He will turn back with me to
Philippians chapter 3. Message this morning, Philippians
3 verse 3, is not in the form of a question,
but rather of a declaration. It's not something stated to
help a fearful conscience, like whistling in the cemetery gives
a little bit of relief to the person who's walking there, easing
his fears a little. What Paul says in this verse,
he says with full confidence. Full confidence. Sound reasoning. Be ready always to give a reason
for the hope that lies in you. And he makes this declaration
in the full assurance of understanding, knowing the mystery of God. In Colossians 2.3, he calls these
things the hidden treasures of wisdom and knowledge. And what Paul declares in Philippians
3.3, he believed. He believed. He didn't say, well, this might
be. He believed what he said. He
understood what he said. He was assured in what he said. So what is it that this apostle
believed so strongly? Well, listen to his own words,
Philippians 3.3. He said, we are the circumcision. Now that was a term better understood
in Paul's day than in ours, and especially among the Jews. Try to follow with me this morning
and I'll try to show you what that word means. In Romans chapter
four, verse 11, Paul tells us that Abraham received the sign
of circumcision. Now listen. a seal of the righteousness
of the faith, which he had yet being uncircumcised. He already believed. He already believed, but he wasn't
circumcised yet. And God gave him this sign of
circumcision. and it was a seal of the righteousness
of the faith. He believed God and God counted
it to him for righteousness. What did he believe? He believed
that Christ was offered, sacrificed for our offenses and raised again
for our justification. He was not circumcised in order
to make him worthy of faith, but as a sign or seal of the
righteousness of the faith that he already had. Turn with me
to Romans chapter two. Let me show you something over
there. I'm not talking about phony circumcision,
I'm talking about real circumcision. Romans chapter two verse 28 says,
for he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly. What's that mean? Well, he's
a blood relative of Abraham. He can trace his heritage back
to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, right on down the line. He's
a true Jew. But here it said he's not a Jew
which is one outwardly. One like Paul who was taken in
and circumcised on the eighth day. Neither is that circumcision
which is outward in the flesh. That was just a sign. Just a sign. But 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. God has to do this work. You
can't do it. Now they were commanded to do
it. God almost killed Moses over his son not being circumcised. It was a sign, a picture, back
under the law, of a necessary work. It had to be done. It had to be done. And it has to be done for every
saved soul. I'm taking some time this morning
to make sure you know what Paul's declaring when he says, we are
the circumcision. It's the seal of the righteousness
of faith and it is an inward work in the heart by the Holy
Spirit of God. Now turn with me to one more
scripture over in Colossians chapter two. Who are the circumcision? And
what is this circumcision all about? Colossians 2.10. Now he already told us, in him
dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and you're
complete in him, who is the head of all principality and power.
You're complete in him, the head of all principality and power.
Now watch this, in whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision
made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the
flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, the cutting off of Christ,
buried with him in baptism, wherein also you're risen with him through
the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from
the dead. And you being dead in your sins
and uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with
him, having forgiven you all trespasses. Jesus Christ, our
representative and substitute, was cut off, Isaiah said, out
of the land of the living for the transgression of my people. That's what the Lord said. That's
why he was cut off. That's why he was cut off, for
the transgression of his people. And we see that his death was
in consequence of our sin. He did no sin. There was no sin
in him. But he stood as our substitute
and as our representative. He stood as me before God. And he stood there in consequence
of our sins. He bore our sins, the scripture
said, in his own body on the tree. When he died, we died,
and when God raised him from the dead, he raised us up together
with him. How do I know this? By the faith
of the operation of God. That word operation talk about
surgery. God does spiritual surgery on
the believer. He circumcises him in his heart. Well, how does he do that? He
shows us the cutting off of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit of promise is that by which we're sealed.
