would Please turn to the book
of Philippians Chapter 3 Philippians chapter 3 I'm just
going to read the first three verses Verse 1 finally my brethren Rejoice
in the Lord to write the same things to you to me indeed is
not grievous in 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'm gonna end up concentrating
on verse three. Now I know I read verse three
last week, but we're gonna look at a different part of it. The
part I wanna look at is the first four words, well the first five
words. For we are the circumcision. So who are the circumcision?
It's very plain. It's us, not them. Paul states
it in verse one, finally, my brethren. My brethren. Philippians one and verse one,
it's Paul and Timotheus, servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints
in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi with the bishops and
the deacons. That's who the who is. My brethren, writes the apostle
Paul. But what got me on this is there's
something that's been running around in my head for a while.
And I, basically it is because of a fact that I found out. The Apostle Paul in his epistles
in the New Testament, he used the word circumcision 30 times
in 26 verses. Now, that's not all that Unusual
if you're used to reading what the Apostle Paul has written
But do you know how many times? Circumcision is used in all the
Gospels and in the book of Acts Five it's only used five times
in all four Gospels and the book of Acts Now in all the other
epistles and the book of Revelation You know how many times the word
circumcision is used? Zero So I have formed a conclusion
from that that circumcision was important to the Apostle Paul
and I think there's a reason and we'll get to that after a
bit But now I'm going to go the roundabout way to this text for
we are the circumcision which worship God in the spirit and
rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh and
Now you can't separate any of that. But I'm gonna get to that.
But in order to get to this point, I kinda gotta back up a little
bit. Because I wanna look at what some of the other things
that Paul wrote about circumcision. First in Romans chapter two and
verses 25 through 29. Romans two and verse 25, for
circumcision verily profiteth if thou keep the law. Now that, you get to Romans three,
that's a mighty big law. That's a mighty big if. But if thou be a breaker of the
law, which we all are, he's gonna prove all under sin, Jew and
Gentile, thy circumcision is made uncircumcision. Therefore if the uncircumcision
keep the righteousness of the law shall not his uncircumcision
be counted for circumcision and Shall not uncircumcision which
is by nature if it fulfill the law judge thee who by the letter
and circumcision dost transgress the law Here's the point verse
28 for He is a Jew Which is one Well, excuse me, for he is not
a Jew. I forgot Paul, so Paul started
with the negative. For he is not a Jew, which is
one outwardly. Neither is that circumcision,
which is outward in the flesh. But, verse 29, he is a Jew, which
is one inwardly. And circumcision is that of the
heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter, whose praise is
not of men, but of God. Outward circumcision does not
matter. The Apostle Paul is clear, crystal
clear. Fleshly circumcision does not
make one a Jew. A true Jew. You know who wrote this? This
is Paul, who used to be Saul of Tarsus. A Jew wrote this. Not only that, he called himself,
and he was, a Hebrew of the Hebrews. And as concerning the law, at
one time, this man was a Pharisee. And here he is bad-mouthing fleshly
circumcision. You know why? Because it deserved
to be. This is contrary to all Jewish
teaching, what this man just wrote here. And it is perfectly
in line with the scripture, and I'm gonna show you that. But
this was considered heresy to the Jews. Paul knew that. He wrote to the Galatians, and
when he wrote to the Galatians, he told them, if I preach circumcision,
then is the offense of the cross ceased. The Jews were offended
by this, by the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, and what it
made of their fleshly, their fleshly. trying to keep the law. But Paul went on, he explained,
a man looks on the outside, God looks on the inward. He is a
Jew which is one inwardly. And circumcision is that of the
heart in the spirit and not in the letter. Circumcision is of
the heart. That sounds familiar, doesn't
it? He put it this way to the Colossians. In whom also ye are
circumcised with the circumcision made without hands. In, putting off the body of the
sins of the flesh by, by the circumcision of Christ. It says, in whom are you also
circumcised? Well, that in whom, he had just
written in Colossians, that in him, in Christ Jesus, dwells
all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in him. Who? In the whom that circumcised
you. Circumcision made without hands. which is the circumcision of
Christ. Walter, I've come to the point
in my mind where I've said it before here and I'll say it again,
there's only one Passover. I wanna tell you this, as far
as we're concerned, there's only one circumcision. The circumcision of Christ, that's
singular. And it's the same for every single
child of God. Or you are not a child of God. The circumcision of Christ. But
now like I said, there's 30 mentions and 26 verses all through his
epistles. So why? Do I think Paul spent
so much time writing, and I believe he spoke about circumcision.
