The True Church, True Believer

Q: What does the Bible say about true believers?

True believers are defined as those who worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in their flesh. According to Philippians 3:3, true believers are described as those who are the circumcision that worships God in the Spirit. They rejoice in Christ Jesus, recognizing Him as their complete righteousness, and they do not place any trust or confidence in their own fleshly efforts or morality. The marks of true believers reflect a deep understanding and appreciation of grace and reliance on Christ alone for their standing before God.

Q: How do we know the Apostle Paul is telling the truth?

We know the Apostle Paul speaks truth because he is inspired by the Holy Spirit and was chosen by God to preach the Gospel. The validity of Paul's assertions comes from his divine inspiration and calling. He writes under the authority of the Holy Spirit, which assures us that his words are not merely his own but God's revelation. Additionally, his role as a chosen vessel to deliver the Gospel to the Gentiles shows that God has equipped him specifically for this mission. His transformation from a zealous persecutor to a passionate apostle underscores his firsthand experience with the power of grace, which adds weight to his testimony about true belief.

Q: Why is it important for Christians to have no confidence in the flesh?

Having no confidence in the flesh is essential for Christians because it acknowledges our total reliance on Christ for salvation and righteousness. Confidence in the flesh leads to pride and a flawed understanding of salvation. Paul emphasizes in Philippians 3:3 that true believers do not trust in their own works or righteousness but find their worth solely in what Christ has accomplished. This mindset protects against the dangers of legalism and self-righteousness, reminding believers that it is by grace, through faith, that they are saved (Ephesians 2:8-9). Recognizing that our best efforts are like filthy rags before God places the focus on Christ, who is both our righteousness and our peace.

Q: What does it mean to worship God in the Spirit?

Worshiping God in the Spirit means that our worship comes from a heart transformed by the Holy Spirit, independent of fleshly performances. To worship God in the Spirit, as stated in Philippians 3:3, is to engage in genuine worship that arises from within, rather than through outward rituals or ceremonies. It involves a personal relationship with God facilitated by the Holy Spirit, who convicts and reveals the truth of Christ to us. Jesus emphasized in John 4:24 that true worshipers must worship in spirit and truth, meaning that our worship should be sincere, heartfelt, and guided by truth rather than tradition or ritualistic practices. This inward worship prepares our hearts to honor God sincerely and joyfully.

Q: How can Christians rejoice in Christ?

Christians can rejoice in Christ by recognizing Him as their Lord, Savior, and source of every blessing. Rejoicing in Christ is central to the life of a believer, as expressed in Philippians 3:3. This joy stems from understanding who Christ is—His deity, His incarnation, His death, resurrection, and intercession on our behalf. By acknowledging that He is our righteousness, peace, and hope, believers are motivated to rejoice continually in every aspect of life. The work of the Holy Spirit enables Christians to see and appreciate the beauty of the Gospel, inspiring a response of joy and praise that aligns with heavenly worship, where all the hosts rejoice in Him.

