If you'll turn back with me now
to Philippians chapter 3. I want to talk to you this morning. Somebody said one time, boy,
you were preaching right at me this morning. Well, I hope so. I'm certainly not up here to
preach to somebody over there in the woods. I prepared this
message those of you who attend here and hopefully for those
that you bring with you. So I hope every time I get up
here I'm preaching to you, toward you, or at you, or however you
want to take it. I'm speaking from God to you. And I want to talk to you this
morning who have professed faith in Christ. You have said publicly,
I'm a believer, I believe what you preach. I believe in this
Christ, the Christ of the Bible, the Christ of God, and I profess
myself to be a follower of Him, a disciple of Him. I believe
in Him. But, for some reason or another, and there's lots of reasons,
But for some reason or another, you can never seem to have any
real or lasting assurance of your salvation. Is there anybody in here who
don't have that problem? I have it often. I want to talk to you who find
yourselves in a constant exercise of self-examination. which always
leaves you doubting whether or not God has begun a good work
in you or whether you did. Now, let me say this before I
go any further. The scripture does tell us to
examine ourselves, but it doesn't tell us to examine ourselves
to see if we pray enough or to see if we give enough. or to see if we attend enough. It says examine yourselves whether
you be in the faith. That's what it says. I'm going
to tell you right now, you can't pray enough. It ain't in you. In fact, the scripture says we
know not what to pray for as we ought. We have the privilege. The privilege is here. By the
grace of God, the doors open. You can enter into the throne
room of God and make your request before Him and give praise to
Him, and I encourage you to do that. But we don't know when
we get there. We don't know how to pray. So
the Holy Spirit makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot
be uttered. And I'll tell you something else.
about this praying enough because that's a lot of times that's
what's at the heart of it. I just don't pray like I ought
to pray. Well, if you don't know this,
Christ said, I pray for them. Ain't you glad he did? Ain't
you glad he does? I don't pray for the world, but
I pray for them which thou hast given me. Isn't that something? You see, this is what the examination's
all about, whether or not you be in the faith. I already know
I don't pray enough. I already know if I give everything
I had, it wouldn't be enough. But he gave all. And he's my
hope. Love your wives as Christ loved
the church and gave himself for it. All that he had. So I want you to understand what
I'm talking about when I say I'm talking to you. Find yourselves
in a constant exercise of self-examination, and it always leaves you doubting
whether or not God has begun a good work in you at all. Perhaps
you examine yourselves in your prayer life, and you come up
wanting, or maybe you look briefly at your giving, and that leaves
you questioning. Or maybe in your Bible reading
or any one of a dozen things and in all it seems to expose
you as a pretender. Or maybe you're dealing with
the very opposite of these things. Let's lay those things aside
and let's look at the very opposite of these things. You might be
looking back at some old experience. You might be looking back at
a profession that you made 40 years ago. Or whenever. And whenever those things are
brought into question, you're ready to draw your sword and
defend them unto death. Huh? I don't know how often I've heard
men in religion when I've grown up said, I remember the time
and I remember the place. All of these things are the result
of ignorant men teaching things which are contrary to the scriptures. The Apostle Paul begins chapter
three of his letter to the Philippians telling them that it's not a
grievous thing for him to go over and over the same things
and that it was needful. It was needful. And that which
is needful is not grievous to the man who loves those to whom
he preaches. It wasn't a grievous thing for
Paul to repeat himself because he knew that we all still retain
a sin nature. You aware of that? Do you ever
think about that? We still retain a sin nature. It's there every day. Every day. And it's contrary to the Spirit
of God. He said in Romans 7 verse 18,
I know that in me, this is the Apostle Paul talking. Man who wrote over half the New
Testament. And he's not talking about days
gone by, he's talking about right now when he's writing this epistle.
and he said i know that in me that is in my place dwelleth
no good thing then why do we look to find it
there? our sin nature's not changed
and it doesn't it wasn't changed in conversion it's not changed
today it's the same it's the same now as it was then. That old nature, it's the same.
