And Paul says in verse 1, My
brethren, rejoice in the Lord. Rejoice in the Lord. The fruit
of the Spirit is joy. I'm going to rebuke myself here
while I rebuke the whole congregation. Believers ought to be happy people,
not grumbling, complaining, finding fault, but happy people. Our Lord said in John 15, 11,
"...these things have I spoken unto you, that my joy," my happiness,
"...might remain in you, and that your joy might be full."
We are so prone to look on the dark side. The dark side may
be just a little side like this, but we are so prone to look there.
We are so prone to find faults. Philippians 4, verse 4, Paul
writes, Rejoice in the Lord always, under any circumstances, through
any trial, under any burden. Rejoice in the Lord always, and
again I say rejoice. Not too long ago I was talking
to a pastor's wife. They have a delightful congregation,
just delightful people. They love them. The congregation
loves the pastor and his wife and children. But there's one
lady in the church, just one, out of the whole congregation,
that's a thorn in the side of that pastor's wife. Just one. One that does not speak, one
that does not communicate, one that is not happy, one that wants
to cause trouble and difficulty, one that does not communicate. And the pastor's wife wants to
talk about that war. And I said to her, I've learned
a long time ago not to dwell, not to let your thoughts dwell
on those who dislike you and do not love you and who are critical
of you. Let your thoughts dwell upon
those who do love you. Whatsoever things are pure, lovely,
of good report, think on these things. Are you saying, Pastor,
forget that lady that's crossways and unhappy and troublemaker?
No, pray for her, but put her on the shelf. And don't let your
mind dwell on her. Don't let your thoughts dwell
on her. Let your thoughts dwell upon those who love Christ and
who love you and who love the gospel. Let your thoughts dwell
upon pleasant things. Now think of yourself this morning,
your present situation. Like I said in my prayer a while
ago, I get so convicted about this. We have, brethren, so much. We have so much. And yet we let
our mind dwell upon one pain, or one place of aching, or one
area of trouble, or one spot of disagreement. Now, you spoke
to two or three hundred people this morning. You greeted two
or three hundred. One person you greeted, the greeting just
wasn't right. The conversation just wasn't
blessed. The contact was offensive. Or
the communication was broken down some way. What are you thinking
about now? Are you thinking about all those
people that you shook hands with and embraced and they smiled
and they greeted you warmly and the conversation, communication
was blessed? Or is your mind right? What did
I say that offended him? What did I say that hurt her
feelings? Why did she say that? peanut mind spoils your day. See what I'm saying? Don't let
it. Just refuse to let it. Just dismiss
it in God's sovereignty, in God's purpose, in God's providence,
shelve it, throw it in the waste can, put it aside, and think
on those things that are joyful, happy, pure, and of good report. That's good advice, Charlie.
Rejoice in the Lord. not murmur and complain and be
in depression and despondency, but rejoice. That's what he said,
rejoice in the Lord always. It shouldn't be difficult for
us to rejoice in the Lord. It shouldn't at all, at all times. I'll give you several reasons.
Number one, we rejoice in God himself. Why do I rejoice in
God himself? God is love. God is love, pure,
perfect, Immutable, infinite, everlasting love. That's worthy
of rejoicing in. God is love. That's my goal,
that's my aim, to love perfectly, unchangeably. And God is love. So I rejoice in that love. I
rejoice in God is truth. I love the truth. You do too.
You love the truth of the Word. You love a person who speaks
the truth. You hate lies. You hate deceit, you hate hypocrisy. God is true. You hate it when
you find it in yourself. God is true. God is light. Darkness is no pleasure. God
is light. God is great. God is omnipotent. God is almighty. God is strong. God is unchangeable. The songwriter
said, change and decay, all around me I see, O thou that changest
not. Glory, glory to the Father, glory,
glory to the Son, glory, glory to the Spirit, glory to the three
in one. Rejoice in the Lord in himself,
in himself. And then I rejoice in God's salvation. David called it God's salvation.
