Now I'll be speaking today from
the book of Philippians. I'd like very much for you to
take your Bibles and open them please to Philippians chapter
three. Now here's the subject. Who are
the Lord's people? who are the Lord's people? Now that's my question. In other
words, who is a Christian? I'm not asking what is a Christian,
I'm asking who is a Christian? And who are the people in this
world today, right here in this world today, who are the people
of whom it can be said, these are the people of God? Who are
the people in this world right now of whom it can be said, this
is true Israel? Now, you know and I know that
nearly everybody in America claims to be a Christian. Someone recently
said that 55% of the Americans were or claim to be born again. And I find that the words church,
Christian, and God are found attached to so many different
situations. And some of them are completely
opposite. You find the name Christian,
the name church, the name God attached to something here and
attached to something over here. And these two situations are
entirely opposite. They believe exactly opposite.
And yet they all call themselves Christians. They all call themselves
children of God. Now we know that the Jewish people
claim to be God's chosen people. They say that they are the people
of God. And the Jewish people boast of
their fathers, their forefathers, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob. They boast of David. They wear
the star of David. They look back to their heritage.
They look back to their ancestry. They look back to their traditions
and all of their rituals and ceremonies. And they say, we
are the people of God. And then the Catholics. They
claim to be God's people. They boast of their antiquity.
They say, we've been around the longest. They boast of their
giant empire. They say, we have the most churches,
the most people, the most power, the most money. They boast of
their rituals, their special mysteries and secrets and all
these things and keep people in bondage to these mysterious
rituals and ceremonies. And they say, we're the people
of God. And then the Protestants, they insist that they are God's
people. We're the people of God. But we have the reformers, we
have Calvin, we have Luther, we have Knox and Whitefield and
all of these great reformers, these champions of individual
liberty and fundamentalism. We believe in the virgin birth.
We believe in the blood, the book, the blessed hope. They
use all of these religious cliches. And the Protestants say, we,
are the people of God. And then you have the modern
religionist of America, the streamlined religionist, the new reformers. And they would have you believe
that they are the people of God and they have made faith. Synonymous,
faith in God, synonymous with three things, democracy, decency,
and decision. That's their platform. This is
salvation. This is what it is to be one
of God's children. This is what it is to be a Christian.
to lay hold on democracy, capitalism, decency, and decision, make your
profession, and you're in the kingdom of God, and nothing can
ever take you out of the kingdom of God. It's like one fundamentalist
preacher held up his Bible, and he said, this is the United States.
Now, is that true? Are they the people of God? The
Apostle Paul in this book of Philippians, that's the reason
I ask you to open your Bibles to Philippians chapter three,
because the Apostle Paul has some things to say about the
true people of God, true Israel, children of God, Christians.
And first thing he says here in chapter three of Philippians
in verse one, he says, now to write the same things to you
over and over again. In other words, this gospel that
I preach, this gospel of substitution, this gospel of Jesus Christ,
this gospel of God's grace and God's glory, to keep preaching
it to you and writing it to you and rehearsing it in your hearing
over and over again, it doesn't get tiresome to me at all. I
don't mind at all. He says, I'm delighted, I'm elated
to keep telling you the same thing because for you it's safe.
Safe, it'll deliver you from error. It'll deliver you from
error of doctrine and error of spirit for me to tell you those
necessary vital things again and again and again. He says
in verse two, now look at verse two. He says, I warn you. I warn
you. I warn you in the church. I warn
you who are interested in God and in his word and in the gospel
of Christ. I warn you, beware of dogs. Dogs, evil workers and flesh
merchants. CONCISION. NOW WHERE DID PAUL
GET THAT KIND OF TALK? HERE HE IS WARNING PEOPLE OF
FALSE PREACHERS AND FALSE RELIGIONISTS AND HE CALLS THEM THREE THINGS.
