Unless I am badly mistaken, God's
given me a message for you today, and you will be very wise to
ask Him to let you hear it. I am of the firm and ever-deepening,
growing conviction that there's never been a time
in the history of Christianity when there were more lost people
in the church than there are at this present time. It's very easy to find religious
folks, but not sinners saved by the grace of God. It's very
easy to find a religious person, but not a believer. It's very
easy to find religious men and women, but it's not very easy
to find anyone who knows God, walks with God, and believes
God. Most people have been inoculated
with a very mild, mild dose of Christianity that makes them
utterly immune to the real thing. Most have. The sad reality is
most people are religious, but lost. That's the title of my
message. Religious, but lost. Yes, most of the people you and
I know are religious, but lost. Most of the people in churches
are religious, but lost. Are you? Are you religious but
lost? If so, I'd find out. Am I? I want to know. Let us bring
then our faith to the word of God and find out. Ask God the Holy Spirit to make
his word real and living to your soul. Examine yourself. whether you be in the faith. Know you not your own selves,
how that Christ Jesus is in you, except you be reprobate. Make
your calling and election sure. The Son of God tells us plainly,
not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into
the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father,
which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day,
Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name and in thy name of
cast out devils and in thy name done many wonderful works? And
then will I profess unto them, I never knew you depart from
me, ye that work iniquity. He speaks to men and women in
the day of judgment who were in the church and very religious,
who did wonderful things, who were utterly lost. And he declares
that their wonderful works are but the working of iniquity. Religion without Christ. Prayer
without Christ. Songs of praise without Christ. Bible reading without Christ.
Tithing and giving without Christ. Sabbath keeping without Christ.
All the things that men call good are but the working of iniquity
without Christ. Just working iniquity. Charity,
philanthropy, all those things, but working iniquity without
Christ. Depart from me ye cursed, ye
who work iniquity, I never knew you. Multitudes who expect to
go to heaven are on the way to hell. Thousands upon thousands
of good people, moral people, churchgoing people, church members
and church workers are lost. Religious, yes, but lost. In the last day, countless prophets,
priests, and preachers will find themselves lost, who thought
they were saved. Condemned, though they thought
themselves righteous, cast out into outer darkness, though they
presumed they would inherit the kingdom of light, forever cast
into hell's everlasting torment, men and women who expected to
inherit heaven's eternal bliss. Hear our Savior again. Enter
in at the straight gate. Enter in at the straight gate,
the tight, narrow, constricted gate. That gate that our Savior
describes when he says that it's easier for a camel to go through
the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the
kingdom of God. Enter ye in at the straight gate,
for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction,
and many there be that go in thereat. Because straight is
the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and
few there be that find it. Most everyone, most everyone,
enters into wide-gate religion and walks in the broad way of
Christianity. Few, very few. Enter in by the
straight gate, Christ Jesus, and walk in the narrow way, grace. If I've read this book correctly,
and I know I have, most who think they're saved are lost. Most who think they're saved
are lost. Are you one of them? Religious,
but lost? Am I? Satan's greatest lie, the
devil's most compelling, greatest deception, his most cunning device
by which he keeps sinners from Christ is religion. Satan's greatest lie, the devil's
most compelling and cunning device by which he keeps sinners from
Christ is religion. What horrible humiliation, disappointment,
frustration, and shame awaits the multitudes who think they
are saved, who are in reality lost. They claim salvation, but
they shall receive damnation. They're self-satisfied under
the delusion of a refuge of lies, but in the day of judgment at
the bar of God, they will be horrified to hear the Son of
God say, depart from me, ye workers of iniquity. I never knew you. Our Savior said concerning the
religious folks of his day, the high-ranking, well-known, influential
religious folks of his day, describing the whole generation. This people
draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoreth me with their
lips, but their heart is far from me. Most have a form of
godliness, but nothing more. We would be wise, I repeat, to
examine ourselves, to make our calling and election sure. Salvation
is to be had by faith in Christ. Salvation is to be had by faith
in Christ. His name alone is the name by
which we must be saved. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. Just this week I Corresponded
a good bit with a very dear friend who's going through some real
struggles who? Said I think I'm convinced. I'm
not one of God's elect And I'm not about to try to convince
you or anybody else that you are I'm not about to try to convince
anyone that they believe God the only person who will try
to convince a lost sinner That he saved is another lost sinner.
