coming to the end of his life
on earth. He's an old man now. An old man. His life on earth is almost over. And he's down here in prison.
Paul's in prison. And he's writing this letter
back to his friends in Philippi. Back in Philippi. This is the
closing days. This is the final These are the
final hours, this is the final word. Now, when a man gets older,
and his values get really straightened out, once and for all, and he
realizes what's really important, what's really of greatest value,
it's time to listen to it. Time to listen to it. He's not
given much to tangents now. He's not promoting anything.
It's all over. He's not trying to glorify himself.
And he's got an eye to the glory of God, and he's got an eye to
his meeting with God. And he says in verse 1, finally,
finally, closing words, closing thoughts,
finally, my brethren, to sum it all up. Rejoice in the Lord. Don't rejoice in these material
things. The fashion of this world faded
away. Don't rejoice in, even in your
family, your great family circle, how many children, grandchildren,
great-grandchildren, the lands and houses that you own. Rejoice
in the Lord. Rejoice in the Lord. These other
things are so temporary. Passing fancies. Here today and
gone tomorrow. What's your life? A vapor. A
blooming flower that's tomorrow withered and dead. Don't rejoice
in these things. Rejoice in the Lord. Rejoice
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Rejoice in the greatness of his
person. Very God of very God. The only,
the only great potentate Holy and Reverend is His name. Rejoice
in the greatness of His person. Rejoice in His incarnation. He became a man. Bone of our
bone, flesh of our flesh, came here and spoke to us. The prophet
of God, to reveal the Father. Rejoice in the sufficiency of
His righteousness. If any man has Christ, he has
the righteousness of God. accepted in the beloved. Rejoice
in the efficacy of his atonement. His blood cleanseth us from all
sin. Rejoice in the comfort of his
love. David said, My mother and father may forsake me, but God
will take me up. You plead my cause. I have a
friend that's sticketh closer than a brother. When Job had
lost everything, God never left Our Lord Jesus Christ said, I'll
never forsake you. Never. Lo, I'm with you always,
even to the end of the earth. Rejoice in the comfort of His
love. Rejoice in the expectancy and the glory of His inheritance. Now, let's read on, verse 1,
chapter 3. Finally, sum it all up, my brethren,
rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you,
to write the same things to you, To declare unto you, to write
to you the gospel of Jesus Christ over and over and over again.
That's what he's talking about. Same things I wrote to Galatians.
Same things I wrote to Ephesus. Same things I wrote to Colossians.
Same things I wrote to Thessalonica. Same things I wrote to Timothy.
Same things I wrote to Philemon. Same things I wrote to everybody.
To write the same things to you. Doesn't upset me. That's not
tiresome. That's not grievous to me. No
sir, to declare the gospel over and over and over and over again,
the same old story, that's not tiresome to me. I'll tell you
this though, for you it's safe. For you it's safe. I'll tell
you this, if a man, if our pastor will preach the gospel to us
and other men who minister to us will be faithful to declare
the gospel of Christ over and over again, it'll keep our thoughts
on Christ. You say, why would a man need
to keep his thoughts on Christ? Wouldn't he always remember Christ?
Well, our Master knew us better than we know ourselves. He left
us a Lord's table to do in remembrance of Him. Because we're prone to forget. We're told in the Word, remember
the pit from which you were digged. We think, we'll always remember
that. Not necessarily. Tell me the old, old story for
I forget so soon. The early dew of morning is passed
away at noon. I need to keep preaching the
gospel to you to keep your thoughts on Christ. And I need to keep
preaching the gospel to you to guard against the error of false
teachers. Now I don't care, you're human
just like I am and everybody else is. And we hear these fellas
talk and they say some good things. He said some good things. He
said some good things. And you'll get brainwashed after
a while. Unless somebody keeps reminding you there's some good
things he's not saying. There's some good things he's
not saying. And some better things that he's not saying. And some
vital things he's not saying. Exactly right. We need to keep
guards against error. guards against error. You need to keep coming back
to hear of God's majesty and greatness and power so you won't
be influenced by these who compromise that majesty and power. Another
thing, it suppresses our self-righteousness. You say, well, I just keep coming
there and you tell me what a sinner I am. You need to be reminded
of that. That's the only kind of folks
God saved as sinners. He died for the ungodly. I know,
but I come to church to be encouraged. I don't come to church to be
put down. That's where the best gifts of God are, down. That's
right, that's where you get them, when you come down. He said,
Zacchaeus, come down! Old Naaman, the leper, he went
down. Everybody, whoever goes up, goes
down first. And I'll tell you, this old self-righteous
Folks brag on us and we get to believe in it. I know we're to
help one another and compliment one another and encourage one
another and all that, but I'll tell you, it's bad for us to
brag on us too much. We get to believe in it. We get to believe in our press
reports, don't we? That's a good sermon. Wasn't
it? Sure like that prayer you prayed.