See, because he said, if I preach circumcision, then the offense
of the cross is ceased. And there were Jews going around
and saying they were believers. They call them, you know, when
you get into the theology a little bit, they're called Judaizers.
They were Jews who said they believe Christ, but then they
went around telling people to try and keep the law of Moses,
that they needed to be circumcised, that they needed to keep the
Sabbath, that they needed to avoid pork. Certain of those
came down when Peter and Paul were together. And Paul wrote, Peter went over
to him and carried away others with him. and he withstood him
to the face because he was to be blamed. There is to be absolutely
no separation between the children of God. There's only one circumcision
and that's the circumcision of Christ, the circumcision of the
heart, the circumcision which is inward. But why I think Paul has, why
this affected Paul so much and why he preached and talked about
it so much and wrote about it so much. Now, this involves a little bit of
my thoughts. I wanna warn you right now. I
think I got scripture for it. I do, but I actually think this
has to do with the only message I can say for certain that I
believe the Apostle Paul heard while he was still Saul of Tarsus.
This is the only example we have in the scripture. I don't know
it's the only one, but I do know it's the one that's recorded
in the scripture that he was there. And then he confesses
it himself later. It has to do with Acts chapter
seven and verses 49 through 46, or 56, excuse me. It actually has to do with the
whole chapter of Acts. was the stoning of Stephen is how it
ended up. And Acts chapter seven and verse
49 says, heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool,
and what house will ye build me, saith the Lord, or what is
the place of my rest? Hath not my hand made all these
things? Verse 51. Ye stiff-necked and
uncircumcised in heart and ears. Ye do always, and I want to emphasize
that, always resist the Holy Ghost as your fathers did, so
do ye. Which of the prophets have not
your father persecuted? And they have slain them which
showed before of the coming of the just one of whom ye have
been now the betrayers and murderers who have received the law by
the disposition of angels and have not kept it. Now how did
this message of Stephens go over? This is just the end, you can
read the rest of it. But here it is, he's telling
them they killed the prophets and they killed Jesus Christ,
or Jesus who is the Christ. They did it themselves. He's
still in Jerusalem, it hadn't been that long ago. When they
heard these things, they rejoiced and praised God
for the truth that was preached. No, no, no. They cried among themselves,
men and brethren, what shall we do? Didn't say that either. When they heard these things,
they were cut to the heart. And they gnashed on him with
their teeth. But he being full of the Holy
Ghost looked up steadfastly into heaven and saw the glory of God
and Jesus standing on the right hand of God. And he said, behold,
I see the heavens open and the Son of Man standing on the right
hand. Then they cried out with a loud
voice and stopped their ears and ran upon him with one accord
and cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses,
laid down their clothes at a young man's feet, whose name was Saul. That's Saul of Tarsus. He confesses
it later. And they stoned Stephen, calling
upon God and saying, this is Stephen, saying, Lord Jesus,
receive my spirit. And he kneeled down and cried
with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.
And when he had said this, he fell asleep. The one message I know, Saul
was there. Now what he heard of it, how long he'd been there,
I don't know, but he was there at the end of this. And what
was the big statement that Stephen said? You stiff neck and uncircumcised
and hardened ears. Understand how did Saul react
to this message that he heard, this message that Stephen preached?
He kept track of the clothing the men dropped before his feet.
That's what he did. Chapter eight and verse one says
this. This is Luke writing the book of Acts. And Saul was consenting
unto his death. You understand? At that time,
Saul of Tarsus approved the stoning of Stephen. while this man Stephen was calling
upon the name of the Lord, calling upon Jesus Christ. Then we have Paul's own admonition,
which he admits to being there, and he admits himself. Somebody
told Luke this to write it down, and I know Luke and Paul run
around together. But we have Paul's own admonition
when he was preaching to those Jews in Jerusalem. when they
went to grab him and take him and he had been rescued by the
Roman captain. This is what he says in the midst
of his testimony. This is Acts 22 and verse 20.
