motivated by grace and gratitude and love. Think about it. Paul wrote, we
commend not ourselves again unto you, but give you occasion to
glory in our behalf that you may have somewhat to answer them
which glory in appearance and not in heart. How do we glory
in heart? We look to Christ. For with the heart, man believeth
unto righteousness. Go back to Philippians 3. Here's
the second thing. We worship God by the Spirit. That means we lift up Christ.
Not just in what we say, but from the heart. Christ is the
only one that'll satisfy us. That's from the heart. We're
thirsty for the water of life. Christ is the water of life.
We're hungry for the bread of life. Christ is the bread of
life. Listen, people will go elsewhere because they want to
hear other things. They want activities. They want social things. They
want entertainment. They want moral pep talks. They
want psychological pep talks. They want how to win friends
and influence people. If that's what your heart is
after, that's fine. But when we worship God by the
Spirit of God, is established in Christ. And that's whom we
desire. And that's the only one who'll
fill that void. But here's the second thing. He says, we worship
God in the spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus. Now remember
what I said, that word rejoice means to glory or to have confidence. We glory in Christ Jesus. We boast in, we're bragging on
Christ. That's what the circumcised heart
does. Just like John the Baptist said, he said, I'm not the light,
there's one coming after me, he's the light. I can't save
you, there's one who's coming after me, who's preferred before
me, he can save you. He said, I'm not the Messiah,
Christ is the Messiah. He said, I'm not worthy to stoop
down and even untie his shoes. He said, Christ must increase,
I must decrease. That's the circumcised heart. That's the true child of God.
We glory in Christ. Turn to Galatians chapter 6.
Let me show you this. This word in Galatians chapter
6, look at verse 14. Paul writes here. He says, but God forbid that
I should glory. Now that word glory there is
the same word that's translated rejoice in Philippians 3.3 in
the original. Same exact word. God forbid that
I should glory, save, or accept in the cross of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Now you know what he's talking
about there. He's not talking about the actual wooden cross or some
kind of a sin. He's talking about the death
of Christ to put away sin and establish righteousness. Talking
about the person and work of Christ. And he said, by whom
the world is crucified unto me and I unto the world. In other
words, this is what sets me apart from the world. You want to know
what sets a believer apart from the world? Right here. God forbid
that I should boast, have confidence in, or glory in anything except
the cross of Christ. And he says in verse 15, for
in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything nor uncircumcision. Circumcision or uncircumcision
doesn't mean a thing. What does? A new creation. That's
what the new creature is, a new creation. When did that come
about? On the cross. Read Ephesians chapter 2. We
are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works.
And he says in verse 16, and as many as walk according to
this rule, this doctrine, what doctrine? God forbid that I should
glory save in the cross of Christ. Peace be on them, they're at
peace with God. And mercy, God has shown mercy
toward them. And upon the Israel of God, that's
spiritual Israel. That's a true child of God. He
that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. We have confidence
in Christ. Where is your confidence? And
then the third thing here in Philippians 3.3, have no confidence
in the flesh. Now what is the flesh here? I'm
gonna tell you something. Now I want you to listen very
carefully. People can categorize this all they want, but I'm gonna
make it simple. The flesh there would be representing
Anything that people have confidence in, or glory in, other than Christ
and Him crucified. Paul lists all these things here,
and I'll go over them again later on. He says, though I might have
confidence in the flesh, if any man thinketh that he hath whereof
he might trust in the flesh, I more. Circumcised the eighth
day. If you have confidence in that,
Stock of Israel. You're a physical Israelite.
Tribe of Benjamin. Hebrew of Hebrews. Touching all
these things. If you have confidence in your
baptism, if you have confidence in your Sabbath-keeping, you
know, actually, I really ought to put that this way. We do have
confidence in our Sabbath-keeping. Do you know that? We who have
been circumcised spiritually. But what is our Sabbath-keeping?
Resting in Christ. He's our Sabbath. But if you
think, well, you know, there's a whole denomination. They say,
well, we keep this day. Well, if that's where your confidence
is in, it's not in Christ. If your confidence is in your
experience, your dreams, your visions, your walking in an aisle,
your tithing, your church membership, confidence in anything but Christ
and Him alone and His blood and righteousness alone is confidence
in the flesh. And so what does Paul say? He
said, I count all that but done that I may win Christ and be
found in him. He said, I count all things but
loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my
Lord. Christ is my confidence. Christ is my assurance. Christ
is my hope. That's a true child of God. All
right, let's sing glory to his name as our closing hymn, hymn
number 489.