Welcome to Reign of Grace. This
program is brought to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries,
an outreach ministry of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany,
Georgia. It is our pleasure and privilege
to present to you the gospel message of the sovereign grace
and glory of God in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that today's program
will be a blessing to you. Thank you for listening. And
now for today's program. Welcome to our program. I'm glad
you could join us today. And if you'd like to follow along
in your Bibles, I'm going to be preaching from the book of
Philippians in the New Testament. Paul, the Apostle Paul, his letter
to the church at Philippi. This is one of his prison epistles,
because he wrote this from prison. He was in prison for preaching
the gospel. And he wrote this, and it's a
beautiful little book that relates the gospel so clearly. And one of the things that I've
always referred to in the book of Philippians, especially chapter
three, that's where we're gonna be looking at in two messages. Philippians chapter 3, I'm going
to cover this whole chapter in two messages and the subject,
the title of the message is Faith, Repentance, and Perseverance. Faith, Repentance, and Perseverance. Today's message is part one and
then next week will be part two. But those three words Faith,
repentance, and perseverance pretty much sum up, summarize
the Christian life, because the Christian life, when God saves
a sinner by his grace through the Lord Jesus Christ, and when
he brings that person in the new birth, giving that person
spiritual life, you know, the Bible teaches that by nature,
We are all born spiritually dead in trespasses and sins, which
means we have no spiritual life. We have physical life. We have minds, affections, wills,
hearts, but they're fallen, spiritually dead, and therefore we must be
born again. That's what Christ told Nicodemus
in John chapter three, you must be born again. And in the new
birth, the Holy Spirit comes and brings God's people under
the hearing of the gospel faith cometh by hearing and hearing
by the word of God and he makes that gospel the power of God
unto salvation to everyone that believeth to the Jew first the
Greek also therein is the righteousness of God revealed which is the
merit of Christ obedience unto death as the surety the substitute
and the redeemer of his people And so in the new birth, he gives
them spiritual life and knowledge through the preaching of the
gospel to where they know who God is, that God is a holy and
just and righteous God, must punish sin. And he shows them
themselves that we are sinners who have nothing and can do nothing
to recommend us unto God. And then he shows us the glory
of the person and finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ as the
only way out of this mess of spiritual life and sin and condemnation
and death and hell. And he shows us who Christ is,
God in human flesh, the God-man. Paul writes about this in Philippians
chapter two when he talks about Christ. who being in the form
of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, made himself
of no reputation, took upon him the form of a servant. All those
descriptions that show the God-man, God manifest in the flesh, and
how he was obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
To do what? To satisfy the justice of God
as the substitute and redeemer of his people. Christ, having
the sins of God's people imputed, charged to Him, went to the cross
and died to pay their sin debt. And in return, God has imputed
unto all of His people, charged to them, His righteousness, the
righteousness of Christ. And that's revealed in the gospel.
And that righteousness of Christ, the death of Christ, the blood
of Christ, the cross of Christ, demands their salvation, including
their new birth. And he gives them eyes to see.
He brings them to faith in Christ. He brings them to repentance
of dead works. And he causes them to persevere
in the faith, to continue in the faith. They will not forsake
Christ. They're still sinners, but they
will not forsake Christ because God preserves them. He won't
let them. And so that's what's related here in Philippians chapter
three. Let's begin at verse one. He says, finally, my brethren
rejoice in the Lord. The word rejoice there means
to be happy. And what he's talking about is
look to Christ and find your happiness and your fulfillment
and your contentment in him. He says, to write the same things
to you, to me indeed is not grievous or burdensome, but for you it
is safe. Now, Paul was a man of repetition. Often I hear people tell me,
they'll say, well, you just preach the same thing over and over
again. Well, that's okay. For me to write or to preach
the same things to you, it's not a burden to me and for you
it is safe because what Paul was repeating here is the gospel.
the safety and security of sinners saved by grace through the blood
and the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now he says
in verse two, beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware
of the concision. Now what he's referring to there
is a segment of people who were Jews and who claimed to be Christian. but who denied the doctrine of
Christ because they tried to impose the Jewish legal ceremonies
upon Christians, specifically circumcision. And Paul calls
them dogs. Now that was a common name that
the Jews had for Gentiles, but Paul turns it back on them. And
then he says, beware of evil workers. They come under the
guise of godliness and obedience and law-keeping. but they are
actually evil workers because anytime somebody puts a burden
upon a believer in order to attain or maintain salvation, that's
evil. Our salvation is conditioned on Christ, who fulfilled all
conditions. And there is nothing else that
needs to be done. Everything a believer does is
the fruit and effect and the result of the power and the goodness
and the grace of God in Christ. So he says, beware of the concision.