I did pretty good on that, didn't I? Oh, we're such sinners. We got so much self-righteousness.
We need it. We need it every once in a while.
Barnard said every once in a while. You need to preach to your congregation
like there's all going to hell and that right soon. And we do,
don't we? And then I'll tell you another
thing. To hear the gospel over and over and over again. It's
comfort for a sinner. It comforts me in my doubts and
comforts me in my fears and comforts me in my trials. I tell you,
I get to thinking sometimes, oh, why would God save a wretch
like you? Why would God love a sinner like
you? Why would Christ die for a corrupt,
depraved son of Adam like you? And then I read the gospel and
it encourages me. He came to save sinners. The
Son of Man has come to seek and to save the lost. He said, I
didn't come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Come
on! Just like God. And that encourages me to come.
But read on. Finally, brethren, verse 2. Paul
warns us about false teachers. And this is a day of permissiveness.
This is a day of live and let live. This is a day of don't
criticize another man's religion. Leave his politics and his religion
alone. But Paul didn't believe that. He said, you beware of
dogs. Now that's not a complimentary term by which to refer to a gentleman
of the cloth, is it? Call him a dog. Beware of dogs. Beware of these evil workers.
Our Lord called them workers of iniquity. In Matthew 7, they
stood there at the judgment, they said, we preached in your
name, cast out devils in your name, did many wonderful works.
He said, depart from me, you evil workers, you workers of
evil and iniquity. And Paul calls them the concision. You know what that's saying?
Flesh merchants. Flesh merchants. They constrain
people to be circumcised in order to be saved. And Paul calls them
a bunch of flesh merchants. Mutilators of the flesh is what
he's calling it. They glory in your flesh. They
glory in getting you to do things. They glory in getting the crowds
around them and saying the things that they say. Say what I say
now. Shake my hand. Read my book. Follow me. Give. Support me. All this. They love
that stuff. You go to Christ, John the Baptist
said. You leave me and go to Christ. They said, He's baptizing
more than you are. I must decrease. He must increase. Beware of these dogs. Beware
of these evil workers. Beware of these flesh merchants.
Merchandisers of souls. They're hupsters. People are
too blind to see it. But a man is deceived. If he knew he was deceived, he
wouldn't be deceived, would he? But they're deceived. He says
in verse 3, You want to know who the true circumcision is?
We are the circumcision. You want to know who true Israel
is? Man's not a Jew because he's one outwardly, he's a Jew because
he's one inwardly. Circumcision is not in the flesh,
it's in the heart. It's the rending and cutting
and destroying of the flesh by heart work. Heart work. That's where it all is. We are
the circumcision and free mark. He said we worship God in the
spirit. We worship God. Our worship of God is not on
a particular day because it's that day. We don't worship a day. We don't
worship a ceremony or an ordinance or the form of religion. We worship
God in spirit. God is spirit. They that worship
him worship him in spirit, in heart. It's not a processional. It's not a certain bowing or
ritualism or doing certain things or the burning of candles or
the counting of beads or the kissing of rings or the rubbing
of statues. It's a heart worship. We worship
God in spirit. We neither in this mountain nor
Jerusalem worship God. Nothing is required of the worship
of God but a heart that loves God. and a mediator at the right
hand of God. That's all that's required, the
simplicity of Christ. You don't need a steeple nor
a cross. You'd be better off without it. You'd be better off
without a picture or a statue, better off without anything,
any visual agent that distracts from a hard worship. I know we're
creatures of atmosphere. We like the atmosphere to eat
by. We like atmosphere to do whatever we do by, because we
are motivated by the atmosphere. But this thing of worshiping
God, motivation from the heart, is phony. It's not from within,
it's from within without. I'm telling you the truth. We worship God in spirit, not
only that, but we rejoice in Christ Jesus. We rejoice in Christ. He is all our wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, and redemption. We rejoice in Christ Jesus. Or
we rejoice in our fine church that's been built from so many
to so many. No, we don't either. We rejoice
in Christ Jesus. Or we rejoice in this, that,
and the other. We rejoice in our fine program, fine musical
program. No, we rejoice in Christ Jesus.
