Well then, if you haven't already, if you can grab your Bibles and get them open to Philippians chapter 3, and that's where we're going to spend most of our time together this morning. And as you're doing that, I want you to think of perhaps one of the very first jobs that you may have had. Probably around your mid-teens, when for many of us, our first jobs would have involved delivering things to people's doors. Maybe it was a paper round, or leaflet dropping, or something like that. That was maybe your first job. Or maybe it's the case that one of your first jobs was a delivery driver, delivering something like pizza or curries. I remember when my brother got a job as a delivery driver working for the local curry house and then every week he would bring home a whole load of free curries. Smelt wonderful. So I want you to think about some of these, maybe these first jobs that you had when you were delivering things. And if you're not familiar with this experience, then maybe you can think of a time when you were dropping leaflets through doors for church or something like that. And if you've done any of these things at some point in your life, you will know there is no experience more terrifying than approaching a house that has a sign on the window or a sign on the fence that reads in big capital letters, Beware of the dog. So you know it, that's good. And in those cases, you'd approach the house a little bit more gingerly, and no sooner have you walked halfway up the drive, you hear this ferocious sound of a dog barking and charging towards the door. So you timidly put your leaflet through the door and quickly pull your hand away to prevent it from getting bitten off. Or maybe if you're a delivery driver, you press the doorbell with a lot of apprehension, unsure of what sort of welcome you might be about to get. And after you've heard all of this commotion behind the door, the door is answered and there behind the door is this terrifying pug ready to scare you. But here in our text today, we see the Apostle Paul issuing a similar warning. Beware of the dog. And what Paul is doing is emphasising and underlining for us the huge importance of caution in the Christian life. What we are warned of here is that there are certain people and certain groups who are used by Satan to try and distract us, to harm us and to derail our walks with God. People who sometimes may appear as Christians, people who come across as very devout, as very godly people, but in reality their intentions are pretty evil. Their intentions are to do damage to the church. We see this in lots of different ways. Sometimes it's through adding little bits onto the gospel to the point where the gospel actually means something quite different. Other times it's casting doubt over whether the Bible really means what it says. Sometimes it's by outright denying God and teaching a false system of religion. And this is the sort of erroneous teaching that Paul is warning us against today. We saw last time, if you were here at the end of August when we last looked at the last few verses of chapter 2, that Paul is a man who is greatly concerned for the future health of the church. And so in his letters he would often give certain directions and pieces of advice and instructions to help us in our growth, in our walk with God. And today he is primarily concerned about making sure that the Christians in the Philippian church, the original recipients of these words, but by extension those of us, all of us in the church of Jesus Christ today are equipped to protect ourselves from things that may harm us. And he grabs our attention by using those words famously pinned on doors and garden fences around the country. Verse 2, beware of dogs. Beware of the dog. It's a classic case of Paul really not wanting to mince his words, isn't it? Talking about false teachers, talking about people who teach the Bible with selfish intentions, Paul calls them dogs. So that's my title. If you want one for your notes this morning, our title is very simple. Those words that you'll see next time when you're doing a leaflet drop. Beware of the dog. And for us to study these three verses and understand more about how we are to protect ourselves, will you notice that Paul encourages us to protect ourselves in three different ways. First of all, he encourages us to protect ourselves by rejoicing. we will secondly see that he encourages us to protect ourselves by discerning, and finally we protect ourselves by worshipping. Okay, so let's notice firstly that Paul encourages us to protect ourselves from the dogs by rejoicing. Look at verse one with me. Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. Rejoice! It's a word that appears time and time again, that we have heard time and time again through this series in the book of Philippians. Rejoicing is something that Paul constantly wants to get across to these people. It's something that he wants to continuously giving them, and it's a reminder that he will never get tired of giving to them. Look at the end of verse 1. Rejoice in the Lord, for me to write the same things to you is not tedious. I'm not getting fed up of saying the same thing again and again. Continuously I'm telling you, rejoice in the Lord. He's not fed up of doing it. Why not? Because this is a man who, he was someone who knew that rejoicing is how you see the good in every situation. Rejoicing is how you see the good in every difficult trial that you go through. There he is, locked up under house arrest. There he is, in the earlier stages of this book, lamenting at how some people are running roughshod over the gospel. There he is, wishing honestly that he could depart this earthly life so that he could go and be with Christ, and yet still, in all of these circumstances, he is rejoicing. And if we look throughout the first two chapters, we see constant reminders