The text for this afternoon's sermon is found in Philippians chapter 3 and verses 1 to 11. The sermon will only deal with verses 1 to 7, but I will read through 11 for context and in preparation for the next sermon which will be 8 to 11 in a couple weeks. So, Philippians chapter 3, reading verses 1 through 11. Hear God's holy and inspiring word. Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things again is no trouble to me, and it is a safeguard for you. Beware of the dog. Beware of the evil workers. of the mutilation. For we are the true circumcision who worship in the spirit of God in glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh. Although I myself might have confidence even in the flesh. If anyone else has a mind to put confidence in the flesh, I far more circumcise the eighth day of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews, as to the law, a Pharisee, as to zeal, a persecutor of the church, as to righteousness, which is in the law found blameless. But whatever things were gained to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish, so that I may gain Christ. and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, that I may know him. and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings being conformed to His death, in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead." God sends a reading of God's Holy Word. Let's go to Him in prayer and ask His blessing upon the preaching of it. Father in Heaven, once again we call upon You and ask You to now come and attend to the preaching of the Word. Would You be pleased to bless it Attend to it, send forth your Son, your eternal Word, and the power of your Spirit, to bring glory and honor to yourself, to exalt our Lord Jesus, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and to do good to your saints at this hour. We pray all this in Jesus' name, amen. So, the sermon title was Christ Our End, or Christ Our Goal. I think I'm going to change it to look out, would perhaps be the alternate sermon title, being that I will not get through verse 11. But what we've learned so far is, in the book of Philippians, that Christ is everything to the believer. That's the short and sweet. He's everything to the believer. In the first chapter, we learn that Christ is the life of the believer. In chapter two, we learn that Christ is the example of the believer. And we saw Paul give us these living examples. He's been giving us himself as this example of a Christ imitator all throughout the epistle, but he gave us two concrete examples in our last section. And in this section now, as we move into chapter three, we will see that Christ is the goal of the believer. Christ is the goal of Paul. Christ our end. is what I wanted us to take away from this, but since it's still gonna be run throughout the sermon, we'll keep that title, but a lot of what we're gonna see is the warning passage, or the warning parts, which say look out or beware. And so, turning to verse one, finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord, and finally, It has been a word of much debate. I believe this signals a transition in the letter. We're moving to a new topic, in short. It could be translated in addition to, or as to what remains, or beyond that. Now, some will take the word as a concluding word, as it sounds, finally, as it's translated, a concluding word, and take this as Paul meaning to conclude, but then sort of being compelled to write this short polemic against Judaism. It is a plausible view, but I think the former fits better. And once again, liberal scholars take this as being a conclusion to his letter, and the remainder to be from a piece of another letter, whether by Paul or someone else, that later were brought together, and now we have the Epistles of the Philippians. But we hold it to be one letter, written by Paul, at one date. and all this, the evidence, sorry, to be one letter as all evidence points to its recognition in its entirety early and often. And he starts by saying, finally, my brethren, rejoice. And we've discussed joy and rejoicing in this letter, but another reminder for us as to the nature of rejoicing or the nature of joy, and Peter O'Brien says of rejoice, He says, not a superficial cheerfulness that ignores life's realities, but a joy that takes into account the Philippians' hardships and recognizes God's mighty working in and through those circumstances to fulfill His own gracious purposes in Christ. This definition wonderfully ties together so many points in the letter that we've already touched upon. You might call to mind Philippians 1.29, for to you it has been granted for Christ's sake not only to believe in Him but also to suffer. Philippians 2.13, for it is God who is at work in you both to will and to work for His good pleasure. Chapter 1, verse 6, I am sure of this, that he who began the good work in you will complete it until the day of Christ. And borrowing from other Pauline literature, that 1 Thessalonians 5, 18, and everything give thanks