Now if you're saved, you have a new nature. You have a new man within you,
but that old man's still there. Somebody says, well he's all
tied up. No, no he ain't either. He's loose and active. Listen to these words. This is
the Apostle Paul. This is a saved man. This is
a man who, the truth's been revealed to
him. He knew what he was as a Pharisee. He emptied all those things out. He did all these things. He's
a saved man. And listen to him here in Romans 7, 24. Oh, wretched
man that I am. Not that I used to be. That's
what a fellow told Henry. He said, boy, he said, I used
to be around her. Henry said, you still are. You
still are. You just don't know it. Oh, wretched man that I am, who
shall deliver me from the body of this death? Are you going
to do it? I can't do it. I thank God. through the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's where deliverance is. See, that's what faith is. Faith
examines itself whether or not it's in the faith. So when you
come up and you say, I don't pray enough, do you believe Christ
did? Did he pray enough? Then look
to him. Look to him. You come up short
on your giving, Did Christ give? He gave all that the Father required. He gave himself. So look to him. What is it that causes you problems? Don't look to yourself to find
the answer. Examine yourself. See your faults. See your weaknesses. Paul said, when I'm weak, that's
when I'm strong. Because in my weakness, I look
to him. I run to him, I'm ready to look to him for all things.
That's assurance. Assurance is finding perfection
in Christ. Finding everything that you need
in him. How do you do that? You learn
of him. Take my yoke upon you and learn
of me, learn of me. He said, I thank God through
Jesus Christ our Lord. So then, now here it is, with
the mind, the mind of faith, the mind of Christ, I myself
serve the law of God. How does he serve it? In Christ. Christ honored that law and exalted
that law. He fulfilled all its demands,
all of its prophecies, all of its types, everything fulfilled
in Christ. The only way you can serve that
law is by faith in Christ. But, he said, with the flesh,
our old sin nature, we serve the law of sin. And that's just
how it is. That's just how it is. Show me
a man who's satisfied with his life as a Christian and I'll
show you a self-righteous man who's trusting in his own works. And this is a lesson that must
be repeated often. The one great evidence of our
election is faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Make your calling and election
sure. How can I do that? By looking
to Christ. That's the only place where you
can find it sure. All that faith has given to me,
or he said all that the Father has given to me is going to come
to me. And in the coming to me, I will in no wise cast out. And then the next thing Paul
tells us and says to the church here by the inspiration of the
Holy Ghost is to beware of dogs, and beware of evil workers, and
beware of the concision. That's short for circumcision.
Mutilators of the flesh, Paul called them. And this is a symbolic
description of the false prophets and teachers, especially those
of the law. What could appeal more to a sinner
who's trying to reform himself than a doctrine that promotes
that very thing? What he's looking for, what he's
looking for, self-righteousness, self-reform, self-conversion,
self-sanctification is at the very heart of all false religion. Turn over a new leaf. I ain't got any leaves. I can't
turn one over. I don't even have a leaf. It's
all dead. Men who teach such things are
like a pack of dogs. My neighbor has some dogs over
there, and they bark and bark and bark and bark and bark, and
they're not going to quit barking until somebody comes out and
pays attention to them. I got two of my own real similar
to that. When they want something, they'll
bark and bark and bark and bark until somebody comes over and
pays attention to them. That's the way false religion
is. They're never going to quit barking. They bark and bark and
bark and bark until somebody says, what do you want? And then
they tell you. And then they get you. Nipping at your heels, always
barking until somebody pays attention to them. And then in verse three,
Paul defines a true believer. Here it is, here's a believer.
Am I a believer or am I not? well here's the description we
are the circumcision which worship god in the spirit all that talk
about a man who can speak in tongues no it's not all that's
talking about a man who he just preaches in one long sentence
he can hardly get a breath between them no that's not what they're
talking about How does a man worship God in
the Spirit? What in the world is he talking
about? We come in here this morning to worship God in the Spirit.