And if we ever rejoice in anything else, we're in trouble. In the
Beloved, excepted am I, risen, ascended, and seated on high.
In the Beloved, God's marvelous grace causes me to dwell in that
wonderful place. In the Beloved, I went to the
tree. There in his person, God justified me. That's where the
glory is, in the Beloved. I rejoice in Jesus Christ. And
verse, what's the next line? And I have no confidence in the
flesh. When will we learn? When will we learn? To put no confidence in this
flesh, in mine or yours. In the flesh dwelleth no good
thing. Scripture tells us, in the flesh
dwelleth no good thing. That which is born of the flesh
is flesh. You can't change the flesh. You
say, when God saves a man, He changes his flesh. No, He doesn't.
He gives him a new heart. And that heart motivates his
deeds, and that heart motivates his words, and that heart motivates
his walk, and that heart motivates his integrity and all. If the
heart's not there, it can't be done. The flesh is the same,
but the heart's different. In the flesh, no man can please
God. Don't put any confidence in the
flesh. Don't put any confidence in your
own flesh. or anybody else's, he said, this
is true Israel, this is true faith, this is the true family
of God, this is the true house of God, this is the true kingdom
of God. Those people who truly, from
their hearts, worship God in spirit, wherever they are. And their confidence and their
rejoicing is in Jesus Christ, their substitute, their sanctifier,
their redeemer, their righteousness, their wisdom, All things, Jesus
Christ the Lord, they rejoice in Him. They find their comfort
in Him. They find their strength in Him.
He is their foundation. Christ is my life. Christ is
my hope. Christ is my all. I find that
in Him. They don't have any confidence
in the flesh. None whatsoever. We're kept by
Christ. Now, verse 4, he said, there
was a time when I had confidence in the flesh. And here we come
and here to the story of everybody here nearly. Nearly everybody
here, including the pastors. Though I might also have confidence
in the flesh, if any other man thinks he hath whereof he might
trust in the flesh, I more. I was the leader of the gang.
The champion of legalism. The champion of orthodoxy. The
champion of ceremonialism. The champion of law-righteousness. Boy, there was a time he said,
I even trusted in the flesh. Most of you did, too. Come on.
Every one of you have been saved out of religion. You're not only
saved out of outward sin, but you were saved out of religious
form and sinful ceremony, weren't you? Every one of us. See, it's
natural to be religious. Somebody said, well, so-and-so
got religion. No, he didn't. He's always been religious. A
man born religious. Religious but lost. If any of
you, he said, care to boast in the flesh, let me read my pedigree
to you. Look at verse 5. I just want
to read my pedigree to you, he said. Here's the old-timer now.
He's about to wind it up. He's in jail. Writing to his
friends in Philippi. He said, finally boys, sum it
all up. This is it. Rejoicing the Lord.
I don't mind telling you the same thing over and over again.
Rejoicing the Lord. Now you watch out for those false preachers.
He said they're everywhere. They're everywhere. They're merchandisers
of souls. They're flesh merchants. Flesh
mutilators. Glory in the flesh. He said don't
be alarmed by them. We are the true Israel. We are
the true circumcision who worship God in the spirit. Rejoice in
Christ. Have no confidence in the flesh.