Finally, my brethren, rejoice
in the Lord. To write the same things to you,
to me, indeed, is not grievous, but for you it is safe. Beware
of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision. For
we are the circumcision which worship God in the Spirit, and
rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.
And though I might also 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 of
the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, and Hebrew of the
Hebrews, as touching the law, the Pharisee. Concerning zeal,
persecuting the church. Touching the righteousness which
is in the law, blameless. But what things were gained of
me, I counted lost for Christ. Yea, doubtless, and I count all
things but lost for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus
my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do
count them done, that I may win Christ, and be found in Him,
not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that
which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which
is of God by faith, that I may know Him, and the power of His
resurrection, the fellowship of His sufferings, being made
conformable unto His death." if by any means I might attain
unto the resurrection of the dead, not as though I had already
attained, either were already perfect, but I follow after,
if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended
of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself
to have apprehended, but one thing I do, forgetting those
things which are behind, reaching forth unto those things which
are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high
calling of God in Christ Jesus." Still willing, still willing.
Back in Philippians 3, still willing. Read these first three verses,
and, Rejoice in the Lord. To write
the same things to you, to me indeed, is not grievous, but
for you it is safe. Beware of dogs, beware of evil
workers, beware of the concision. For we are the circumcision which
worship God in the Spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have
no confidence in the flesh." I want to talk about the true
church, the true believer. and how you can tell whether
they are or not. And what the Apostle's saying
here in verse 3 is this, that we are the circumcision which
worship God. What he's saying, we're the true
preachers of God. We're the true children of God.
We're the true worshippers of God. Now, when he says this,
is this just idle talk? Is this somebody just making
an empty boast, an empty brag? Because all religion and religionists
claim to be the true preachers. The Roman Catholic Church thinks
it's the only church on the face of the earth, and salvation's
only in that church. But all religions, they claim
to be the true preachers, the true church, the true worshipers
of God. So why should we believe the Apostle Paul? Why should
we believe him? Well, the first reason is, is
because he writes under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. He writes
under the inspiration of God. You know, the scriptures are
God-breathed. All scriptures are inspired of
God, breathed of God. And so we're, Paul, when he says
these things, he's speaking because this is what God said through
the apostles. And secondly, we should believe
him because he was a chosen vessel under God to carry the gospel
to the Gentiles. God smote him down onto the master's
road, gave him a calling. He was the twelfth apostle. He
was the apostle to the Gentiles, used mightily of God. And we
are fruits of that man's labor and fruits of that man's ministry
after all these centuries. We're all Gentiles, and if it
hadn't been for Paul, going to the Gentiles, because there wasn't
going to be no Jews go to them. They were just dogs. And so he
was the one who came. And thirdly, the third reason
why we ought to believe him, he knew something about false
religion. He knew something about false religion. He knew what
it was to have a false He knew what it was to have religion
from the top of his head to the sole of his foot. He knew what
it was to be committed and dedicated to something that was entirely
false and empty and did not know God or Christ himself. Look what
he said there in verse 4. We talk about we have no confidence
in the flesh. He says, though I might also
have confidence in the flesh. Now when he talks about confidence
in the flesh, he's talking about confidence in his old fallen
nature. That's what he's talking about. His Adamic nature. Now, talk about this body. Confidence
in what he could do as a natural man. What he could glory in and
his works and what he did as a man. He said, if somebody can
have confidence, I can have more. If any man thinks he has worth,
he might trust in the flesh something he's done, that he can trust
in before God and have confidence in what he's accomplished before
God. He said, I can do that. I'm more than that. I can do
more than anybody I know. He said, I circumcised the eighth
day. Just exactly the way the law said. I was of the stock
of Israel. A real true son of Jacob. And then he said, I was a Hebrew
of Hebrews. I was no half-breed. I mean,
I was solid Jew. I can trace my lineage all the
way back to Israel. On my mother's side and my father's
side. And he said, as touching the law, or of the tribe of Benjamin,
the tribe of Benjamin. You know, Benjamin was the son
of Jacob's right hand. Remember when they said, we want
you, Joseph said, bring that young son down here, bring that
boy down here. No, Jacob said, no, you can't. You can't let him go. And he said, as touching the law,
when you talk about the law, He said, I was a pharisee. I
was a legalist. Oh, what a legalist I was. You
know, a moralist and a legalist. I'm telling you what, he was