In other words, he's using a play on words there. The concision
was be like the mutilators. They're trying to get the Gentile
believers to be circumcised, the male believers, to be circumcised
in order to be more saved or more secure or more righteous. And Paul says, all they're doing
is mutilating you. In other words, circumcision
was never meant for that purpose. So he says in verse three, now
here's the first, here's one of the identifications of a true
Christian. He says, for we are the circumcision. You know, the Jews would call
themselves the circumcision, and Gentiles the uncircumcision.
But Paul says we, now who's the we there? That's believers. And
he says we're the circumcision. Well, many of these Gentile believers
had not been physically circumcised, so what kind of circumcision
is he talking about when he says we are the circumcision? Well,
over in the book of Romans, chapter two, Paul makes this statement
in verse 28. Romans 2 verse 28, he says, For
he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly, neither is that circumcision,
which is outward in the flesh. Verse 29, but he is a Jew, which
is one inwardly and circumcision is that of the heart in the spirit
and not in the letter. In other words, not physical
according to the law, whose praise is not of men, but of God. So
Paul in Philippians 3, 3, when he says, for we are the circumcision,
what he's saying is this, he's saying, we are the true Jews.
We are the spiritual Jews, the spiritual Israel, the spiritually
circumcised. And what is spiritual circumcision?
It's circumcision of the heart. It's a heart work. It's what
salvation is. Salvation is an eternal work
as it was conceived in the mind of God before the foundation
of the world. Salvation by God's grace is a
legal work. That's the justification of God's
people whereby they are forgiven and declared righteous based
upon His righteousness imputed. Salvation is a cross work whereby
Christ redeemed us from our sins on the cross of Calvary when
He died as the surety, the substitute, and the redeemer of His people.
And then, ultimately, salvation is a heart work. That's the sanctification
of the Spirit and belief of the truth. That's the new birth.
And so when the Holy Spirit brings a sinner to the new birth, in
the new birth, he circumcises the heart. He cuts away the filth
of the flesh, and that's repentance. So go back to Philippians 3 in
verse 3. For we are the circumcision,
how do you know, which worship God in the Spirit. We worship
God in the Spirit. Now what does that mean? Now
sometimes in the Bible you'll see the word Spirit not capitalized. Sometimes it'll be like this.
This is not capitalized. Sometimes it is capitalized,
meaning God the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity.
I really believe that it should be capitalized here, but it could
go either way. We worship God in the Spirit. That is, we worship God sincerely
from our hearts, the regenerated heart, the new heart, the circumcised
heart. But it also could be we worship
God as the Holy Spirit leads us in His word. So in other words,
we don't worship God just in some way that makes us feel good. but we worship God from our hearts
in a way that the Spirit guides us in His word. And so he says,
we worship God in the Spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus. The word rejoice there means
to boast. It means to have confidence.
We boast in Christ Jesus. That's how you know your heart's
been circumcised spiritually. That's how you know you've been
born again. That's how you know the Spirit is leading you in
worship. You rejoice, you boast, you have
confidence in Christ Jesus, not in self, not in the preacher,
not in the congregation, not in the motions, not in the ordinances,
baptism and the Lord's Supper. We don't have confidence in those
things and our participation in them. We have confidence,
we boast in Christ, who he is. and what he accomplished on Calvary
to save his people from their sins. And then he says, and have
no confidence in the flesh. That is what we do or can do.
Now, that's the essence of faith and repentance right there. Confidence
in Christ, trust in Christ, rest in Christ, no confidence in the
flesh. Now Paul explains that and he
goes back to his past. Verse four, though I might also
have confidence in the flesh, if any other man thinketh that
he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more. Now what
Paul is saying there, and it's true, he said if anybody could
have gained anything in God's favor and blessings by their
works, by the flesh, Paul says, I could outdo them all. And he
lists these things, look at verse five. Circumcised the eighth
day. That's the day that the Jewish
males were to be circumcised. Of the stock of Israel, of the
tribe of Benjamin, and Hebrew of Hebrews, as touching the law
of Pharisee, that is one who went above and beyond the call
of duty. Verse six, concerning zeal, persecuting
the church. What Paul's saying there is he
was so zealous for his religion, in the Jewish religion, that
when the Christian church came along in the New Testament, he
looked at it as heresy. And he said, persecuted it. And
then touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.