HE CALLS THEM DOGS, HE CALLS THEM EVIL WORKERS, AND HE CALLS
THEM CIRCUMCISERS OR FLESH MERCHANTS WHO TAKE DELIGHT IN THE FLESH
AND IN STATISTICS AND IN REPORTS. YOU KNOW WHERE HE GOT THAT? He
got that in Isaiah. Isaiah said the same thing about
the preachers of his day. You go back to the Old Testament,
you'll find Isaiah talking about the false preachers and religionists
in this way. And then you come to the New
Testament and Paul repeats it. And you come here today and I
repeat the same thing because it's true of most preachers in
this day. Listen to Isaiah in Isaiah 50,
16. He said, the preachers are blind.
The preachers are blind. They're ignorant. All of them
are ignorant. Isaiah 56, 10. Now, you take the Bible and look
at it. They're all ignorant. They're
all dumb dogs. That may be where they got the
honorary degree, DD, dumb dogs. Who knows? Whitefield said that's
where they got it. He says they cannot even bark. He said they sleep. They're always
lying down. They love to slumber. And he
says they're greedy dogs. They're not only dumb dogs, but
they're greedy dogs. They never have enough. Never. Did you ever
know one to ever have enough? Every time I turn my television
on, they always don't have enough. Gotta have some more. They're
begging some more. They never have enough. They're shepherds
that cannot understand. They all look to their own program,
their own way, their own doings. Everyone for his own gain. YOU
KNOW, IF YOU DIDN'T KNOW I WAS READING FROM THE OLD TESTAMENT,
YOU'D THINK I WAS READING FROM TODAY'S COMMENTARY. FROM HIS
OWN POSITION. HERE'S ISAIAH DESCRIBING THE
FALSE PROPHETS AND PAUL PICKS IT UP AND SAYS THE SAME THING.
AND ISAIAH SAID THEY'RE BLIND, BLIND TO THE WORD OF GOD, THEY'RE
IGNORANT. He said they're dumb dogs, they cannot bark, they're
always sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber. They're greedy
dogs, greedy dogs who never have enough, who never can milk the
people enough, milk them enough. They never have enough. They're
shepherds that cannot understand the truth. They look to their
own way. Not your way, not God's glory,
not God's way, but their way. And everyone out for his own
gain and coming from his own position. Now here's what we're
saying. And Isaiah said it, Paul said it, and I dare say it again. These organizers and circumcisors
and baptizers and promoters and soul winners are making converts
and proselytes only to religion, not to God. They're not making
men and women children of God. They look to their own way, their
own gain, their own success, their own programs, and they
never, never, never have enough. Oh, for a discerning ear. Oh,
for a discerning spirit. Oh, for a discerning heart to
recognize. GOD'S TRUE PREACHERS. JOHN SAID,
TRY THE SPIRITS WHETHER THEY BE OF GOD. AND HERE IT IS. LOOK
AT VERSE 3 NOW. VERSE 3, PAUL SAID, I COME TO
YOU WITH THE SAME MESSAGE. AND IT'S NOT TIRESOME TO ME.
I'LL CONTINUE TO PREACH YOU BECAUSE IT'S SAFE FOR YOU. AND I WARN
YOU TO BEWARE OF THESE GREEDY DOGS WHO NEVER HAVE ENOUGH. BEWARE OF THESE EVIL WORKERS
Why, they said to Christ at the judgment in Matthew 7, haven't
we preached in your name and cast out devils in your name
and done many wonderful works in your name? And he said, I
will say unto them, depart from me ye, what? Workers of iniquity,
evil workers. Beware and beware of the flesh
merchants, the circumcisers. But here it is, verse three.