And when the blood of thy martyr Stephen was shed, I also was
standing by and consenting unto his death and kept the raiment
of them that slew him. And like I said, this is some
of my thoughts. I don't wanna, I can't say it
for sure, but I do see the evidence of what the Apostle Paul wrote
to these people, and I believe he preached the same thing he
wrote. I think this event, the stoning
of Stephen after that message, weighed on Paul's conscience
after the Lord converted him. and possibly before. Because this is the one particular
incident that Paul related while teaching, going through his testimony. This is the one event where Paul
admitted to being somewhere near where the gospel was actually
preached. He admitted later on to persecuting the church and
talked about it. but there's never any instance
of it, of what was heard or what was
said, but this is recorded in such detail in two different
places. And that one statement, I think,
that Stephen uttered about being uncircumcised in heart and ears,
and you always resist the Holy Ghost if you're uncircumcised.
In heart and ears, you'll always resist the Holy Ghost. That's
the condition of man as he is naturally. That statement, the basis for it is found in
Deuteronomy 10 and verse 16. You don't have to turn there.
It says this, this is the Lord speaking. He says, circumcise
therefore the foreskin of your heart and be no more stiff neck. Now he says you're stiff neck
and uncircumcised in heart and ears, that's what Stephen said.
But you understand here with this, circumcised therefore the
foreskin of your heart and be no, your stiff neck is because
your heart's uncircumcised. The source is bad, therefore
the actions and the thoughts are bad. That's what Jesus Christ
said. I believe this firmly stuck with
Paul because Paul, being a Jew, being a Hebrew of Hebrews, being
as concerning the law, a Pharisee, he knew exactly how the Jews
felt about circumcision because he felt the same way. Romans 4 states that Abraham
was imputed righteousness while he was uncircumcised. Paul wrote that. Circumcision
came later as a seal of the righteousness of the faith Abraham had while
uncircumcised. Now, after I said all that, let's
look at Philippians three again. Philippians 3 and verse 3, 4. Well, beware of dogs, beware
of evil workers, beware of the concision. That's those that
want you circumcised, that want to cut on you. You read some of this stuff and
you think, boy, Paul's trying to win friends and influence people.
Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision. He was talking, writing to these
Philippians. And he was talking about the
people that were around him. And I can tell you this right
now. We are surrounded by dogs, evil workers, and the concision.
Even now in this day. I'm not gonna go into that though.
Because I got this statement here. For We are the, the circumcision. Believers, saints in Christ Jesus,
Paul's brethren, and I'll tell you, my brethren, are the circumcision. Sinners all, yes. None are worthy. None are deserving. And All know
that if they're part of the circumcision. We are the circumcision. Some
are Jewish and some are not Jewish. But the circumcision is those
who are a Jew inwardly. We are rich. poor, bond, free,
old, young, male, female, any other distinguishing thing you
want to say. But there's only one circumcision,
the circumcision. You know, the question was asked,
who makes you to differ? The answer is God. It's the only
answer. Jesus Christ. And here's what
makes you differ. The circumcision of Christ makes
you different. You're in the world, but you're not of the world.
That's how you differ. But ye, if you believe, If you
trust Christ, if you've had Christ revealed to you, if you've called
upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, you are the circumcision. The one who is a Jew inwardly. And then it says this, which
worship God in the spirit. The true circumcision of the
heart, guess what? Stops us from always resisting
the Holy Ghost. Like our fathers did. We, those that are the circumcision,
don't resist the spirit. We worship God in spirit. We
worship God with the inward man. I am here because this is where
I want to be. And I hope that's why you're
here too. Because I want to hear that man over there preach the
word of God. I want to be with the people
of God and maybe talk a little bit about my Lord Jesus Christ.
The Holy Spirit dwells in us And the Holy Spirit makes intercession
for us. Because we can't pray as we ought.
But he lets go with groanings and things that can't be uttered. We worship God in the Spirit,
and it's his Spirit that's in us. We want to know God as he
is. We praise his name as best we
can. We thank him for his grace, his
mercy, and his compassion as best we can. And we love him
because he first loved us. And we worship God in spirit.
