A Bible Description of Christianity

Q: What does the Bible say about the true nature of a Christian?

The Bible describes true Christians as those who have experienced the circumcision of the heart, worship God in spirit, and trust in Christ alone. According to Philippians 3, the Apostle Paul outlines four characteristics that define true believers. First, they experience an inward work of grace, referred to as the circumcision of the heart, where the Holy Spirit purifies and regenerates them. Secondly, true Christians worship God in spirit and in truth, indicating that genuine worship transcends outward forms and rituals. Thirdly, they rejoice in Christ Jesus, placing their trust solely in Him as Lord and Savior, without any reliance on their own merits or works. Finally, they have no confidence in the flesh, recognizing that their standing before God relies entirely on Christ’s righteousness.

Q: How do we know that circumcision of the heart is necessary for being a true believer?

The circumcision of the heart is essential, as it represents the inward transformation by the Holy Spirit that sets believers apart as God's covenant people. In the sermon, the preacher explains that the circumcision of the heart symbolizes a profound spiritual transformation that every true believer undergoes. It signifies an inward cutting away of sin and the filth of the flesh, done by God without human hands. This spiritual operation identifies believers as God’s true people, characterizing their relationship with Him as one marked by regeneration and obedience to His will. Without this transformation, individuals remain unregenerate and have no true place in God’s family.

Q: Why is it important for Christians to rejoice in Christ alone?

Rejoicing in Christ alone is vital as it signifies total reliance on Him for salvation and showcases the believer's confidence in God’s grace. The sermon emphasizes that true believers boast in Christ Jesus, as their trust is firmly placed in Him and not on their personal achievements or righteousness. This rejoicing represents a deep-seated confidence that Christ is their wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. By rejoicing in Christ alone, believers affirm that their salvation rests not on human merit but solely on God’s grace through Christ. This attitude fosters humility and ensures that believers attribute all glory to God rather than to themselves.

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

Worshiping God in the spirit means engaging in genuine, heartfelt worship that transcends rituals and is motivated by the Holy Spirit. Worshiping in the spirit entails an inward approach to honoring God that is shaped by the truth of His character as revealed in Scripture. Instead of relying on external rituals, true worshipers connect with God through the Holy Spirit, allowing faith, hope, and love to guide their worship. This genuine worship can occur both privately and communally, emphasizing the importance of sincerity and personal engagement with God. Such worship reflects a deep understanding of who God truly is and responds to Him in spirit and in truth.

Q: Why should Christians have no confidence in the flesh?

Christians should have no confidence in the flesh because salvation is solely based on Christ's work and not on human effort or merit. The sermon stresses that placing confidence in the flesh—such as religious performances, heritage, or personal righteousness—undermines the grace of God. True Christians recognize that their standing before God is completely dependent on Christ's finished work. Having confidence in the flesh leads to self-righteousness and a misconception of salvation, ultimately detracting from the necessity of Christ as the sole means of redemption. This understanding fosters humility and reliance on the sufficiency of Christ rather than one's own works or experiences.

He's been dead for several years now, but Brother B.B. Caldwell, some of you will remember him. Brother Merle Hart, I know, remembers his ministry distinctively. He lived for years in Greenville, South Carolina, where the Bob Jones University is, where if you really want to be trained in Pharisaic religion in this country, that's the place to go.

And the Preacher boys and Bob Jones used to go out on the streets and they'd buttonhole folks to try to get them to make a profession of faith. And Caldwell was getting to be a kindly old man. Old enough he didn't really much care what he said to who. And one of them walked up to him, two of these preacher boys did, one of them said to him, said, sir, are you a Christian? And he recognized him.

He said, well, if I wasn't, What would you goober heady boys have to say about it? He said in making that comment, one of the most foolish things in the world today is to ask a man or a woman, are you a Christian? Because nobody knows what a Christian is. Nobody in this religious age seems to have any idea on this earth what Christianity is. Now, I want this afternoon for just a few minutes to talk to you about a biblical definition, or a biblical description, if you will, of Christianity. Turn with me to Philippians chapter 3.