He said, Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation. Thank you,
Lord, for saving my soul. Thank you, Lord, for making me
whole. Thank you, Lord, for giving to me. Thy great salvation, so
rich, so free. Thank you. Thank you. And then I rejoice in his mercy
and his grace. He hath not dealt with us according
to our sins, he hath not rewarded us according to our iniquities,
but God, who is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith
he loved us, even when we were dead in sin, hath quickened us
together with Christ by grace, you say. I rejoice in his mercy. In his mercy. And I rejoice in
his benefits. Let me read you a scripture in
Psalm 103. I rejoice in his benefits. My
mind just keeps going to this. I don't know why. Maybe God has
a special word for somebody here. But my mind just keeps reaching
back to these benefits and blessings. Rejoice in the Lord. I rejoice
in himself because he is love, he is truth, he is light, he
is strength. I rejoice in his mercy and his
salvation. I rejoice in his benefits. Listen
to Psalm 103. 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. For he forgiveth
all your iniquities. He healeth all your diseases.
He redeems your life from destruction. He crowns you with loving kindness
and tender mercies. You satisfied your mouth with
good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagles? The
Lord executed righteousness and judgment for all that are oppressed?
Can you rejoice in God this morning? You know, we get a little bit
disturbed with our children sometimes because we say unto them, they
just don't know what hard times are. They don't know what it
is to work and to labor and to suffer and to do without. They
just don't understand. You get a little provoked with
them sometimes because they have so much and it's a dissatisfaction.
They're so ungrateful, it seems like. I'm not talking about all,
I'm talking about some. You know what I'm saying. Don't
you just imagine that maybe that's God's greatest controversy with
us? Is I murmuring and complaining when under God we have so much?
We have so much? We could just stand here this
morning and never stop naming our blessings, starting with
redemption, starting with forgiveness, starting with his grace, starting
with our families, our friends, this church, the gospel, the
truth, our freedom, so a good food, clothes. And yet I imagine
that every one of us this morning have complained about something. It's either too hot in here or
too cold, or the seats are too hard, or our shoes are too tight,
or somebody's done something, you know. We're just a nation,
we're a people of complainers and murmurers. I'd rather live
in the United States in total depression than to live in Russia
in prosperity. I'd rather live here without
a job than to be the Premier of Russia, had you? I'd rather
live here and have to rake leaves than to live in the Yucatan and
have no leaves to rake, hadn't you? Rejoice! Rejoice! You know, God's greatest anger
fell upon Israel because of murmuring. They griped about the bread from
heaven, didn't they? They griped about the water from
the rock. And God sent fiery serpents among them to devour
the people. because they murmured against
the Lord. I hope we learn to rejoice before God takes away
the joy. I hope we do. And then Paul goes
on in verse 1 of chapter 3 and he says, "...to write the same
things to you, to me, is not tiresome." I preach the same
thing. Somebody says, you heard me and you heard him. All right,
well, let's come hear him again because he's going to preach
the same thing. The old gospel of Christ, the truth of Christ,
the thought of man, the power of God, the effectual atonement,
the call of the Spirit. The life of godliness and righteousness
and holiness, the truth of his word. Paul said to say the same
things to you over and over and over again. It's not tiresome
to me. It's not tiresome. But for you, he said, it's safe.
In other words, it's good for you to say the same things over
and over again. It'll do three things for the
church. Number one, it'll strengthen the faith of the people. It'll
strengthen their faith. And secondly, it'll comfort them
when they go through trials. If I preach the gospel of Christ
to you, the glory of God, it'll comfort you when God calls upon
you to sail in deep waters. And then thirdly, it'll keep
you from error. It'll keep you from error of
spirit, and it'll keep you from error of flesh, to hear these
same things over and over again. God's mercy and love in Christ.
God's grace to us in Christ Jesus. The love of Christ for us in
giving himself on the cross to redeem us from our sin. Paul
said, I never get tired of preaching that. It's safe for you to continue
to preach that. And he says in verse 3, I want
you to beware of dogs. These are false preachers and
teachers who have not God's glory nor your spiritual good at heart.
He says they're evil workers. That is, Christ called them workers
of evil, iniquity. They stood before him at the
judgment and they said, while we preached in your name and
cast out devils and did many wonderful works, he said, I never
knew you. Depart from me, ye that work iniquity. And then he calls him the concision.
That's flesh merchant. That's a man that majors on the
flesh, takes delight in the flesh, rejoices in your flesh. He rejoices
in bragging about what people have done under his leadership,
what they've built, what they've accomplished, what they've done.