He says, we are the circumcision. You see those three words? For
we are the circumcision. We are the circumcision. We are
true Israel. We are the people of God. And
he gives three things here. He said, we worship God in the
spirit. Secondly, we rejoice in Jesus Christ. And thirdly,
we have no confidence in the flesh. Now you can't improve
on this. These are the marks of a regenerated
soul. These are the evidences of the
Holy Spirit's indwelling. AND THESE ARE THE UNDENIABLE
SIGNS OF A NEW HEART AND A NEW NATURE. LOOK AT THEM ONE AT A
TIME CAREFULLY. FIRST OF ALL, PAUL SAID, WE ARE
THE TRUE CIRCUMCISION. WE ARE TRUE ISRAEL. THE ISRAEL
OF GOD. WE ARE THE PEOPLE OF GOD. NUMBER
ONE, WHO WORSHIP GOD IN THE SPIRIT. NOW, MY FRIENDS, THE OBJECT OF
WORSHIP IS NOT A PLACE. THE OBJECT OF WORSHIP IS NOT
A FORM. It's not a ceremony. It's not an organization. The
object of worship and praise and all is the living God in
the Trinity of His sacred person. Whether you're in church or outside,
whether you're with people or without people, whether you're
in public or private, whether you're at home or abroad, we
worship, adore, love, hold in reverence and fear the eternal
living God. He's the object of worship. Worship's
not a game, it's not a program. Worship is heart communion with
the living God. John 4, listen to our Lord Jesus
Christ. He said to the woman at the well,
he said, true worshipers worship God in spirit and truth. For the Father seeketh such to
worship him. God is spirit. Paul said, God
that made the world. In Acts 17, he said, God that
made the world and all things therein, seeing that he's Lord
of heaven and earth, he dwelleth not in temples made with human
hands, neither is he worshiped with men's hands as though he
needed anything. God doesn't need anything. I
hear preachers say, God has no hands but your hands. What? God has no feet but your feet?
We got a disabled God. God has no eyes but your eyes.
God said, my arm is not short that I cannot see. My ear is
not heavy that I cannot hear. He said, if I needed anything,
I wouldn't ask of you. Seeing he give it to all life
and breath and all things. What kind of God do you have?
A disabled God? We worship God. We worship God. That's the first mark of true
Israel. True, the true circumcision,
the true people of God, they worship God. They don't worship
preachers and organizations and places and travel to Bible lands
to sit at before shrines and idols and pictures and crucifixes. They worship God. They don't
need visual aids to worship God because their worship is a heart
worship, a spirit worship. They worship God in the Holy
Spirit, by the power of the Holy Spirit, the influence and revelations
of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the one who
convinces us of sin. The Holy Spirit reveals to us
the glory of God in the face of Christ Jesus. THE HOLY SPIRIT
TEACHES US THE WORD OF GOD. THE HOLY SPIRIT INTERCEDES FOR
US. WE KNOW NOT THE THINGS WHICH
WE SHOULD PRAY UNLESS THE HOLY SPIRIT SHOULD TEACH US AND PRAY
FOR US. WE WORSHIP GOD. AND WE WORSHIP
GOD IN THE POWER AND UNDER THE LEADERSHIP OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. AND THEN WE WORSHIP GOD IN OUR
SPIRITS AND SOULS AND HEARTS. IT'S NOT LIP SERVICE THAT WE
RENDER TO GOD. That's no good. It's heart praise. It's not the outward form. You
don't need a uniform or a robe or a candle or a stained glass
window to worship God. You don't need a padded pew or
a soft padded altar. You need a broken heart. And
this thing of worship is not outward form and ceremony. It
comes from a new heart, a regenerated heart, a broken heart, a heart
of faith, a heart that knows the living God and cares and
seeks Him. And this worship from the Spirit
is in a spirit of reverence. That's right, holy and reverent
is His name. Come before the Lord with praise
and thanksgiving. Come before the Lord in fear
and trembling. Come before the Lord in humility
and submission. Come before the Lord in love
and grace. Come before the Lord in faith
and devotion. Praise God, from whom all blessings
flow. Praise God, all creatures here
below. Praise God above, ye heavenly
hosts. Praise Father, Son, and Holy
Ghost. Know anybody who worships God?
That person is a child of God. We are true Israel who worship
God in spirit, in spirit and truth. All right, secondly, you
see that next line there? It says, we are the true Israel.
We are the circumcision. We're the people of God who rejoice
in Christ Jesus. I tell you, these are so weighty.