I'm not going to do it I'm not going to try to convince anybody
they're saved when they're not. I'm not going to try to convince
anybody they have faith in Christ. If you have faith in Christ,
God gave it to you, and God will convince you of it. Nobody else
can. If I could convince you, somebody
else could unconvince you. But I wrote to this friend, and
I said, I got a note. I said, I don't know if I'm contrite,
brokenhearted. What does that mean? The book
never says, whosoever is contrite shall be saved. The book never
says, whosoever is broken shall be saved. The book never says,
whosoever loves God or loves his neighbor shall be saved.
The book never speaks like that. The book never says, whosoever
has repented enough shall be saved or feels himself sinful
enough shall be saved or is convicted enough shall be saved. The book
says, He that believeth on the Son of God hath everlasting life. That's what the book says. Do
you believe on the Son of God or are you trusting your contrition,
your brokenness, your repentance, your conviction, your emotions,
your feelings, your repentance? Which is it? Faith in Christ
possesses God's salvation. Nothing else does. In Romans
chapter 2, verses 17 through 29, we have a passage specifically
addressed to the Jews, the physical seed of Abraham, the children
of Israel, those people to whom God gave his law, his tabernacle,
his priest, his prophets, his word, a people who were religious
but lost. Now, to the best of my discernment,
there's no one here who is among Abraham's physical descendants.
There's not a physical national Jew in the congregation. Does
that mean this passage has no reference to us? Oh, no. No,
no. These Jews were people who had
a Bible and said they believed it. They read it and they memorized
it. They quoted it. They wore it
in their garments. They had a Bible laying on the
dashboard so everybody could see that they were Christians.
They had tracks over the sun visor in their shirt pockets
so everybody would know they're religious. That's the kind of
folks Paul's addressing here. Romans chapters 1, 2, and 3 is
specifically intended of God to show us that all the sons
and daughters of Adam are lost and in need of God's salvation,
in need of the gospel, in need of Christ. Those who are openly
rebellious and defiant are lost. That's what it tells us in Romans
chapter 1, verses 18 through 32. The proud, self-righteous
moralist with no Bible is lost. That's what it tells us in the
first part of chapter two. The proud, self-righteous moralist
with no Bible is lost. Again, I've been corresponding
in recent months with just such a fellow. He's very proud. A
very self-righteous thinks himself to be a moralist, but he doesn't
know God, doesn't have any clue who God is. And then in our text
this morning, verses 17 through 29, the Spirit of God tells us
that the religious hypocrite, the false professor, the religionist
without Christ, the religionist who has no faith in Jesus Christ
is lost. Here the Apostle Paul, A Hebrew
of the Hebrews goes after his own people, the Jews, and demonstrates
that even the Jew, the very religious Jew, without Christ is a sinner,
guilty before God. Let's read our text, verse 17.
Behold, thou art called a Jew, and restest in the law, and makest
thy boast of God. and knowest his will, and approvest
the things that are more excellent, being instructed out of the law,
and art confident that thou thyself art a guide of the blind, a light
of them which are in darkness, an instructor of the foolish,
a teacher of babes, which hast the form of knowledge and of
the truth of the law. Thou, therefore, which teachest
another, Teachest thou not thyself? Thou that preachest that man
should not steal, dost thou steal? Thou that sayest that man should
not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery? Thou that upholdest
idols, dost thou commit sacrilege? Thou that makest thy boast of
the law through breaking the law dishonest God. Paul says here, you teach that
a fellow ought not steal, but you steal. You teach the fellow
not to commit adultery, but you commit adultery. You teach the
fellow not to worship idols, but you commit sacrilege. You
make your boast of the law, but you break the law and dishonor
God. Verse 24, for the name of God
is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you. The name of God
is blasphemed among the folks who have no Bible. and no profession
of religion, and don't pretend to worship God. The name of God
is blasphemed among the Gentiles by your hypocrisy. By your hypocrisy. As it is written, for circumcision
verily profiteth if thou keep the law. But if thou be a breaker
of the law, thy circumcision is uncircumcision. If you're
circumcised, you're deader to keep the whole law, Paul said.