None whatsoever. We don't boast of our deeds or
works or call on God to reward us or honor us for what we've
done. He said I used to. I used to have confidence in
him. I used to trust in the flesh. He said, look here, verse 5,
I circumcised the eighth day of the stock of Israel. You know
what he's talking about here? Here's my parents' diligent care
before God of their son. They had me circumcised on the
prescribed day. On the prescribed day, according
to the law of my fathers, they had that solemn service Any of
you ever been in one of those? Not the circumcision, but we
brought it down to this. You see, God gave circumcision
to Israel as a token of that covenant made with Abraham. Abraham
was circumcised, his household, and this was a token, a sign,
that they were the people of God. But we've changed it a little
bit. We get a big satin pillar. So
big and beautiful. Boy, if somebody works on it
for days and all, maybe it's one so-and-so was sprinkled on.
And we put that little old infant on that pillow, dress her and
him up in one of these long gowns, put something around their head,
you know, get a godfather and a godmother and all this different
things. And the preacher puts on his
robes and tries to look real pious and sanctified and sanctimonious,
you know. And instead of a knife, we get
a glass of water and we stand there and we sprinkle it on that
baby. And we put them in the covenant. Is that right? Some
of you went through that. One man told me one time, he
said, I can still feel those drops of water on my head. Imagination
is a wonderful thing. And Paul describes that. You
say you shouldn't ridicule that. Now wait a minute. You know what
Paul's going to call it in a minute? Garbage. I'm going to read it
to you right here. And the old man's speaking of
his last teeth. And he said, they brought me
down as a little baby, when I was eight days old, and circumcised
me before God. Not only that, now watch it.
And he said I was of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin,
a Hebrew of Hebrews. Now here's my, not only my parents'
diligent care in my circumcision, but my identification with the
nation Israel. I'm no Gentile. I've traced my
heritage I've heard people say, we can trace our Baptist heritage
back to John the Baptist. Paul said, I go back to Abraham.
He said, you boys are just beginners. I go back to Abraham. And I've
come through Jacob and Isaac. I'm a Hebrew of Hebrews. Now
we've got the same thing today. We've got the trail of blood
and the church of Jesus. Do you know it's so? It's five
cents of the same thing we've got nickel out here. We boast
in the same thing. Confidence in the flesh. We've
got our heritage and pedigree and lineage and we go back to
Abraham or back to John the Baptist. Listen, and it's touching the
law. You want to talk about my devotion to the law? I'm talking
about the law now, the Levitical law. I'm not talking about Ten
Commandments here. I'm talking about the Levitical law. I kept
the Sabbath. I kept the Passover. I kept the
feast days. I learned the Scriptures. I passed
all the tests. And the powers that be made me
a Pharisee. That's what Paul said. They put
me on the highest court in Israel, the Sanhedrin. But that's not all. Here's my
dedication in zeal. Concerning zeal, I fought with
all strength against those who would destroy the old landmarks. I persecuted the church. Now
here's my righteousness and holiness. It's touching the righteousness
which is in the moral law blameless. I kept the moral law. Thou shalt
have no other God before thee. Saul of Tarsus worshipped the
God of Israel, the one true and living God. Thou shalt not take
the name of the Lord thy God in vain. Those old Jews wouldn't
even use the name God, isn't that right? They used Jehovah,
not Elohim. Is that correct, miss? They wouldn't
even touch it. These Peanut preachers today
swing the name of God around like it was some byword. They
take God's name in vain. I hate to even say this, like
this, but I listen to these preachers sometimes and they'll say something
like, My God, why'd he do that? That's taking God's name in vain.
My Lord, they say, and use some expression. Jim Baker's one of
the world's worst at that. using the name of God in vain.
Listen to him sometimes. You can do it without throwing
up. It's touching the law of Pharisee.
Now watch this, verse 7. But what things were gained to
me. Now listen to me. You say you'll make people mad.
Good. I mean that, good. A man gets
mad before he gets glad. He sure will. And he'll get sad
before he gets glad, too. These things were gain to me.
They were my life. These things were my hope. These
things were my trust. We're talking about Franklin's
mama's little baby. We're talking about being confirmed
and baptized and joined the church. The solemn rites of ordaining
a man to deaconship or elders or making him a preacher. or
presenting the Word to Him, giving that charge to preach the Word,
and going out in the highways and the hedges, and witnessing,
and giving, and tithing, and keeping holy days, and all these
things. Paul said, these things were
gained to me one time. They were my foundation of acceptance
before God. These things were my reputation
before men. I've got my reputation to maintain. We're going to play religion.
