You can turn in your Bibles to Philippians chapter 3. Philippians chapter 3. The book of Philippians is primarily a joy of rejoicing and thanksgiving. That's the general theme as we read throughout Paul's epistle to the Philippians.
It doesn't carry the indicting weight like a book of Galatians, where right at the outset, essentially, Paul is laying into the Galatians for their departure from gospel truth. That isn't the Philippians problem. It doesn't carry the same sort of doctrinal precision. And by that, I mean the detailed laying out of doctrine concerning justification and sanctification, like the book of Romans, per se, which Paul, of course, also wrote, though there is doctrine in it.
But with those things said, there are some problems at the church in Philippi. There's a problem with discord, congregational discord. Paul deals with that in Philippians one and two, specifically versus twenty seven of chapter one to chapter two, verse verse 12 or the end of chapter two. at verse 18 before he gets into Timothy and Epaphroditus. Another problem in the church is a problem with persecution.
Paul briefly alludes to that in Philippians 1, 27 to 29. Another problem in the church, one that we'll see in the course of our reading this morning and this evening, is in Philippians 3. And it's a problem of false teachers coming into the church and teaching another gospel. And Paul warns the Philippian Christians of this in the context of issuing a command to rejoice in the Lord.
And we're going to look at verses 1 to 3 of Philippians 3 this morning, and then the remainder of 4 to 10 this evening. But let's read Philippians 3, beginning at verse 1. Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. For me to write the same things to you is not tedious, but for you it is safe.
Beware of dogs. Beware of evil workers. Beware of the mutilation. For we are the circumcision who worship God in the spirit rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh.
Though I also might have confidence in the flesh. If anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh, I more so. Circumcised the eighth day of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews, concerning the law of Pharisee, concerning zeal, persecuting the church, concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. But what things were gained to me, these I have counted lost for Christ.
Yet indeed, I also count all things lost for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish that I may gain Christ and be found in him not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through Christ, through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith. that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being conformed to his death, if by any means I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. Amen. Let us pray. God, we thank you for our time now in this act of worship, the preaching of the word.
We do pray again that you would bless preacher with that measure of the spirit, measure of the spirit also to the hearer, Lord God, that all that is done this morning would most certainly exalt the Lord Jesus Christ upon the praises of his gathered people. And Lord God, that it would be unto the end of the praise of your grace and unto the end of the praise, the glory of your precious name. And it's in Christ that we pray. Amen.
Introduction
Well, this particular section here begins Paul's ending of the letter, and many pastors, many preachers have joked at the words, finally, my brethren here, beginning of chapter three, because Paul goes on to not really finish the letter. But in a sense, he is finishing the letter in this way, is that he's bringing the closing admonition to rejoice in the Lord and this rejoicing in the Lord for Philippian Christians is to take place by means of various things. And we're going to look at a couple of those this morning and this evening. Here in the section that we read, Paul is giving an admonition to rejoice in the Lord.
He's providing some means by which they are to do so. They're to beware false teachers and they're to rejoice in the certainty of their rightness in the faith. in proper religion. And then he goes on to present a hypothetical argument to to dispel or to disprove the claims of the false teachers. And then he goes on to set forth the reality of what the true gospel is and what salvation by that gospel looks like.
Sermon Outline Introduced
We're going to look at three things this morning. We're going to look at the command, verse one, The warning, verse two, and the contrast, verse three. But just to introduce this particular section, did you rejoice this morning in the Lord? You see, Paul gives that as a command here, but it's for certain reasons and we'll get to that, but the Christian, in a sense, shouldn't need a command to rejoice in the Lord.
It is by virtue of the fact that he is Christian that he should be rejoicing in the Lord. And did you rejoice in the Lord when you woke up this morning if you're here and you are a saint of his? Did you rejoice? It should have been the case that when we wake up in the morning, we are not to be like those who are outside the covenant camp, those who are outside Christianity, who devised wickedness in their bed, according to the psalmist.
It is not to be the case with us that we are to open up our eyes and rejoice in all fleshly things, save for eternal things, which are the Lord Jesus Christ and the glories and the riches of his person and his work. You see, when we open our eyes and cast them upon creation. We don't look upon creation and we don't ponder the works of men's hands, because what is creation but the work of God? When we draw our first conscious breath and we wake up in the morning, we are not resting upon the power of our lungs, but upon the power of the God of heaven and earth who breathed breath into us.
When we consider providence and the goings forth, the rolling along of time and of history, We are to rejoice in Christ who upholds all of those things by the word of his power. When we dwell upon our salvation, our redemption, we're rejoicing solely and alone in the work of God. We don't rejoice in our power. We don't rejoice in our volition.
We don't rejoice in any perfections in us because there are none. But we rejoice solely and alone in the Lord Jesus Christ, the perfection of the triune God in bringing us from darkness to light. And so hopefully you did rejoice this morning. Though we are fallible, we are sinful, hopefully by the imperfect declaration of the preacher, by the perfect empowerment of the Holy Spirit, we will leave this place rejoicing this morning.