Therefore, if the circumcision keep the righteousness of the
law, or the uncircumcision keep the righteousness of the law,
shall not his uncircumcision be counted for righteousness?
And shall not uncircumcision, which is by nature, if it fulfill
the law, judge thee who by the letter and circumcision does
transgress the law? Well, how does the uncircumcised
person keep the law? How can that be? But the Lindsay
just got through telling us. We have kept the law through
Christ, our surety, our substitute. And therefore, our own circumcision
is counted for circumcision. In fact, it is called the circumcision. We are the circumcision who worship
God in spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence
in the flesh. Read up. Verse 28. For he is not a Jew, which is
one outwardly, neither is that circumcision, which is outward
in the flesh. 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. Now in this portion of scripture,
God the Holy Spirit inspired the Apostle Paul to write to
us with very great firmness and clarity, destroying the false
refuge being built, exposing hypocrisy, and identifying the
Jew. Those are the three things he
shows us here. First, false refuges are identified. Then the apostle
speaks plainly and exposes hypocrisy. And in the last two verses identifies
the Jew. All right, first, the religious
Jews described here in Holy Scripture had a great religious refuge,
a refuge of lies that gave them a sense of superiority, security,
and safety. Their refuge was built on seven
mighty pillars, pillars upon which they rested. Seven things
that gave them confidence. Seven things that said, bless
God, I'm saved and secure, as sure for heaven as if I was already
there. These pillars are pillars upon
which religious folks who are lost rest today and always have. Number one, in verse 17, Thou
art called a Jew. They had the name Jew. Jew. I'm a Jew. I'm a Jew. Do you know what the word Jew
means, Bill? Jehovah. Jehovah. I belong to Jehovah. I worship Jehovah. I'm a follower
of Jehovah. There are multitudes like them
today. They called themselves Christians.
They had the name Christian. It means Christ-like, follower
of Christ, disciple of Christ. By their name, they distinguished
themselves and set themselves apart from others. Number two,
they rested, verse 17, in the law. They didn't love the law. They didn't obey the law. They
didn't keep the law. They didn't even understand the
law, but they rested in the law. They rested in the fact that
they said they lived by the law. They rested in the fact that
they said they kept the law. They rested in the fact that
they said they kept the Sabbath day. So it is with many today. They claim God's favor and presume
they're accepted by the Almighty, resting in the law. resting in
righteousness of the law, but being totally ignorant of the
righteousness of God, which is in Christ Jesus, the Lord. Number
three, look at verse 17 again. These people made their boast
of God. Thou makest thy boast of God. They boasted that the true and
living God, he's their God. The Lord Jehovah is their God.
The Gentiles, those poor people, they worship stumps. In fact,
they worship birds and beasts and four-footed creatures. And
those poor people, they rub their rosary beads and count them.
Those poor people, they burn candles and have their prayer
candles going for folks. Those poor people, they're baptized
for the dead. Those poor people, those poor
deluded people, they wear their religious costumes. They dress
funny. Those people, they're different.
They're different. Not us! We make our boast in God. God
dwells with us. God's in our midst. Number four,
verse 18. These good religious people were
dead certain they knew God's will for everybody. They were dead certain they knew
God's will for everybody and knowest his will and approvest
the things that are more excellent being instructed out of the law. Their descendants were especially
good at telling people what God's will is for them. It amazes me, it amazes me how
presumptuous men are to dare to tell other men what God would
have them to do. How presumptuous it is for a
man to dare tell another man what God's will for him is, what
he ought to do with his family, where he ought to live, where
he ought to go. What presumption? What presumption? I often have
folks ask me, don't you think he ought to move here or go there?