for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. Again, there in the context of trouble and suffering. This is the sense of rejoice that we need to be reminded of constantly. I was thinking, as many of you know about my uncle, Mark Lizholm, this morning. He's dying, probably on his last years, five years tops, perhaps. He's experiencing suffering for multiple quarters. And I'm thinking to myself, can he rejoice in this situation? The answer is yes, I'm sure he has. Even when from outside, some would think and look at him as a miserable or perhaps even cursed man. But if he is rejoicing in the Lord, that is, if he understands that he lacks nothing in Christ, that whatever happens to his body, however long he gets here, that he lacks nothing in Christ. If he's rejoicing in the Lord, then he has it all. And it's in the Lord, as Paul says. It could be thought of confidence in the Lord. Psalmist says, trust in him at all times, O people. But further, the Lord, The Lord is the only true ground of our joy. He's the only true ground of our joy. He is the object of joy. He is the source of joy. It can only be in Him. All of those being encapsulated under in the Lord. What else could be the cause and means of rejoicing? Really, there's nothing. And you think about rejoicing the Lord. What is Paul, what is he? What has He told us about the Lord Jesus Christ so far? Well, if you think back to the Lord of Philippians chapter two, the one who was humbled to the point of death, even death on the cross, but then was exalted as a result of His obedience. That's the Lord. Rejoice in the Lord who even now sits at the right hand of the Father with all power and authority given in His hand. Rejoice in that Lord. That's the Lord to rejoice in. And it's the foundation. This is the foundation upon which Paul moves forward here as a Christian soldier. He says it so that when false teachers want you to boast in the flesh, when they want you to do that in any way, shape, or form, or take you away from Christ, you already have your joy in the Lord. That's what he's saying here. If you already have your joy in the Lord, you will be on guard against it. He admonishes them to rejoice, then goes right into a warning. You notice that in the text, it kinda seems a little bit odd at first glance. It might strike you as sort of out of place, but it's not at all. Rejoicing in the Lord is the foundation of the warning. Rejoicing in the Lord is the foundation of the warning to beware. In other words, if you're rejoicing in the Lord Jesus Christ, if that is your foundation, you will be less easily thrown off. You won't be thrown off that foundation. And further, you will recognize the slightest drift off of the rock that is Christ to more sandy establishments that will be put forward by false teachers. Rejoice in the Lord first. If not, you won't detect the dogs, et cetera. And he says to write the same things again is no trouble to me, and it is a safeguard for you. He's discussed this before with them. He discusses false teaching epistle. Warning against false teaching isn't a light matter. False teaching, just like lawless living, drives souls to hell. Persisting in false teaching is as disastrous to the soul as persisting in fornication, drunkenness, anger, you name it. In either case, will that soul enter the kingdom of heaven? No way. And this probably strikes our modern ears funny, but the Athanasian Creed gets it right. Athanasian Creed says, whoever does not keep the Catholic faith whole and unbroken will doubtless perish eternally. Catholic faith means universal faith. To fall off the foundation is what they're saying. Who God is as triune God and the salvation he has wrought in Christ, his person and word, to fall off that foundation is to fall into eternal ruin. And it is subtle, hence the admonition to vigilance that we have here. We are to always be watching. Threefold repetition of watch. Falling away from Christ our solid rock doesn't happen overnight. It starts with entertaining this idea, then this idea, or that one, until finally you got yourself upon sinking sand. Verse two says, beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of the false circumcision or mutilation. Beware is look, to look intently, pay careful attention. Why? Again, because it won't be obvious. We have so many examples of this. You think of the coral snake versus the king snake. Black touch yellow kill a fellow, red touch black a friend of Jack. It's not obvious if you aren't taught to look, but it's deadly. if not avoided, if not understood. I was in Florida for work about 15 years ago and went on a trail that said, beware of rattlesnakes. They will go out and sun themselves on the trail. If you walk onto a rattlesnake sunning in the sun or sunning on the trail and get bit, you're in a life-threatening situation. Hence the warning before entering the trail. We give warnings when circumstances are dire. And that's what Paul is communicating here. Beware, beware of who? The dogs. The dogs are