The Command to Rejoice
Paul firstly issues this command to rejoice. And isn't that a gracious command? Rejoice in the Lord. You see, this is a command.
Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. Oh, Christianity, what a weariness. What a weariness for me to want to be brought into this place with all of these burdensome commands and precepts and statutes. Finally, brethren, rejoice in the Lord.
You see, the commandments of the Lord are not burdensome. Why? Because he doesn't present to us an economy of salvation whereby we must perfectly adhere to all of his divine precepts or else he'll cast us into the lake of fire. But rather, he sent that perfect one who perfectly adhered to every jot and tittle of his precepts.
And by believing in him, we have that everlasting life. Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord, a gracious command. Paul is writing this. But remember, ultimately, who is writing this, brethren?
All scripture is God breathed. The Lord God in gracious and merciful condescension empowers Paul to write these words, and it is most certainly, of course, God breathed scripture. Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. God is writing.
Rejoice in me. Rejoice in me. And this is what we are to do.
Context for the Command
This gracious command comes on the heels of a number of things. Contextually, we need to see this. It's a general principle and we'll get there to rejoice in the Lord. But there are certain reasons why they are to rejoice in the Lord.
The Philippian Christians, first off, In contrast to being sorrowful over Paul's imprisonment, they are to rejoice in the Lord. The Philippian Christians are not to be sorrowful or found in despair over the fact that Paul is currently in prison. In verse 12 of chapter 1, he writes, But I want you to know, brethren, that the things which happened to me, being in prison, have actually turned out for the furtherance of the gospel, so that it has become evident to the whole palace guard and to all the rest that my chains are in Christ. And most of the brethren in the Lord, having become confident by my chains, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.
So do not be sorrowful over my imprisonment. It has been God owned and truly God ordained for the progress and the propagation of the gospel of truth. And so, again, do not be sorrowful, but rather rejoice in the Lord. They are not to be sorrowful, what follows after this, over Christ being preached by wrong motives.
As long as it is the Christ of Holy Scripture being preached, Paul says, rejoice. What then at verse 18? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is preached. And in this I rejoice.
Yes, and will rejoice. So they are to rejoice in the fact that whether it is in pretense or in truth, Christ is being preached. They are not to be stressed and in anguish and in anxiety over the fact that they are being persecuted for their faith in Jesus Christ. Do not be stressed, do not be anxious, but rejoice in the Lord.
Why? Verse 28 of chapter 1, not in any way terrified by your adversaries, which is to them a proof of perdition, but to you of salvation and that from God. Why? For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for his sake.
Rejoice in the Lord, because these things are proof of the perdition, the damnation, the anathematizing of those unbelieving apostates, but for you of salvation. These things are the simple reality and the joyful reality that you've been granted to believe in Jesus and you've also been granted to suffer for his sake. So be joyful in that. They were not to be sorrowful over the fact that Epaphroditus was sick.
Chapter 2, verses 25 to the end of the chapter. They're not to be sorrowful over Epaphroditus being sick. In fact, Epaphroditus was upset, disappointed that the Philippian Christians were grieving over the fact that he was sick. Rejoice in the Lord.
I may have physical ailments. The Lord can heal. I may be plagued physically, but this I know, I'm safely in the Lord Jesus Christ, and in him I have eternal life, and so do you. So don't grieve, don't be sorrowful, but rather rejoice in the Lord, because Christ supplies, Christ grants, and Christ brings great comfort.
So they are not to be sorrowful, anxious, stressed over these providential elements, but rather to rejoice in the Lord God. Specifically, with regards to the immediate context, we see that they are to rejoice in the Lord, not to rejoice in themselves. They're to rejoice in the Lord, not to be carried off by this false teaching, by this heresy whereby these false teachers are propagating. Have confidence in your flesh, have confidence in circumcision, the physical circumcision of the flesh to be accepted before God.
Do not have confidence or rejoice in anything of that sort, but rather rejoice in the Lord. They were not to be stressed and pressured to break and join the ranks of those who rejoice in the flesh.
Grounds for Rejoicing in Christ
Secondly, brethren, the general realities of Christianity, that they're to rejoice in. Paul opens up the letter by saying, Paul and Timothy bond servants of Jesus Christ to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi. You see, we've said it before, but you ought never to simply skip over the identification of the recipients of an apostolic letter to the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi. That statement in itself is glorious.
It is blessed who are saints, but those who are holy, not in and of themselves, but by saints. It means divinely set apart. by God unto service in his kingdom, saved solely and alone, set apart by the triune God, man, holy passive in this divine exercise of sovereign and amazing grace. set apart, wholesomely cut off from the world and disposed unto service in the religion of the Lord Jesus Christ to the praise of his name. So whenever you see Philippians, Ephesians, Colossians, Corinthians identified as saints in Christ Jesus or something of the like, see yourself there also as a saint of the most high God set apart by triune power. unto service to Christ and his truth and his kingdom. So they are to rejoice in the Lord.