I don't know. I don't know. Skip, if I tell
you to pack your bags and move to Lexington, go over there and
join up with those folks, And you obey what I've said. I'm
responsible. I'm not about to assume that
responsibility. It's not going to happen. Not going to happen.
But these Jews, they presumed they knew God's will for everybody.
And they didn't hesitate to tell them what God's will was. They
approved of the things of God. We're told in verse 18 there,
they approved of excellent things, good things. His commandments,
His sacrifices, His Sabbaths, His word, His ceremonies. They
believed in the book, the blood, and the blessed hope. They believed
in good, clean living, practical holiness, practical godliness,
personal righteousness. The holy law of God was their
rule of life. Now, they didn't practice any
of it. But they talked a good game. They didn't perform it. They said, we live by the law.
We believe in practical governance. Tell us about personal holiness.
We want to hear about how we ought to be good. Verses 19 and
20. Here's the sixth thing. They
were very confident of their ability and right to tell everybody
in the world how they ought to live. and are confident that
thou, thyself, art a guide of the blind. Now most all of us make that
sad mistake early on in life. Brother Joe Terrell said one
time years ago, he said, there are only two things in this world
that are like the old red wasp, just as big at birth as they
ever get. There's two things. I'm told the red wasp is just
as big in his beginning as he ever gets. And there are two
things among men just as big as they ever get in the beginning.
And that's a true born child of God and the preacher. From
that day on, things start going downhill. The fact is, early
on in our lives, believers seem to think they know exactly how
everything ought to be. and get pretty tough, get pretty
tough, presuming that they are capable of guiding everybody. Years ago, I knew a young preacher
who announced that his wife was pregnant. They were expecting
their first child, and he was given to write rules for folks. And he said that in front of
a bunch of us, and Brother Mahan said to him, he said, I recommend
that you wait until you're at least 20 before you write a book
on raising children. It's a good idea. It's a good
idea. But everybody thinks he's an authority. These Jews thought
so. An instructor of the foolish,
a teacher of babes, which has the form of knowledge and the
truth of the law. You got a little knowledge and
you think you're something. You think you know the truth of the
law and you think you're something. Now look at verse 25. Here Paul
pursues the Jew to his last, strongest, and greatest refuge. They were circumcised. They were
circumcised. They were called the circumcision.
Everybody knew who they were. They were the circumcision. Circumcision
was more ancient than Moses. Circumcision began in the days
of Abraham. Circumcision distinguished the Jews from other people Circumcision
was a symbol of God's covenant a sign of all the advantages
that God gave the Jews as his covenant people What multitudes
are like them? Religious but lost Let me show
you another example Paul's writing to the same folks over here in
Hebrews chapter 6 Hebrews chapter 6 these are Jews who had professed
faith in Christ and and went back to their Judaism. They professed
faith in Christ, but they departed from Christ. They professed faith
in Christ, but they departed from the gospel. Hebrews chapter
6 verse 4. It is impossible for those who
were once enlightened and had tasted the heavenly gift and
were made partakers of the Holy Ghost and had tasted the good
word of God and the powers of the world to come If they shall
fall away, it's impossible to renew them again unto repentance,
seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh and put
him to an open shame. Paul is not talking about people
who were saved and then lost their salvation. That's not a
possibility. He's talking about people who
professed salvation, who professed faith in Christ, who professed
to belong to God. And it looked like they did,
but they forsook the things of God. And if they do, he says,
it's impossible to renew them. Men and women often feel, experience,
and do much in religion who never experience the grace of God. Neither emotional experience,
nor orthodoxy of creed, nor reformation of life, are necessarily tokens
of God's grace. Hebrews 6 speaks of such people. They were once enlightened. They
were given some understanding of the things of God, of gospel
truth. They weren't heretics. These
are not Arminians, free willers, Papists, Muslims, or Hindus.