Now, the problems we face today are not uncommon to the Church of God, and they were not uncommon to the Church of God during the days of the apostles. The apostle Paul was the man who was the instrument in God's hands by which the church at Philippi had been established. with two families, the family of Lydia and of the Philippian jailer.

He established a gospel witness at Philippi and then left it. But there was a faithful man by the name of Epaphroditus who came along after Paul and ministered at Philippi continually and was used of God to build up a large flourishing church in that city. But now Paul was in prison and he knew his time was limited on this earth. His friend Epaphroditus was an old man and he was sick and Paul knew that very likely Epaphroditus wouldn't be around much longer. But Epaphroditus came to Paul to visit with him and he let him know the problems that he was facing back at Philippi. He said, Paul, folks have come in and they perverted the gospel.

They've come in the name of Christ, and they've come in the name of God, and they've come with a Bible in their hand, but they're teaching another message, and some of the folks at Philippi have been deceived. So Paul, knowing the danger of these wolves in sheep's clothing, came in and speaks openly and plainly in this epistle, and he wrote this epistle specifically to warn these saints at Philippi of the dangers they certainly would face. Now, I want you to follow with me beginning in verse 1, and we'll look at these first three verses of Philippians 3 for just a little bit.

First, he says in verse one, finally, my brethren rejoice in the Lord. This would be Paul's final exhortation to his beloved brethren at Philippi. He had the same strong, stern warnings to give them that he had given many others. But he gives this final word of warning with a word of encouragement and exhortation at the beginning. He begins with this tender exhortation, saying, Rejoice in the Lord. And I might well repeat it if I were to speak no more to you. No more appropriate words could be given for my last words to you than these.

Rejoice in the Lord. Rejoice in Him. I mean make Jesus Christ your joy. Nothing else and no one else. If you joy in Him, your joy will never be disappointed. If Christ is your joy, you will never be robbed of your joy. But if your joy is found in anything or anyone here, your joy will soon be taken from you. So he says, rejoice in the Lord.

We have great reason to do so. We rejoice in the greatness of his person, for he is God Almighty able to save. We rejoice that he is a man who is one like us, come to save us, wholly harmless and undefiled, separate from sinners, but a man who loved us, who loves us still, who intercedes for us in heaven with the merit of his precious blood our brother spoke about this morning. We rejoice in the perfection of His obedience. For Christ Jesus, by His obedience unto God, has established for us a righteousness we could never establish and has brought us out from under the curse of God's holy law. We rejoice in the prevalence of His intercession at the right hand of God.

We sin. We do sin. We acknowledge our sin. We confess our sin. And we recognize that we haven't even begun to get started realizing anything about our sin. We think about sin in words and deeds and actions, and we forget about sin in heart and thought and attitude. But sin's what we are. But if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father.

Aren't you happy? Jesus Christ, the righteous, and this one who is Christ, the Savior, the righteous one. He's the propitiation for our sins. He has put away our sins, satisfying divine justice for us. And we rejoice in the completeness of his salvation. We are in Christ Jesus. And in Christ, the scripture says, we are complete.

In Him. dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead in a body. I've wanted to preach on that for so long. I'd like to get it said one time. Just as really, buddy, darlin', as manhood dwells in you, all the fullness of God resides in that man who's at God's right hand, for he is God. All that God is, is in him. But the importance of the implication of that is in the next line. And ye are complete in Him. So that everything you need, everything we require, everything God demands for us, we have in Him, lacking nothing.

No wonder Paul said, rejoice in the Lord. Rejoice also in His good providence, recognizing that He rules all things well. The more we rejoice in Christ, the more willing we will be to do or suffer anything for his namesake. And the less likely it will be that anything will draw us away from him. Nehemiah put it very well.

He said, the joy of the Lord is my strength. And I'm telling you, the joy of the Lord is your strength in this day of trouble. trial and temptation. Set your heart on Him and rejoice in Him and you'll find yourself strong to do or to suffer or to be whatever He calls you in His name, to do, suffer or be. Paul says to write to you, to write the same things to you, to me, indeed is not grievous, but for you it is safe.

