I'm speaking this morning from
the book of Philippians. I'd like for you to get your
Bible and turn with me to the third chapter of Philippians. Now, here's my subject. I'm speaking
on the subject, the true circumcision. Now, you might not understand
what I'm talking about right now, but I believe in a few moments
you will. If you'll take your Bible and
turn to Philippians 3, verse 3, and let me read this verse
written by the Apostle Paul. you'll understand my subject,
the true circumcision. Now, let's read the text. Philippians
3, verse 3. For we are the true circumcision,
which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Jesus Christ,
and have no confidence in the flesh. Now, to be perfectly frank
with you, this is what Paul is saying. He is saying, we are
the true ministers of God. That's what he's saying. We are
the true ministers of God. We are the true children of God.
We are the true church of the Lord Jesus Christ, and we are
the true worshippers of God. Now, is this an idle boast? Most
all religionists claim to be God's true servants, God's true
ministers. Most all religionists claim to
be the true church. are the true worshippers of God
or the true Israel. But Paul is saying here, we are
the true church. We are the true circumcision
or the true Israel of God. And why should we give credit
to what this man Paul says? Why should we listen to him?
The Pharisees, Sadducees, the scribes, all of the traditionalists,
the religionists of that day said they were the true church.
They were the true people of God. They were the true spokesman
for God Almighty. But Paul says, we are the true
Israel. We are the true church. Now,
why should we listen to Paul? Why should we give credit to
what Paul is saying? Well, in the first place, Paul
is writing under divine inspiration. The Book of Philippians is a
part of the Word of God. And all Scripture is God-breathed,
God-inspired. Holy men of God spake as they
were moved by the Holy Spirit. And Paul was one of these writers.
Paul wrote most of the New Testament under the inspiration of the
Holy Spirit. And all scripture is given by
inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for
instruction in righteousness. Now that's the first reason why
we should listen to Paul. And then secondly, the writer
of the book of Acts is the apostle Luke. And Luke said this, he
said, Paul, if you read the book of Acts, Paul is chosen of God. to bear the gospel to the Gentiles. Now, that's you and me. He is
God's servant to us. The Apostle Paul was chosen of
God to bear the gospel to the Gentiles, and we are the Gentiles. Now, Luke, who wrote the gospel
of Luke and who wrote the book of Acts, was a companion of the
Apostle Paul. On one occasion, Paul, when he
was in Rome, being tried because of preaching the gospel, He said,
at my first trial, no man stood with me. And then later he said,
only Luke is with me. Now that's the second reason
why we should listen to Paul. Paul was writing under divine
inspiration, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. And then
secondly, the Apostle Luke, who wrote the book of Acts, says
that Paul is chosen of God to bear the message, the gospel,
to the Gentiles. And then thirdly, Paul himself
was in religion. He was wrapped in religious tradition
before he came to know the Lord in saving faith. He was wrapped
in religious tradition, religious ceremony. He was wrapped in religious
heresy. He knows whereof he speaks. If you read the rest of the 3rd
chapter, you'll find Paul talking about being a true descendant
of Abraham. He was not a half-breed, apostolate. He said, I am a Hebrew of Hebrews,
born of the tribe of Benjamin. He was a high official in the
synagogue, in the Sanhedrin, which was made up of 70 men,
half Pharisees and half Sadducees. And Paul was one of the members
of the Sanhedrin, the high political religious court of Israel. He
knows what he's talking about. And then he was a zealous religionist. He persecuted everybody that
didn't agree with him, and he followed the traditions and customs
and ceremonies of his fathers to the letter. He fasted, he
prayed, he studied the scriptures, he tithed, he did all of these
things. He was a separated moralist. And then God was pleased to bring
him to true faith. God was pleased to bring him
to a true knowledge of his grace and his mercy in Christ Jesus,
and to bring him to life everlasting. So there's three reasons why
we should listen to Paul. If he says, we are the true ministers
of God, We are the true circumcision. We are the true worshipers of
God. We are the true church of the
Lord Jesus Christ. It would be well for you and
me to listen to the Apostle Paul. Now, let's go back to verse 1.