a man that, I mean, he had kept all the ceremonies, all the rituals,
all the religion, and when he went out to town and went out
in public, since he got back to the house, he went to worship.
Went to worship to clean himself up. Went to prayers every day. Went to all the feasts three
times a year. Went to the synagogue on a regular
basis. Here was a man who studied the
scriptures. And look what he says, he goes
on to say, and you talk about zeal. Somebody wants to talk
about zeal. Oh, we ain't got no zeal compared
to this man. He said, our concern is zeal.
I persecuted the church. That church that Jesus Christ
purchased with his blood. Touching the righteousness was
in the law when people start talking about keeping the law.
Keeping the ceremonies and the rituals. Keeping all the feasts
and all the holy days. He said, I was blameless. Nobody
could find a fault with anything I'd done. So I mean, this man
knew something about false religion. And now if you disagree with
him, you know what he'd do to you? He'd persecute you. He'd come against you. He'd do
something against you. But oh, listen, God saved you.
He said, all those things were gave to me, I counted lost for
Christ. But God saved him. He knew something about false
religion and he knew something about true religion. He said,
would it please God who separated me from my mother's womb and
called me by his grace to reveal his son in me. So he starts talking
about true religion and he starts in verse one, he says, and then
in the marks of the church, finally, my brethren rejoice in the Lord.
And what he's saying here is give all glory to God. Rejoice
in the Lord. Give God all the glory. Everything
that's ever been done for you, God did it. So you rejoice in
the Lord. Give all the glory to God. Rejoice
in the Father. Because He in eternal mercies
and eternal love and eternal grace called you and saved you
and put you in a covenant of grace. That He chose you in Christ
before the foundation of the world. So we rejoice in the Father. And we rejoice in the Son. He
said rejoice in the Son. Because it was the Son who came
into this world and identified with us. And bore our sins in
His own body on the tree. It was the Son who came into
this world to save us by His blessed grace and wash us in
His blood. And then He says rejoice in the
Spirit. Because He's the one who came
and revealed Christ to us. And so anything we have, beloved,
what are we? What we are, we are by the grace
of God. And all of our blessings, God
gave us in Christ Jesus. And that's why it goes on to
say again in verse 1, to write the same things to you, it don't
bother me at all. Don't bother me at all. It's
not hard for me. I don't count it a burden to
write the same things, say the same things over and over and
over to you. It doesn't bother me. I'm not
tired of writing all these things to you again and again. And I'll
tell you why. Because it's safe for you. It's
safe for you. What do you mean safe for you?
Well, it's safe for you to strengthen your faith. I'll tell you, it's
safe that we strengthen our faith, ain't it? It's a good thing that
our faith be strengthened. So I write these things safe
for you that your faith might be strengthened. And that's safe
for you to keep you from error. Keep you from going this way
and that way and another way. And all beloved is safe to keep
you, what did he say in verse 2? Safe to keep you from dogs. That's what he called these fellas,
dogs. And you know dogs. Dogs is a dog no matter how popular
he is or how big he is or how little he is. Whether he's a
lap dog or a hunting dog or just a cur dog, he's a dog. And over
in Isaiah 56 it says they're slumbering dogs, sleeping dogs. They won't get up and bark when
anything's going on. They're dogs to bite you and
devour you and come and trouble you. The dogs of hell coming
after you because you believe Christ and you're trusting Christ.
So it's safe to keep you from dogs. And it's safe to keep you
because of these evil workers. And let me tell you something
about these evil workers. We're not talking about people
out here stealing, robbing, committing adultery, drinking. That's not what he's talking
about. He's talking about religious people. He's talking about preachers. He's talking about the Pharisees. He's talking about the Sadducees.
And I'll tell you something, it's an evil man. It's an evil
man. And I know this from experience
myself. because I had to repent of it.
And I begged God to forgive me and still feel bad about it.
But I tell you something, anybody that preaches anything but Christ
and Christ alone is an evil man. A man that preaches free will
for salvation is an evil man. A man that preaches water to
wash away your sins is an evil man. A man that wants you to
come to a pope to get a blessing is an evil man. And he's an evil
man that puts you to work to do anything to get anything from
God. He's an evil man. Ain't that right? He's an evil
man. I know because I was an evil man one time. I preached
everything but Christ. I was a pharisee of pharisees.
I was like Paul. I sent everybody to work to do
something. And I tell you, if you didn't
live the way I thought you did, I would get on you like a duck
would get on a June bug in July. It's awful. We've all been there.
We've all been there. And oh, beloved. So that's why
he says, you beware of these dogs. It's safe to keep you from
dogs. It's safe to keep you from evil
work. And that's why he warns them to beware of these false
preachers who glory in the flesh, your flesh and their flesh. That's
all most people are to the average preacher and average church.
It's just merchandise. It's just somebody to fill a
pew, somebody they can count, and somebody they'll ask how