these Judaizers. And here are the Judaizers that Paul is referring to. Acts 15.1 says, some men came down from Judea and began teaching their brethren, unless you are circumcised, according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved. They're the dogs. And dogs, as I'm sure you know, is a derogatory term. Let's listen to this entry from Vincent's word studies on dogs. He says, Dr. Thompson says of the dogs in oriental towns, Quote, they lie about the streets in such numbers as to render it difficult and often dangerous to pick one's way over and amongst them. A lean, hungry, and sinister brood, they have no owners, but upon some principle known only to themselves, they combine into gangs, each of which assumes jurisdiction over a particular street, and they attack with the utmost ferocity all canine intruders into their territory. In those contests, and especially during the night, they keep up an incessant barking and howling such as is rarely heard in any European city. The imprecations of David upon his enemies derive their significance, therefore, from this reference to one of the most odious of oriental nuances." It was especially dogs, now. It was especially derogatory. toward the Gentiles. With this in view, the Jews referred to the Gentiles as Gentile dogs, outside of the covenant. And what Paul does here is amazing. This reversal by Paul is staggering. It is these Judaizers who are now considered the Gentile dogs. In other words, he's saying, you guys are standing outside the covenant blessings because of what calls them evil workers or deceitful workers. Does Paul have an issue with working? No. Does Paul have an issue with the law? No. He has an issue with the motive to work, with the order in which one views salvation in relation to their work, and with putting work ahead of or alongside of Christ. As to our salvation, that is an evil work, and that's not the work of God. They thought they were carrying out the work of God. Rather, they are evil workers, as Paul says. I believe it's in Revelation where it says, they will kill you and think they are doing service to God. That's what's going on here. They think they're doing service to God, but they're bringing souls to damnation with them. And he says, beware of the mutilation. Greek term is katatomi. Paul has used alliteration for his three warnings here. all starting with kappa, is kunas, kakus, and katatomain. And this katatomain word is a play on the word circumcision, which is perikatomain. Its only other use, katakatomain, is found in Leviticus 21.5. This is very interesting. Leviticus 21.5, they shall not make any baldness on their heads, nor shave off the edges of their beards, nor make any cuts in their flesh. As for the idea, Paul may have referenced 1 Kings 18.28, so they cried out with a loud voice and cut themselves, according to their custom, with swords and lances until the blood gushed out on them. That's what he's making this practice equivalent to. He's using satire. He refers to their practice as something forbidden in the Mosaic law. Forbidden in the Mosaic law, that they upheld. Your practice of mutilation, rather than being holy and acceptable to the Lord, is a profanation to Him. It's on par with pagan religion, is what he's saying. This is how we would measure, today in our day and age, this is how we'd measure those who require tongue speaking, or rather babbling, as a mark of saving faith or membership. It's a profanation. It's akin to pagan practice as well. Nothing to the Christian faith at all. And I'll say, this is not all Charismatics and Pentecostals, but only those who would require such. Not sure if we have any of those in this community, but beware. And we see the Papists filling out this description up to this day as well. That's low-hanging fruit. They want to talk well of Christ and His grace and faith, but at the end of the day, they boast in the flesh. It is up to the flesh to finish. There is no looking to Christ or His righteousness that may be a guide or model for you, according to Rome, but certainly not something you possess by faith, not something that can be held onto or assured of. Listen to Trent on assurance and faith, Canon 15. This is the Roman Catholic teaching. This is canonized for them. If anyone says that a man who is born again and justified is bound of faith to believe that he is assuredly in the number of the predestinant, let him be anathema. That's Roman Catholic teaching. You cannot have assurance. If you try to have assurance as a Christian, Rome considers you anathema. These are the dogs. These are the evil workers. They want you not to glory in Christ, not to put your hope and trust in Him, not to be certain that you are to be found in Him, in His righteousness alone, but they want you to glory in your own flesh. Summarizing this first two verses from the help of Jerualem of Zanke, he says, for the meaning is, because false teachers, especially those who are of the circumcision, are difficult to pick out, Everyone ought