Philippians, the church at Philippi. I'll give you a little background
on this epistle. Philippi was a Roman colony,
and Philippi was the chief city of Macedonia. You remember the
special instructions that the Lord gave to the Apostle Paul
about preaching at Philippi in Acts 16 verse 9 Paul said a vision appeared
to me in the night There stood a man of Macedonia and prayed
saying come over into Macedonia and help us After I saw the vision
immediately I endeavored to go to Macedonia Assuredly gathering
that the Lord had called us to or to preach the gospel to them. Therefore, loosing from Troas,
we came with a straight course to Samothracia, and the next
day to Neapolis, and from thence to Philippi, which is the chief
city of that part of Macedonia, and a colony of Rome, and we
were in that city certain days. Now, the first convert Let's
read about that, Acts 16, 13. On the Sabbath day, we went down,
we went out of the city, down by Riverside, where prayer was
wont to be made. In those days, if a city didn't
have more than 12 families, they couldn't have a synagogue. I
believe it was 12 families that were required. So these women,
not having a synagogue, not having a place of worship for Jews,
They met by the river, and that's where they had prayer. And Paul
found out they were down there. And he went down by the riverside
where prayer was wont to be made. And we sat down and spake to
the women which resorted there. Evidently there were no men in
the group, just a group of women meeting in the name of the Lord
on the Sabbath day because they didn't have a place to go worship.
I have people write me occasionally saying they live in a place where
There's no church preaching the gospel. Well, these women did,
too. But they didn't sit at home on
Sabbath day. They found some people that had
an interest in the gospel, and they met with them down by the
river somewhere. Somewhere. And a certain woman
named Lydia, she wasn't even from there. She was from the
city of Fire Tower. She was their own business. woman,
a seller of purple. And she was there on business,
on vacation, and she went to the house of God. Even when she
went to a place where she was carrying on her cloth business,
seller of purple, she found out if there's somebody there that
believed God, she met with them. And she heard Paul. Paul said,
she heard us. She heard me. She heard me. She heard more
than just words. She heard God speak through Paul,
whose heart the Lord opened. And she attended to the things
which were spoken by Paul. And when she was baptized in
her household, she besought us saying, if you have judged me
to be faithful to the Lord, you come to my house. and make my
home your headquarters." She had a home there in Philippi,
evidently, too. She constrained us. The Philippian
jailer was brought to Christ there. But anyway, turn back
to Philippians 3. Paul was in prison at Rome when
he wrote this epistle. And he mentions that in this
epistle in chapter 1, verse 12. He was in prison in Rome. He
said in verse 12, chapter 1, I would, you should understand,
brethren, that the things which happen to me, like being put
in prison, shipwreck, whatever, have fallen out rather under
the feathers of the gospel so that my bonds, that word is chains,
feathers, in Christ are manifest in all the palace, Caesar's court.
What is he talking about? They're talking about me. Caesar's
court and about my chains and about my gospel and in all other
places to other people in Caesar's palace and then if you look at
chapter 4 of Philippians verse 22 when he's writing this is the closing words of this epistle In verse
22, he said, all the saints salute you chiefly, they that are of
Caesar's household. There have been some folks converted.
You see, I told you one time that Paul, when he was in prison
in Rome, but you need to read this. Turn to the last chapter
of Acts. He didn't spend these two years
in a jail, in a dungeon. He spent them in a house. He
was under house arrest and had a soldier guarding him. And evidently bonds are changed.