much you're going to budget for the church this year. We need
this much from you to make sure the church will be able to run
until this time next year. But look what Saul said over
here in Galatians 6. That's all you are. Just merchandising them.
Numbers to heads to count. People to brag about. People
to glow in. And when they get you on an altar,
and they get you to the front, and they get you in the back,
you say, Oh boy, how many moves did you have this week? Oh, we had 40 moves. Oh, we got all you. How many
did you all get on the altar Sunday? Boy, do you know we took up a
million dollar offering? That's what Paul's talking about.
Glory. You want to talk about glory
in the flesh? They make merchandise of you. All you are is a commodity
to them. Just a commodity. And look what
he said here in Galatians 6 and verse 12. Excuse me, yeah, verse
12. As many as desire to make a fair
show in the flesh. Oh, boy, they come in looking
good, carrying their Bible. Oh, big smile, crack a few jokes,
make everybody feel comfortable. And, oh, beloved, and they constrain
you to be circumcised. They constrain you to do some
kind of a work to get in their church. You make a profession,
they'll have you out knocking on doors or teaching Sunday school
in six months. And the reason they do this is
because they know if they preach Christ and Christ alone. take
away all hope in the flesh, all hope in anything that man does,
all hope in tithes, works, prayers, tears, zeal, church attendance,
everything that a man trusted. Paul said they're afraid to do
that because they would suffer persecution, and they wouldn't
have all the people bragging on them, and they certainly wouldn't
get a lot of folks in the back district. Now look what he says
in verse 13, for these are they themselves who aren't circumcised,
who aren't working to be saved, who aren't trying to keep the
law to be saved. They don't do it themselves.
That's what our Lord said about the Pharisees. They put a burden
on you that they themselves cannot carry. And the reason they do
that is that they may glory in your flesh. Boy, do you see what
I, oh my, man, we've worn a bunch of people. Our church is growing
by leaps and bounds. But now listen to what Paul goes
on to say, but God forbid that I should go and boast in, rejoice
in anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because
the world is crucified under me. That world absolutely is
a dead thing. And then I'm crucified under
the world. I'm dead to the world. Now listen to it, for in Christ
Jesus, keeping the law don't do any good, nor not keeping
the law don't do any good. You know what the only thing
amounts to? You being a new creature in Christ, being regenerated,
being born again. And as many as walk according
to this rule, being a new creature in Christ, glory in the cross,
peace beyond them, and mercy upon the Israel of God, the true
ones. Now back over, look with me in
our text. And so Paul goes on here to say in verse three, for
we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, rejoice
in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. He is saying we're
the true ministers of God, the true children of God, the true
church of Jesus Christ. And he gives us three marks,
three marks of the true church, three marks of the true believer.
And the first one is this. We worship God in the spirit.
We rejoice in Christ Jesus, and we have no confidence in anything
we've ever done. Oh, we worship God in the Spirit.
That's what we do. And in the Spirit means that
our spirit, flesh, don't have anything to do with our worship.
In fact, flesh, this old body, this old fallen nature hinders
our worship. Oh, how it hinders our worship.
But now look over, and you keep flipping, but look in John 4
with me just a moment. And oh, one of these days, and
that's why we pray before we come. Oh Lord, please help us,
please. And that's why we pray for His
presence. You know, our spirit, we worship God in the spirit.
This flesh contributes nothing to our worship. In fact, this
flesh hurts our worship. But that's all most religion
wants to get us. Anybody got anything to say for
Jesus? Anybody got a good testimony to give? Anybody got salt? All hearts and minds clear? How
many times have you heard that over the years, Ray? But look what our Lord Jesus
said here. He's with the woman at the well. And look what she
says there in verse 20. Our Lord Jesus, you know the
story, how He's talking to her, told her to call her husband.
She said, I perceive you're a prophet. Let's talk about worshiping now.
She said, our fathers worshiped in this mountain. Oh my, this
woman was going right back to her traditions, going back to
her customs, going back to her heritage, our fathers. Look what
she said up in verse 12 when the Lord Jesus began to speak
to her. She said, Are you greater than our father Jacob? She's
running to Jacob, her relationship to Jacob. And oh, which gave
us the well drinker of himself, his children, and his cattle.
And she run right back to her heritage, run right back to her
places, run back to traditions in Christendom. And our fathers
worshipped here. What did she say? This is the
mount where Abraham worshipped, where Isaac worshipped, and Jacob
worshipped. And if it's good enough for them,
it's good enough for me. But Abraham said, I rejoice.
Our Lord said, he rejoiced to see my day and was glad and rejoiced
in it. Huh? And oh, he said, the Jews
said, Jerusalem, if you don't want to worship, the only place
you can really worship at is in Jerusalem. Boy, we'd be in
a mess if we had to go some special place to worship. If we had to
go to the Holy Land? Huh? Look what he went on, our
Lord went on to say. Oh, listen, this Jerusalem is