This is something you always want to remember. When you're
reading a verse of scripture, don't take it out of its context.
Please don't do that. You're susceptible to all manner
of error. You see, the Bible originally
was not written in chapters and verses. When it was translated
into English, into our language, they translated it into chapters
and verses to help us find scripture. But when the apostles wrote the
book of Philippians or the book of Galatians or the book of Luke
or John, they didn't write it in chapters and verses, they
wrote it as a book in paragraphs. And what you always want to remember
in studying the scriptures is find out who's writing. Find
out to whom he's writing. and find out the subject about
which he's speaking. Now, that's the reason when you
take a verse of Scripture, you have to go back and read the
context. So I'm asking you to go back with me to verse 1. And
here the Apostle begins this way. Brethren, rejoice in the
Lord. Rejoice in the Lord. He exhorts
us to give God all the glory, whatever we have, whatever we
are, whatever we know. to give God the glory. Rejoice
in the Lord. Rejoice in the Father for his
eternal mercies. Rejoice in the Son because of
his redeeming work. Rejoice in the Holy Spirit for
his divine revelation. But rejoice in the Lord. Don't
rejoice in yourself, in your accomplishments. Don't rejoice
in your morality. Don't rejoice in your denomination.
Don't rejoice in your intelligence. Rejoice in the Lord. I am what
I am by the grace of God. By the grace of God, I am what
I am. David wrote over in Psalm 103,
Bless the Lord. This is what Paul is talking
about. Rejoice in the Lord. David wrote, Bless the Lord,
O my soul, and all that is within me. Bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and
forget not all his benefits. He forgiveth all thine iniquities. He healeth all thy diseases. He redeemeth thy life from destruction. He satisfieth thy mouth with
good things. Rejoice in the Lord. Now look
at the rest of that verse, verse 1. To write the same things to
you, this gospel of redemption, this gospel of God's grace, this
gospel of substitution, to keep repeating it over and over and
over to you Paul said, that's not tiresome to me at all. That's
not grievous to me at all. I'm glad to declare the gospel
over and over again. When he spoke to the great city
of Corinth, that city of learning and philosophy and so forth,
he said, I'm determined to know nothing among you, even you Corinthians,
save Jesus Christ and him crucified. So to write the same things to
you over and over again, to me is not tiresome, and for you
it's safe. Because it will keep you from
error, both error of doctrine and error of spirit. If you keep
hearing the gospel over and over and over again, it will deliver
you from error. And not only that, but it will
strengthen your faith. And not only that, but it will comfort
you in time of trial. So, my brethren, Paul begins
this chapter rejoicing the Lord. I'm glad to declare unto you
the same message. Tell me the old, old story. It really never gets old. It's
always new. And then he goes on in verse
2. Now listen carefully to this. Paul always spoke quite frankly.
He didn't pull his punches at all. He didn't try to please
men. He said, if I please men, I'm not the servant of Christ.
But he says, beware of dogs. Now of whom is he speaking? He's
talking about false teachers and false preachers. He's talking
about those men who were hucksters and merchandisers of men's souls,
who profited through religion. And it can be done, and it's
being done. And he tells us to beware of
dogs. Our Lord called them wolves in
sheep's clothing. But with beware of dogs, beware
of evil workers. They're workers of iniquity.