Paul was a moral, dedicated, sincere Jewish Pharisee. He did everything he could to
try to establish a righteousness of his own. That's what he was. Take note of these next verses.
Look at verse 7. He says, But what things were
gained to me, those I counted lost for Christ. What did Paul think he had gained? He thought he had gained favor
with God. He thought he had gained salvation. He thought he had
gained blessing and righteousness. But what things did he think
gained him those things? He was circumcised the eighth
day, the stock of Israel, tribe of Benjamin, an honored tribe,
Hebrew of Hebrews, a full-blooded Hebrew, a Pharisee, persecuting,
zealous in his religion, righteous outwardly. In other words, as
men saw things. But he says, those things that
were gained to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Now that's faith
and repentance. Look at verse eight, he explains
further. 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 dung, that I may win Christ. Verse nine, and be found in him,
not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that
which is through the faith of Christ. That is the faithfulness
of Christ, the righteousness, which is of God by faith. Now
that's faith and repentance. In other words, those things
that Paul thought were gain were works of the flesh. They were
his works. It had to do with his heritage.
They had to do with his zeal and sincerity. They had to do
with his attempts to keep the law. But when God on the Damascus
Road stopped him, when Christ stopped him and revealed himself
as the Lord of glory, the only way of salvation, the only way
of righteousness, by the grace of God, not based on the works
of sinners, Paul had a great change of mind here. He had a
radical change of mind. One old writer called it radical
spiritual surgery. And that fleshly pride in the
things of his flesh was cut away like the filth of the flesh.
He saw now that everything that he had boasted in everything
he had trusted in, everything he was so proud of. It was literally,
he said, dung in light of the glory of the person and finished
work of Christ. Christ's righteousness, the Bible
says in Romans 10, verse 4, Christ is the end of the law for righteousness
to everyone that believeth. Now where does that leave my
righteousness, my work's righteousness? It's nothing but dung. Isaiah
called it filthy rags. You see, when we see what God
requires, God requires the perfection of righteousness that can only
be found in Christ Jesus as the surety, the substitute and redeemer
of His people. It can be found nowhere else.
If you look for it in yourself, I pray that you don't find it.
Because if you do, it shows you're deceived. You're in unbelief.
It's pride, you see. We have no righteousness by which
to recommend us unto God. I don't care how high we were
born. I don't care how hard we work.
I don't care how sincere and zealous we are. We cannot be
saved by our works. We cannot be forgiven by our
works. We cannot be righteous, justified
by our works. It's only in Christ, that's what
Paul said, that I may win Christ. That's it, and be found in Him. Not having mine own righteousness
which is of the law, but that which is through the faithfulness
of Christ. You see, it's not even our faith
that earns or gains God's blessings, our faith, if we truly believe
in the Christ of the Bible, gospel faith, not false faith, but if
we truly have faith, that's one of the gifts, one of the blessings
that comes to God's people from Christ. If you receive Him, it's
because you've been born again by God. And that new birth is
the life of Christ given to you. He died, He was buried, He arose
again the third day. Why? Because He established the
only righteousness upon which God is just to justify sinners
like me and like you. And so, it's the faithfulness
of Christ. He was faithful in all that He
agreed to do before the foundation of the world to accomplish it
for the salvation of His people. And this is the righteousness
which is of God by faith. In other words, it's the righteousness
of God. We receive it by faith. And then
He expresses His desire He says in verse 10 of Philippians 3,
that I may know Him. Now that's a good summation of
a believer's desire, that I may know Christ. And I want to know
more of Christ. That's why I study the Word,
that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection. What is
the power of His resurrection? Well, it's the power of His righteousness
to secure and demand the complete salvation of all for whom He
lived, died, was buried, and arose. You see, there'll be no
sinners in hell for whom Christ died. How do you know that? The
power of His resurrection. He said the fellowship of His
sufferings. Now, when we talk about the fellowship
of his sufferings, we can talk about two things. Number one,
we can talk about Christ as the representative of his people,
Christ as the surety of his people. When he died, he died for them,
his people, his sheep, his church, all who come to believe the gospel.