of the reasons why we rejoice, and they can be broken down into three main categories, threeologies, if you like. First of all, we see him telling us to rejoice through theology. Then we see him talking about Christology, and finally Doxology. We're going to unpack those three categories very quickly. So first of all, we are given reason to rejoice because of theology. And when we talk about theology, we are very simply talking about the study of the character of God. That's why it's really important there in verse 1 we are told rejoice in the Lord. We are to rejoice in our understanding of God. Theology is the study and understanding of how God behaves and how he works and even more than that it is to know who he is. That is why being a theologian is not a job reserved just for a few pointy heads or Bible nerds. No, it is the job of every single Christian to be a theologian. If you're a Christian this morning, you are a theologian. And it is by growing in our understanding of God, it is by growing in our knowledge of Him that we will be able to grow in our walk with Him, in our depth of love for Him. So you must seek Him out, you must find Him in His Word and in prayer. Otherwise we end up running the risk of being really passionate about a walk with a God that we don't know very well. That's no way to live out the Christian life. In the previous two chapters, Paul unpacks important theological truths such as the Christian's perseverance and total security, meaning that once God has got you, he has got you forever. He unpacks the confidence and the boldness that is given to us by God. He unpacks the theology of suffering and why it is that God will sometimes allow us to endure hardship and trial for his name and explains that in all of this and through all of this wonderful theology we are able to, verse 1, rejoice. So we are to rejoice in theology. He secondly, throughout the first few chapters, tells us that we are to rejoice through Christology. Now this may be a word that you've heard before. Christology is a type of theology, but when we talk about Christology, we refer specifically to the study of the work, nature, and offices of the Lord Jesus Christ. Christology is to get a right understanding of who Jesus is biblically. You will see that there are many religions today who will tell you that Jesus was a really good moral teacher. There are plenty of religions out there that will tell you that Jesus was a really good example or a really good prophet and a good person to follow, but to have a right Christology is to understand who he is as a man and how he can be both truly God and truly man at exactly the same time. Christology is to properly understand the offices, the roles that Jesus plays, how he is our prophet and our priest and our king. And Paul unpacks all of this in the first two chapters. He shows us how Jesus is our prophet by revealing to us a great salvation. He shows to us how Christ is a priest by laying down his life as a sacrifice for our sin. And Paul shows us how Christ is our king by explaining how every single creature will submit to his kingship and to his lordship. Perhaps one of the greatest statements or confessions of Christology are in those few words in chapter 2 and verse 6 to 11. Though he was in the very form of God, in the very nature of God, he did not consider its robbery to be counted equal with God, but made himself of no reputation taking the form of a servant and being found in the likeness of men, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. And now at the name of Jesus every knee will bow in heaven and on earth. and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. And that is a summary of Christology, and in all of that wonder, and in all of that beauty of who Christ is, we are able to, verse 1, chapter 3, rejoice. And then finally, Paul, throughout this book of Philippians, tells us that we are to rejoice in the Lord and protect ourselves by using doxology. Now, this is maybe a word that you have heard and referred to before, but don't know the exact meaning of it. Now, doxology is a little bit different from the other two. Doxology is simply an outburst or an expression of praise to God. focusing on his glory and his splendour. That's what doxology is, it is an expression of praise specifically focused on God's glory. And you will see some significant ones dotted around the Bible, but they are particularly used in Paul's writings to summarise what he has been writing with a portion of thanksgiving or worship. And we see them planted around the book of Philippians as well. You could say that chapter 1 and verse 3 is in a way a doxology. Chapter 1 and verse 11 has a tiny bit of doxology in there too, but of course the big one is in chapter 2, verses 10 and 11. At the name of Jesus every knee will bow and every tongue confess that he is Lord. We sometimes sing the doxology, don't we? And we will do, at the conclusion of this service. To one final time, express our outward praise and thanksgiving to God. Praise God, from whom all blessings flow. Praise him, all creatures here below. Praise him above, ye heavenly hosts. Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. And you see, doxology is actually a really important part of the Christian life. having those moments of outburst of praise to God actually helps us to continue to have an attitude and a mindset and a disposition towards praise and rejoicing. Doxology gives us something to anchor our rejoicing to, so it is important that we have these parts of the Bible and it's important that we have these portions of praise in our hymn books that allow us to express just how much we love the glory of God. A rejoicing attitude is what keeps us safe. That's why Paul puts it there, for me to write the same things to you, reminding them constantly to rejoice in the Lord, it's not tedious but for you it is safe. Other translations translate that it is a safeguard, and that helps us. It is a safeguard for us to continually be rejoicing. It is the way we protect ourselves from the dogs. It is the way we protect ourselves from the evil workers, verse 2, that would seek to disturb us. A constant attitude of rejoicing keeps us from falling away. A constant attitude of rejoicing protects us in our contentment with God. You see, sometimes when we're going through trial and going through difficulty and suffering of all different kinds, we will very quickly turn to the obvious parts of the Bible, the obvious parts of the Bible which will give us an immediate balm of comfort. And there's nothing wrong with that. In fact, you must do that. But in those times, when we're undone, when we're tired, when we're grieving, we sometimes forget that our greatest strength And our greatest triumph is being able to rejoice in the vastness and the wonder and the glory and the amazement and the beauty and the sheer bigness of God. You see, when you're going through difficulty and trial, rejoice in that, that your God is so much bigger than your situation. Your God is so much greater than your worst pain or your worst grief. I want to give you this morning the Romans 11 verses 33 to 36 challenge. The next time you face difficulty, the next time you face challenge and trial, go to the Bible and get all of those verses out there that give you comfort, but finish with this, those verses that you read in Romans 11 verses 33 to 36. You might want to turn there as well. O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments! How inscrutable his ways! For who has known the mind of our God? And who has been his counsellor? Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid? For from him and through him and to him are all things. to him be the glory for ever and ever. Amen. Anchor yourselves to those words. Hold on to the word of life that you may be able to rightly worship and rejoice and discern what is right. And so that's why I want us to notice secondly that Paul tells us to protect ourselves by discerning Discernment. Discerning means for us to make wise and biblical judgments, thinking biblically about situations. That's what essentially it means. It's being able to rightfully separate truth from error, that's the first thing, but it also means to be able to separate the primary issues, the things that are most important, from the secondary and the kind of less important issues in the Bible. It means being able to discern or to work out who is good to spend time with and who is not good to spend time with. It means being able to work out whose Bible teaching is good to listen to and who is not helpful or who is teaching wrong theology. Now discernment does not mean being really judgmental and constantly finding fault and picking holes in everything and calling everyone who disagrees with you a heretic. That is not what discernment is. But discernment is something that is important in the Christian life because there are people out there, as Paul warns us, who are there to disturb us, who are there to distract us and take us away from the gospel. Discernment is achieved in one way. It is achieved through the Word of God. Verse 1 again, These are the words that you must listen to, is what he's essentially saying here. is you must continually go back to these words, you must continually go back to these things, just before he gives the instruction to beware of the dogs, to beware of evildoers, he is saying to them, constantly, go back to these same things in the Bible, time and time again. We must be like the Bereans in Acts 17. Do you remember what they're like in Acts 17? They're eager to hear the word of God. They're eager to hear more and more about Him. They're eager to hear brilliant sermons and preaching. They're eager to hear Bible studies. But what is it that they always do every time they hear the Word preached, every time they hear the Bible taught? They tested everything they heard against the Scriptures. And that is what we should do. It's why it's so good to stand in a pulpit and see people with their Bibles wide open, making sure that what you're hearing, even from this pulpit, is actually biblical and is actually true. So if we're going to be discerning, if in our day and age when there is so much out there that could distract us and blow us off course and cause us to be confused, or even worse, cause us to abandon the faith altogether, if against this backdrop we are going to stand firm and remain resolute, we must fasten ourselves to the Bible. We must cling to it, we must rely on it, we must find in it our hope and our truth so that we can understand the gospel properly. And if you master this book, if you master this Word of God, when false teaching comes our way, we will be able to identify it and dismiss it quickly. If we are to be discerning, if we are going to be able to protect and defend the Gospel, then we must master the Bible. It is for me to write the same things to you again and again and again. We are to remind ourselves of these things again and again. Verse 1, what Paul is essentially saying here is that it's not the first time I've said these things to you. It's not the first time I've told you to rejoice in the Lord, it's not the first time I've told you to look out for people who will try and tear apart the Gospel, but it's worth repeating again to safeguard you, to look after you, rejoice in the Lord, watch out and be careful. and repeat the word of God to yourselves. And we must have this attitude, talking to ourselves, preaching to ourselves. Some people will say that talking to yourself is a sign of madness. Don't listen to them. Talk to yourself daily. Sometimes we do too much listening to ourselves and not enough talking to ourselves. When those anxieties and those fears come