You know, in Matthew 7, our Lord talked about, many shall say
to me in the day of judgment, Lord, we preached in your name,
and we did many wonderful works, and we cast out devils, and Christ
will say, depart from me, I never knew you, ye that work iniquity. This is what Paul is talking
about, evil workers, dogs, evil workers, and concision, mutilators
of the flesh, false teachers who glory in the flesh, who glory
in appearance and not in heart, who glory in ceremonies, who
glory in numbers, who glory in their personal success. You want
to beware of people who are always talking about how many, how many
and how much. It doesn't matter how many. There's
one important question. Is the Lord among us? Is the
Lord with us? Do we have his presence? It's
not how much either. God will supply all of our needs
according to his riches and glory through Christ Jesus. We don't
have to beg. Our Lord is not a beggar, he's
a king. He'll meet the need of every one of his people. He'll
meet the need of his church. David said, I'm old, I've been
young, but I've never seen the righteous forsaken. I've never
seen his seed begging bread. I don't know why we've stooped
today and taken our Lord's name and drug it through the mud of
begging, of begging. Our Lord's a king. Beware of
these false workers, these evil workers, these hucksters, these
merchandisers of souls who glory in appearance, who glory in numbers,
who glory in the flesh and do not glory in heart. For that's
when he says, verse 3, we are the true ministers of God. Now
that's when he said that. When he told the people to rejoice
in the Lord, give God all the credit, all the praise, all the
glory, and then he tells them to beware of these false teachers,
these evil workers, these merchandisers of souls, beware of these people.
He says, we are the true circumcision. We are the true ministers of
Christ. We are the true Christians, the
true children of God. We are the true Israel, the church
of Jesus Christ. And then in verse 3, Paul gives
three marks of this true church. Three marks of true ministers
and true Israel and true children of God and the true church. Now,
it's very simple. You see it right there before
you. He says, we are the true ministers, number one, who worship
God in the Spirit. And secondly, who rejoice in
Christ Jesus. And thirdly, who have no confidence
in the flesh. Now you want to examine yourselves
and examine this preacher and examine all so-called preachers
and all churches, examine them by this rule right here. We,
Paul said, are the true Church of God who worship God in the
Spirit, who rejoice in the Lord Jesus Christ, and who have no
confidence in the flesh. Now let's look at them one at
a time. It will be worth our while. Number one, we worship
God in the Spirit. In John chapter 4, when our Lord
talked to the woman at the well, you remember the story, how he
came to the well and conversed with this Samaritan woman. And
he told her she knew the gift of God and who it was speaking
to her. She had asked of him he'd give
her the water of life, the gift of God. And how he told her that
she'd been married five times and the man with whom she was
living was not her husband. And she said, sir, I perceive
you're a prophet. And then she said to him, I'm
religious. My people are religious. She
said we worship in this mountain. The Samaritan people worship
in this mountain. This is the mountain where God
spoke to Abraham. We worship in the place of our
heritage. We worship according to our tradition. We worship according to our custom.
She says this mountain has a special meaning for us. This is the place
where we meet God in this mountain. This mountain follows our custom,
our tradition, and our heritage. And she said, you Jews, you say
that not the mountain, but Jerusalem is the place to worship. You
say you meet God in Jerusalem, there where you have the ceremonies,
and the feast, and the holy days, and all the rituals of religion.
You Jews say that's the place to worship. And then our Lord
stopped her. And he said, woman, you're busy worshiping. You don't
know what you worship. You're going through the form
and the ceremony. You're going through the motions.
You're going through all of these things that agree with your heritage
and your tradition and custom that's been handed down by your
father. You're worshiping in ignorance. Listen to me. He said,
God is a spirit. God doesn't dwell in houses and
temples and cathedrals. God doesn't dwell in mountains
or even in ceremonies and rituals. God is a spirit. And they that
worship God, worship God in spirit and in truth." Now, that's as
clear as words can make it. You worship. He said you're going
through the motions. You're playing church and playing
religion. But you're just going through
the motions, that's all. It's motions of ignorance. God
is a spirit. And they who truly worship God,
worship him in spirit. Now, my friends, worship is heart
work. not handwork or footwork, it's
heartwork. Praise is heartwork. Faith is
heartwork. This thing of worship, praise
and prayer is not participation in parades. It's not participation
in forms and ceremonies and rituals. Listen to the Lord God. My son,
give me your heart. Our Lord said, you call me Lord
with your lips. You say all of these forms and
printed prayers and rituals of religion, and you call me Lord,
Lord with your lips, but your hearts are far from me. My son,
give me your heart. Out of the heart proceeds the
issues of life. Keep thy heart, out of it are
the issues of life. As a man thinketh in his heart,
so is he. The sacrifices of God are a broken
heart. God is known to them of a broken
heart. and a contrite spirit. And I'm
not talking about this organ that pumps blood. That's not
the heart we're referring to. The heart is the inner man, the
soul of man, the mind of man. That's where a man does business
with God. In Luke 16, 15, the Lord said, You are they which
justify yourselves before men. We go through all of these prayers
on the street corners and in restaurants and in public places
to impress people. We're impressing no one. We're
doing no one any good. We go through all of these ceremonies
to impress people. We wear our robes of religion,
and we make our signs of crosses, and we wear all of these doodads
and paraphernalia. We do all of these things to
impress men. Ye are they which justify yourselves
before men. But listen to him. God knows
your hearts. God looks upon the heart. And
that which is highly esteemed among men is an abomination to
God. When Samuel went down to anoint
David, king of Israel, They sent David out in the field and brought
all of these young men before Samuel to be anointed king. Some
of them, or one of them out of the six, was to be anointed king.