But here in verse 30, the last two verses of the Book of Acts,
verse 30 and 31, the last two verses, Paul dwelt two whole
years in his own hired house and received all that came into
him in Rome, preaching the kingdom of God, teaching those things
which concern the Lord Jesus Christ with all confidence and
nobody, no man forbidding. Caesar's court. Evidently it
was near the court, near some house nearby, and even the people
of the palace, the gospel. Like Paul said one time, I'm
in jail, but the word of God's not. I'm in bonds, but the word's
not bound. God used even imprisonment or
sickness or whatever to his servant or to his people. to preach his
gospel to his elect. Well, Paul was especially dear
to these people in Philippi, especially dear. He was the preacher
who brought them the gospel. He was the preacher. I read a
moment ago, the angel said, go down to Macedonia. The fellow
down there said, come help us. And he went down there and stayed
a long time preaching to these people, and they loved him. In
fact, if you'll turn to chapter 4, Hearing that he was a prisoner
in Rome, they sent their pastor to Rome, bearing gifts, food
and blankets and provisions. They sent their pastor to visit
Paul and to take these gifts. Their pastor was a man named
Epaphroditus. In verse 20, verse 18 of Philippians
4, Now I have all, I have received everything that you sent. and
I abound." Oh, I'm full. I'm just, I have all that you
sent and I abound and I'm full, having received of Epaphroditus
the things which were sent from you, an odor of a sweet smell,
a sacrifice acceptable and well-pleasing to God. And you're not out of
anything because my God will supply all your need according
to his riches and glory by Christ Jesus. All right, chapter three,
where we'll be today. Paul begins this chapter with
a grand and glorious theme, the watchword of every believer.
He says, brethren, finally brethren, rejoice in the Lord. Christ is
our chief joy. As Peter said, in whom having
not seen, you love. In whom though now you see him
not, yet believing, You rejoice with joy unspeakable and full
of glory. Rejoice in the Lord. In fact,
in this one epistle, Paul refers to rejoicing in the Lord ten
times. There are just four chapters,
and ten times he exhorts them to rejoice. We rejoice in the
greatness of his person, my God, my Savior, Jehovah. We rejoice
in his incarnation. He's the man, the man, the God-man,
Christ Jesus. Great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh.
I rejoice in that. Bone of my bone, flesh of my
flesh, my representative, my Lord, my God. I rejoice in the
sufficiency of his righteousness and atonement. In him dwelleth
all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and we're complete in
him. Everything heaven can require, everything heaven can demand,
everything that this center needs, is met in Christ abundantly,
sufficiently. He hath made us meet to inherit
eternal glory. I rejoice in the sufficiency
of our Lord's righteousness, and I rejoice in his properties. even in affliction. I rejoice
in his sovereign purpose. I rejoice in whatever he wills
and brings to pass, because he's too wise to make a mistake. He's too good to do wrong. And
everything, all things that take place in our lives are for his
glory and our good, our eternal good. I rejoice in that. In fact, that's the only way
you can rejoice in disappointment. Oh, we can rejoice in glad times
and healthy times and happy times spontaneously, but it takes some
thought to rejoice in bad times. In depression and recession,
it takes thought, it takes consideration of who sent it, why he said it,
and what will be accomplished. His glory is my good. I rejoice. That's the reason. You have to
do a little thinking. You understand when Paul rejoices
in the Lord in good times, but it takes some thought and some
commitment to rejoice in the Lord in the bad times. But if we understand that he
is the Lord and he does all things well, then we can rejoice, and
we rejoice in the hope and glory of his return. Now look, he says,
to write the same things to you. To write the same things that
I've preached to you many times, the same gospel, the same words,
the same message, the same God, the same salvation. That's not
tiresome to me. I've been preaching here now,
September will be 49 years to this congregation. And I guess
I've preached from Philippians 3 dozens of times. I've preached the gospel to you
hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of times. I'm not tired of it,
are you? It's not tiresome. This is all
fresh. As I sat down Friday, I worked
on a message Friday, the Sunday School lesson a message, and
then the second one Saturday. And it's not tiresome. The happiest
time I spend in my whole life is sitting there looking into
this world, getting these nuggets, this mining. The happiest time
of my life is gold mining. I'm a miner. I dig in this gold
mine and seek out these gems and nuggets to give you on Sunday
morning and Sunday night and Wednesday night. It's not grievous. And I tell you, he says, for
you it's safe. It's not tiresome to me, it's
profitable to you. I'm determined not to know anything
among you say Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And that's not
tiresome to me and that's profitable to you. And I'll tell you three
reasons. To often preach and hear the gospel keeps our hearts
and thoughts and minds on Christ and not this world. That's the
reason I said while ago I paused a minute when Lydia and those
women They didn't have any place to go to church. They didn't
have anybody to teach them. They didn't have a synagogue.