These are so heavy. These are so meaningful. We worship
God in spirit. And we rejoice in Christ Jesus. Who is Christ Jesus? A lot of
people think they know. But I'll tell you what I believe
the Word of God teaches about Christ Jesus. First of all, Jesus
Christ is the Son of God. When you read in the Bible, Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit, He's the Son. When you read in the Word
of God about the blessed, beloved Son of God, the only begotten
Son of God, that's Jesus Christ. He's the Son of God, their God
of their God, who thought it not robbery to be equal with
God. And he's the son of his glory. He prayed in John 17,
glorify me with the glory which I had with thee before the world
was, the son of his glory. And then Jesus Christ is the
creator of all things. The word was made flesh and dwelt
among us. Well, in the beginning was the
word. And the Word was with God, and the Word was God, and all
things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything
made that was made. Colossians 1 tells us that everything
was not only made by Him, but for Him. And by Him all things
exist, are held together by Jesus Christ. And then He's not only
the Creator of all things, but He's the surety. GUARANTOR OF
AN EVERLASTING COVENANT. THAT'S WHAT HEBREWS SAYS, HE'S
THE SURETY OF THE BETTER COVENANT. HIS BLOOD IS THE BLOOD OF THE
EVERLASTING COVENANT. HE'S THE LAMB SLAIN BEFORE THE
FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD. JESUS CHRIST IS GOD, INCARNATE
IN HUMAN FLESH. THE WORD WAS MADE FLESH. YES,
GOD DWELT IN A HUMAN BODY. GOD CAME TO EARTH. CALL HIS NAME
EMMANUEL. GOD WITH US. GOD IN HUMAN FLESH. NO LESS GOD BECAUSE HE WAS ROBED
IN HUMAN FLESH. BUT YET A MAN, BONE OF OUR BONE,
FLESH OF OUR FLESH. WHO IS JESUS CHRIST? HE'S OUR
RIGHTEOUSNESS, OUR SANCTIFICATION, OUR WISDOM, OUR REDEMPTION, OUR
HOLINESS, OUR REPRESENTATIVE. HE'S OUR REDEEMER, JESUS CHRIST. HE'S ALL THINGS. CHRIST IS ALL
AND IN ALL. In the program of God, in the
purpose of God, in the divine providence of God, in the will
of God, in the mercies of God, in the grace of God, in the love
of God, in all that God has for any son of Adam, Christ is all. He's our sin offering, and he's
our sacrifice, and he's our substitute, and he's our satisfaction. Who
is Jesus Christ? He's that prophet like unto Moses. He's that priest after the order
of Melchizedek, He's the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Greater
than all, as Moses was a servant in the house, Christ is the son
of the house. Greater than the angels, for
to which of the angels said he at any time, thou art my son,
this day have I begotten thee. But to the son, he said, thy
throne, O God, is forever. He's that great high priest.
And he's the altar and the sacrifice and the one to whom it's made.
He is the entrance within the veil. He is the interceder. He
is the forerunner. He's the mediator and the only
one. He is God, just God and Savior. He is the object of faith. He's the theme of our song, Jesus
Christ, all and in all. That's who He is. And it's in
Christ that we rejoice, in no one else and nothing else. The
hymn writer says, come all harmonious tomes, your noblest tributes
bring, tis Christ, our everlasting God, and Christ, the man we sing. Down to the shades of death he
bowed his holy head, yet he arose to live and reign where death
itself is dead. There the dear Redeemer sits,
high on the Father's throne. The Father lays his vengeance
by, and smiles with pleasure on his son. We are the people
of God who worship God in the spirit and who rejoice and delight
and glory only, only in Jesus Christ. Do you know any people
of God? Do you know any people of God?
You know anyone who can call himself Christian? And then here's the third one.
Like I said to you, Paul is a man who summarizes things. He's always
concluding something. Therefore we conclude. Therefore
we conclude. And he comes at us with a warning.