So many baptized, so many circumcised, so many did this, so many did
that. They're flesh merchants. They deal not in spiritual truth
nor in spiritual things, but in fleshly things, material things.
They number their blessings materially, physically, fleshly, flesh merchant. Beware of them. They're dogs. They're workers of evil, they're
flesh merchants, merchandisers of flesh, they're hucksters.
They're not interested in your spiritual welfare or your spiritual
good. They're interested in their own
glory. For he said, verse 3, we are
the circumcision. We are the true circumcision. Now, back in the days of Abraham
to Christ, to the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, God gave to
the Jew the circumcision of the flesh as a token, a mark of his
nation, his people. They call them the circumcised
and the uncircumcised, that is, God's people and the heathen,
the Jew and the Gentile, the Jew, Israel, and the pagan, those
who were circumcised and those who were uncircumcised. It was
a mark of God's favor upon the nation, Israel. And Paul says,
we are the true circumcision. We are the true people of God.
We are the true sons of God. We are the true preachers of
grace. We are the true ministers of the Word. This is where the
truth of God's kingdom lies with us. Now, we're not talking about
13th Street. We're not talking about any congregation
or any denomination. We're talking about a people
who have the same marks and characteristics. And I'll give you those marks
and characteristics. Paul says, we are the second.
Now is this an idle boast? Is Paul making an idle boast?
All religionists claim to be true Israel. All religionists. Mary Baker Eddy claimed it. Father
Divine claimed it. Joseph Smith claimed it. Whoever,
they all claim to be the true Israel of God, the true church,
the true servants of God. What makes Paul so sure? He just
comes right down here and says, we are the true Israel. That's all there is to it. We
are the true Israel. Do you deserve to be his people?
Nope. Most unworthy. He said, I persecuted the church.
I was injurious. I was a blasphemer. I obtained
mercy. I didn't earn it, I obtained
it. Are we more holy by nature than others? Far be it from us
saying anything like that. I guess we were more unholy than
they are. God chose sinners. God chose foolish, base, despised
people. Are we without fault and sin
now? No, not at all. Then why do you say Why do you
say, Paul, you are the true circumcision, you are the true Israel, you
are the true people of God? And I'm not saying the people
in the walls of this congregation, not so. There are those here this morning
who are the true Israel and those who are not. There are those
in other places who are true Israel, there are those who are
not. There are those in Jews and Gentiles who are the true
Israel and those who are not. They are those in the profession
of religion who are the true Israel. What are the marks of
true circumcision, true Israel? Here he gives them in that same
verse. He says, verse 3, for we are the circumcision, number
one, which worship God in the Spirit. Number two, we rejoice
in Jesus Christ. Number three, we have no confidence
in the flesh. Now, wherever you find that.
you find true Israel. Wherever you find those three,
if they're found right here in this fellow, then you've found
true Israel. If they're found in you, you've
found true Israel. If they're not found in you,
it doesn't matter what you claim. All right, let's enlarge upon
these. Turn back to John 4. John chapter 4. First of all,
he says, we are the true circumcision because we worship God in the
Spirit. Now, our Lord came to Samaria, and at the well he met
a woman, and they had a conversation. And he talked to her about living
water. He talked to her about never
thirsting again. He talked to her about a relationship
with God. And he talked to her about these
things, a true relationship with God. And she made this statement,
she sat down here in John 4, verse 19, she said, Sir, I perceive,
the woman said to him, John 4, 19, Sir, I perceive that thou
art a prophet. She says, Our fathers worshipped
in this mountain, this mountain. You're a preacher, I perceive
you're a preacher. Well, I'm religious. And our fathers worshipped
in this mountain. Now, did you ever take the time
to look up that little Eom out there by this mountain? This
mountain, why did they worship in this mountain? You know why?
Because that was the mountain where God met Abraham. It was
a sacred, holy, T-L-A-C-E. That woman said, we worship in
this mountain. Look it up if you want to later.
It's in Genesis 12, 6-7. It's in Genesis 13, 4. There's several references to
that mountain. That was the mountain where God
met with Abraham and said, I will bless you and prosper you and
number your seed as the sands of the sea. So that was the mountain.