Now what he was saying is I'm fixing to tell you what I've told you so often before, but you need to hear it again. Preachers need to learn this. We need to teach folks line upon line, precept upon precept, never seeking to get something new, but always seeking to reiterate the old truths of the gospel with newness and freshness, so that as we come to you, we bring the same message and repeat and repeat and repeat and repeat what we've told you before, but do it with newness of life. so that we come from God, fresh with the throne from God or fresh with the message from the throne of God for your heart and soul. And Paul says, now, the reason I'm repeating this is not just so that you can be certain that you get the right understanding of doctrine because your safety is at stake, the safety of your souls, the safety of your immortal souls at stake. So it's safe for you, for me to tell you what I'm about to tell you. Look at verse two.

Beware of dogs. Beware of dogs. Now Paul is not talking about the kind of dogs you have in the backyard and throw them out some gravy train. He's talking about men. And he calls them dogs. He's talking about preachers. And he calls them dogs. Turn back to Deuteronomy chapter 28. I'll show you a parallel passage. In the Old Testament, false prophets were frequently referred to as dogs. Our Lord referred to them as wolves in sheep's clothing. That's wild dogs. Back here in Proverbs chapter 28, God gives a word in His law. Let me see if I can find it here. Maybe it's chapter 23. Yeah, 23, verse 18. Chapter 23, verse 18.

Verse 17, There shall be no whore of the daughters of Israel, nor a sodomite of the sons of Israel. Thou shalt not bring the hire of a whore or the price of a dog into the house of the Lord thy God for any vow. When I was passing West Virginia, one of my dear friends got upset with somebody because they sold a dog and she said you oughtn't sell dogs. You'd not bring the price of a dog into the house. So you can't pay tithes on the dogs. You shouldn't sell dogs. That's got nothing to do with this text of scripture. The text is not talking about four legged animals.

The text is talking about a male prostitute. And God says you don't bring the price of a male prostitute into my house and defile my house to make a vow. Now, what Paul is referring to these preachers as over here, he says, beware of dogs, that is, beware of men who come in the name of God, who have prostituted the truth of God, who have sold out the glory of God. They're just prostitutes. You beware of them. You beware of them. Beware of these evil workers.

Now, these false prophets were men who came in, they crept into the church, teaching the traditions and customs and commandments of men for the commandments of God. And they mixed law and grace so as to make a mongoloid religion. And they brought about men and women ceasing from a pure knowledge of the grace of God and mixing law and grace or works of the man and the works of God in this business of salvation. And Paul understood that these men who were promoters of self-righteous, free will, works religion, were themselves but dogs. They had taken the truth of God and with careful calculation they knew exactly what men want to hear. Men always love to hear something that makes them feel good about themselves. Men always do. They love to hear something that'll make them kindly pop their suspenders and strut. Let me give you an illustration.

In our society, there's preachers. There's an article in our paper today. Preachers had these seminars for counseling marriage, and they have Spend a lot of time in special classes talking about husbands and wives and fathers and children. Now, don't misunderstand me. There's place for that. I bring a message now and then on those subjects. But everybody wants to hear it. Everybody does.

Because when all said and done, Rex Barton is a pretty good husband. He's a pretty good husband. He's a pretty good daddy. And the preacher stands up and says, now, y'all do this and y'all do that and y'all do the other thing. He said, well, I'm doing pretty good. I'm doing pretty good.

We'll go hear some more of that." And after a while, they get word around, this is what folks want to hear. And so this is what we tell them. And here, the apostle is talking about men who understood. They understood that rather than hearing the truth of God and the gospel of His free grace, sinners prefer to hear. that though they are sinners after all now, you've got to understand this business of salvation is not altogether God's work. You've got a little bit of your work to do. There's something you must contribute, and men want to hear it. And so these fellas, seeking to hear what men want, give themselves to it, and they prostitute the truth of God and the glory of God.

And it can be done in numerous ways. He said, Beware of these fellas, they're evil workers. But they teach folks to go to church on Sunday. And they teach folks to read their Bibles. And they teach folks to walk the straight and narrow. And they teach folks not to do certain things and teach them how to do other things. They teach folks how to quit doing bad and start doing good.