And we of all the people on earth can see the glory of God in the
face of Jesus Christ. In Deuteronomy chapter 30 in
verse six, it said, and the Lord thy God will circumcise thy heart and the heart of thy seed. Now
watch this. To love the Lord. To love the Lord. Why do we love
him? Because he first loved us. How
do we perceive that love? In his death on the cross. Huh? To love the Lord thy God with
all thine heart, with all thy soul, that thou mayest live. That's what this circumcision
is. Here's the sinner, dead in trespasses and sins, dead in
the uncircumcision of his flesh, that is, ignorant of God and
Christ, dead spiritually. Walking is the cursed of the
earth, walking in the vanity of their minds. That's how we walked before the
Lord found us, in the vanity of our minds. But we gave a little
something in the offering plate, man, we felt so good about that,
huh? Vanity. Vanity. Get up on Easter. I haven't been
to church all year, but I'm going Easter Sunday. Go out and buy
me a new suit, a new hat. Go to church, come out of there
feeling so good. Walking in the vanity of their
minds. Vanity of their minds. Ephesians
chapter two, verse 12. Paul tells us to remember where
he found us. Don't forget where you come from.
He describes us as being without Christ, that is the true Christ.
We didn't know him, we didn't know who he was, why he came,
what he did, or where he's at. Being aliens from the Commonwealth
of Israel. Strangers from the covenants
of promise. Having no hope, and without God,
in a fallen world. Sinners all. All of us double
died, inward and outward sinners. But unbeknownst to you, God chose
a people. Did you know that before the
Lord saved you? I didn't, I never heard it. I raised in church,
went to church every day from the time I was six years old
till I was a teenager. Nobody ever told me God chose
a people. And the first one to tell me,
I said, where you get that from? He said, you've never read the
Word of God, have you? Well, I read some. He said, you
didn't read enough. God chose a people. It's all
over the place in here. He chose a people. Unbeknownst to us, God chose
a people. A people out of every nation,
tribe, kindred, and tongue under heaven. A cross-section of all
humanity and from all ages. A people. What did he choose
them to do? He chose them unto salvation. And that's what it says. God hath from the beginning chosen
you to salvation through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the
truth whereunto he called you by our gospel. And God made a
covenant for you and he appointed for you a covenant surety. In
this covenant David said that was all his salvation, all his
desire, that covenant, because it was ordered in all things
and sure. That covenant stood by the promise
of God, and to be sure that it would be sure, he appointed Christ
as the surety of the covenant. Everything that that covenant
demanded, Christ agreed to do. He's the guarantor. And God appointed
His Son to be the mediator, one mediator between God and man. One man to mediate the will of
God. One man to bring fallen sinners
to God. And He trusted everything into
His hands. And when the fullness of the
time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made
under the law. Why'd he do that? To redeem them
that were under the law, that they might receive the adoption
of sons. Because your sons, he said, God
sent forth the spirit of his son into your hearts, crying,
Abba, Father. That's circumcision. We are the
circumcision. God singles out his elect and
he arranges for them to hear the gospel. Hard for you to believe, isn't
it? That you're sitting here this morning under the arrangement
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's arranged his providence
for you to be here. He arranged my whole life for
this purpose that I might stand here this morning and preach
this gospel to you. Now you think about what all's
involved in that, huh? The God of glory has arranged
these things. He's arranged these things. Because
your sons, God has sent forth the spirit of his son into your
hearts. God singles out his elect and he arranges for him to hear
the gospel and hearing this gospel, the spirit of the living God
operates on him. Takes out that stony heart of
flesh that you couldn't touch. A mother's tears won't touch
that heart. That heart is made of stone.
It's cold. It hates God. It's wicked. Out of that heart proceed evil
thoughts and adulteries, fornication, and on and on, murderers, and
on and on it goes. Out of the heart, this is what
defiles the man, what's in it. And God the Holy Spirit takes
out that heart of stone and puts in a heart of flesh. He cuts
it off. How does he cut it off? In Christ. Huh? Isn't that what he said?