Why? Because the Lord brought them from that place of worldly obedience, from that place of deadness and sin and transgression, to a place where they are safely in the sovereign and sanctifying grip of the King of Kings. They're also to rejoice in the God who finishes what he starts. Because Paul had confidence, according to verse six of this very thing, that he who has begun a good work in you will complete it unto the day of Jesus Christ.
Rejoice in the Lord, because yes, trials, yes, congregational discord, yes, false teachers, yes, ungodly persecutors. But this I know of a verity and of a truth, that he who began a good work in you will complete it unto the day of Christ. They are to rejoice in the glorious perfections of the person and the work and the exaltation of Jesus Christ. You see, we have something to rejoice in.
The unbeliever has nothing truly to rejoice in. Oh, sure, there may be these temporal satisfactions of the flesh, these pleasures that they entertain and that they gain much from, whether it's food or drink or sexual intimacy. I don't want to say intimacy because it is not all of these sins of the flesh seeking after certain things for gratification. not giving thanks to God for the food, for the drink, not waiting for holy covenantal arrangement by divine ordination to engage in intimacy, but rather filling themselves with all the satisfactions of this lower world. That is not true joy.
It is only the Christian who has true joy. It's only the Christian who's been wholly set apart. It's only the Christian who can be in that group, that number of people who are safely in the grip of the Redeemer's hand. And it's only that Christian that that is only the Christian who can look, who can read verses 6 to 11 of Philippians 2, where it speaks of deity coming in flesh in a virgin. being humiliated in this lower world, having nowhere to lay his head, unlike foxes and unlike birds, who comes in the incarnation and dwells among men of ignominy for the salvation of his people.
It's only the Christian who can cast his eyes upon the fact that this Jesus became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Madness, folly, scandal, offense. The stuff of mockery to the unbelieving eye, to the unbelieving mind. But the Christian rejoices.
The Christian rejoices in this so-called madness. The seconds of the Blessed Trinity being put to death upon Calvary's tree. That this one who Christians say fixed the stars in place is now fixed in place upon a tree. Madness.
To the Christian, it's the wisdom and the power of God. And in that we rejoice. You see, we may have trial. We may be beset by various afflictions.
We may be beset by seasons of providential frownings. Remember, principally, God is in the heavens. He does whatever he pleases. He orchestrates and he connects and he does all things according to the counsel of his own will.
But remember, as bad as it gets out there and as bad as people are to you and as wicked as we can be, There is a Savior who died upon Calvary's tree. Right? As bad as things get, as horrible as we think we are sometimes, and we are, but as down as you can get about yourself, as down as you can get about others, there is a Savior who died upon Calvary's tree if you are believing in him. So there's joy.
There's always joy for the Christian. There is always joy for those who are in Emmanuel's number.
Wholesome Repetition of Gospel Truth
Consider thirdly, under the command, the repetition of Christian truths and Christian admonitions is a wholesome and necessary exercise. Notice what the text says here at Philippians three. Finally, my brethren rejoice in the Lord. For me to write the same things to you is not tedious, but for you it is safe.
You're going to hear that you're going to have heard over the course of however many years you've been at Free Grace Baptist Church, a lot of repetition. And I really do hope that you don't roll your eyes at repetition. Oh, here we go again. Didn't we hear this two weeks ago?
Didn't we hear? Haven't we heard this text preached before? You see, the preacher and the pastor. Now, if someone comes up here and just reads the same sermon every Sunday, well, that's not wholesome repetition if they're just reading from a script.
But hopefully, you know where I'm getting. Christianity demands and Christ demands wholesome repetition of Christian truths and admonitions. Why? Because we're sinners.
Because we haven't yet arrived at perfection. Because we are in constant need of Christ, gospel, the triune God. Because we're in constant need of admonition, exhortation, command. Because we are in constant need of fatherly chastisement, which is a good thing.
We are in constant need of rebuke, realignment, reconfiguration, etc. And so when the apostles rehash, recycle or reclaim or reproclaim truths and certain admonitions, glorious repetition. Glorious repetition, because look at the content of what Paul is saying again. He's speaking about the perfect, justifying work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And what we also need negatively is the warnings against false teachers. We need that wholesome admonition because, brethren, the vanity and the folly and the madness of these heretics back in the first century is not confined to the first century. The same ungodly madness has been perpetuated year upon year, decade upon decade, century upon century. Salvation by works, as Spurgeon said, is a crime.
Salvation by works is a crime. It is a criminal doctrine, he said. It was the title of one of his sermons. Why?
Because it casts asunder the grace of God. Because it casts into the mud of horrific religion the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We'll get to that in more detail tonight. But wholesome repetition is a good thing.
Not only is it not tedious for Paul. Why? Because Paul loved to write. Bring me the parchments.
It's not a tedious thing for Paul. Paul's in prison. And what does he want? He wants the parchments.
He wants to write. He wants to pen glorious verses about his redeeming king. Not just that, but he also wants to pen those glorious verses so that the recipients of his letters will rejoice in the Lord. Right, so it's not tedious to continue to write about the gospel.