But they went down by the river and they read the word of God
and they prayed. And I do not understand, I cannot
to save my life understand how a person can spend Sunday after
Sunday after Sunday on vacation or in another state or living
somewhere else and never never meet with the people of God and
pray and study God's word. I'll tell you this, to often
to often assemble together in the name of Christ with people
of like mind and heart and open this word and read it and pray
and study it keep your hearts and minds on Christ. It will now. Keep your hearts
and minds on Christ and off of this filth of this world that
you have to wallow in down at the plants and the stores and
the places where you work. Second thing, to hear the gospel
preached, hear the word of God. It keeps us from the errors of
false religion. False religion and evil voices
are in the newspaper, in the magazines, and you can't get
away from it. But I tell you, if you're well-schooled
and well-taught in the Word of God, it doesn't bother you. But I tell you, if you're not
taught in the Word, it'll pose a problem for you.
You young people sitting in front of those professors in college
that deny creation and deny the Word of God and deny Christ and
deny salvation, If you're schooled in the scriptures and taught
in the word of God, you'll know he's a fool. But if you're not
taught in the word, you'll think he's smart. And you might even
want to pattern yourself after him. But who wants to be like
a fool? And the third thing, to often
hear the word preached and the word of God taught guards us
against self-righteousness. And other errors of the spirit
in the flesh. We're prone, you know, if you
run around with a bunch of dwarfs, you'll think you're a giant. That's right. You think you're
a giant. But when you're around the sovereignty
of God and the greatness of God and the power of God, you just
shrink up. You become nothing and nobody. You see what I'm
talking about? When you're around The Word of
God, the greatness of God, the prophets and apostles and teachers
of the Word. You say, who am I? What is my
people? That we should have such mercies
and greatness from God. Now he says in verse 2, beware
of dogs. Who's he talking about there?
Well, our Lord told us in Matthew 7. He said, beware of false prophets. They'll come to you as sheep.
Sheep's not a dog. They'll come to you as sheep
in sheep's clothing, pretending to be a sheep, but inwardly they're
dogs, they're wolves. A wolf is a dog. He's a mean
dog. He's a vicious dog. He's a dog intent on feeding
on the sheep and not feeding of the sheep. That's the difference. A dog, a wolf will feed on the
sheep. I have a friend up in West Virginia
that raises sheep. And every once in a while, one
of them from the community, some of their dogs will come up there
and kill his sheep. You'll find a sheep dead out
in the field, gnawed on, chewed up by a dog. And he bought him
a rifle. And he began to pick some of
those dogs off when they came after his sheep. And a man down
the road called him one day and asked him, said, has my dog been
up there? He said, if he's been here, he's still here. Beware of dogs. They feed on
the sheep. They don't feed the sheep. Beware
of evil workers. Who are these people? Well, our
Lord identifies them too. In Matthew 7, he said, many will
say unto me in that day, Lord, Have we not done many wonderful
works? Have we not done many wonderful
works? Have we not preached in your name and cast out devils
in your name? And we, we're not interested
in your work. I finished the work that God
gave me to do, he said. I glorified the Lord. No, we're
not interested in that. We're interested in our works.
And we've done many wonderful works and many wonderful deeds.
We're interested in our work. not yours, our righteousness,
not yours. And when our works are exalted,
and when our works become our claim to righteousness, they
become evil works. They're evil works, because they
damn everybody who believes them, and damn us when we profess them.
That's the reason he said, many shall say in the judgment, Lord,
we did many wonderful works in your name, we cast out devils,
we preached in your name, I never knew you. Depart from me, ye
that work," what? Iniquity, evil works. Beware of evil workers, false
preachers who urge you to trust your works for spiritual acceptance. They're evil men. When I stand
here and tell you that salvation's in Christ, of Christ, by Christ,
through Christ, upon the righteousness and blood of Christ Jesus, I'm
doing your favor. When I stand here and tell you
that God will pay attention to your good deeds and He'll weigh
them in the scales of justice, your goodness against your badness,
and if your goodness outweighs, He'll take you to heaven, I'm
an evil man. And what I'm doing's evil. That's right, evil workers. And
beware of them. And beware of the concision.