How are we going to do that? Are we going to beat on some
drums and play a guitar and bang on the cymbals until we get in
the Spirit? That's what the churches are
saying. No. No. We worship God in the Spirit,
that is, in the revelation of the Spirit, which is Jesus Christ. In the demonstration of the Spirit,
that's in Christ crucified. He demonstrates for us through
the gospel of Christ how righteousness was established, how sin was
put away, and it was all demonstrated in the person of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And then there's a demonstration
of the Spirit when He reveals that to your heart, your need
of it, and the reality of it. And He reveals that to your heart,
and we worship God in the Spirit. And then the inspired word of
the spirit. What about that? One man said,
I don't care what that Bible says. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa,
you're not gonna worship God then. They that worship God in
the spirit worship him believing what he says. How do I know a
thing is so? Because the preacher says it?
No. Because God says it. God says it. That's what makes
it so. He's God. He can't lie. He can't lie. So what he says
is true. So what's the problem? Why don't
I believe that? When I do, I worship God. We
are the circumcision which worship God in the spirit and Those who
worship God in the Spirit, listen to this, rejoice in Christ Jesus. They rejoice in Him because He's
the sin offering. They rejoice in Him because He's
their righteousness. They rejoice in Him because He's
their Savior. He's their eternal surety. He's their guarantor in heaven.
He's everything. Christ is all to the believer.
And He rejoices that He is. What if he wasn't? What if all
these things, satisfying the law of God, satisfying the judge,
what if all that was in your hands to do? Huh? You'd be like you were in
the world without God and without hope. All those who worship God in
the Spirit, they rejoice in Christ Jesus. Now watch this. They have
no confidence in the flesh. Doesn't that bring us back to
this matter of assurance again? Aren't we in our self-pity when
we begin to look in there and begin to doubt and begin to examine
ourselves? Isn't that what we're doing?
We're trying to find some confidence in the flesh? Paul said believers
are people who don't have any confidence in the flesh. Even
when it appears to be there, they still don't have any confidence
in it. We are the circumcision which
worship God in the spirit rejoicing Christ Jesus and have no confidence
in the flesh. Circumcision, what in the world
is that preacher talking about? Circumcision was according to
Romans chapter 4 verse 11 a sign or seal of the righteousness
of faith. That's what it was. Which Abraham
had before he was circumcised. And in Colossians 2-11 he tells
us, in Christ also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without
hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the
cutting off of Christ, or the circumcision of Christ. So we show this circumcision
by worshiping God with a spiritual understanding. All of our perception
of God is through the understanding of the person and work of Christ.
Isn't that right? You see, in religion, they teach
you who God is, and then they don't tell you a whole lot about
who Christ is. They want to talk to him as though
he was a savior, but he really can't save. They want to talk
to you about this one here who's your redeemer, but he really
don't redeem anything. There has to be an understanding
in this thing. A spiritual understanding. 1 John chapter 5 verse 20. And
we know that the Son of God hath come and hath given to us an
understanding. What kind of understanding? So
we know when the holy days are, What kind of an understanding
is he talking about here? The Son of God has come and given
us an understanding, listen, that we may know Him that is
true. Huh? Everything we know about
the living God, we know through the person and work of Jesus
Christ. Everything. That we may know Him that is
true and that we're in Him that is true. This is the true God
and this is eternal life. Listen to this. True worship
comes through the understanding of these things. Well, can't we just play music
and worship God? No. No. Listen to this. 1 Corinthians
chapter 14. And verse 15. We're told to pray with the spirit,
now watch this, and with the understanding. Don't say things you don't understand
when you pray. Pray with understanding. I don't
know a whole lot, don't say a whole lot. Say what you know. We're told to pray with the Spirit
and with the understanding, now watch this, and to sing with
the Spirit and with the understanding. Worship is centered around understanding. That's what it is. It's to know
Him. Paul said, whosoever shall call
upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. But how are you going
to call on him in whom you have not believed? And how are you
going to believe in him of whom you have not heard? And how are
you going to hear that preacher? There's not going to be any understanding. We're just going to be dancing
around, swaying to the music, and saying God. And they don't even call him
Christ anymore. He's just Jesus. Worship is centered on understanding. Understanding. And that's why
Paul said those of you who have these gifts of tongues, that
is, they can speak fluent French or German or whatever language
they were at, don't stand up and preach in that when you're
in America. Don't use English when you're
down there in the jungle. go get an interpreter so all
will have the understanding. Otherwise, you're just speaking
into the air. That's what Paul said. It's all centered around understanding
and all of our understanding comes through the person and
work of Christ. And Paul said preachers were
given by our ascended Lord to the church for the edifying of
the body of Christ, that is, for their understanding. till
we all come in the unity of the faith and knowledge of the Son
of God unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of
the fullness of Christ, that we henceforth be no more children
tossed to and fro, carried about with every wind of doctrine by
the slight of men, and cunning craftiness whereby they lie and
wait to deceive, but speaking the truth in love. may grow up,
now watch this, into him in all things. Which is the head, even Christ. Believers are men and women chosen
by God in eternity and put into an eternal union with his son.