Oh, cast away the ABCs of Christianity and give us whatever else. No, the ABCs of Christianity, blessed repetition. That there is a triune God, holy and marvelous, that deemed it well before the foundations of the world to choose people in Christ. And to bring to bear the perfect providential reality of that, that there are a people fixed, innumerable, in Jesus Christ before the foundation of the world, and all of history and time marches towards that victorious day when that bloody one would be nailed upon the Roman cross to die for sinners, to rise again, and to ascend to the right hand of the majesty on high, to live always to make intercession for those chosen in him. before the foundation of the world.
It is a blessed reality and it is wholesome repetition to continually deliver the things of the glorious gospel and to continue to deliver the wholesome admonitions to the people of Christ. But for you it is safe, he says. He closes that verse with. It's not tedious for me, Paul says.
It's not troublesome. It's not a weariness. Oh, here I go again. No, Paul rejoiced in that.
But it is safe for the recipient. because it is a boon to his soul. By the wholesome repetition of Christ and him crucified, we are girded up and we have our stronghold. We have our fort against invading armies of madness and folly, the opinion and the philosophies of an ungodly world. It is by the repeated admonitions to beware of dogs, to beware of evil workers, To beware of the mutilation, that we are defended against the horrific proclamations of those who seek to do violence to the finished work of Jesus Christ.
It is safe for the recipients, for Paul to engage in wholesome repetition.
The Warning Against False Teachers
Secondly, notice the warning now. Verse two, beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the mutilation. It's striking language, isn't it? Paul would have nothing of political correctness in the arena and the marketplace of ideas.
Right? Dogs, evil workers, beware of the mutilation. No, we need to we need to have a love in and sing Kumbaya where Catholics and Muslims and Protestants and Jehovah's Witnesses can all gather together for the greater good. No, anyone who seeks to attack the doctrine of Jesus Christ is not just someone who has another idea in the marketplace of ideas, but is a dog, is an evil worker.
Now, Paul isn't necessarily pointing his finger at a sweet old lady being deceived in the pews of a kingdom hall, though she's got her problems. And if she remains there, she is an enemy of the gospel of Christ. But Paul is pointing the finger at these false teachers who would come to people helpless and in need of a Savior and proclaim, this is how you get to Emmanuel's land. If you're a male, you need to cut your flesh.
You need to cut your foreskin and adhere to the Mosaic law in order to gain acceptance before God. You see, such who proclaim against the grace of God, who frustrated, as Paul says in Galatians 2, Such who do this cast the grace of God into the muck again of ungodly religion and trample upon the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Paul doesn't take it lightly. How dare you come into our homes?
How dare you seek to come into our churches? How dare you come to seek after the flock of the Lord Jesus Christ and proclaim? Yeah, Christ is good. But you need to cut your foreskin also.
What madness men contrive. What madness men contrive in order to gain satisfaction, in order for their own selfish ambition, in order to feed the vanity of their own minds and of their own braggary. To say that, oh, yeah, it is good that the seconds of the Trinity descended from the pinnacle of glory, entered into this lower ignominy to endure the madness of an earthly life, to die upon Calvary's tree, to shed his blood for guilty sinners. Yeah.
But you also need to sever the skin. Of your member. In order to really be accepted. Madness.
Madness. Oh, and it isn't it isn't just that. But the subtleties and the evil craftiness of people working in other elements of works based salvation or other approaches to works based salvation. If you ever hear, yeah, Jesus Christ is good or yeah, I realize Jesus Christ died for us, but.
Be very careful and be ready to say dog. Be ready to say evil worker. Because it is solely and alone the work of the triune God from first to last, midst and throughout, without a helper that avails before that thrice holy God. It's not us.
Whether it's the severing of the foreskin or whether it is legalistic impositions and canons tacked onto the finished work of Jesus Christ, you're a dog. You're an evil worker and you are just like this mutilation. What does this mean here, though, kids, just so you understand when I when when I'm explaining this, when Paul writes, beware of dogs, he doesn't mean that you have to now sell your puppy and sell your dog. Beware of literal physical animals, the dogs.
No, Paul is speaking when he says dogs, when he says evil workers and when he says mutilation, he's speaking of one group, one group of individuals, one group of heretics. one group of false teachers. They are most likely, as we've alluded to but not identified them by name, the Judaizers that were infecting the church at Galatia. Also, those who were teaching that circumcision must avail and that adherence to Mosaic law must also avail in order to be saved. They are dogs.
They are evil workers. They are the mutilation.
Dogs, Evil Workers, the Mutilation
They are dogs because they bite and they snarl at apostolic doctrine. one reason why they're called dogs. They bite and they snarl at the doctrine of the Apostle. Oh, Christ alone, justified solely and alone by faith, not by the works of the law. Shall any flesh be justified?
Madness. You must also. You must also. They're dogs because they bite and snarl at the Christ of truth and the truth that's proclaimed in his holy word.