That's the circumcision. Now verse, beware of the circumcision. Here's what he said, beware,
beware of returning to the law. The law of the Sabbath, the law
of circumcision, the law of diets and days. The law neither justifies
nor sanctifies. Let me show you some scripture.
Turn to Galatians. Beware of the concision. Law
preachers. Law preachers. Preach and return
to the law. Don't return to the law. Galatians
5, verse 1. Listen. Brethren, stand fast. Therefore in the liberty, the
freedom wherewith Christ hath made us free from the law, Don't
become entangled again with the yoke of bondage. But I, Paul,
say unto you, if you be circumcised, if that's what you do in order
to be accepted of God, if that's what you do in order to be spiritual,
if that's what you do in order to win favor with God, be circumcised
or keep the Sabbath or keep these laws, Christ profits you nothing.
I testify again to every man that is circumcised in order
to find acceptance with God, or keeps a day in order to find
acceptance with God, that he's a debtor to do the whole law.
If he starts down the road of law obedience for acceptance
with God, he's got a long road. He's a debtor to obey everything
perfectly. And Christ has become of no effect.
unto you, whosoever you are that are justified by the law." You
departed from grace. You departed from the gospel
of grace. We, through the Spirit, wait
for the hope of righteousness by faith. That's how we wait,
not by doing, but by faith. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision
availeth anything nor uncircumcision, but a faith that works by love.
Now then, verse 3. Beware of the concision. We are
the circumcision. We are. He names three things. We worship God in the spirit.
We rejoice in Jesus Christ. We've got no confidence in the
flesh, in traditions and duties and deeds of the flesh. We are
the circumcision. Now, turn to Deuteronomy 7. Deuteronomy 7. I want to show you something.
This is important here now. He's warning these people, don't
return to the law. Don't let anybody take you back
into the bondage of the law. Dots, deeds, ceremonies, sacraments,
Sabbath day, circumcision, Judaism. You see, there was a time when
those things held for us as a picture of Christ, as a type of Christ.
I'm going to show you something here. Here in Deuteronomy 7,
the Lord chose Abraham and his seed through Isaac, not through
Ishmael, through Isaac, to be known as Israel, sons of Jacob. Now listen, Deuteronomy 7, verse
6. For thou art a holy people under
the Lord thy God. The Lord thy God had chosen thee
to be a special people under himself above all the people
on the face of the earth. Now, he chose Abraham. I'll make of you a great nation."
He made Israel, the Jews, Israel, through Isaac. He gave them circumcision
as a sign of this covenant. This is the covenant he's making
with them through Abraham. He gave them circumcision as
a sign of that covenant till Christ comes. He gave them the
priesthood. He gave them the tabernacle. He gave them the Sabbath day. He gave them the sacrifices.
He gave them the Passover. He gave them the mercy seat.
And all these Jews, their men, were circumcised. That was a
token of the covenant. A special people. They weren't
all saved by any means. But they were God's earthly people. God's special people. God's people
through whom the Messiah would come. God's people to whom he
gave the prophets, the promises, the priesthood, the sacrifices,
and circumcision was the sign, was the mark. Now let me read
this other verse. Deuteronomy 7, verse 7. The Lord
didn't set his love on you and choose you because you were more
in number than any people. You were the fewest of all. Abraham
was one. And when they went into Egypt,
there was just 70 of them. That's all. Seventy of them. But because the Lord loved you,
and because he would keep the oath which he swore in your father,
Abraham, hath the Lord brought you out with a mighty hand, redeemed
you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh, king
of Egypt. And circumcision, that's what
we're talking about here now. Every Jew, every male was circumcised. And if he wasn't, he couldn't
come to the Passover. No, sir. Let's turn to Exodus
12. This was the mark. Exodus chapter
12. Exodus 12, verse 48. This was the mark of the covenant.
This was the sign. Talking about the Passover now
and the people who could come to the Passover. Verse 48. And when a stranger shall sojourn
with thee, and wants to keep the Passover to the Lord, let
all his males be circumcised, and then let them come near and
keep it. And he'll be as one that is born in the land. For
no uncircumcised person shall eat thereof. They shall not eat
of the Passover." This was a tithe. Now then, Paul
says in verse 3 of Philippians, look over there, verse 3, he
says, we are the circumcision. We come to the Lord's table.