And then in time he comes to them in a loving and effectual
calling. And he shows to them the exceeding
riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.
And now Paul identifies himself here in this chapter with the
deceived. He said in verses four through
six, he tells them of the confidence. He said, you think you got some
confidence? Boy, I tell you, we see somebody
in need and we give to them. And then we have some confidence
in our giving, don't we? Oh, you can't help it. It's human
nature. You walk away from there just
gloating with pride on the inside. You may not say anything, but
that's what you're feeling. That ruins, that just busts the
bubble on the whole thing. So Paul, he identifies himself
with the deceived in these verses, and he tells them the confidence.
He said, you think you got some confidence in the flesh? I got
more than you do. He said, I circumcised the eighth
day. I was eight days old when they
circumcised me. And they were approved in my
circumcision because I was a Benjamite. I was of the tribe of Benjamin,
a Hebrew of the Hebrews. You want to call me in check
with the law? Touching the law, I was a Pharisee. I was the highest educated, most
understanding, approved man among the Jews. I was a Pharisee. This Pharisee, he was held in
high esteem by the Jews as having the highest understanding of
the law, the strictest obedience to it, and the most righteous
on account of it. touching the righteousness which
is in the law. Listen to this, I was blameless. Paul read the scriptures a lot. He committed them to memory.
He prayed a lot. He sacrificed a lot. He didn't
miss worship at all. And all of the things which cause
men to doubt their salvation, Paul did. You think you have
confidence in the flesh? I got more than you do. Now watch
this, Philippians 3 verse 7. For what things were gained to
me, those things that I had confidence in, those I counted loss for
Christ. Yea, doubtless, and I count all
things but loss for the excellency, now watch this, This is very
hard, what I'm trying to preach to you this morning. For the
excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom
I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but
done, that I might win Christ and be found in him. You know
what the theme of the book of Hebrews is? This is Paul's letter
to his kinsmen. And he's trying to show them
that all these types and the priesthood and all of these things
that God committed unto them were all pictures and types of
Christ who fulfilled them all to the letter. And the theme
of that book is something better. Something better. Paul said, I found something
better. I want to be found in him, verse 9, not having my own
righteousness which is of the law, but that which is through
the faith of Christ, the faithfulness of Christ, the righteousness
which is of God by faith, that which is imputed to me as he
did to Abraham. Abraham believed God, it was
imputed to him for righteousness. And that I might know him, verse
10, and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings
being made conformable unto his death, if by any means I might
attain unto the resurrection of the dead. The security of
the saints and the assurance of their salvation is in three
things. Got a pencil? You can write these
three things down. Here's the security. Here's the
assurance. Christ who was, Christ who is,
and Christ who ever shall be. That's your assurance. One of
Henry's old classmates from down at the college in Tennessee so
he was pastor in the church also there in Ashland and Henry, it
was a warm spring morning, Henry was walking to church and this
fellow that he knew saw him and came over and he said, well,
Brother Mahan, he said, are you still saved? Kind of said it
in a joking manner. Henry said, well, I don't know.