And when the first one stood before him, tall and handsome
and mature and intelligent and all of these things, Samuel said,
well, surely the Lord's anointed is before him. And the Lord said,
Samuel, don't look on his outward countenance. I, the Lord, look
on the heart. God looks on the heart. seem intent on associating the
worship of God with special days. Every day is God's day. This
is a day the Lord hath made. We'll rejoice and be glad in
it. We're to pray without ceasing. We're not to pray just on special
days. Men today seem intent on associating
the worship of God with special uniforms. Why should I wear a
special uniform up here in front of this television camera and
appear to be religious to you? A filthy heart can be clothed
in a black suit as well as a green suit or a red suit. And then
men seem intent on burning candles and having parades and showing
crosses. Somebody sent me a cross to carry
around in my pocket so when I felt blue I could reach down and rub
that cross and feel religious. That's ridiculous. Totally ridiculous. Symbols of religion and all types
of paraphernalia. We're trying to substitute it
for heart worship. God dwells in the heart. God
looks upon the heart. God cares not for parades, show,
steeple, gaudy dress, or anything else. And those who truly worship
God, worship him in heart and spirit. And they do it privately
also. They enter their closets and
pray, not to be seen of men. We're not heard for our much
speaking, our enticing words, our oratory. We're heard for
the sincerity and faith of our prayers. And men who worship
God do it privately in thanksgiving and praise and prayer, and they
worship God publicly with other believers in simplicity. The
more complicated the service, the less worship is involved.
The more entertainment and fun in a service, the less worship
is involved. You say, what are the parts of
worship, Preacher? Let me tell you. If it can be defined, worship
is the singing of hymns, the singing in our hearts, praise
unto the Lord. It is the reading of God's word.
The reading of God's word ought to have a prominent place in
the worship of the Lord. God speaks through his word.
Prayer, confession of sin, preaching of the word. This is the first
mark of a true church, of a true preacher, of a true child of
God. He worships God, not in form and ceremony and ritual
and parade and processional, but he worships God in the spirit. In the spirit. Now what's the
second thing? We rejoice in Jesus Christ. To
you that believe, He's precious. Now to a lot of people, their
denomination is precious, their doctrine is precious, their laws
are precious, their heritage is precious, but to you who believe,
He, H-E, He, Jesus Christ, capital H-E, He is precious. And those who truly rejoice in
Jesus Christ are in tune with heaven. Heaven rejoices in Jesus
Christ. The Father said, This is my Son,
in whom I am well pleased. Hear ye him. The angels of God,
let all the angels of God worship him. That's what Hebrews said.
The Holy Spirit, Christ said, when he has come, the Spirit
of truth, he's not going to speak of himself. He'll glorify me,
Christ said. He will take the things of mine
and show them to you. You hear people talk about the
Holy Ghost, the Holy Ghost, the Holy Ghost, you can be sure of
one thing, they don't know the Holy Ghost. Because the Holy
Spirit does not magnify himself or glorify himself or speak of
himself. He speaks of Christ. He magnifies
Christ. He exalts Christ. He reveals
Christ. He makes Christ known. They are
redeemed in glory. This is their song. Unto him,
Jesus Christ, who loved us and washed us from our sins in his
own precious blood, to him be the glory, both now and forever.