into our mind, preach back to yourself the gospel that you know. Yes, I know that all of these things are going on in my life. Yes, I know the future is uncertain, but I have a saviour who looks after me, who protects me. Memorise scripture. Memorise Bible verses that will help you. Sing to yourself. and repeat this wonderful truth to you daily, that the Lord Jesus Christ is mine. Chapter one and verse six, the God who started a good work in me will finish it, will bring it to completion. And Paul doesn't see this as a burden. He says he doesn't find it tedious in verse one. He very much views leaning on the scriptures and leaning on the word of God as a joy, as a privilege, and how often we find ourselves having the opposite attitude. Well, I suppose I'd better read my Bible. I suppose I'd better quickly have a quick flick through the Bible, just to tick that box. Or I'm far too busy to read the Bible. I don't have time. I've got time for everything else, but I just don't have time. I'll have to cut my Bible reading out today. Perhaps we don't audibly say these things, but in some ways it is our attitude sometimes, isn't it? that we don't see clinging on to the Bible, we don't see gathering with his people, we don't see prayer as a privilege, so we must lean on the Word of God. It is not the first time it's been said, but it is worth repeating again and again. He says these things again and again for one very simple reason. There is a sense in which there's nothing new about the Gospel. There's nothing new to say, and so that is why I write the same things to you again. There's nothing new about this gospel. Always watch out when there's people who say, I've got a new word from God, or I've got a new revelation from God. No, there is one gospel on which we stand for all eternity, and it is this, that the Son has rescued me. you see our minds are constantly hooked on getting the latest new thing. And that's kind of one of the things that Paul is warning people about here, is that our minds have a disposition sometimes to want the latest new thing. And this is how false teachers often work. They present themselves with these new ideas or this new way of worshipping God. And I don't know if any of you know why the 27th of September was a significant date for people with Xboxes and Playstations all around the world. 27th of September was a significant date because the new FIFA came out. Brilliant game if you wanted to take Gillingham from League 2 to the Champions League in six seasons. But back in my day, a few years ago, when I was at school, people would queue around the block at Game and Argos and different shops like that to get their hands on the new FIFA game. And it would cost about 50 pounds. And very quickly, you put it into your Xbox and find out that it's exactly the same game as the year before, with a few minor enhancements that's just cost me 50 pounds. But there's something about our mind and our disposition that wants the latest new thing. that is obsessive about the latest new thing. And what Paul is saying is we mustn't be like that with the Word of God. If you are, you are already halfway there into falling into the trap of these dogs and these evil workers. that he warns us about. He tells us to beware and be discerning. So he tells us there in verse two, beware of the dogs, beware of evil workers. This is a really hard verse to read if you're a dog person. It's a really hard verse to read if you just love dogs. But first century dogs, in this context, were not the lovely domesticated pets that give us love and loyalty and company. They were aggressive, wolf-like scavengers who had to kill, steal, and destroy in order to survive. And that is what he compares false teaching to. They will kill you if they can. Not necessarily physically, but spiritually, they will kill you. He uses the dog symbolism to illustrate just how destructive false teaching can be, and how the damage they cause is very difficult to repair. I don't know whether you've ever given a soft toy to a puppy or to a particularly energetic dog, and you'll find out very quickly that that does not remain a stuffed toy for very long at all, and before too long It's ripped apart and there's bits of white fluff all over the living room. Well, that is exactly how false teachers can be. Their simple goal, their simple ambition is to destroy and to be destructive. so verse 2 he says, beware of the dogs beware of the dogs and that's actually a reference to the words found in the prophecy of Isaiah in Isaiah 56 turn there if you can Isaiah 56 and verses 10 and 11 talking about irresponsible leaders talking about false teachers we read this his watchmen are blind They are all ignorant, they are all dumb dogs. They cannot bark, sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber. Yes, they are greedy dogs, which never have enough. And they are shepherds who cannot understand. They all look to their own way. Everyone for his own gain, from his own territory. they all look to their own way, everyone for his own gain. Ring any bells? Haven't we already seen this type of person described in the book of Philippians? Chapter 1 and verse 17, if you turn back to the book of Philippians, we'll read how Paul warns us of these people. Verse 16, sorry, talking about these people, he says they preach Christ from selfish ambition. from selfish ambition. And then in chapter two and verse 21, he praises Timothy, he talks about how useful Timothy is, and then he says, but everyone else, so many other teachers, they seek their own ambitions, they seek their own gain, not that of Christ Jesus. And here he is again reminding us, telling us to watch out, as there are those out there, inside and outside of the church, who make it their intention to use the name of Christ and who preach the name of Christ to advance their own agendas. So they can get