That's exactly what he said. He takes away the sins of the
flesh. All of them. All of them. Sins you ain't even thought about
committing yet. Put them away. Took them away. It gives him a heart to understand,
a will to submit, an affection to love him. He sees salvation not as a work
in time. My soul, I hope you're not here
this morning trying to go back in time and prove something that
happened back yonder. If he gives you a heart, that
heart will still beat today. It ain't gonna quit beating.
If he gives you faith, he's establishing in you a living principle that
believes God. And you can't make it believe
anything else. All of a sudden, this man has
eyes to see. He sees. Old Bartimaeus, he sat there
on that blanket for who knows how long. He'd listen to people
go back and forth, listen to them, they'd talk about the sea
and talk about the clouds and all these colors, aquamarine,
he had no clue what they were talking about. Until the Lord of Glory passed
by. And he'd heard of him. He made the blind to see. And boy, he wasn't gonna let
him pass by him. He started calling on him. Finally,
the Lord looked down at him and said, Bartimaeus, what would
you have me do? He said, all that I might see. You can see. Preacher, can't be that easy.
Oh, yes it is. Oh, yes it is. Let me tell you
something. This one that Blind Bartimaeus
was talking to spoke creation into existence. It said he spoke
and it was done. He commanded and it stood fast. How vast is it? We can't even
discover all of it, can't even see all of it. He spoke it into
existence. He just said the word and it
was there. And he said, don't get the idea
that these things you're looking at was made out of something
that you can't see. He didn't take a planet and explode
it and make this and make that. No, there was no planet. Everything
you see, he made out of nothing. How'd he do it? He just said
the word. You reckon this one who did that could just say the
word and you could see? That's exactly what he does.
This operation of God gives you eyes to see, ears to hear. It ain't just a preacher preaching
anymore. It ain't just a man standing
up there opening a book, talking about things that you can't understand.
All of a sudden, you have ears to hear. He's talking about my
life. He's talking about my soul. He's
talking about my Lord. He's talking about my hope. And what he's saying, God's saying
through him. You believe that? You believe
God speaks through preachers? I'll tell you what he said, how
you gonna hear without one? That's what he said. In Philippians 3.3, the Apostle
Paul gives three critical evidences of true circumcision. May God
be pleased to enable all that are here today to let us, every
one of us, examine ourselves in the light of these three things.
First of all, he said, we are the circumcision which worship
God in the spirit. What's that mean? Well, it means,
first of all, that we're enabled of God to worship him. The dictionary said worship is
the reverent love and allegiance toward the deity. Can you do that? Can you worship
him? Only God's people can. Those
who are the true circumcision, those in whom God has performed
this operation, cause you to see the Lord Jesus
Christ in all of his glory, change you, or begin a change in you, put
it that way. God enables us to worship him. How do we worship him? Well,
we worship him in prayer. Old Saul of Tarsus. Somebody
said, behold, he prayeth. I heard an old preacher told
me when I was back in my 20s, he said, prayer is the breath
of the believer. Paul said, I pray for you without
ceasing. How do you do that? Huh, you
think on them. You think on them. We worship God in prayer. We
worship God singing. We don't just sing. God help
me, I hope I never sing that hymn again. I'll fly away. Even
though I hope to one day. We sing songs honoring to Christ
and honoring to God. We worship Him through those
songs. We worship Him in sacrifice,
in sacrifice. We worship Him in our obedience
and we worship Him with preaching. Only true believers can worship
God. And then secondly, to worship
God in the spirit is to worship him as he's revealed by the spirit
through the preaching of the gospel and the word of God. If you can sing at him without
any conscience, me and Jesus got a good thing
going. You'd never worship God. We worship God through the Spirit
as the Spirit reveals Him in the Word of God and through the
preaching of the gospel. Now, there are denominations
that I've heard of and have attended that have a midweek service with
no preaching and they call it a worship service, a worship
service. A worship service is gonna have
these things. First and foremost, the preaching
of the gospel. If that's not the main thing
in your service, you're not having a worship service. The reading of God's word. We