to be on guard against them and preserve himself in the received apostolic teaching. It is, therefore, also necessary to carefully identify and keep an eye on false teachers so that they can be avoided. Once again, this comes back to something that we've discussed in our confession class, is know the faith. You ought to know the faith. It ought not to be pastor or brother so-and-so, what do we believe about sanctification? Or what do we believe about justification? Or what do we believe about God? These are basic things that you ought to know and you ought to be able to detect. You ought to be able to hear in somebody having a conversation whether or not they are trying to get you to glory in the flesh or whether or not they are glorying in Christ. It's for every believer, but especially the teachers and leaders of the church, but every believer ought to be aware of false teaching. Verse three, for we are the true circumcision, who worship in the spirit of God and glory Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh. Who's we? Who's we here? Paul's a Jew, and the folks they are trying to force circumcision upon are who? They are Gentiles. And here's another amazing reversal that's to be considered. The Gentiles are the circumcision. The true circumcision, Paul says, along with believing Jews. Paul and Peter, for example. Which implies that all along, circumcision, their national identity, pointed to something greater, something beyond it. Here is the new covenant community made up of both Jew and Gentile under the same covenant, speaking the same gospel language, with the same gospel ordinances, with the same goal of expanding the gospel to the ends of the earth. What was circumcision's purpose, or what was its end? To bring about Christ, to deploy to Him. Nick Batzig sums it up in this statement here. He says, on the cross, Jesus fulfilled the promise of God to die for the sins of his people. The sins of the elect were imputed to him and the floodwaters of God's wrath were poured out on him as the object of God's covenant curses. Jesus was cut off. From the land of the living, Isaiah 53.8, the promise of covenant curse typified in the cutting off element of circumcision was enacted against Jesus at Calvary. By his sacrifice, Jesus cuts off the filth of our sin. Christ became a curse for us so that we might become recipients of the covenant blessings by faith in him. See Galatians 3.10-14. And further, the true circumcision, as Paul says, worships in the Spirit of the Father and glories in Christ. We're gonna see, hopefully, the fulfillment of John 17 in our next sermon in verses eight to 11. And wonderfully enough, John 14 to 16 has found its fulfillment here in Philippians. The Trinitarian nature of worship is what Paul is bringing to us here. What is the Spirit? promised to do in John 14 to 16, to point to Christ, to bring Christ to remembrance, to magnify Christ. So how do you know if you or someone else is worshiping in such a way? The question is, do they glory in Christ? Do they have Christ's spirit bearing witness to His glory? Or is there something else that gets them to tick? You know, there's so many different ways that we can come off this foundation, that we can get on to some good Christian duty. We can get on to something that's really good and right, a virtue, let's say, and be lifted off this foundation. Beware, not only of others outside of you, but beware of your own tendency and your own heart to do this, brothers and sisters. And once again, Rome is so obvious in the way that it pulls us off, it pulls people off of Christ. The papal office, that great antichrist, usurping his threefold office, Mary, sacraments, et cetera. But think of evangelicalism today, the subtle ways that Christians also do this. The social gospel, cultural transformation, eschatology can do this. Beware, you don't do this yourself, and how? How do you beware? By glorying in the Christ of the unadulterated gospel. That must drive the heart and soul of the Christian, constantly. That must be your end, your goal. If it's not, then the only thing you're gonna do as a Christian who is duty-bound and wants to please their Lord, is you're gonna find other ways, other things, other things to emphasize. that while, again, may be good and right, aren't the end and goal of the Christian, which is Christ, as we'll learn more of next time. And every act of worship and service must flow out of your gracious union with Him in justification. It must be in Him as He indwells you by His Spirit. It must be to Him as He indwells you by His Spirit. And it must be back to the Father as the source and font. Or put another way, according to John 14 to 16, what else would the Spirit in you do? Would He do anything else than point you to Christ, to the glory of God the Father? The answer is no, because from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. Glory be to God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit, ever three and ever one, as it was in the beginning is