They're dogs also because, like the hunting dogs of Psalm 22, they pursue their prey and they surround them and they fall on them. We read that concerning Jesus in Psalm 22. The dogs have encompassed me. The dogs have surrounded me.
The dogs have encircled me. Most likely a reference, yeah, maybe to the Romans, but most likely to the apostate Jews who ultimately, by wicked hands, delivered him up to be crucified. Such are those in Paul's time who seek to cast asunder the finished work of Jesus Christ by works righteousness. They are dogs.
They're surrounding the faithful, seeking to pounce on them, fall on them and to eat them up and consume them in their madness, their false teaching and their apostasy. But most likely what the language is referring to, though all that certainly is there, is that
Paul's Use of Jewish Idiom
Paul is using the language of the Jews and turning it upon the heads of the Judaizers. You see, the Jews would call Gentiles dogs. In fact, Jesus himself, not with malice, but uses this idiomatic language when he's dealing with that Canaanite woman. He says the children eat the bread, not the dogs, to paraphrase.
And then the woman says, but even the dogs eat the scraps which fall from the master's table. You see, Jews used to call Gentiles dogs because they're outside of the camp of the faithful. They're outside of our covenant reality. They had in mind that ethnic and that geopolitical covenant reality.
And so these Gentiles were outside of them, and so they called them dogs. Their madness of their idolatry, etc., etc. And in cases throughout the Old Testament, that is a wholesome language being employed by God's covenant people against those who are engaged in idolatry to a multiplicity of deities. But, of course, the Jews in this time used it wrongly of those who were outside of Jewry.
So Paul is using the language of dogs and he's turning it upon the heads of these Judaizers. Ultimately, why? Because though they were claiming to be part of the covenant community, they by virtue of their proclamation of works-based salvation have put themselves out of, they were never in, but they are effectively outside of the covenant community because it is only those who are saved by grace through faith in Christ alone that are part of the covenant. So he uses that language, that idiom, to describe them.
They are evil workers because they are crafty in their employment of methods to gain disciples after them. Is it not the evilest of works to go after one who professes belief in the Lord Jesus Christ and is resting solely and alone upon his finished work to gain him as a disciple to turn completely away from that declaration of faith. To steal one, to try and steal one who is safely in the arms of Jesus, of course they cannot. Why?
Because the Good Shepherd holds them in that inseparable and impenetrable grip of sovereign power. But it is the evilest of works to seek to gain one of those sheets, one of those sheets to believe in this madness, in this false teaching of works-based salvation. They are the mutilation, Paul says. We could also read that if you have another version, it might say, beware of the false circumcision.
Old renderings say beware of the concision. What Paul is saying here, again, he's using language that, yeah, their boast is in physical circumcision, but because their boast is in that and not in Christ, they are the false circumcision. They boast that their circumcision is right, that their circumcision avails before God, But the circumcision that avails before before God is and always has been the circumcision of the heart. He'll go on to say we are the circumcision.
See, this word is set in opposition and contrary to mutilation. The one Paul uses in verse three, they are the false circumcision by false claims. They are saying that they are the covenant people of God, but it is certainly the opposite. So Paul says, beware of them.
And we need to we need to appreciate here the reality of warnings in our Bibles or the importance of warnings in our Bibles and the importance of warnings in the church today. You see, there really are false teachers out there. There really is bad doctrine out there. And we are really to care about that reality.
I mean, you just you just have to go you just have to travel from Chilliwack to Vancouver on some main streets, some side streets and freeways also to see the various competing bodies of philosophies for your minds and the minds of your children. And it isn't the case that every building, unfortunately, brethren, it isn't the case that every building that has the word Christ on them, that every building that has the word God on there, that every building that has some word that is close to Christian idioms and Christian language is safe. We need to beware of the dogs. We need to beware of the evil workers because they're everywhere.
And they are very often, actually more often than not, wolves in sheep's clothing, as Jesus warned. You see, the wolves to seek the sheep, it's easier to get them when they are in sheep's clothing. If you're to pass off a counterfeit bill, You don't want to just grab one from the Monopoly box and say, here, this is how I'm paying for my whatever. No, the counterfeit comes up with something that looks identical to the original, but he has wicked and nefarious motives.
So to the false teachers. That is why we need apostolic warning. That is why we need warnings from this pulpit is because there are wolves in sheep's clothing out there. There are false teachers everywhere and we need to know the truth.
We need to hold on to the truth. And we need to seek to defend it and reject those who oppose biblical Christian teaching.
The Contrast: True Circumcision
Now notice, thirdly, the contrast in our text. We had the command, verse 1, the warning, verse 2. Now we have the contrast, verse 3, for we are the circumcision who worship God in the spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. Paul reverses the language from the last word he used to describe the false teachers.
He says, for we are the circumcision. You see, they're to rejoice in the Lord and to beware of these false teachers, because we're God's people. We're God's covenant people. We don't rejoice in the flesh.
We rightly rejoice in the Lord in whom there is only true rejoicing. We will not be such as to mutilate the body in order to gain acceptance with God. But rather we are the true circumcision who have that circumcision which is made without hands. And isn't this a it's a great identification for Christians for a number of reasons.