His body was broken for us, His blood was shed for us, and we
take the bread, which is His body, we take the wine, which
is His blood. We discern the broken body and shed blood of
our Lord, we are invited to the table, but not unless you've
been circumcised. just like back yonder. That was
a type. Moses was not to permit any uncircumcised individual
to come to the Passover. But now if they were circumcised,
they could come. Or if they wanted to come, they
were circumcised. Circumcision is not of the flesh, it's in
the heart. Now turn to Romans 2. Here's real circumcision. And
every male here that knows Christ has been partaker of this sign,
of this evidence, of this circumcision. And every female has two. Look
at Romans 2 verse 28. Now listen. Everybody look at
it. He is not a Jew which is one outwardly. Neither is that
circumcision which is outward in the flesh. He's a Jew which
is one inwardly. Circumcision is that of the heart. in the Spirit, not in the letter,
whose praise is not of men, but of God. What is circumcision?
When God made that nation His special people, He gave them
that cutting of the flesh, that removing of the flesh, changing
of the flesh, as a sign, as a picture, a token of that covenant. It's
a picture of the circumcision of the heart. When God takes
this old heart of stone, This old heart of uncircumcised flesh,
this old heart of rebellion, out of us and gives a new heart. The flesh operated on, the heart
operated on. When circumcision, the flesh
was operated on. In Christ's circumcision, the
heart's operated on. And that person, verse 3 of Philippians
3, we are the circumcision, and here's the mark, we worship God
in the Spirit. in a new spirit, with a new nature. There's been an operation. There's
been surgery performed on us. Men and women. There's been surgery
performed on us. God's cut out that old heart
and given us a new heart. We worship God in the Spirit.
We rejoice in Jesus Christ. We know who He is and what He
did and why He did it and where He is now. We love Him. God has
shed abroad His love in our hearts. Circumcision is of the heart.
And we have no confidence in this flesh, no confidence in
day-keeping, ceremonial keeping, ceremonial worship, traditions,
processionals, burning of candles, burning of incense, wearing of
uniforms. This is outward. This is circumcision
of the flesh. This is of the heart, a new heart. And just like those Jews of old,
you couldn't be deceived. That man was circumcised. He
couldn't be deceived. And he couldn't be changed. He
couldn't be changed. He was done. And he could come
to the table. He could come to the Passover,
which was a type. The Passover didn't say. It was
a picture. But we who've been operated on
in the heart by the Spirit of God, with a new heart and new
nature, we can come to the table of the Lord and discern His broken body and
His shed blood, and that's permanent. And that does save. Not this
element, but what it represents. That does save. This circumcision
saves. That doesn't. That's a picture.
This circumcision saves. Now I want to show you something
here in verse 4 through 6, and I've got to close. The Lord is
revealing in verse 4 through 6 that there's no spiritual merit
or profit in the flesh, in family ties, in ceremonies, in traditions
of religion, in moral efforts, in good deeds, in outward performances. There's no salvation in that.
There isn't. And Paul said, if anybody thinks
he's got some confidence in what he's doing, I more, listen to
him in verse 4, though a man, though I might have confidence
in this flesh, if any other man thinks he has whereof he might
trust in the flesh, I more. Listen, he says to my pedigree.
I circumcised eight, they are the stock of Israel. I'm not
a renegade. I'm not a hackbreed. I'm a Hebrew
of Hebrews. Born of the tribe of Benjamin,
as touching the law, I was a Pharisee. Concerning zeal, I persecuted
the Church. The righteousness which is of
the Lord, I shall not kill, I shall not commit adultery, I shall
not steal. He said, I'm blameless. Why? The Lord's going to show
us even Saul himself is proof that a man cannot be accepted
by what he does. Let's compare it to our day.