He said, I warn you, beware. Beware of the deceivers. Beware
of the flesh merchants. Beware of the greedy dogs. Beware of the evil workers, their
spiritual wickedness in high places. And like to Satan, they're
deceptive, subtle, crafty. They never say what they want
and what they are. They're able to camouflage and
counterfeit and deceive. But Paul speaks plainly, he said,
we're the circumcision, we're true Israel, who worship God
in the spirit, in the heart, and who rejoice, glory, delight
only, not in ourselves, in Christ Jesus. For he says, thirdly,
we have no confidence in the flesh, ours, yours, our forefathers,
our future generations, any son of Adam. We have no confidence
in the flesh. Let me tell you something. You
say, how does a person arrive at this place where you have
no confidence in the flesh? Well, when a man truly knows
and sees and worships the living God, the almighty, eternal, holy,
living God, the awesome, eternal God, in heart and spirit, not
in form and creed, And when a man truly sees and knows the Lord
Jesus Christ, our great, grand, and glorious substitute, the
lover of our souls who gave himself for our sins and the agony he
suffered and the price that he paid, it'll bring that man to
know himself. And it'll reveal to that man
the sinfulness and inability of his flesh. He'll see that
when he sees God. Isaiah did. He said, when King
Uzziah died, I saw the Lord. Maybe for the first time. Oh,
he'd heard of him, read about him. His ancestors had told him
about him, but he saw the Lord. High and lifted up in his holiness,
his train filled the temple. What was his reaction? What was
his response? Oh, he said, woe is me. I'm undone. I'm cut off. I'm a man of unclean
lips. I dwell in the midst of a people
of unclean lips. Job saw this. Job the righteous
man, Job the moral man, Job who felt that he knew God, and yet
he said, I've heard of you. He said, Lord, I've heard of
you. When God appeared to him in chapters 40 through 42, he
said, I've heard of thee by the hearing of the ear. Now mine
eye seeth thee, wherefore I hate myself. I abhor myself. I hate my flesh. I repent in
sackcloth and ashes. The apostle Paul saw this on
the road to Damascus. He saw the Lord. And he said,
in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. He said, well, I'm not
worthy to be an apostle. I'm less than the least of all
the saints. I'm the chief of sinners. He said, in the flesh,
no man can please God. How do you come to the place
of no confidence in the flesh? You'll only come to that place
when you see that grand and glorious place where our confidence, grand
and glorious person, where our confidence may be placed and
our trust may be placed with assurance. And you see how weak
and wicked the flesh is. I have no confidence in this
material world. THE FASHION OF THIS WORLD FADETH
AWAY. IT'S ALL VANITY, VANITY OF VANITIES. ALL IS VANITY, THE WISE MAN SAID.
AND JEREMIAH SAID, LET NOT THE WISE MAN GLORY IN HIS WISDOM.
WE'RE SO PRONE TO DO THAT. DON'T LET THE MIGHTY MAN GLORY
IN HIS MIGHT. LET NOT THE RICH MAN GLORY IN
HIS RICHES. LET HIM THAT GLORIETH GLORY IN
THIS, THAT HE KNOWETH ME. I, CAPITAL LETTERS, AM THE LORD. There's the object of glory.
And if you ever see him, you'll never glory in the flesh again.
We have no confidence in the religious world. They can make
all the smoke they want to and the noise they want to and the
whoopee they want to. I got no confidence in them or
you or me or any other son of Adam, professor or non-professor. The outward form and the ceremony
and the works and the traditions and the customs are all just
so much flesh. No confidence in the flesh. And
all that they have done and that they're gonna do is all just
spinning of the wheels. We have no confidence in the
material world, in the religious world, or in our own flesh or
feelings. Our trust and confidence is in
Christ. Isaiah said, we all do faith
as the lead. And our iniquities have driven
us away. And our righteousness is a filthy rags in God's sight. No confidence. So I come to this
conclusion. Who are the people of God? Who
is true Israel? Who is a Christian? Not what
is one. I've heard a thousand sermon
on what is a Christian. They hadn't answered the question
yet. But who is a Christian? He's one who worships God. In
the soul, in the spirit, in the heart, in the Holy Spirit, in
a regenerated, renewed heart, in reverence, praise, thanksgiving,
and love, he worships God. God's the object of his love
and worship. And he rejoices only in Jesus Christ, not in
anything he is or he's done. And he has no confidence in his
flesh. I have this message on this message
and one I'll bring next week on when death is precious. The
title of this message is who are the people of God. If you
want it, there's the address. Send $2. We'll mail it to you
till next week. God bless you.