These are people who know the truth, at least mentally, theoretically. They intellectually perceive
and submit to doctrinal truths of the gospel. They say amen
to Calvinism, as they call it. They wouldn't hear it in Arminian.
To them, the doctrines of the gospel are logical and reasonable. They accept them as facts, plainly
revealed in the word of God. You see, the natural man, the
unregenerate man, can see and understand any doctrine you can
see and understand. He may even articulate it, Lindsay,
more clearly than you. He can see and understand any
doctrine you do. He cannot see the glory of God
in the face of Christ, but he can see the glory of doctrine.
He can't love Christ, but he can love doctrine. The unsaved
man may be a better theologian than the believer, but the poor,
uneducated child of God The poor, illiterate believer knows and
loves what the unregenerate man never can. The believer knows,
loves, trusts, and rejoices in Christ. Oh, what a difference. The natural
man's religion is all doctrinal creed, religious history, emotional
experience religious works and religious ceremonies and He can
understand them. He write books about him. He
can he can tell you about them. He can he can explain them very
easily The believers religion is a person
it's that union you've been talking about with Christ It's union with the Son of God
Multitudes have tasted the heavenly gifts who've never tasted the
gift of heaven During the apostolic age Miraculous gifts were given
to me some could heal diseases speak in tongues and prophesy
those miraculous gifts ceased with the last of the Apostles
But there are many today who perform wonders and pretend to
speak in tongues. And the scriptures speak about
them actually calling down fire from heaven. But their gifts
identify them not as God's people and God's servants, but as Antichrist. Their gifts counterfeited by
Satan. Tasting the heavenly gifts and the powers of the world to
come is not salvation. Salvation is eating the bread
of life. Salvation is not in miraculous
gifts. Salvation is in immutable grace.
Salvation is not in feelings, emotions, and experiences, no
matter how great they are. Salvation is in Christ. Oh, God, help me to make this
clear. Salvation is not in what we do. It is not in what we experience. Salvation's in Christ the Redeemer. I can't tell you how many times
I read or hear people say, there's no question such and such is
converted, what a changed man he was. What a changed man he
was. And I don't know the man personally.
I can't remember. who the old man is in Rome now.
But I suspect that fellow who dresses up in that white drag
uniform is a pretty good fellow. I suspect you rarely see him
drunk. I suspect that folks don't hear
him cussing and telling dirty jokes. I suspect that's the case.
His life has been cleaned up by religion. Now, I'm not sure.
I just suspect that's the case. I know that's the case with multitudes.
with multitudes. Their lives get cleaned up with
religion. That doesn't mean they know God.
That doesn't mean you know God. A religious experience doesn't
mean you know God. A man can preach with power and
eloquence so that other folks are moved by his preaching and
him not know Christ at all. Judas did. A man can perform
miracles and not know God at all. Pharaoh's magicians did.
A man can cast out demons and yet be a messenger of Satan.
Our Lord said so to those he addresses in the Day of Judgment.
A person can speak in tongues and speak by the power of the
devil. A man can preach, promote, and defend righteousness and
yet speak by him who transforms his ministers into angels of
light and preachers of righteousness. Spiritual gifts and usefulness
are not evidences of grace and salvation. All my life, even before I became
a preacher, I'd read about preachers who looked upon their usefulness,
that means the number of folks that supposedly got saved by
them preaching, and said, now that's evidence that I'm God's. Hmm. If that's so, then every
false prophet of every form of religion that has a great following
is God's messenger. No, no. Usefulness is no indication
of those things. These folks are described here
in Hebrews 6 as partakers of the Holy Ghost. I don't know
exactly what that means, but I do know that the Spirit of
God came upon King Saul, and he prophesied. And Saul didn't
know God from a bumblebee. Balaam spoke by the Spirit of
God and spoke truth as few men ever have. But Balaam didn't
know God. He was a false prophet. In fact,
Balaam's ass on one occasion delivered God's message. And
I know Balaam's ass didn't know God. We're reading the scripture
of a fellow named Caiaphas, who had no regard for things of God.