And she said, we worship in this mountain, this place. Not worshiping
God in heart or spirit, but in a place. Now, go on, listen,
she goes on. And you say, you Jews say that
Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. I imagine
there are a lot of people today who make these pilgrimages to
Mecca, to a place, to the holy city, a place, to the grave,
a place, to where Calvary is supposed to be, a place. even
to buildings called Baptist churches, Catholic churches, Jewish synagogues,
to a place. God is not worshiped in a place.
Our Lord said, Woman, verse 21, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh
when you will neither in this mountain nor at Jerusalem worship
the Father. You worship you know not what.
We know what we worship, salvation is of the Jews. But the hour
cometh and now is when true worshipers, we are the true Israel, true
worshipers, shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth. For the Father seeketh such to
worship him, God is a spirit, and they that worship God worship
him in spirit and truth. You see what I'm saying? Are
you true Israel? Are you the true circumcision?
Are you the true people of God? If you are, you're not worshiping
God in a place, or according to a heritage, or a tradition,
or a custom, or a ritual, or a ceremony, or a Sabbath day,
or a law, or a rule, or a certain dress. You worship him in spirit. In spirit. God is a spirit. And they that truly worship God,
worship him in heart and spirit, not in forms and rituals of religion. That's the reason. You wonder
why here, and there's a cause for this, there's a reason for
this. We have, in this place and in the services here, we
have tried desperately to go towards simplicity, away from
gaudy architecture. away from religious designs,
away from crosses and candles, away from all of this sort of
thing, is because God is a spirit, Jane. They that worship him,
worship him in spirit and truth. I think actually, we possibly,
if we could find a little more simple play, if we could do without
anything that is of the flesh, that is a visual aid or makes
a contribution to preparing me for some sort of experience,
and just with the naked word and the broken heart and the
weeping eye and the ready ear and the submissive will, worship
God. Worship God. My son, he said,
give me your heart, heart, How many times have you tried
to pray when you got through, you knew you didn't pray a flip?
You didn't pray at all. Or perhaps you sing and you got
through, you didn't sing at all, not praises to God. And preach,
you didn't preach at all. Your heart, he said, you call
me Lord with your lips, but your heart's out there somewhere.
They're out there somewhere. They're far from me. With a heart
man believeth unto righteousness, my son give me your heart, keep
your heart out of the issues of life, out of the heart the
mouth speaketh." We're the true Israel, we worship
God in the Spirit. Turn to 1 Samuel 16. 1 Samuel
16, you know the story here, they went down to anoint David
king of Israel. Jesse, David's father, had several
sons, and he paraded them all before the prophet of God, and
the prophet of God turned down all of them. And the reason he
turned them down is that God revealed something to him in
1 Samuel 16, 7. He said, the Lord said, Samuel,
Samuel, the Lord says, preacher, deacon, elder, Sunday school
teacher, whoever you are, preacher, don't look on his countenance.
Don't look on the height of his stature. Don't look on the talent
of his lips. Don't look on the dress, the
riches. Don't look on the, I've refused
him. For the Lord seeth not as man seeth. Man looks on the outward
appearance. The Lord looks on the heart. See that? And that's where the
whole business is transacted. This business of worship, this
business of relationship, this business of communion, it's heart business. And we're
the true Israel, if we are, we're those who worship God in spirit.
Preach, I can't sing like other people sing. Can you worship
God in spirit? I can't preach like you, Jay,
Other fellows around here put, can you worship, can you rejoice
in spirit? I don't have the money to give
that a lot of other people do, support the gospel. Can you worship
God in spirit? The Lord seeketh such to worship
him. A little old lady, in the sunset years of life,
You can do what the youth can do, you can worship God in spirit. Boys and girls just beginning
life, with all the trials and failures and so forth ahead of
you, you can do what the old elder is doing this morning,
you worship God in spirit. You can praise him and thank
him and bring him sacrifices of joy and sacrifices of praise
and thanksgiving. You can bring to him those sacrifices,
you can worship God, you better. All right, secondly, we worship
God in the Spirit. I tell you, we're in a generation
of spectator, what's called spectator Christianity. We come and sit
and we wait on the preacher or somebody to entertain us. The worship of God wasn't designed
for that. When we assemble here, and what
I've tried to do here in this call to worship is genuinely
call you to worship. I know they go some places, and
they sit in the pews, and they sit there, and if somebody gets
up there, they pay somebody to pray, and pay somebody to preach,
and pay somebody to sing, and pay somebody to play the instruments,
and pay somebody to sing in the choir, and entertain them, and
all that, and sit there, and go through the motions, you know.