Is Christ still on the throne? If he's still on the throne,
I'm still saved. Because Christ is my salvation. That's assurance. Our Savior, Paul said, in whom
we have redemption is the firstborn of all creation. He's the creator. Apart from an eternal Savior
and Redeemer, what would be the point of creation? It'd all been
for naught in the garden. That's as far as it would have
come. God would have destroyed the whole thing. Everything that is has a continuance
because Christ is our Redeemer and God's Mediator. He's God's
Mediator. He's the surety of God's everlasting
covenant of grace. He is in all his appointments
the Christ of God. And he tells John in Revelation
1-8, he said, I'm Alpha and Omega. I'm the beginning and I'm the
end. And I'm the author and the finisher
of your faith, if you have faith. Jesus Christ is not the final
attempt of a frustrated God to save a people who don't want
to be saved. He's our eternal Savior and Redeemer. And if you'll read your Bible
and know who He was, then you ought to know why He came. And
if you know why He came, you ought to know what He did. And
if you know what he did, you know where he is now. He's seated
at the right hand of God, fully victorious, and our guarantor. Paul threw all of his self-righteous
works on the dung heap and hoped only to be found in Christ and
have only for himself that righteousness which is of Christ. The man who has seen the perfect
righteousness of Christ is not going to keep trying to establish
one of his own. He's going to discard it like
Paul did. Take it out and throw it on the
dung heap. Secondly, the man who has seen the effectual particular
redemption of Christ is not going to continue to put the fate of
his soul in anything that he might or might not do. You don't
want to do that. The fate of his soul he knows
rests in his eternal savior. Did you know that? The fate of
your soul hangs in his hands. That's right. Hangs in his hands. Now here's
the question. Can he save to the uttermost
those who come unto God by him? Can he? Will he? Said he did. Said he could. Said he did. Says that he will. And he will. That old leper fell
down at his feet and said, Lord, if you will, he said, I will.
I will. Now why do we want to look anywhere
else other than Christ? If he's able to save to the utmost
those who come unto God by him, then why don't we want to come
unto God by him? Why do we want to start looking back at our
works and looking back at even the weakness of our faith? Lord,
we believe, help thou our unbelief. I hope nobody in here is waiting
for a perfect faith to profess Christ. If you believe on Christ,
take what belief you have and profess it. Come to Him. He'll
increase your faith. And then thirdly, the man who's
seen the Lord of glory exalted and sitting upon His throne doesn't
talk anymore about His free will and His works and His good intentions.
He sees the Lord like Isaiah saw him, high and lifted up. There is a place where we can
go, where winds of worry cannot blow. A place secure with this
made known, that Christ the Lord sits on his throne. That's assurance. Assurance is
resting in Christ. It's taking your soul and resting
it in His hands. Do with me what you will. Lord,
save me or I'll perish. If anything, anything in salvation
is left up to you, you're a goner. Assurance is in a person, the
Lord Jesus Christ. Paul said to the Galatians, this
only would I learn of you, receive you the Spirit by the works of
the law or by the hearing of faith. Having begun in the Spirit, are
you now made perfect by the flesh? Brethren, Jesus Christ is our
peace. He alone is our rest. He's our
reason for hope and victory. Christ in you, the hope of glory.
God himself puts us in Christ who of God is made unto us wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. What else do
you need? And then here's the reason why
he did it. He that gloweth, let him glory in the Lord. So what
do we do when we come into this place? We hear of him and we
glory in the Lord. Don't glory in ourselves, we
glory in Him. There is a growth in grace and
that growth is plainly declared as a growing in the knowledge
of the Lord Jesus Christ. We grow up, Paul said, into Him
in all things who is the head, even Christ. When then has a man reached spiritual
maturity? When does he get there? When he comes in the unity of
the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect
man. What perfect man? Jesus Christ. He's the only perfect man there
is. And that perfect man is Christ
who is all. Christ who lacks nothing, needs
nothing, asks for nothing. Christ alone. Paul said, and
beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit,
reasoning of works and laws and all these things. Beware, for
in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. Now listen
to this, and you are complete in him. Complete. That mean we don't need anything
else? That's exactly what that means. We don't need anything
else. We just need him. We need him. Thank you.