I don't care. We're going to play religion or we're going
to die. We're going to let folks know
we're religious. We're going to let them know
we're religious. Paul said these were my reputation before men. Everybody knew, knew that I was
a dedicated, devout Jew. And this was my security and
peace within. These things were gained to me.
And these were my pleas before the throne. But all of these
things, look at verse 7. Now these things that were great
gain to me, I counted loss. Loss. Total loss. Useless. Worthless. Wasted time. Here's the champion of legalism. Here's the champion of orthodoxy.
Here's the champion of human works. Here's one of the leaders
of the Sanhedrin. This man is not... Paul's not
a hypocrite. Paul wasn't a hypocrite when
he was a Jew. Paul was a sincere, devout man,
even in his rebellions. Whatever he did, he did it with
all his heart. And here he is, he rested in
these things. He said, you think you got something
to brag about? Let me tell you what I did, and
what I believed, and what I was. And Paul sits here in his last
years, that old hair white now, and wrinkles on his face, and
his shoulders toothed, and tired, awaiting the orders of execution,
and he sits in his cell, writing his prayers for the last time. He said, you'll see my face no
more, but I'm going to tell you something. All of these things
I did in conformity, in formalism, in duty and responsibility out
of a requirement in legalism and morality and righteousness
and fasting and tithing and holy days in order to be accepted
of God, I count them but loss. Total loss. Taking into account
my entire religious life, I mean a life of dedication and service
and tithing and devotion and morality and witnessing. I count it literally worthless! Worthless! For Christ, that I
might win Christ. He's where it is. He's the light. There's no life in these dead
worlds. Like a dog walking through dry leaves, as Scott said. There's
no life, no nourishment, no moisture. Verse 8, in the event you didn't
understand what I said, now listen to him, you ain't doubtless,
in the event you didn't understand what I'm saying, in the event
you think I've overstated my position, in the event you think, Paul
said, now you listen, in the event you think I've overstated
this thing, or this old man's senile, or this old man doesn't
know what he's talking about, or in the event you think in
my head somewhere I treasure one iota of these things, or
a whole two of them, or cling to them, let me state it stronger,
more strongly, yea, doubtless, I count all things but loss for
the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for
whom I suffer the loss of all things, And I do count them but garbage, rubbish, that I may win Christ and be
found in Him. I tell you, there's a temptation,
a temptation, we read a little gospel and get a little truth,
a little grace, you know, and we'll still reach back there.
You say, yeah, back counting I was 13. I went down now. Accepted Jesus. You still reaching
back there? You didn't really go to the dump,
did you? Old Paul went to the garbage dump. He took it all. He said all things. I took it
all. All my righteousness, all my
fleshly confidence, all my worth. All my pedigree and heritage,
all my ancestry, all my good deeds, I took them to the garbage
dump and I left them and came back to Christ. You been to the
dump? Have you been to the dump? That'd
be a good sermon topic, wouldn't it? Have you been to the dump?
I tell you, you may see my wife down there looking for some bargains,
but you're not going to see me down at the dump. Girls like
these garbage sales, garage sales, excuse me. Garage sales, that's
what they are. Somebody's junk, you know. When
you go to the dump with all your religious, come on now. Takes
a while, Gerald, doesn't it? Take all your stuff, you know,
and all that old junk, all those old relics you've collected through
the years, but this is grandma's base, grandma's religion. This
is grandma's religion. This is somebody else's. All
these treasures, not worth a thing, you know. We get them all together
and put them in a U-Haul and take them to the dump. Enough
of them. But don't you get a flashlight
and go back there looking for them now. And this is what Paul
is talking about right here. He said all these things, I gathered
it all together and I took it to the dump and I counted but
rubbish, rubbish, that I may win Christ and be found in Him. And I'm not going back, Jim.