the place where we go for the ceremonies and the rituals and
the holy days and all the feasts. We got to go to Jerusalem. Look
what our Lord said in verse 23. John 4, 23. But the hour comes. It's coming, and now is, right
now. When the true worshippers, now everybody that's a worshipper,
even then, the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit.
And you notice that's not capitalized. That's your spirit. Not your
flesh. And in truth. For the Father
seeketh such to worship him. And beloved, I'm telling you,
God seeks people when he seeks them. They worship him by the
spirit, not by the flesh. God is a spirit, and they that
worship him must worship in spirit and in truth. So you see, beloved,
our Lord said, God seeks such. That don't mean that God, and
this is what most people think about that, they say, well, God's
looking down, looking for somebody that's worshiping Him, seeking
somebody to worship Him in spirit and truth. No, no, what it is,
is He seeks you, and then you worship Him in spirit and in
truth. That's when you won't worship Him in spirit and in
truth until He first seeks you. So true worship is a worship
of praise, and faith is a heart work. That's why, you know, When
Sander was sitting down to anoint David, and he says, you know,
I need to anoint a king. I come down here to anoint a
king. They start bringing out, well, Jesse started bringing
out all of his boys, a bunch of boys. One of them walked out
there and said, man, I'm going to be the king. Sander said,
no, no, no, no, no. He's big, healthy, strong. Nope,
not him. Another one comes out there and
walks around to Brother Samuel and says, what a boy. You look
like he's modeling or something. Oh, I'm going to be the king.
All of a sudden you know that all the boys has been up there.
And ain't nobody been anointed yet. And all them fellas are
feeling so let down. They're feeling so hurt. So,
you know, they said, Samuel said, you got anybody else? Well, we
got a little old boy, I said, our youngest, but he's out keeping
the sheep. The rest of us is too big and too important. I
said, he's just a little old boy and he's out keeping sheep.
Call him in here. And God chooses the weak to confound
the mighty. And they thought, boy, David
ain't nobody. But boy, when he stood there and said, God, don't
look on the outward appearance. That's the way men look. Men
look on what's going on on the flesh. Men look what's going
on with numbers. Men look what's going on with
how you react and all that. But God said, God said, I don't
look on what you do, and I don't look on what you look like. I
look on the heart. And this man's a man after my
own heart. And I tell you, you know as well as I do, people
associate worship with special days. Christmas, Easter. Special days. And they like to
put on their robes. And they like to go, I'm going
to go burn some candles for you. And they got to have their crosses.
I remember when we was building this building, the fellas that
put up the drywall, of course, they was in Pentecostalism, didn't
have a, didn't suspect nothing. I mean, they didn't have a clue
about who God was, where he was from, or how he was. You know,
and I'll tell you how I know it. He says, you know, He says,
Donnie said, what y'all need to do is just put your cross
right up here on this ship. So when everybody walks in, the
first thing they do is see that cross. I said, hey, don't put
no crosses up. But he thought that'd be the
greatest thing in the world to put up, put up a board right
through the middle and then cross out like this. And you go around
people's houses and they got a little old stick stuck in the
ground, they got a thing across it and then they got a purple
robe hanging around it. Oh, they got to have pictures.
Oh, boy. I love them pictures of Jesus.
Oh, them sacred pictures. Oh, them good holy pictures.
And then they paint the murals. You go up there to Sistine Chapel
and there's old Michelangelo's. Big brag, go on about it. Go
on about it. And, oh, beloved, they got to
have their lapel pins, got to have the clergy, you know, I'm
the clergy, and they'll stick it on the back of their car.
I'm in the clergy. They talk about their holy places,
their testimonies, the holy places, you know. This place is holier
than that place. I'll tell you, you know where
the holy place is? In the very presence of God.
Entered into the holiest of all. And only the high priest could
go there. That's the holy place. And that's the only place you
want to be. And that's the only place you can go. And the only
way you can get through that is through the Lord Jesus Christ,
who entered into the holiest of all by His own blood and obtained
eternal redemption for us. And oh, I'll be loving to talk
about the Holy Land. Israel is no more holier than
Cumberland County, Tennessee. And I'd much rather be here as
be there. I've got no interest in going over there and seeing
Jordan, getting baptized in it. Going over there and buying a
bottle of water, or buying a bottle of oil, or seeing where Jesus
walked. I know where Christ walked. I
know where He walks right now. I know where He lives. I know
where His glory is at. I know who He was when He was
on the earth, and I know where He is now. I don't need to go
and look where He walked in Bethlehem. I know where He was born, and
I know where He is, and I know He's in His glory now. That's why I say, people that
worship us, that's why you know our Lord said, He says, the heaven
is my throne, and where is the house that you're going to build
me? Paul said, God does not worship
with the works of men's hands and with silver and gold, seeing
that He made all things. And I tell you, God's not impressed
or cares about our shows of religion. That's what I loved about Brother