First off, and again, Paul is using this to rightly define who the true circumcision is and who the false circumcision is. They are only the circumcised who are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. In fact, he goes on to identify who the true circumcision are. They threefold worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.
See, the circumcision, circumcision in the old covenant, we need to get this, was never a means in that administration to gain acceptance with God. We're not dispensationalists. We don't believe that there was a dispensation of circumcision, a dispensation of obedience before God in order to be reconciled with him or in order to gain favor. Circumcision was a sign and seal of that covenant whereby people were identified as in union with Abraham.
They were unified with that covenant head, Abraham, and were identified as the covenant people so that they could be set apart by the world around them. so that they would be that identified God-favored people, the people that would bring the progeny of the Messiah, that would bring the Messiah to bear in this lower world. Circumcision, though, always pointed to a spiritual reality. It always pointed to that reality of an inward circumcision, and God always said this in the Old Testament. He would say, as a command, circumcise the foreskin of your hearts and be stiff-necked no longer.
But he would go on to say after that what the divine reality is. I will circumcise the foreskin of your hearts and I will put my spirit within you so that you will walk in my precepts. So all here, though, is using the language that the Jews used of themselves. We are the circumcision, a claim to ethnicity, a claim to being descendants physically of Abraham, a claim to all of these things.
But in truth, the circumcised are really those who believe in Jesus Christ. If you're if you're still with me here, turn to Romans, turn to the book of Romans. If you're able to navigate there to chapter two, we see some of this same language. This same language of who the true Jew is.
You see, there are claims to to descendency, to being the descendants of Abraham. There are claims to ethnicity that they are exclusive by virtue of their ethnicity in God's people because they're born into national identification and national prominence. But notice here at verse 23 of Romans 2, you who make your boast in the law, do you dishonor God through breaking the law? For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you, as it is written.
For circumcision is indeed profitable if you keep the law, but if you are a breaker of the law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision. Therefore, if an uncircumcised man keeps the righteous requirements of the law, will not his uncircumcision be counted as circumcision? And will not the physically uncircumcised, if he fulfills the law, judge you who, even with your written code and circumcision, are a transgressor of the law? Now, without getting into detail, Paul is using hypothetical arguments. with regards to the law and circumcision with respect to the Jews.
But we won't get into that right now. Notice verse 28. For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh, but he is a Jew who is one inwardly. And circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, not in the letter, whose praise is not from men, but from God.
You see there the true definition of the circumcised, those who boast in their ethnicity, boast in their righteousness, boast in their religious activities, boast in anything else, save for the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, are not the circumcised. But those who are Christian are the circumcised, for he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh. But he is a Jew who is one inwardly, who has the circumcision, Of the heart, what does that mean? Being born again.
What does that mean? Being regenerated, being born from above. When Paul uses the language of his own will, he brought us forth by the word of truth. That's the circumcision of the heart.
When Peter writes, you were born again, not of corruptible seed, but incorruptible. through the word of God, which lives and abides forever. That is the circumcision of the heart. That is true circumcision. And.
It should be our hope. That our Pato Baptist brothers would fight through the mire of tradition to see the clarity, the clarity of this text as it pertains to those who are truly covenant members. You see, in the New Covenant, covenant members, just like the Old Covenant, are ones who are circumcised. But you see, in the New Covenant, the greater reality ratified and wrought out by Christ is that the circumcised in the New Covenant are all those who have the circumcision of the heart.
All of those who have that circumcision of the heart are the covenant people are true Jews. This is what the Bible sets forth everywhere. And so were they to cast off their perversion of Christ's ordinance, they would embrace the blessed reality of the true circumcision, the true reality of covenant inclusion. All those who worship God in the spirit. rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh.
All of those who are truly saved, who are Christians, are those who make up the covenant community.
Three Marks of the True Circumcision
Notice the language that Paul continues to use here, the threefold description. They worship God in the spirit. The uncircumcision worship God in the spirit. We do not, they do not, worship God with outward, empty, external ritualism.
You see, it was the approach of these dogs, these evil workers, these of the mutilation, to approach God and to seek favor with him religiously and worshipfully. I know that's not a word by external rights of washings and ceremonies and circumcisions and all of these things, a heartless approach to God, whereas the true circumcision, the true Jew worships from the heart. You see, the joy, the joy is there for the true circumcision. And they approach from that position of joy, from that position of thankfulness, from that position of being holy and raptured in the saving power of our perfect God.
And so we worship God in the spirit. You see, it is only the case that new covenant members, that covenant members in the new covenant have the spirit of God first by virtue of salvation. We have been by the spirit of God called from out of darkness into marvelous light by the spirit and the word of power. We as Christians have that reality of the abiding and indwelling spirit.
He dwells within us. We have the surety and the guarantee, the Holy Spirit, which is the seal, our surety, our guarantee of our future redemption, according to Ephesians and chapter one. We have the Spirit as that measure given from God that we might rightly and that we might properly worship and interpret the word and gain illumination from God's revealed will. We worship God in the Spirit.