But Paul says they're evil workers. For they are promoting self-righteous religion. And self-righteous religion has no good quality at all. Just evil work. for it drives me in further and further away from the Lord God and is destructive to the souls of men. Beware of the concision.

Now they called themselves the circumcision, but Paul calls them the concision. The word simply means flesh mutilators, folks who cut the flesh. They called themselves the circumcision, and thus they thought they were the preservers of truth. Paul calls them the concision perverters of truth. They called themselves healers of strife. Paul calls them promoters of strife and division. Beware of the concision. These fellows who cut the flesh for appearance, but never had their hearts cut with conviction. They do what they do to be seen of men. They wear their religion on their shirt sleeve. Everybody button hold. Wear it so you can see it.

Look, you hear me? Our Lord warns against it. He said, now, fellas, don't you go to the marketplace, blow a trumpet and say, look here, I'm fixing to say my prayers. Y'all listen to me. He warns against it. Don't you be like the scribes and the pharisees who make broad their phylacteries and so the scriptures say, everybody look at you and say, my, isn't he spiritual? These fellows were teaching that men, by cutting their flesh, I know he's talking specifically about circumcision, but he's talking also specifically about any outward show and demonstration of religion. He says, don't you do that.

Don't you do that. You worship God in secret. You pray to God in secret. You deal with things of God in secret. You live like a believer, but you don't act like one. Do you see the difference? You live like a believer, but you don't act like one. You don't pretend. You don't show.

Beware the concision. These fellows who cut their flesh. These fellows who would cut off brethren from one another, sowing strife and division in their self-righteousness. These fellows who, by their attachment to the law, cut themselves off from Jesus Christ. They're the concision.

Now look at verse 3. Here the Apostle Paul gives a biblical description of Christianity. For we are the circumcision. That is, we are the true people of God. We truly do belong to God. Now that's a claim made by a lot of people. The papist says we are the people of God. The Mormon, they say we're the people of God. You got to be part of us or you're not God's people. The Campbellite says, we're the people of God.

You got to be in us or you're not in it. The landmark Baptist say, we're the people of God. You got to be one of us. Are you not in the body and bride of Christ? We are the people of God. Everybody claims to be God's people. The Jew says he's one of God's people. And the Islam folks, they say we're God's people. Well, who are God's people?

Here the Apostle Paul describes them not in terms of doctrine, not in terms of pedigree, not in terms of church attendance, not in terms of works, not in terms of experience, not in terms of whether or not they speak in tongues, but rather he describes them with four simple characteristics. Now I'm going to tell you what a Christian is. No, I'm going to tell you what Paul says a Christian is. These four things.

First, every true believer has experienced an inward work of grace called the circumcision of the heart. Circumcision was God's covenant sign with the children of Israel. in which every male child, on the eighth day after his birth, had the foreskin of his flesh, the filth of his flesh, cut away. And that sign represented God's covenant with the children of Israel, but it represented more than just that outward covenant. It represented what God would do for every child of His in regenerating grace.

When the Holy Spirit comes, He comes and does a work in your heart. He does a work described as the cutting away of the foreskin of your hearts, the cutting away of the filth of the flesh. That circumcision of the heart is a work made by God without hands. It is a work that is inward and not outward, but it is a mark. It's a painful experience, like circumcision in the flesh was.

You remember when Jacob's sons took Hamar's sons and circumcised them, they were able to slay them quickly and easily because the sons of Hamar were in pain because of their circumcision. And so you and I, when we have been born of God's spirit, convicted of our sin, pricked in our hearts, cut to the heart by the spirit of God through the application of the word, we are easily conquered by God and easily surrendered to him. Circumcision is a purifying mark. When God, the Holy Spirit, comes in regenerating grace, he purifies the heart. Now, let me qualify that.

I don't mean he makes your old heart pure. That's not going to happen. Your old heart of the flesh, Merle's just like it's always been. It's never going to get any better. But when God came to you, He put something in you called the Spirit of God. That's a new heart. That's pure. That's pure. It's born of the Spirit. It cannot sin.