money, so they can get fame, so they can get popularity or control. And in our day and age this still happens. You may see it in the Roman Catholic Church, teaching a different gospel, teaching a different way of salvation, that actually there are lots of different things that you have to do in order to maintain the grace that you have received. Other times you'll see it through a prosperity gospel, that actually the gospel is all about health and wealth and that God just wants you to be happy. Other times we'll see it from a free and easy gospel, a kind of liberal theology. Okay, they don't deny all of the truths of the Bible, but they cast out in certain areas. Did God really say that when he said that? Or did he really mean what he said there in that particular part of the Bible? But here this morning, Paul specifically addresses a type of false teaching that was doing the rounds in the first century context in which he was writing in. Look with me at verse 2 and the first part of verse 3. He tells them to beware of the mutilation. Why? Well, it's because there was a concept being taught by false teachers that in order to really be a Christian, in order to really be saved, you must do some sort of act. In this case, it's circumcision. You must do something, you must do something to maintain or to gain salvation and here there are people in the church or people trying to infiltrate the church by saying you need to be circumcised. He says they are promoting a mutilation and this is kind of his sarcastic way of referencing their desire to see Old Testament laws and Old Testament customs, they still want them to be followed. They're teaching that these Old Testament and these Old Testament ways should still be followed, and that is based on an incorrect assertion and teaching that circumcision somehow saved you. And that is never correct. Don't listen to anybody who tells you that the way Old Testament people and Old Testament believers were saved was different, suggesting that they were saved through circumcision. Don't listen to that kind of teaching. And that kind of teaching still exists in a modern context as well today, teaching you that you have to do certain things for God in order to be saved. Maybe it's taking the sacraments, taking communion, being baptised. Maybe you have to have a certain spiritual gift or a certain spiritual experience to truly be saved. But Paul calls it out very directly and in a very matter-of-fact sort of way, saying, no, we don't need to be circumcised, no, we don't need to observe these Old Testament regulations anymore. Why? Because the first part of verse 3, we are the circumcision. Now this is where it gets just a little bit complicated, so listen carefully. Circumcision was an act and a ritual that was followed by Old Testament, or what we might call Old Covenant, believers. And circumcision was a covenant sign, a promised sign that God would give to them. It was a sign and a promise that God gave to them. When God makes covenants and commitments with his people, often he would give them a covenant sign or a promise sign to remind them of that. Think of the rainbow and the covenant that God made with Noah. There, after the great flood, a rainbow appears in the sky and God says to Noah, this is a reminder to me that I can never flood the earth again because of the promise that I have made to you. This is a reminder to you that I am a God who always keeps his promises. And this is a promise to all who come after you. that I have made a promise to you, Noah, and the people that will follow you. And in circumcision we see something similar taking place. Circumcision did not save, as theologians might say, salvifically. Circumcision did not save salvation-ly. But it was an outward expression of God's promise to his chosen people. circumcision was an outward expression that one day a Messiah would come and by the wounding of his flesh and by the shedding of his blood they would be saved. What Paul is saying here is that we, the church, are the realisation of that promise. He is saying here that we are proof, the church today is proof that God always keeps his promises. We are the circumcision. And Paul expands on this in his letter to the Colossians, the Colossian church, a church that had all sorts of problems with this sort of confused way of thinking. And in Colossians 2 and verses 11 and 12, he really covers this well. You read this in Colossians 2 verse 11 and 12, in him, talking about Jesus Christ, you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands. by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ, buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the working of God who raised him from the dead." What Paul is simply saying here is that being saved by Christ is circumcision. by being saved by him bleeding and suffering and dying on a cross, that is the circumcision that we receive. By him dying on a cross and suffering on a cross and trusting in that sacrifice, that is how we are saved. Realising that there's nothing else that I can trust in. Realising that there's nothing else that I can put my hope in, but simply trusting in His blood. My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust anything else. but wholly lean on Jesus' name. You see, circumcision did not bring salvation. Old Testament believers were saved in exactly the same way that we are, but it was God's stamp and seal on his people. It was God's mark on his people. and it's in a similar way that baptism is today. You see Paul point to that in verse 12 of Colossians 1, talking about the circumcision that we have received in Christ and that is now demonstrated in baptism. It is God's stamp and mark on his people. It doesn't make you a Christian but it allows you to receive the blessings and joys of being identified with Christ, knowing ultimately that everything you have got in