We rejoice in Christ Jesus. Don't we? If you're a Christian here or if you say you're a Christian and you don't and you don't rejoice in Christ Jesus, then you're wrong. Now, I grant, as Spurgeon did in that wonderful Lord's Day sermon, Lord's Supper sermon many years ago, that the Christian can have a langer, the Christian can have a coldness.
We grant that. But the Christian is always quick in that. To repent and to fly back to that place where the cross is glorious. Where everything about Christ is glorious.
Now, I'm not saying that he apostatizes and comes completely back. What I'm saying is there are, because of remaining corruption, there are things, there are times and there are seasons where there seems to be other things put first. Spurgeon said even of himself, there are times where I think I have almost forgotten my Savior. I have to be reminded. by God and by the word that, yes, my Savior is glorious.
Yes, my Savior is there for me. That's one of the reasons he said, Paul wrote, with regards to the institution of the Lord's Supper, do this in remembrance of me. Why? Because as those with remaining corruption, we are prone to wander, prone to leave the God that we love.
That's why, again, wholesome repetition is necessary. But we are those, brethren, who rejoice in Christ Jesus. Don't we? And time would not allow before the second coming of Christ to exhaust all of the reasons why we are to rejoice.
We just have to think about the fact, brethren, that the second of the Blessed Trinity. Praise of angels. Right, the praise of angels. In his pre-incarnate glory, angels can't cast their eyes upon them, have to hide them with wings.
You know, the prophet is just is just laid, laid before the glory of the pre-incarnate Jesus in Isaiah six, John says in John 12. And he's allowed to look at him. It's not because anything was great in Isaiah. But he was allowed by God to look the pre-incarnate glory of Jesus Christ.
And unlike mad, charismatic evangelists, he didn't just shave. or drive to Tim Hortons with them, not making this stuff up. He pronounced an oral curse upon himself before the majesty of Jesus Christ. Woe is me. Woe is me, for I am undone.
For my eyes behold the King, the Lord of hosts. Right? This one comes down from that place of exalted glory. comes into our lower world. And brethren, again, if he if he had come in the incarnation, dwelt in a mansion on the hills of Jerusalem.
Oh, amazing condescension. Oh, merciful coming forth into this world, the Savior, the second of the Trinity, God, truly God dwelling in a mansion in Jerusalem. Amazing condescension. OK, but he comes further, doesn't he?
He's a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. Men mock him. Men seek to kill him. Jesus had to, engaging and employing his divine prerogatives to protect the redemptive endeavor, had to hide himself with divine power from those seeking to throw him off a cliff, seeking to stone him.
It's the second of the Blessed Trinity who upholds all things by the word of his power. This is the second of the Trinity who gave breath to all those Jews mocking Him. To all those ungodly men who spit on Him. And Jesus, this one, comes into this world to die for sinners.
Right? To die for sinners, brethren, who mocked Him. You ever think of that scene of the cross? You ever think of that scene of the cross?
Unbelieving Jews. casting dispersions upon God. Right. Looking upon Jesus, this one promised over centuries to come and to be the suffering servant, mocking him. Some spit on him.
And brethren, we cast our eyes in that scene. And what do we read? Not too many days after his resurrection, We see in his ascension, we see, in fact, the next the next day, the day of Pentecost. Who are saved on the day of Pentecost?
Jews. Unbelieving Jews. It is not a stretch. It is not a stretch.
To say that there were those on that day of Pentecost who, by the power of God, now laid their eyes of faith upon the exalted king of glory that were on that day of the crucifixion, saying, you set yourself free from their Messiah, mocking him. It's not a stretch. Those who once said his blood be upon us and our children are now availing by his blood and rejoicing in it. Blessed Redeemer, blessed Savior, we rejoice in Christ Jesus because he is perfect in his person.
Perfect in his perfections, all his glorious attributes. We rejoice in Christ Jesus because of the perfection of his work. Not that the perfection of his person is out of view here, but Paul is honing in on the perfection of his work as he's going to get to that. How dare you ungodly dogs drag that doctrine through the mud.
We rejoice in Christ Jesus because he is the perfect champion of salvation. Cut your flesh to add to the perfect work of Jesus. Dogs. Dogs.
No Confidence in the Flesh
And lastly, have no confidence in the flesh. I'm sure we've touched on this. We have during the course of this sermon. Primarily in view is the act of circumcision.
But that's not all that's in view, because Paul goes on to give his resume. What also does boasting in the flesh look like? Circumcised the eighth day, primarily, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews, concerning the law, a Pharisee, concerning zeal, persecuting the church, concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. You see, there are multitudinous ways of having confidence in the flesh.
We'll get to it tonight, but don't be a baptized Pharisee. Right, we derive that Pharisee who's with the tax collector at the temple praying. You know, thank you, God, that I'm not like this other man. Thank you, God, that I fast.