should never come into this place and not read the word of God. Prayer. ought to have prayer,
we've had prayer today. And the singing of God honoring
him. The preaching of the gospel sits
before us afresh by awesome character and glory of our God and it's
a constant reminder to us of his kindness. Do we need reminded? Constantly, constantly. It's a reminder of his kindness,
his long-suffering, his love, his mercy, his grace, and the
salvation of our souls. God loved us, it says, and gave
himself for us. And God is spirit, and they that
worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. No visual aids. If you need a
visual aid to worship, you don't know God. No crosses, no flags, no pictures
or statues. We worship him as Christ manifested
him in his own person and work. That's how we worship God. We are the circumcision which
worship God in the spirit. And secondly, we are the circumcision
who rejoice in Christ Jesus. Everything the believer has is
owing to his Savior, Jesus Christ the Lord. There is absolutely
nothing in him not to rejoice in. Is there? One mediator between God and
men, the man Christ Jesus. No salvation in any other. None
other name given under heaven among men whereby we must be
saved. You'll be saved in Christ or damned for eternity. One or
the other. He's the way, the truth, and
the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by Him. We rejoice
in Him because in Him the love of God is manifested. Grace and truth, it says, came
by Him. And to know Him is to know God.
Show us the Father and we'd be satisfied. He said, have you
been so long time with me and you've never seen the Father?
I and the Father are one. To know him is to know God. To
come to him is the evidence of your election. Only God's elect
will come to him. All that the Father has given
me shall come to me. That's what he said in John chapter
six. And to believe on Him is to have
everlasting life. He that hath the Son hath life. There's nothing in Jesus Christ
for any person not to rejoice in. He didn't come to judge. Now, I want you to think about
something. He came to say, judgment does not require the incarnation
of Christ. He judged the angels that kept
not their first estate and never left his throne. He judged man
in the garden and condemned the whole race of men and never left
his throne in glory. Judgment doesn't require the
incarnation of Christ. But to save sinners, He that
thought it not robbery to be equal with God must be made of
no reputation. Take on him the form of a servant. And being found in fashion as
a man, he has to humble himself and become obedient unto death,
even the death of the cross. To condemn angels and men required
no suffering. But to save sinners, he must
humble himself and die on the cross. We are the circumcision who rejoice
in Christ Jesus and we rejoice in all his eternal appointments.
I'm glad God appointed him my savior and high priest and king
and lord. Aren't you? I'm glad. I rejoice
in that. I rejoice in all the pictures
and promises that he has in the Old Testament. I rejoice in his incarnation.
I rejoice in his death, burial, and resurrection. I rejoice in
his sovereign lordship. I rejoice in his intercession.
I rejoice in him as he's revealed by the blessed comforter to my
heart. I rejoice in him because our names are written on his
heart and carried on his shoulders to bear us up before the Lord. We are the circumcision which
worship God in the spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus. And
then listen to this, thirdly, we have no confidence in the
flesh. Do we? But it don't take much in the
flesh to get us upset, does it? We wouldn't do that if we didn't
have any confidence in it. No confidence in the flesh. Colossians
2.11 said, we are the circumcision. We have been circumcised with
the circumcision made without hands and putting off the body
of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ. If we'd be planted together in
the likeness of his death, we're gonna be risen in the likeness
of his resurrection. Knowing this, Romans 6, 6, knowing
this, that our old man is crucified with him. He's judged and he's
put to death. That the body of sin, now listen,
might be destroyed. But henceforth, we should not
serve sin. Huh? That's what this operation of
God is. That's what he presses on the
heart of men and that new heart. He shows you your sins and iniquities,
he said, I will remember no more. I'm going to write on your heart
all my laws. I'm going to write them on your
heart. What's he going to tell you about them laws? He's going
to tell you all them laws have been perfectly kept, honored,
and exalted in Christ. I'll write my laws upon your
heart. Fulfill all those laws. And then he tells us in Romans
8.1, there is therefore now no condemnation to them which are
in Christ Jesus. Now watch this, who walk not