When he was buried, when he arose again, it was for them. The Bible
says that they were in him. When he died, I died. When he
was buried, I was buried. When he arose, I arose. That's
the fellowship of his sufferings. But also you can talk about when
a sinner is brought to faith in Christ, he begins then to
suffer from the world, the hatred, the derision of the world. And
that's the sufferings, the fellowship of his sufferings. And he says,
being made conformable unto his death. Again, when he died, I
died. When he was buried, I was buried.
When he arose, I arose. And then we suffer all day long. Paul said in Romans chapter eight,
we're like led like sheep to the slaughter because that's
our life of suffering. That is identifying with Christ.
And so in verse 11, he says, if by any means I might attain
unto the resurrection of the dead. What he's saying there
is this, whatever it takes for God to bring me to the resurrection
of the dead in the last days to be glorified with Christ and
live with him for whatever it takes, that's what I want. That's
what I submit to. I am with Him. And that's where
perseverance comes in. And we'll talk more about perseverance
in the next message as we go on through Philippians 3. But
you see, this is it. Faith. God-given faith. The Bible says in Ephesians 2,
8 and 9, For by grace are you saved through faith, and that's
not of yourselves. It's the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. You see, faith is not natural
to man, to unregenerate man. It's not some spark of goodness
that you have to find some eloquent preacher to fan the flame and
drag you down an aisle to confess something. Faith is the gift
of God that comes to God's people through Christ. And faith equals
knowledge of Him. That's what the scripture says.
Christ said it Himself in His high priestly prayer. This is
life eternal, that they might know Thee, the only true God,
and Jesus Christ whom Thou sent. Paul wrote in 2 Timothy 1.12,
I know whom I have believed, and I'm persuaded that he's able
to keep that which I've committed unto him against that day. And
then having come to Christ, having gone to Christ, run to him and
received him, we turn away from ourselves. We repent of our sins. Now let me tell you something
about repentance. Repentance is not simply feeling sorry for
your sins. Now don't get me wrong, I should
feel sorry for my sins, sorrier than I am, but that's not repentance. That's godly sorrow over sin
that leads us to Christ. Repentance is a change of mind.
What I used to think was noble and good and recommended me unto
God, now in light of Christ, I've changed my mind. Now I see
those things as loss, as dung, as evil. I was brought up in
religion. How about you? But I didn't know
Christ. I didn't know the gospel. I was
ignorant of the righteousness of God. Romans chapter 10 speaks
of the Jews who were going about to establish their own righteousness
because they were ignorant of God's righteousness. Well, where
is God's righteousness? What is God's righteousness?
I've quoted it earlier. Romans 10 four, for Christ is
the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believe it.
I didn't know these doctrines. I didn't know this gospel. I
didn't know these truths. But when God revealed Himself
to me and brought me to a saving knowledge of who He really is,
a just God and a Savior, yes merciful, yes gracious, yes loving,
but not at the expense of His justice. not at the expense of
his truth. And then when he showed me myself,
that I'm a sinner who had no righteousness and no goodness
by which to recommend me unto God, and that I had no desire,
natural desire, to come to the true and living God through Christ.
He gave me that desire, you see, and brought me to Christ. He
showed me the glory of the person and finished work of Christ and
brought me to see that nothing can save me, nothing can help
me, nothing can recommend me unto God, but His righteousness
imputed to me, charged to me, accounted to me, and that all
else was dung and loss in the eyes of God. Everything that
I did in religion up to that point was dead works, the scripture
says. And now, as a sinner saved by
grace, I'm still a sinner. I still have nothing to recommend
me unto God but Christ's righteousness alone, His blood alone. I still
sing what can wash away my sins, nothing but the blood of Jesus.
I still say my hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood
and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest
frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name. On Christ the solid rock
I stand, all other ground is sinking sand. That's the essence
of faith, repentance, and perseverance, continuing in the faith. And
this is what the Apostle Paul was showing here in his own experience
by the grace and the power and the goodness and the will of
God as he was brought to faith in Christ, to repentance of dead
works and idolatry, and to perseverance in the faith. I hope you'll join
us next week for another message from God's Word. We are glad you could join us
for another edition of Reign of Grace. This program is brought
to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries, an outreach ministry
of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany, Georgia. To receive
a copy of today's program or to learn more about Reign of
Grace Media Ministries or Eager Avenue Grace Church, Write us
at 1-1-0-2 Eager Drive, Albany, Georgia 3-1-7-0-7. Contact us
by phone at 229-432-6969 or email us through our website at www.TheLetterRofGrace.com. Thank you again for listening
today and may the Lord be with you.