now and will be forever. And this Trinitarian formula that we hear is very wonderful in light of the false teaching we've addressed. Just think about the way that the church has stood on this for centuries in the midst of all sorts of attacks. Verses four to six now. I'll read the text, Paul gives us his resume. Although I myself might have confidence even in the flesh, if anyone else has a mind to put confidence in the flesh, I far more. Circumcised the eighth day of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews, as to the law of Pharisee, as to zeal, a persecutor of the church, as to the righteousness which is in the law found blameless. Here's his resume, his pedigree, his credentials. In short, he's a first-rate Jew. you really couldn't be any higher than Him as to His birthright, the tribe He's from, and so on. And not only as we see that He talked the talk as a Pharisee teacher, He walked the walk. He's an expert of the law as a teacher and He's zealous in its exercise, persecuting the church. He's blameless, not sinless, but blameless. He had done everything in his ability, this is what it means, everything in his ability, and according to the law, to be blameless before the Lord. He could rightly be said to be blameless. He had availed himself of all means of purity and ceremonial cleansing according to the old covenant. First-rate Jewish citizen. Remember how the Roman citizens had such pride and privilege. We talked about that, and I think this is certainly on Paul's mind. We still have this today. We know what it means to have a name and a reputation. I have the privilege in the gymnastics community of being a Tobler boy. Being a Tobler boy gave me great privilege. Early on in my gymnastics teaching career, I could have got a job darn near anywhere. And what's the point? Paul has won his case. He's won the case. If anyone has cause to boast, I far more, and he's absolutely right. But what does he do next? What does Paul do now? He takes that resume and he tears it out. His credentials, his pedigree, throw it away. Whatever things were gained to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. This is all nothing to Paul. And we need to see our achievements in the same way. Maybe we're hanging on to something like this. Growing up in a Christian family, having a good Christian upbringing, church attendance, good deeds done. Whatever it is, we probably run this list on and on. If you're clinging to any of these things, you need to let them go. And you need to glory more in Christ. There's a real sense Yes, in which you will be rewarded for God's work in you. You will be rewarded for God's work in you. It sounds odd, but that's the truth of it. But that will be rewards that you're not conscious of. You won't really know. All those things will be added to you as well when you seek first His kingdom and His righteousness. Now you need to see Him as your life. imitate him as your example, and see him as your goal, as the end of your life. As we'll learn next time, Paul is striving. He is striving after Christ to be found in him. You say, aren't you already united to him, Paul? He's striving after him. There's a sense in which he's not reached the goal yet. He's not there yet. He even says, if I may attain to the resurrection from the dead, Christ is our all in all. He's the meaning of our life. He is our life. He's our pattern. He is our source. He is our goal. Can you boast or glory or hope in Christ too much? Can you desire Him too much? The answer is no. And so as we come upon This wonderful next section that I will once again read to conclude us here, in the coming weeks, let us give consideration about our end, about our goals, and those two things as they relate to Christ. May it be that each and every one of us would seek Christ in everything, outdo one another in pursuing Christ as our end. Verses eight to 11. More than that, I count all things to be lost in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings being conformed to His death, in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. Please pray with me. Our Father in heaven, once again we give you thanks for your holy word. We thank you for this wonderful epistle of the Philippians that Paul wrote to the Philippians under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. And Holy Spirit, we pray that you would be pleased once again to come and to teach us, to illuminate our minds and hearts to what we've heard in this text today, and even to what we've heard in previous sermons. Would this book, would this epistle be a means of challenging us of giving us a greater love for You, a greater love for You, our Triune God, a greater love for You, our Lord Jesus Christ, a greater panting after You, desiring to unify as a body, imitate You toward one another together in this community. Lord, work all these wonderful things out in us that we have heard in weeks past and that we will hear in the weeks ahead. To our good, to your glory, we pray this in Jesus' name, amen.