I'm not going back. There's nothing there I need
or want. Oh, Christ said, I'll make all things new! I found Him. I found Him. And he said, I want to win Christ
and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness. Verse 9,
Witches of the Law. That's where my righteousness
comes from. His is found in Christ, mine is found in the law. But
I want that righteousness which is through the faith of Christ,
the faithfulness of Christ, the righteousness which is of God
by faith, that I may know Him, that I may know Him, that I may
know Him and the power of His resurrection, the power of His
new life, His glorified life, and the fellowship of His suffering
being made conformable unto his death, if by any means I might
attain to the resurrection of the dead." Oh, I want to be there. I want to be there. Verse 12, he said, and I hadn't
already attained, I'm not already perfect, but I'm following after
if that I may apprehend or lay hold upon that for which I've
been laid hold by Christ Jesus." Brethren, I count not myself
to have apprehended, but this one thing I do, forgetting those
things which are behind, forgetting them, forgetting them. Don't live in the past. Reach
forth unto those things which are before. I press toward the
mark for the prize of the high calling of God. Where is it?
In Christ Jesus. I quit with this, my testimony. Christ is not only all my justification
before God, but he's all my sanctification before God. Christ is not only
all my redemption, but Christ is all my righteousness. Christ
is not only the author of my faith, but he's the giver of
faith. And he's the source of faith, and he's the object of
faith, and he's the finisher of faith. Christ is not only
my peace with the Father, but he's my peace in heart. Now there's something that needs
to be defined there. He didn't just make peace with
God through the blood of his cross. And that war is over. I have to have confidence that
peace is secure. But when I try to find a rest
of conscience and a peace of conscience and of heart regarding
my own life and experience and relationship with God, I've got
to find that too in Christ. You say, I don't know what you're
talking about. Well, I try to explain what I'm talking about. We get to thinking in this vein.
Well, God has accepted me in Christ, justified me, redeemed
me in Christ. And God is not angry with me
because I'm in Christ. But sometimes we feel like, well,
you know, we just don't, we hadn't prayed today like we should have,
and we got angry today at somebody. And we were tempted in this form.
We thought this thought and that thought, and it wasn't a good
thought. And we feel like, well, we're
not in fellowship with God. Based on what? Based on our own
deeds and works. But my fellowship with God is
in Christ too. See, my redemption is in Christ,
my righteousness is in Christ, but my communion is in Christ
too. God doesn't hear me because I hear me because I'm nicer than you, he hears
me because of Christ. I want to be nice, I want to
be holy, I want to be godly. But even at my best state I'm
still vanity. At my best state God can't hear
me or receive me based on those things. So Christ is my peace. A lot of us, and I'm guilty of
the same thing, and I know you are too, it's a battle we fight
all the time. We let our peace and our rest
of soul and heart depend on what we do or don't do. And I don't
mean to discourage people from doing the very best that God
enables them, and we should and we will. Avoid all appearance
of evil. Be ye holy if I am holy, be ye merciful if I am merciful,
and so forth. These things we want to do and
we strive to do and will to do, but I tell you, the man who knows
something about God's holiness knows something about sin. A
thought and imagination and motive and all these general areas where
we live all the time, even alone. And we'd never have any peace
with God if we depended on our righteousness to present it or
produce it. We'd be upset all the time. We'd
have spiritual ulcers all the time. Well, I'm not worthy. No, we're not, but in Christ
I am. I hope you understand what I'm
saying. Christ is my peace. Christ is not only responsible
for my first steps to God, but he'll be the reason for my last
ones too. Listen to this. There's no point
between the gate of hell and the gate of heaven where the
believer can say, now this depends on me. Now I must rely on my
own strength. No sir, from the downhill of
my fallen state to the throne of perfection it is Christ and
Christ alone. It is Christ my life, Christ
my hope and Christ that liveth in me And on this basis, salvation
begins with Christ, continues in Christ, and is perfected in
Christ. And that's what this old man
found out here, and that's what he's summing up to these people
down there in Philippi. He said, this is where it is. This is where it is. And I say
to my generation, this is where it is in Christ. Oh, that I may win Christ, that
I may know Christ, that I may attain unto the resurrection
in Christ. Let's have Mike come sing our
special number at this time.