Scott. Oh, my, you talked about a fellow
who had no pretense about it. Oh, yeah. I mean, people just,
oh. And listen, God's not impressed
or cares about our show of religion. We can put on all the shows we
want to. But God said, this is the way. God said, be still,
be still, and know that I'm God. Huh? And oh, when you enter into
the presence of God, don't come there and offer the sacrifice
of the fool. Don't come there and start popping
off. You're on the earth. God's in
heaven. And I tell you, beloved, we're... Oh, listen, this first
part, we worship God in the Spirit. True worship is from the heart.
It's from the Spirit. And true worshipers, I'll tell
you something, beloved, they worship God privately. They worship
Him in prayer, they worship Him in thanksgiving. They may be
walking through the yard and all of a sudden just stop and
start praising and giving thanks to God. They may be sitting in a chair
somewhere and didn't thank Him, and all of a sudden God comes
on them, and they start blessing and praising and thanking. But
they worship Him privately. And they worship Him, I'll tell
you something else, they worship Him publicly with other believers,
and they worship Him in simplicity. Oh, they worship in simplicity.
You can't get simpler than the worship we do. The less we can
do, the more honor God will give out of it. Keep that flesh back. Don't let the flesh do anything.
It wants to, but we can't let it. Can't. We just can't let
it. And oh, beloved, in our public
worship and private worship, either way you do it, it's of
the heart. And if that can be called what
we call parts of worship, it would be singing hymns, hymns
that agree with our gospel, hymns that honor God, the reading of
God's blessed word, and, oh, my, read his word, not get up
and read some poems about mama or, you know what I mean, things
going to be said about daddy. You've been a daddy a long time,
and you're going to be a daddy for a long time. You'll be a
daddy when you die. You'll still be somebody's daddy. And I'm not saying anything against
that, but you know that's what the day's going to be. Oh, they're
going to just... There'll be churches that'll
meet you at the door and give you a carnation to put in your
lapel pin for daddy. I want to tell you, Jay, he'll
meet you at the door with a little bell pick. Oh, listen, here's
your coronation, your daddy. Oh, boy. We're singing hymns,
reading the Word, prayer. And the most important thing
that's done in all of our worship is preaching the Word, preaching
the Gospel. So the first mark of the true church is the worship
of God in the Spirit. The second thing, look what it
says, we are the circumcision, that true church, that true people
of God, that true believer, which worship God in the Spirit, listen
to it now, and rejoice in Christ Jesus. And when we rejoice in Christ
Jesus, we do exactly the same thing that the Father does. We
do what the Son does, we do what the Holy Spirit does, we do what
the angels do, we do what those in heaven do, we do what the
prophets do. We're in tune with heaven when we rejoice in Christ
Jesus. The Father says that this is the Son of My love, but He
said, this is My beloved Son. Or this is My beloved Savior.
This is My beloved Redeemer. And rest whom we rejoice in,
just like the Father rejoiced in Him, we rejoice in Him. And
the Holy Spirit, He says, when He has come, He'll guide you
into all truth. And He shall take the things
of mine and show them unto you. Oh, bless this man. And then the angels. He says
when He brings the Only Begotten into the world, He said, let
all the angels of God worship Him. Oh, I'm telling you, we're like
those in heaven. We're rejoicing over Christ.
What do those in heaven already say? Oh, unto him that, unto you that
was slain. Which thing that knew so? Unto him that was slain, and
has redeemed us to God by your blood out of every kindred, tribe,
and tongue, and nation, and people. Oh, my, and the prophets, we're
doing exactly what the prophets rejoiced in the Lord. Because
it says to him, they all gave witness. Huh? Let me tell you
something. This is the mark of the true
church, the true believer. He does not, dares not, dares
not rejoice in anything other than the Lord Jesus Christ. He would not dare. He just ain't
going to glory. He's not going to rejoice in
anything other than Christ. Why do that? Because they know
that He is all there is. That He is all. You know, I don't
know that I've ever preached in Colossians 3, 11. I was thinking
about that this week. I had to look and see. But I
tell you, when you thought about Christ being all in all, he is
our all, our hope before God. He is all our righteousness before
God. He is all our peace before God. He is all our peace of heart.
He is all of our justification. He is our all. I mean, when we
start talking about our all, And we're complete in Him who's
the head of all principalities and powers? We're complete in
Him? Paul said, He's my wisdom. He's my righteousness. He's my
sanctification. He's my redemption. And I'm going
to say something out here, and you go home and think about this
and see if I ain't right. He doesn't just give us a righteousness. He is our righteousness. That's why Scott and me have
decided, if we don't have a pasted-on righteousness, Christ is our
righteousness. If you've got a pasted-on righteousness,
that means it just stuck on, and it might come off sometime.
But Jehovah's a kid in you, the Lord, our righteousness. He's
our wisdom, our righteousness, our righteousness. Oh, listen, and those who rejoice
in the Lord Jesus Christ, we have so many reasons to rejoice
in Him. We rejoice in His fact that He's
God, that He's deity, that all power in heaven and earth is