Circumcision is a distinguishing mark. It is that which sets men apart as being the sons of Abraham. In a spiritual sense, circumcision in the heart sets us apart as the sons of Abraham. The sons of God. God's covenant people. Circumcision. Seals to the child all the blessings of the covenant. All of them. They're sealed to him. And when you were born of God's Spirit, God the Holy Spirit sealed you and sealed to you all the blessings of covenant grace. That's circumcision. And it's a permanent thing. Once it's done, there's no reversing it. And once a man or woman's born of God, there's no reversing it. He's born of God forever. Has God circumcised your heart? I mean, really? Has God done something for you in your heart? He did, David. So that David cried, God be merciful to me.

Blot out my iniquity, my transgressions, my sins against you and you only have I sinned. The publican in the temple would not even lift his eyes toward heaven, but beat on his chest, implying that all the evil about him is within him. And he said, God be merciful to me. The word is God be propitious to me. I'm the sinner. That thief who hung on the cross, he understood what I'm talking about.

God did something for him. Has God done something in you that compels you to cry out, for mercy through the blood of Jesus Christ. That's the circumcision of the heart. Secondly, every true believer worships God in the spirit. We are the people who are born of God. I don't care whether your name's Baptist, Presbyterian or what have you. We are the people who are born of God, which worship God in the spirit. In the spirit. Turn back to John 4. John chapter 4. I said to some of the men downstairs just a few minutes ago, the worship of God has always been and always will be primarily inward and not outward.

Our Lord is dealing with a Samaritan woman. And the Samaritan woman, she said, our fathers worshipped in this mountain. And you say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. And the Lord Jesus said in verse 21, woman, believe me, the hour is coming. When you shall neither in this mountain nor yet at Jerusalem worship the father. You worship, you know, not what we know, what we worship for salvation is of the Jews.

But the hour is coming and now we is when true worshipers shall worship the father in spirit and in truth. For the father seeketh such to worship him. God is spirit. And they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. Every true believer worships God as he's revealed in this book in his true character. In his true character.

Now, I can't stress this enough. I can't stress this enough. You can call that glass of water God if you want to, but that don't make it God. And you can call man's imaginary ideas of God, God, if you want to, but that don't make them God. The religion of this age, fundamentalist or liberal, conservative or liberal, whatever it is, does not generally bow down and worship at stumps and stones. Nobody we're connected with much worship statues of Mary, but men have whittled out an imaginary God. A God who's helpless, a God who's frustrated, a God who tries to save and can't save, a God who tries to do something and can't do it. And I'm telling you, that God, the God who waits at the beck and call of man, the God who tries to save and can't save, the God who tries to redeem and can't redeem, is no God at all.

But true worshippers worship God. Tell them He's sovereign, they love it. Tell them he's just. They declare it's delightful. Tell them that he has mercy on whom he will have mercy. They delight in it. They don't buck up and rebel against it. They worship God in his true character. And they worship God in the spirit.

Idolaters have a carnal God who is impressed with carnal things. And they worship with carnal images and robes and pictures and crosses and altars and ceremonies. Things which they call aides to worship. But aides to worship are really hindrances to worship because God calls them idolatry. God calls them idolatry.

These crosses on the end of our pews are not there because we wanted them there. They're there because you can't get blooming church furniture without religious paraphernalia. But the cross is nothing on this earth but idolatry. Nothing else but idolatry. We don't have religious images. We don't worship God with religious things. Those things are just silly superstition.

We worship God in the Spirit. In the Spirit. That is, we worship Him by His Holy Spirit, and we worship Him inwardly, spiritually from our hearts, and we worship Him in a spiritual manner, for it's a matter of the heart. We worship God by the free, spontaneous exercise of faith, hope and love toward him. We worship God by the grace and power of his spirit, and we worship him in a spiritual manner, not with just rituals and ceremonies.