Yes, if you rejoice in Jesus Christ, you are in tune with
heaven. You're in tune with the prophets of old, but to him give
all the prophets witness. You who truly rejoice in Jesus
Christ know that he's the fountain of all life, he's the source
of all grace, for he is of God made unto us wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification and redemption. And you who truly rejoice in
Christ Jesus have genuine cause to rejoice in him. What is there
about Christ that causes us to rejoice? Well, number one, his
deity. who he is. He's worthy of all praise. He's
worthy of all worship. He prayed in the garden, Father,
the hour has come. Glorify thy Son, that thy Son
may glorify thee. Glorify me with the glory which
I had with thee before the world was. Jesus Christ taught it not,
Robert, to be equal with God. In the beginning was Christ,
and he was with God, and he was God. We rejoice not only in his
deity, but in his incarnation. The Word was made flesh. and
dwelt among us. In the fulness of time God sent
his Son, his only begotten Son, made of a woman, made under the
law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might
be made the righteousness of God in him. We rejoice in his
obedience. By the obedience of one shall
many be made righteous. We rejoice in his death, for
he was wounded for our transgressions, and by his stripes we are healed.
We rejoice in his resurrection. If Christ be not risen, we are
yet in our sins. We rejoice in his intercession.
He ever liveth to make intercession for us. We rejoice in his return. He said, I will come again. If
I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive
you unto myself. The angels stood by the apostles
after the Lord ascended to heaven, and they said, You men of Galilee,
why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus shall
so come in like manner as you have seen him go. We rejoice
in his return. And this is the crowning mark
of a true church and of a true Christian. He worships God in
the Spirit, and he rejoices in the Lord Jesus Christ. We believe
and assure the power of Christ, the Son of God. Now, the third
thing. We have no confidence in the
flesh. Now, I would say there are several references here.
I'll give you several, all true. We have no confidence in the
flesh. First of all, we have no confidence in fleshly rituals
and fleshly ceremonies, either of the Levitical law or any other
religious law. There is no confidence in the
law. By the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified.
By the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. Whether
circumcision or fasting or mortification of the flesh or Sabbath days
or holy days or any kind of special functions, Christ has fulfilled
all of the Levitical law, all of the ceremonies, all of the
prophets, all of the types. We have no confidence in those
things. The sacraments will not sanctify you. Baptism will not
wash away your sins. We have no confidence in any
fleshly ritual or ceremony. We have no confidence, secondly,
in our efforts to keep certain rules and regulations of religion,
even the moral law. Did not the rich young ruler
say to Christ, When our Lord mentioned the Ten Commandments,
he said, I've kept those, I've kept those. And Christ said,
one thing thou lackest, go sell what you have and give it to
the poor. And he revealed he hadn't kept them at all, that
he coveted, that he could hold on to that which he had and watch
his neighbors suffer, that he didn't love his neighbors himself,
he didn't love God with all his heart. Man at his best state
is altogether vanity. Our righteousness is a filthy
rag. We have no confidence in our flesh, your flesh, or anybody
else's. And then we have no confidence in bishops or preachers. We have
no confidence in popes or evangelists. We have no confidence in any
mortal man. There's none that doeth good,
no, not one. There's none that understandeth.
Leaders come and leaders go. Christ abides. We have no confidence
in the apostles. They were but men. We have no
confidence in Mary. She was but a woman, highly favored. among women, not above women.
And we have no confidence in our own flesh. We are kept by
the power of God through faith. We are kept in Christ. So there
you have it. We are the true ministers. We
are the true Church of God, Paul said, who worship God in the
Spirit, who rejoice in Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord,
and who have no confidence in our flesh or anybody else's.