He was high priest in Israel, but he didn't know God from a
billy goat. And yet he prophesied of the death of Christ like a
singular prophet of God. It's possible for men to say
and do things that make it appear they are partakers of the Holy
Ghost, though they're not born of the Spirit. In our Lord's
day, in John 2, at the end of the chapter, We read that many
believed on him. But the Lord Jesus refused to
commit himself to them because he knew their faith was a sham. They tasted the good word of
God and the powers of the world to
come. They love good preaching. They move by it. They get excited
over it. They'll fight you for it. Brother Adam Kibby told me
one time I was preaching out in California. I was totally
unaware of this until Adam told me just a couple of years ago.
And I don't even know what fellows were upset over. I think I may
know. I heard some folks arguing about
something one night, but I just walked away from it. After I
got to preaching one night, the church out in California, two
of the Deacons got in a fist fight over the doctrine being
preached. They were excited. They were
excited about it. Excited because of what I said
one excited against what I'd said, but then folks can do that
not know God. Yeah Her emotions are stirred
By preaching stirred by the Word of God But somehow it never reaches
their hearts It's common for men and women. It's common for
many women to enjoy rare unusual gifts and experiences without
experiencing grace and salvation in Christ. One thing thou lackest. What lack I yet? That's what
that rich young ruler asked the master, wasn't it? What more
can I do? Just tell me what it is. What
more can I do? The master said, one thing thou
lackest. And I'll tell you the one thing
you lack, if you don't have Him, is Christ. And if you lack the one thing
needful, everything else you have will profit you nothing.
Now back in Romans chapter 2, verses 21 through 24, the Spirit
of God, the searcher of hearts, exposes the horrid, damning hypocrisy
of lost self-righteous religionist. They never live what they profess. They never do what they demand
others to do. You remember that bragging, boastful
Pharisee in the temple? He said, God, I thank you that
I'm not like other men. Well, he was. He was just like
others. He said, I fast. Twice every week. I pray three
times every day. I give a tithe, not of the gross,
but of the net. I give it, not of the net, but
of the gross. I tithe on the berries that grow in my field.
I tithe on everything. I read the scriptures. I've got
to memorize. I'm not like other men, especially
that publican. And what he said, none of it
was true. None of it was true. He only
said it was true. He only said it was true. In
Matthew 23, eight times, eight times, eight times, our Lord
Jesus said, Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for
you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men. For ye neither go
in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to
go in. You shut up the kingdom of heaven
against men by presenting them with a religious alternative,
with a refuge other than Christ Jesus the Lord. Like the scribes
and Pharisees, like the Jews in Romans 2, like Adam and Eve
in the garden, fallen man thinks religion is righteousness. Fallen
man presumes that if I can get me some fig leaves, cover up
my nakedness. If I can get some fig leaves
and cover up what I know I am. If I can get some fig leaves
of some kind and not let other men see what I see every day. Not let other men know what I
know about me. If I can get some fig leaves
and cover up, everything will be alright. Because if Bobby
Estes can't see it, that means God can't see it. But the Lord
looks on the heart. The Lord looks on the heart. Do you trust your feelings or
Christ? Your goodness or Christ? Your experience or Christ? Your
church or Christ? Your devotion or Christ? Your
doctrine or Christ? Your religious heritage or Christ? like the vast multitudes today,
being utterly ignorant of the righteousness of God, thought
they could make themselves righteous. Being utterly ignorant of the
righteousness of God, they thought they could make themselves righteous.
Now, one last thing. Verses 28 and 29, Paul identifies
the Jew. I'll come back to this later,
but listen carefully. He is not a Jew, which is one
outwardly. Neither is that circumcision,
which is outward in the flesh. 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,
that is those who are circumcised in heart and spirit, their praise
is not of men for what men see, but of God for what God sees. True godliness, true religion
is inside you, not outside you. It's inward, not outward. True
religion is a matter of the heart. Faith is a heart work. Repentance
is a heartwork. Consecration to God is a heartwork. Devotion is a heartwork. Love
is a heartwork. True religion is inward, not
outward. We're taken up with outward things
because men look on outward things and say, boy, what a fine man
Don Fortner is. I remember what he used to be.