after the flesh. There's only one thing that's
gonna make you walk after the flesh, and that's your confidence
in it. I don't walk after people I ain't got no confidence in,
do you? I don't shop at their stores. I don't call them on
the phone, I don't order their products. Only one reason why we follow
after the flesh, because we still have confidence in it. But if
I see that flesh totally annihilated, I see that flesh condemned, taken
out of the way, punished, buried, left there forever, I see that
then I'm gonna understand something about the wickedness of that
flesh and I ain't gonna follow it. I'm gonna follow him. Not
perfectly, you can't do it perfectly, you can't do it. But I ain't gonna have no confidence
in this flesh. And he said, there's therefore
now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus who walk
not after the flesh but after the spirit. For the law of the
Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law
of sin and death. For what the law could not do,
in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son
in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin condemned sin in
the flesh. You take the best deed you ever
did, the best prayer you ever prayed, the best gift you ever
gave, And you picture that in the Lord Jesus Christ dying on
that cross. He condemned sin in the flesh,
all of it. All of it. Not just the gross
sins that are so commonly understood by men, but spiritual sins. And he put it to death. And we
don't have any confidence in this flesh. Oh, I just don't
feel saved. It ain't about you feeling saved.
It's about your confidence in Christ. Oh, Paul said, Richard, man,
who gonna deliver me from the body of this death? It's dead,
everything it loves and wants and hopes for, it's just death. Who gonna deliver me? I thank
God through the Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore with the mind. What
mind? The mind of Christ. I serve the
law of God. Huh? That's it. The law of the spirit
of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and
death. He cut it off. He condemned it
in the flesh that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled
in us who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit. You
cannot honor the law any more than you do or honor God any
more than you do by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. Now
I'm telling you the truth. This is how we walk. We walk
with the mind of Christ. We serve him with the mind of
Christ. And we do not trust in, lean
on, or walk after the flesh because God's already condemned it. We
see in Him it's end, it's sure end. And our walk is after the
Spirit, showing us the benefits of us in His resurrection, freely
justified. made the righteousness of God
in him, secured us a place with him in the heavens. If I go to
prepare a place for you and if I go, I will return and receive
you unto myself that where I am there you may be also. Secured us a place with him in
the heavens. And true circumcision has no
confidence in the flesh because they see it for what it is. Now, it's not going to be eradicated
in this life. That flesh is still there. It's
still there. All of its temptations. The flesh
is contrary to the spirit, and the spirit to the flesh, so that
you cannot do the things that you would. It'll always be warring
against our mind, trying to bring us into captivity. We are the circumcision. We have
no confidence in the flesh. We rejoice in Christ Jesus. And
that is apart from any evidence of the flesh. What is it that
brings doubt to your mind? What I didn't do, what I did
do, what I felt. Sometimes I just feel like an
old rock. Ain't you glad Christ is the same yesterday, today,
and forever? And I tell you why you don't
feel these things, because you don't trust in Him. I just did. We take our eyes off of him and
get it over here, or get it in here, or get it out there. You
can't not trust and look at him. Can't do it. There's nothing
in him. There's no unfaithfulness in
him whatsoever. We rejoice in him without any
evidence in the flesh, feelings, No feelings, Christ is our hope,
our love, our joy, our peace. All these things, gentleness,
kindness, all these things, they're all evidence of the Spirit, fruit
of the Spirit, not the works of the flesh. Who's the circumcision? We love Him. We trust Him. We honor Him. We rejoice in Him. And we have no confidence, none,
in the flesh. This flesh can't do anything.
This flesh can't get rid of a cold. Talking about persuading God,
we can't even get rid of a cold. But He can. He can. And he tells you how, and he
tells you where, and he tells you the means. But what we do,
we run back looking to the flesh. Looking to the flesh. Because
that's all we've ever known. Oh, may God be pleased to do
that operation on our hearts. Leave us love and heal. Thank
you.