But I'm telling you this. True Israel, whether they're
out there or up here, are worshiping God, entering into his praise. I don't know why some of you,
when we're singing these great hymns, can stand there with your
arms folded and look off into space. I'd at least mouth the
words. I would. I'd worship God. I'd
get that thing out and I'd mouth the words. If I couldn't carry
a tune in a pointed bucket, I'd praise God. And when the fans
up here pray, I'd be out there praying. I'd be out there praying. When
they're reading God's Word, I don't know why some people come to
church and never bring a Bible. I'll tell you this, our Lord
said, this book will judge you. Remember what he said? My words
will judge you. I do what Brother Barnard said
to that dear lady one time. He gave her a dime and said,
if I was you, I'd go buy me a Bible. You get one of that crest for
ten cents. That was a long time ago, Bob. long time ago. What I'm saying is the true Israel,
you know who the true Israel is? They worship God in the Spirit,
in the Spirit. They're not parts of a denomination
or a conglomeration or an organization or some other ation, they worship
God. Where two or three are met in
my name, he said, I'll be with them, they worship God. They
redeem the time. Seek ye first the Kingdom of
God. The Kingdom of God suffereth
violence, and the violent take it by force. They are obsessed
with the kingdom of God. They're obsessed with his presence.
All right, secondly, I've got to hurry. We're the true circumcision
who worship God in the Spirit, and we rejoice in Jesus Christ.
We rejoice in Jesus Christ. Listen to me. We don't rejoice
in our popularity, or our fame, or our glory, or our world, or
our church. We rejoice in Jesus Christ. He
is the object of our joy. He's the object of our faith.
We rejoice. I tell you this, if you learn
to rejoice in Jesus Christ, you're in tune with heaven. Because
the Father, only twice he spoke in the New Testament. And both
times he's bragging on the Lord Jesus. This is my beloved son. This is my beloved son. I tell
you, if you rejoice, you learn to rejoice in Christ. You're in tune with the Father,
you're in tune with the Holy Spirit, because Christ said when the
Spirit has come, he won't speak of himself, he's going to glorify
me. He shall take the things of mine. If you rejoice in Christ,
you're in tune with the angels. The scripture says, let all the
angels of God worship him. You're in tune with the redeemed
in glory who throughout eternity will sing unto him who loved
us and washed us from our sins in his own blood. If you learn
to rejoice in Christ, you're in tune with the prophets. To
him, give all the prophets witness. I tell you, we'd better change
our tune and start rejoicing in Jesus
Christ. We'd better rejoice. This whole
thing started out with rejoice in the Lord. Rejoice in the Lord. Rejoice in the Lord. Who is the
Lord? Jesus Christ is the Lord. And
let's rejoice in Him. Our church this, our church that.
Our church nothing. Rejoice in Jesus Christ. He'll
bless those who rejoice in Him. Well, this one has this fault
and that one has that fault. Sure, and you've got more than
anybody. Rejoice in Christ. Rejoice in Christ. What do we
rejoice? We rejoice in His preexistence.
me with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.
I rejoice in his incarnation. The word was made flesh and dwelt
among us." Think about it. One day Christ stood on this
earth in human flesh, took upon himself the form of a servant,
was made in the likeness of me. I rejoice in that. That's my
hope. He was numbered with the transgressors. I rejoice in his
righteousness. He kept the law perfectly. He
never stumbled. He never failed. His eyes never
looked with anger. His voice never spoke with hate.
His heart never thought a thought of vengeance. His feet never
walked in paths of iniquity. His hands never were lifted except
to bless. Can you rejoice? I rejoice in
his death. I don't weep over the I weep
over the disease." He turned to those women following him,
bearing his cross to Calvary, and he said, don't weep for me,
weep for yourselves and for your children. Don't weep over the
remedy, weep over the disease. I don't weep because Christ died,
I rejoice that he died. If he had not died, I would die.