Boy, he's changed. Boy, he's changed. Oh, look at
how often he goes to church. Look look at look at him study
and preach. Look look look at what he's done.
Oh I sure would like to be like Don Fortner. I sure would like
to be like him Sure makes me feel good, didn't
you? Oh man, that's what I was looking for. If that's what you're
looking for. That's what you got Nothing else You're tooting your
horn and saying your prayers in the street corner so everybody
say, look at him, listen to him pray. You've got your reward
and you're going to hell with it. Oh no, true religion is inward,
not outward. Person is not a child of God,
righteous before God and justified merely by name, nationality,
profession or ceremony. True circumcision is not something
outward in the flesh, but an inward work of grace in the heart. Turn to Philippians chapter 3,
and I'll wrap this up. A person is a true Jew, a true
Israelite, a true child of God, numbered among the Israel of
God, Abraham's spiritual seed, who has a work of grace in his
heart, who renounces all his works and looks to Christ, who
worships God in spirit and in truth, having the law of God
written on his heart. To this man will I look, the
Lord says, even to him that is poor, and of a contrite spirit,
and trembleth at my word. Philippians chapter 3, verse
1. Finally, brethren, Rejoice in the Lord. To write the same
things to you, to me, indeed is not grievous, but for you
it's safe. Beware of dogs. I want to talk to you about them
tonight. Beware of dogs, false prophets. Beware of evil workers. These are the same dogs he was
talking about. Beware of the concision, the cutters, the cutters,
folks who mutilate the body, folks who teach circumcision.
Teach you that by mutilating your body, by depriving your
body of something you like to eat or something you like to
drink, you can make yourself holy. By depriving yourself of
what you're not allowed to eat on certain days. I don't even
keep up with the nonsense. Depriving yourself of something you want,
you'll be holy. Beware of those fellows. They're
all soul destroyers. For we are the circumcision.
We are God's covenant people. God's true Israel. The people
to whom all the blessings of the covenant had been given.
Who are we? Which worship God. We worship
God almighty as is revealed in this book in the person and work
of his son. We worship him in the spirit. We worship him in our spirits,
in our hearts, in our souls. Worship Him in the Spirit. Our worship is not an outward
display. Yes, we observe the Lord's ordinances
with great care, but we make no attempt to make a display
of worshiping God. This day of what folks call happy,
clappy religion. Folks get together and they clap
and they sing and they wave their hands and jiggle like they're
on a dance floor. Nah. Nah. No, no, no. We worship God in the spirit.
God speaks to us by a still, quiet voice that we hear. We worship God in our hearts and rejoice in Christ Jesus. We make our boast of the Lord.
We rejoice in Christ. We rest our souls upon the person
and work of God's darling son. We trust the son of God. His
blood, His righteousness, that's all. That's all. Sometime, Earl, I think, I really
do. Because I feel confident. And I feel close to Him sometimes. Most of the time, that's not
the case. Most of the time, I'm full of
doubts. And God seems so far off that
I can't possibly hear Him or reach Him. But my hope before
God is not what I feel or think our experience. My hope before
God is God's own son. I can't say much. I can't say
much. Not about me. Not about me. Can't
say much about my religion, my faith, my faithfulness. But I can tell you this. I trust
the Son of God. He's all I've got. He's all I've
got. I have no confidence in the flesh. No confidence in my parentage,
no confidence in my works, no confidence in my experience,
no confidence in my emotions, no confidence in my knowledge,
no confidence in my feelings, no confidence in the flesh. He that believeth on the Son
of God. He's been circumcised in the
heart. He's numbered among God's Israel. He's one of God's chosen. He's born of God. Oh, may God
give you grace to believe on his Son. Amen.