Thank you, God, that I tithe, et cetera. We derive. But don't be the baptized Pharisee that in your Christianity you seek to boast in your flesh while deriding others because they're not like you. Don't heap up to yourself your own little canons, your own little checklist of reasons why you can boast in your Christianity and boast before God.
Brethren, perseverance in the faith, perseverance in Christianity depends not upon anything that you do. That's our confession. Perseverance depends not upon our own free will, but upon what? upon the immutability of the decree of election flowing from the free and sovereign grace of God, by the merits and the intercessory work of Jesus Christ, by the seal of the Spirit, the perfection of the oath of God and the covenant of grace. Brethren, our salvation depends solely and alone upon the triune God, wholesome repetition, here it comes now, who from first to last, midst and throughout, saves without a helper.
We rejoice in Him and we have no confidence in the flesh.
Application
If you're here this morning and you are not believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, you have confidence in the flesh to some degree. It may be confidence in your own system of epistemology, that's the doctrine of knowledge, your own philosophy. It's the love of wisdom. You love your own wisdom.
There's Christianity thing. I don't know. Or it's Christianity thing. I'll say I'll stay close.
I'll stay close. I got some friends here, some family. It's kind of neat. We can talk about stuff before and after church, and I kind of like some people.
But, you know, this whole Jesus thing, I'm going to put that off. I'm going to put that off. Don't, Terry. Don't dangle.
There are multitudinous ways of being ushered into eternity. Ushered into eternity. Vehicles on the road. Maladies.
Things falling from the sky. You read reports of... I'm not making light of it. People dying on a golf course because a tree fell.
People dying sleeping in their house because a plane crashed into it. Or a drunk driver, you know, went over the curb and into their bedroom. Don't think, because you're not, that you are unbreakable. Don't think that you are immortal.
Oh, there is an ever-dying soul. And that is what you need to be concerned about. If you're not safely in Jesus Christ, be convinced of this thing. There is judgment for you and it will not go well.
Depart from me, you wicked, into the lake of fire reserved for the devil and his angels. And that will be a righteous declaration and a holy and a right one. Because time and again, you broke the law of your creator and lawgiver. Because time and again, you trampled upon his precepts and laughed at those who worship the one who only ever perfectly kept them.
Do we perfectly keep them? No. Have we ever? No.
Christians. But we were once those who denied the Lord Jesus Christ and who lived after our iniquities, but by grace, By the amazing and victorious grace of God, we rejoice in Him. And we call upon you to rejoice in this blessed Savior. Why would you set this one away?
Why would you put Him on the shelf? You can't. But you know what I mean. Why would you put Him there?
Glorious in His perfections. Comes down. If you want a hero, kids, Jesus Christ. If you want a hero, Jesus Christ.
Okay? You can't take your hockey cards with you into eternity. You can't take your favorite animated superhero with armor into eternity. We have this false idea of who heroes are.
We have this false idea of condescension. We marvel when a politician stops walking along his path to his limo to shake hands with us civilians. Or, you know, when someone famous, perhaps, you see at an airport, oh, you know, running over to him, sign my flight ticket. Oh, wow, he talked to me.
We have a horrible idea of condescension. The only act, brethren, of true condescension ever is when the son of glory descended from that pinnacle of glory and came and fleshed in a virgin for a life of humility. It's the only act of true condescension ever. So only marvel at that one.
Only marvel at that one and only have this Christ as your hero, because he is the only one that can safely bring you into that blessed eternity where we'll forever sing, Hallelujah, what a Savior. So kids, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Adults, everyone, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. And brethren, rejoice in the Lord.
Guard the truth or to beware of false teachers. Guard the truth with your hardest grip. And we'll see what truth Paul has in view here, because the greatest attack upon the truth always comes upon the work of Jesus Christ, that perfect work. And we'll see that tonight.
But until then, rejoice in the Lord and those who currently do not believe in him and find in him all proper things. for eternal life, all glorious things for life now. And you'll rejoice in him also. Let us pray.
Closing Prayer
God, we thank you so much for the gospel. We thank you so much for Jesus. We thank you, Lord God, for what he did and who he is. Truly, Lord Jesus, we praise you for coming into this world, for departing glory, for coming into this lower world. to live a perfect life of obedience to your father, a perfect, joyful walk of obedience to your father's law on our behalf.
And thank you also on our behalf, Lord Jesus, that you died upon Calvary's tree so as to perfectly secure the salvation of a multitude that no man can number. And we do pray that we would rejoice in you. That that rejoicing would be seen. Being wary of those who seek to oppose your truths.
That we would guard ourselves. That we would guard our hearts and our minds. and that we would rejoice in the fact that we are of the circumcision, not that done in the flesh, but that which is done by you upon the heart in sovereign grace, and that we would rejoice in Christ Jesus, that we would worship you in the spirit, and that we would certainly, most certainly, find no confidence in the flesh. We pray that you'd go with us now. Help us to glory in truth.
Help us to glory in the Christ of truth. Help us, Lord God, to seek in this lower world to live in a manner worthy of our calling by grace. And it's in Christ's name that we pray. Amen.