I rejoice in his resurrection. I rejoice in his intercession.
We have a high priest, therefore let us come bolder before the
throne of grace. I rejoice in his return. I just
flat rejoice in Jesus Christ today. I thank God for the privilege
of standing up here before this congregation of people and not
talking about some cynic problem in our town. or talking about
some historical event that took place hundreds of years ago,
or talking about some patriotic theme. I thank God I have the
privilege this morning to stand up here and rejoice in the Lord
Jesus Christ, who loved me and gave himself for me. When all
else fails, he shall reign. Heaven and earth will pass away,
but not his word. The fashion of this world fadeth
away, but the King of this world liveth forever. All flesh is
grass, and the goodliness thereof is the flower of the field. The
grass withers, and the flower fadeth, because the Spirit of
God bloweth upon it. But the Word of God, the Lord
Jesus Christ, lives forever. I rejoice. Give me a place to
put my feet, a foundation on which to build, something in
which to confide and trust and rest. I can find happiness, and
I've found him. We're the true Israel. It's not
the fellow that cries, Lord, Lord, I preached, I did this,
I cast out devils, I did many wonderful works, oh, we're a
great denomination, we can go back to so-and-so, and we're
Lutherans, we're Baptists, we're Presbyterians, we're moralists,
we're legalists, we're separationists, we're fundamentalists, we're
Calvinists, we're Arminians, we're Catholic. The true circumcision
worships God in spirit and rejoices in Jesus Christ. And that's who
they are. You want to know who they are?
That's who they are. You want to know where they are? That's
where they are. They're at the feet of Jesus Christ. Thirdly, we have no confidence
in the flesh. Now, that has several applications. have to be made here, all are
true. Number one, we have no confidence
in the fleshly rituals, rituals and ceremonies of even the Levitical
law. We have no confidence in circumcision.
We have no confidence in fastings. We have no confidence in Sabbaths. We have no confidence in mortification
of the flesh. There are certain things that
have their place. Fasting has its place under certain burdens,
but we have no confidence in that. Baptism has its place confessing
Christ at the Lord's table. We don't play the fool and throw
everything aside. We leave it in its proper place,
Brother Jay, in its proper perspective, in its proper area. These things
are worthwhile, but we have no confidence in these things. We
have no confidence that God will look with favor upon me because
I do anything or don't do anything. We have no confidence in the
flesh, in the Levitical law or any other law. We have no confidence
in the ceremonies such as holy days. Celebrating Christmas or
not celebrating it is not going to help you either way. Celebrating Easter or not celebrating
it Celebrating it or putting it out of business is not going
to help you either way. We have no confidence in holy days, feasts,
sacrifices. The furthest imagination in the
world is that Jesus Christ was born on Christmas Day. That's
nothing to it. It's not so. It's a Catholic
holiday. It's a Christ Mass. That's what
it is. It's a Christ Mass. That's the
very word, Jack. Easter, well, it can't be the
day he arose because it changes every year. You celebrate anywhere
from March to June, don't you? And Halloween, that's the Day
of the Dead. That's a superstitious Roman Catholic holiday that's
still observed in Mexico. And the reason you have witches
and hobgoblins and all these things is because it is ghosts
and spirits, it's the Day of the Dead. It's when they put
food out on the tombstones for the dead to come back and have
them a good feast. Isn't that right? It was down there, Richard,
you saw them do it. They put the food out there, and the dead
spirits come back. The dogs eat it, so who gets
it? And the jaguars and the armadillos and the iguanas. But that's Halloween. You say, well, I let my kids
go trick-or-treat. Well, I do too. Us pagans, you are. But
it's got nothing to do with Christ and the gospel or salvation.
None of these holidays. None of them. None of them. We
have no confidence in holidays or holy days or Sabbath days.
Well, I keep Saturday. You can go to hell on Saturday
or Sunday if you want. Every day is the Lord's day. This is
the day the Lord hath made. I'll rejoice and be glad in it.
Monday is the day of worship, too. And so is Tuesday. Because
we don't worship God in the flesh, we worship him in the Spirit.
I just said that a while ago. We have no confidence in any
efforts of the flesh to keep or practice the moral law. You
say, well, I've done the best I can. It's not good enough.