given unto Him, that God gave Him power of all flesh, that
He should give eternal life to as many as God's given Him. If
everything that was made was made by Him, we rejoice in His
deity. We rejoice in His incarnation.
Oh, to rejoice in His, He came here, the Word was made fresh
and set to dwell among us, and we beheld His glory as the glory
of the only begotten of the Father. We rejoice in His obedience.
The only obedience you and I will ever have before the Father.
Now you listen to me. We want to obey God. We live,
we seek by God's grace to honor Him and glorify Him. and bless
his name, and don't want to go out here and dishonor him, but
the only obedience you and I will ever have before the Father that's
acceptable is the obedience of Christ. In one man's sin, we
became disobedient. We became sinners. By the obedience
of another, we became righteous. So the only obedience that counts
for God is our Lord Jesus Christ himself. Now, I'll tell you what
motivates us. Love motivates us. We're constrained
by the love of Christ. And I tell you, we rejoice in
His death. Oh, what a death! And that satisfaction that at
death He was wounded for our transgressions, smitten for our
iniquities. The Lord, the Lord, Jehovah,
laid on Him the iniquity of us all. And Christ, the Lord said,
he saw the tribulation of his soul. And what did he say? He
was satisfied with him. When he saw our sins and our
iniquities, God said, I see it, I see it, I see the burden of
his soul, the agony of his soul, and I'm satisfied with him. Satisfied
with him. And, oh, beloved, we rejoice
in his resurrection. You know why we rejoice in it?
Because by it, we're justified. By His resurrection, we see that
sin's been put away. He's delivered for our offenses. But when He was raised from the
dead, that means that God accepted Him. And I'm justified. And now,
beloved, because He is raised from the dead, I'll be raised.
When my body goes to the ground, I'll be raised with Him. And
oh, beloved, we rejoice in His intersection. Oh, He takes up
our case. He takes up our cause. He takes
up our name. Mary and I was talking on the
way to the service this morning. She said, talking about, I don't
know how to pray sometimes for this and that and the other.
And I said, all we do is just leave it in the hands of God.
And I tell you something, if God takes up a person's cause,
I remember Bruce Crabtree telling me this years and years ago.
Psalm 34, I believe that's where it's at. He said he had been
under conviction for a long time, so burdened over his sin. And
one night he got out of bed, and he was just so troubled,
so burdened. And he read there, it says, O Lord. David said,
O Lord, plead my cause. And he said, I got down, and
I said, O Lord, plead my cause. I got back in bed. I saved man. You know, who else is going to
plead your cause? And then we rejoice in Him coming
again. We know that when He appears,
we shall see Him as He is and be just like Him. Oh, true worshipers,
they believe in Him and Him alone. Rejoice in Him and Him alone.
And then lastly, look what it says. This is as important as
the rest of it. Not only do we worship God in
the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, we have no confidence
in the flesh. Now when we talk about confidence,
we're talking about confidence in anything we've done, anything
we do. Before God. I have confidence
in you men. I have confidence in you ladies.
I have confidence in your professions. I have confidence in your love,
your generosity, your commitment, your faith, your love for Christ. I have that confidence. But you're
just like me. We don't have no confidence in
anything we said, done, or before God by what we've done. Do we?
We have no confidence in any fleshly rites that we ever do,
any fleshly ceremonies that we go through, any keeping of the
law. Oh, what law could you keep that
would cause God to look with favor on you? Huh? Oh, beloved, we have no confidence
in our circumcision. That means that anything that
we've done way back on, I don't have no confidence in anything
I've done even since yesterday. I ain't going back to the morgue
to find out if I trust Christ or not. I'm trusting Him right
now. I may have got out of pocket yesterday. Ain't no telling what
I've done yesterday. I'm so mean, I'm so sorry, and
I'm so hateful. Ain't no telling what I said
and did yesterday. So I got to start all over today. Trust in
Christ today. I'm not going to go back and
say, boy, I've really done a good day. I read the Bible, read 14
chapters in the Bible, and I prayed, and then I read my devotional,
and then I walked around the field communing with God, so
I really have something to feel good about myself today. That's how stupid, that's how
silly, Some people are, they just, and we don't have no confidence
in the mortification even of the body. Oh man, people beat
the bodies, fascinate, you know, make the body hurt and all that
stuff. Holy days, you know, that's, that's people, this is, this
really, this really, this shows you how far gone people are.
Of course, they've always been this way. There's a certain day
a year, they call it Ash Wednesday, I don't know what day it is.
But people take a bunch of ashes, you know, they don't go out here
and start a fire and then get a bunch of ashes. They go buy
it. I guess they sell it somewhere. And you'll look around town and
you'll see folks that got ashes all over the floor. And you know
what that means? That you're humble. That you're
showing your humility. Showing that you're just nothing
but dust and ashes. I wish I had just put a little
ash on my head, don't you Fred? I stick a little ash on my head
and I think I'll... I'm just carrying a pocket full
of ashes all the time when they spread it all out and put some