But what about baptism in the Lord's Supper? They are simply signs and symbols outwardly picturing that which God requires that we observe of the gospel of the grace of God through Christ our substitute, by which we vividly portray what Christ has done for us. But if baptism simply becomes to you a sign or a ritual or a ceremony, without spiritual significance, without spiritual meaning, and you fail to discern the Lord's body in these things, the problem is not with the ordinance, but with you. These things are not just rituals.

Oh, no. We're about to set forth a beautiful picture of how it is God saves sinners by the sacrifice of His Son. And we're about to remember Him who loved us and gave Himself for us. And I keep God, don't let me simply go through the motions of remembering Christ. Let me remember Him. Don't let me just go through the motions of feeding on Christ. Let me feed on Him.

And we worship God spiritually, whether we're talking about private worship or public worship. Our worship is in an attitude. It's in the heart. It's in the heart. Thirdly, every true believer rejoices in Christ alone as his Lord and Savior and rejoice in Christ Jesus. Now, that word rejoice is not the same as in verse one. This word rejoice does not have the idea of joy, but has the idea of confidence, of boasting, of trust. And so what he's saying is we are truly God's people who worship God in the spirit, trusting in Christ Jesus.

That is, we trust Jesus Christ alone as our savior. And nothing else. Not our experiences. Not our doctrine. Not our baptism, not our participation in various ordinances or various services. We trust Jesus Christ alone, who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption.

He's all. Is Jesus Christ your all? Is he really? We're about to take the Lord's table. The Lord commands you to examine yourself before you eat. Is Christ your all? Do you discern the body and blood of Jesus Christ? That is your necessity of Christ as your mediator and substitute? If so, eat this bread and drink this wine in remembrance of him. But I'm telling you that if Jesus Christ is not all to you in this business of salvation, he's nothing to you.

Is he your all? What do you trust? I mean, really. What is it that really gives you hope before God? Is it Christ? Or your experience? Is it Christ or your baptism? Is it Christ or a fond memory of something you had a long time ago? What's your all? What is it you trust?

Forsaking all. Forgetting those things which are behind. Forgetting the past. I mean all the past. The good and the bad. Forgetting everything that's happened prior to this minute. I trust Jesus Christ alone as my savior. How about you? I trust him. We're the circumcision. We're God's people. Who worship God in the spirit. and rejoice in Christ Jesus. Look at this next line.

And have no confidence in flesh. No confidence in the flesh. No. No confidence in our carnal descent. I'm afraid Many a son and many a daughter has gone to hell hanging on to the religion of mom and dad. Don't you do that. Don't you do that. We place no confidence in our carnal experiences. I've had lots of experiences over the years. Some good, some not so good. Lots of religious experiences, some good, some not so good. Place no confidence in none whatsoever. But what about that? Just nothing. That's gone. That's over. No confidence in that. But what do you experience back there? Don't matter what I experienced back there, place no confidence in none.

My confidence is Christ. No confidence in our carnal knowledge, no matter how earnest it is and no matter how zealous it is and no matter how perfect it is. and no confidence in our carnal religious works, our prayers, our church attendance, our giving, our Bible reading, no confidence in the flesh. Our only hope, our only trust, our only confidence before God is Jesus Christ the Lord. That's what Christianity is. Now, as I said at the close of this morning service, If right now, if right now, you can, from your heart, look to Jesus Christ, the Son of God, acknowledging your sin, and trust Him. If you can. It's because God has circumcised your heart. Because God the Holy Spirit's called you. Because Christ redeemed you. Because God chose you. Do you trust Him? Do you trust Him? God helped you to trust His Son.

A Bible Description of Christianity

What does the Bible say about the true nature of a Christian?

How do we know that circumcision of the heart is necessary for being a true believer?

Why is it important for Christians to rejoice in Christ alone?

What does it mean to worship God in the Spirit?

Why should Christians have no confidence in the flesh?

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A Bible Description of Christianity

What does the Bible say about the true nature of a Christian?

How do we know that circumcision of the heart is necessary for being a true believer?

Why is it important for Christians to rejoice in Christ alone?

What does it mean to worship God in the Spirit?

Why should Christians have no confidence in the flesh?

Sermon Transcript

About Don Fortner

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