Your righteousness is not good enough until it's equal to Jesus
Christ's righteousness. Your morality is not good enough
until it matches God's morality. That's right. Not good enough. You're falling short of God's
glory. The rich young man says, well,
all these have I kept. all these have I kept." One fellow stood in this pulpit
one time at a Bible conference and said, I've never drunk, smoked,
or danced. That's what I wanted to do. Might have been better off he
had. Then he wouldn't have felt so self-righteous. Then he might
have been saved. See what I'm saying? I have no
confidence in any I haven't done or I have done. None in the flesh. Those that worship Christ, worship
him in spirit, they rejoice in Christ and have, you know, no
confidence, no trust in the flesh. We have no confidence in even
the flesh of a redeemed man. There's not a man in this congregation,
there's not a woman in this congregation, not one, with whom I trust my
eternal soul. Not one. Not even me. I ain't going to trust it to
me. I don't know what the future holds, you don't either. I know
who holds the future, but I don't know what the future holds. I
don't know what trials and tests and burdens are out there. I'm
going to make no idle boast. I'm going to say, he will keep
me till the river rolls its waters at my feet. It was grace that
brought me safe thus far, and grace will take me home. But
I have no confidence. You say, well, I sure had more
confidence in Brother Jones than that, or Brother Brown than that,
or Brother Smith than that. Why did you have confidence in
him? He's a human being just like you. Well, I sure had more
confidence in Betty than that. Why? Well, I just did. You got your confidence ill-placed,
my friend. No confidence in the flesh. Not
a little bit. Not a whole lot, no confidence
in the flesh of bishops, preachers, elders, or any mortal man. Leaders
come and leaders go. Flesh comes and flesh goes. Men
come and men go. Women come and women go. God
lives forever. Christ is the same yesterday,
today, and forever. I'm not. I'm not. Turn to 1 Corinthians
1. This is so serious. This is so
serious that we ought to play this message another six or seven
times and listen to it. Not because I preached this,
just because it's so, just because it's so. Just because it's of
a heart and foundation of redemption, of eternal life, of salvation,
of relationship with God. 1 Corinthians 1, verse 30, "...of
him, of God," or you're in Christ Jesus, you're in Christ, "...who
of God is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption. That's all I need. And Christ
is every one of them, all of it. That according as it is written,
he that gloweth, let him glory in the Lord. Turn back to Philippians,
Philippians chapter 3. I want you to read this later
on today when you get home or tomorrow, sometime as you recall
this message. But Paul said, Brethren, we are
the true circumcision. And there are three marks. We
worship God in spirit. We worship God in spirit. We
rejoice. We've been enabled to rejoice,
to understand the person and work of Jesus Christ and to rejoice
in him. Not just to accept it, but to
rejoice in him. Not just to believe some facts
about him, but to rejoice in him. You see, Satan knows Christ
died on the cross with Baron Rosengren, but he doesn't rejoice,
Charlie, in him. He doesn't rejoice in the glory
of God. Any man can see, any human being, any natural man
can see what Christ did, but he can't see the glory of it
and rejoice in it. And we have no confidence. Now,
you better come to this place. God's not going to accept you
on the merits of his Son plus your merits, on the righteousness
of Christ plus your deeds. We have no confidence in the
flesh. And you'll never cast yourself on Christ until you
un-cast yourself here. until you've turned loose of
the lines. There's no way you're going to lay hold on Christ as
long as you've got the lines wrapped around your own flesh
and works and law efforts and everything. Now Paul went on. Why don't you read later? He
went on and said, Any of you fellows think you have somewhat
to glow in the flesh? That's what he said to any of
you. He said, You want to talk about what you've done? I've done more.
You want to talk about what you know? I know more. You want to
talk about what you've accomplished? I've accomplished more. You want
to talk about talking in tongues? You want to talk about your Sabbath
days? You want to talk about the law? You want to talk about
the theology and the scriptures and your heritage and custom,
tradition? He said, I'll snow you under.
But I count these things but loss, but dumb. He waxed eloquent. Garbage! that I may win Christ to be found
in him." Now, he said, I'm not there in the sense that I'm perfect. I've not apprehended, I've not
laid hold on it yet. But he said, I'm headed that
way, and my hope is in him.