He was born of devout parents and dedicated to God. And that
ain't all bad. That's good. Much profit. He
was circumcised by the priest. That's who did it. Just as infamous
today as Sprinkle. By the priest. He was taught
in a parochial school. He went to a Christian school.
Parochial school. Not Christian. A Jewish school.
taught by the chief scholar, Gamaliel. He held the highest
office in the church, a Pharisee. Before the law, he was a moral
man. Nobody could accuse him of immorality. Had a zeal for
God. And in these things, he thought
he was all right. He thought he was all right.
But he said, when I saw the truth, I die. But even with these things,
here's the problem. Even with all these duties and
deeds and works and this religious robe in which Paul was wrapped,
he's still a son of Adam. The uncircumcised heart was still
there. The heart of flesh, the sinful
nature, the guilt before God, the lust of the world, He's still
a son of Adam. He's still under the curse of
the law. He's still condemned in here. And all of that outward performances
and deeds, professions, useless. Now men today may bring these
things, but I'm going to show you a scripture that's powerful. Turn to Leviticus 22. Let's go to Leviticus 21 first. Our God, the 22, let's look at
22, verse 18. Let's see what God's law is concerning
righteousness. All right. Verse 18, speak unto
Aaron, Leviticus 22, 18, to his sons. and to all the children of Israel,
and say to them, Whatsoever he be of the house of Israel, or
of strangers in Israel, that will offer his oblation for all
his vows, and for all his freewill offerings, which they shall offer
unto the Lord for a burnt offering, you shall offer at your own will
a male without blemish of the beeves, the bulls, or the sheep,
or the goats. But whatsoever hath a blemish,
That shall you not offer. It'll not be accepted. It'll
not be acceptable. It's got a blemish. All right.
Bring your works. If that's your oblation, if that's
your offering, if that's your acceptance and righteousness,
bring it. But it better not have a blemish. Not a blemish. That won't be accepted. Verse
21, Whosoever offereth a sacrifice of peace offering to the Lord
to accomplish his vow, or freewill offering in bulls or sheep, it
must be what? Perfect to be accepted. It must be perfect. There shall
be no blemish there, blind or broken or maimed or having a
tumor, wound or scurvy or scab. Don't offer these things to the
Lord. Don't bring them now. So I'll tell you, when you think
about your baptism, or your sprinkling, or your catechisms, or your deeds,
or your good works, or your offerings, or your life, and say, Lord,
I've done, I've given, it's alright, it's perfect. It does not have
a blemish. That's the reason Paul says in
verse 7, my text Philippians 3, What things were gained to
me, these sabbaths and ceremonies and sacrifices and priesthood
were gained to me, I counted lost for Christ. Christ is perfect. His life he lived on this earth
as my redeemer, my sacrifice, my representative, perfect. And
God would accept what he did, the life he lived, the righteousness
he perfected, the blood he shed, the prayer he offered. His person, and He'll accept me into the
love of Him. And I'm not going to bring anything
else. You say, Brother Mann, are you saved? By His grace I
am. How were you saved? Well, I made a profession. Well, I united with the church.
I've been a pretty faithful preacher of the gospel. Christ died for my sin, according
to the Scripture. And I'm complete in Him. And
anything I've done has so many blemishes and scars and scurvy
and tumors and warts, and I won't even bring them up. And I warn
you, don't do it. Because yours don't look any
better than mine. I've been around long enough
to know that, too. They don't look any better. But the more
I look at him, the more beautiful he becomes. Altogether lovely.
Altogether lovely. I'll pick up on that tonight,
the Lord willing, and rejoice in it some more. That's the reason
he said, brethren, rejoice in the Lord. Rejoice in the Lord. You've got a reason to rejoice.
Let's sing 488. You can sing this one now after
that. My Redeemer, 488. Let's stand
while we sing.