more back on. I'd carry some for Mary, I said. Oh, we'd be so humble. Oh, but
beloved, all of these things, all of these things that we don't
have any confidence in, the law, Christ has fulfilled them. Christ
is the end of the law. The goal of the law, the fulfillment
of the law, for righteousness. For what? Him that believes. Not him that does, he that believes. And I tell you, we don't have
no confidence in the efforts of the flesh to keep rules and
regulations and standards and convictions. Look over here,
back over to Colossians, right to your right. Just let me show
you something in Colossians 2.20. Colossians 2.20. You know, that's
why That rich young ruler, our Lord said to him, he'd come to
the Lord and said, what good thing must I do to inherit eternal
life? Our Lord said, well, keep the commandments. He said, I've
kept all these from my youth on. I've kept them all from my
youth on. He had such confidence in the
flesh. And our Lord says, well, you lack one thing. What is it? Take everything you've got, sell
it, and go give to the poor. He walked off a poor man. He
walked off there crying, so sorry, I can't do that, I can't do that.
But he still had that confidence in the flesh. That Pharisee stood
and prayed thus with himself. He had such confidence in his
flesh. I pray, fast twice in the week, don't commit fornication,
I'm not an extortioner. I'm not even like that publican
over there. He can't even come in the temple, he's so sorry.
He'd stand by the door and cry out for mercy. And oh, look what he said here,
Colossians 2.20. Wherefore, if you be dead with
Christ, and where did we die with Christ? Paul said, I'm crucified
with Christ. And listen, from the rudiments
of the world, what the rudiments of the world is, he's going to
explain what they are. Why, as though living in the
world, are you subject to ordinances? So any of the rudiments of the
world are anything that you can touch, that you can taste, or
you can have. And so why are you living in
a world where you're letting people tell you not to touch nothing,
taste nothing, handle nothing? Because whatever you can touch,
whatever you can taste, whatever you can handle, they're all going
to perish with the use of them. But Paul said, well, you know,
I don't, I don't, I don't, or I do, I do, I do. And Paul said,
why are you doing that? You're dead with Christ. The
elements of the world has no power over you. God gave us all
things thankfully. And oh, beloved, let me tell
you something about this confidence in the flesh. Isaiah said it
this way. You know what your righteousness
is? Your righteousness is as a filthy rag. The best
thing you've ever done, the best thing you've ever done outside
of Christ is a filthy rag. He says, man at his best estate,
the best state he was ever in, he's altogether vanity. And the
scripture says that God puts no trust in His saints, and don't
even put no trust in the heavens and in the stars. And that's
why we have no confidence in the popes or bishops or right
reverends or fathers or priests or monks or preachers or any
mortal man or saint so-and-so. We don't do it. And I'll tell
you something, beloved. Leaders come and go, but Christ
abides forever. He's the same today, yesterday,
and forever. That's why we have no confidence
in our flesh. Romans 7, and I'm done. You know,
preachers come along, and they'll preach. You know, they'll recognize The
oldest, but they won't recognize the Ancient of Days. They'll recognize a preacher,
but they won't recognize the Prince of Peace. They'll recognize
Dr. So-and-so, but not the great
physician. They'll recognize a newborn baby, but not recognize
Christ who is incarnate. And that's going in the flesh.
And we ain't going to do that. Look in Romans 7, just a moment. And I'm not. Let's look at Romans 7, 18. For I know that in me, me, me,
who I am, that is in my flesh, in this
body, in my nature, all in nature dwelleth no good thing. Huh? Oh, I've got the will. I've got
the will to do a good thing. I've got the will to honor God. I've got the will to live completely,
perfectly and wholly and honor God with all my heart and soul.
But how to perform that which is good, I just don't know how
to do. You know why? Nothing good in
here. So, oh, it's Christ in you, that's
the hope of glory. Three marks of the true church,
the true believer. We worship God in the spirit,
rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.
Amen? Our Father, oh, gracious, gracious
Father, in the blessed name of the Lord Jesus, Thank you for
your gospel. Thank you for the truth. Thank
you for your great, great mercy. And Father, I pray that you'd
be pleased to bless the message to the hearts, the minds, the
understandings today. Pray as a blessing to your dear
saints. Father, if anybody gets it, if anybody understands it,
if anybody receives it, it'll be because of the Holy Spirit.
So Lord, we know that. And we ask you, Holy Spirit,
to make it effectual. In Christ's holy name. Amen.
Amen.

The True Church, True Believer

What does the Bible say about true believers?

How do we know the Apostle Paul is telling the truth?

Why is it important for Christians to have no confidence in the flesh?

What does it mean to worship God in the Spirit?

How can Christians rejoice in Christ?

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The True Church, True Believer

What does the Bible say about true believers?

How do we know the Apostle Paul is telling the truth?

Why is it important for Christians to have no confidence in the flesh?

What does it mean to worship God in the Spirit?

How can Christians rejoice in Christ?

Sermon Transcript

About Donnie Bell

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