And rejoice in Christ Jesus. We joy in Christ. You read this morning, Paul.
Rejoice in the Lord. We rejoice in his name, we pray
in his name, we sing in his name. We love to hear his gospel preached,
and I am a firm believer that you cannot preach Christ Jesus
too high. Now if that makes some people
think you're preaching man too low, so be it. Because you can't
preach him too high. We're not capable of even thinking
him too high. Because anything a fallen man
thinks in his head, even with the scriptures, even being a
believer, even being an apostle, doesn't come close to the glory
of God in the face of Jesus Christ. You can't preach Jesus Christ
too high. The world doesn't get it, but
here's the thing, the circumcision get it. The circumcision get
it. because we are the circumcision
and we rejoice in Christ Jesus. And the last thing, and have
no confidence in the flesh. I said it last week, Paul an
apostle, a disciple of Christ, a man that Christ appeared to
on the road to Damascus after he was dead and resurrected.
Jesus appeared to him. Of course, Paul didn't know who
he was at first, or Saul didn't, because what did he say to him?
He said, Lord, who art thou? Who art thou? He said, I'm Jesus whom thou
persecutest. That man had no confidence in
his flesh or any other flesh. And we shouldn't either have
any confidence in the flesh. Matter of fact, you'd better
not have any confidence in the flesh. Deuteronomy 30 and verse six
said this. And the Lord God will circumcise
thine heart. And the heart of thy seed. Two, two, love the Lord thy God
with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest
live. That's the circumcision of the
heart. You'll look in the scriptures,
I'll give them a new heart. And then you'll hear it in the
New Testament. This is what the prophet prophesied. I'll give
them a new heart. I'll put my law in them. And
they will love me. That's the circumcision of the
heart. and we are the circumcision which
worship God in the spirit and rejoice and have no confidence
in the flesh. Understand Paul has connected
this sentence together with two definite articles and two conjunctions. Four little words connect all
this together and you cannot separate those statements. Because if you don't worship, God in
spirit, you've got no reason to rejoice in Christ Jesus. And if you don't rejoice in Christ
Jesus, if you don't know Christ Jesus, you are not worshiping
God in spirit. Because no man knows the Father
except by me. If you've seen me, you've seen
the Father. Paul connects these thoughts
with these words, and that last one goes right in there with
him. You can't separate having no confidence in the flesh from
being the circumcision, and from worshiping God in spirit, and
from rejoicing in Christ Jesus, and, and, and have no confidence
in the flesh. The true circumcision, the inward
Jew, from the worship of God in the spirit, there's no way
to separate them. because there's only one thought
here. And the thought is, for we are the circumcision. Believers, saints. Paul wrote this. And this is one of the ones that
got me. And he's talking about fleshly circumcision here. He
wrote, this Jew wrote, circumcision is nothing. And what else did
he say? Uncircumcision is nothing. But keeping the commandments
of God. Romans three tells you. we have
concluded all under sin. Who's that? That's Jew and Gentile,
because that's all there is. There's Jews and there are not
Jews. That's all there is. And then
he goes on to tell you that Jesus Christ came to save sinners. And we're nothing but sin. Only
question is, do you know it? Do you know it? Jesus Christ
saved sinners, uncircumcised and circumcised. And you know
what? He is a Jew, which is one inwardly
and circumcision is of the heart. other than outward in a Jew and
a Gentile. Inwardly, we are all sinners. And the only hope for a man is
that circumcision of the heart by the Lord Jesus Christ. That's all. That's all. And that is far more
than we ever deserved. He gave his life, shed his blood
for his people and he saved his people from their sins. He took
them away and he is going to circumcise the heart of everyone
that the father gave him. from before the foundation of
the world. Our Lord, our Savior, yes, but
our Lord, first of all, did this and is doing this for his people
today. Heavenly Father, we are thankful
again for this time and this place. Most of all, thank you
for your Son, our Lord, who made everything, keeps everything,
and by Him all things consist. Thank you, Lord, for what He
has done for us, what He has done in us, and what He shall
do. Thank you, Lord. In Christ's
name we pray.