Christ, everything that you have got in Jesus, is all of pure grace. It is in Him and only in Him we are able to rejoice. It is in Him and only in Him that we can say He is my Redeemer and He is my joy and my righteousness and freedom. It is in Him and only in Him that we are able to truly worship. Turning back to Philippians 3, we see that there in verse 3 of our text, for we are the circumcision who worship God in the Spirit. So I want us to notice lastly and a little bit more briefly that Paul encourages us to protect ourselves by worshipping. By worshipping. Now you may think straight away, is there any real difference between this and our first point, rejoicing? Well there's definitely crossover, but broadly the difference is this. Rejoicing is a disposition, an attitude, a mindset. Lots of people talk about mindset and mentality today, don't they, in the sporting world or the corporate world. It's all down to mindset. It's all down to the way you look at things. Well, rejoicing is exactly that. Rejoicing is exactly thinking that whatever comes my ways, whatever comes to me, I will always rejoice and always have a heart of thanksgiving towards God. And worship is almost a branch of that. Worship, rather than being a disposition, is an act, an expression of praise to God. And we see this primarily, but not only, through singing. And it's important to notice that worship is something that is aided by the Holy Spirit. Verse 3 again, we are the circumcision who worship God in the Spirit. Worship is aided by the Holy Spirit. We must recognise the Holy Spirit's unique role in our worship. It is him who leads us to worship. It is him who prepares us for worship. It is him who directs us how we are to worship. Jesus reminds us of this very thing in John 4 24, doesn't he, when he tells us that God is a spirit and those who worship him must worship him in spirit and truth, exactly. We are to worship him in spirit. What does that mean? We are to worship him in spirit. That means we are aided and by and receptive to the prompt of the Holy Spirit. Don't know whether you ever get it when you're singing a hymn full of rich truths to God and you just get hit by this wave of emotion. That is being receptive in our worship to the Holy Spirit. But being—worshiping God in spirit also means that we worship him with a right spirit, with a right attitude. That means we go to worship willingly. We go to praise God willingly. We are to worship him in spirit, and we are to worship him in truth. Truth. An idea that's under attack today. Many people sort of saying, oh well that's your truth or that's my truth. It might be true for you but it's not true for me. Well, I'm sorry but the Bible doesn't make any allowance for that. Our worship is given on the basis of truth. What the Bible says consistently is that we can't worship God when we have a wrong understanding of him. Imagine if I stood here this morning and said to all of you, God is going to give each of you a million pounds. Now come on, let's stand up and worship him. You wouldn't be able to, would you? Because you know that isn't true. And so it is so important that we stick to what we know in worship. It is important that we stick to what we understand about God. Worship is so much deeper and so much fuller when it is expressed on the basis of what we know to be true about God. Why? because worship is all about him. He is the object of every single worship service. Sometimes you'll hear someone talking about a church they've been to or maybe they're looking for another church and they'll say, well I didn't really like the worship there. or, I don't like the worship of that church, and oftentimes they're talking about more traditional styles of worship, if you like, and they say, oh, well, I didn't quite like the worship there. Ridiculous statement. We're not there to worship ourselves. Worship is not done on the basis of our preference. Some people talk, as I just did, of different styles of worship. Well, the truth is that there's only one style of worship that God is interested in, and that is the worship in the way that he has appointed and he has prescribed. So when we go to worship, we are not there to worship ourselves. We are not there to entertain ourselves or to jam to music that we really like. That's not worship. There's nothing necessarily wrong with it, but it's not worship. When we go to sing and worship, we are only there to glorify and bring honour to God. We rejoice, verse 3, in Christ Jesus. We worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus. Worship isn't actually primarily about you or me as an individual. It's about God and His glory. And when we recognise that, when we see that, His people receive blessing and encouragement from our collective expressions of worship. So often the church is preoccupied today with making its sung worship more trendy or more fashionable, forgetting who the object of our worship is. It is to glory, to rejoice, verse 3, in Jesus. A lot, but not all, of Christian contemporary music is centred on the wrong things. It's me centred and the things that I've done for God. These are songs that come from places that have no depth at best and at worst are pretty much heretical. So in your worship, in your sung worship, beware of the dog. Beware of those dogs. Watch out for them. Watch out for those who try to infiltrate our worship and infiltrate our Christian music with a wrong understanding of God. But when we worship God in the power of his truth, the devil absolutely has no answer at all. If you would, very quickly turn to the book of 2 Chronicles. So right back, early sort of stages of the Old Testament. The book of 2 Chronicles and chapter 20. And if you pay particular attention to verses 18 to verses 22, we see an example of a man called King Jehoshaphat. Great name. And he leads Judah into battle against Moab and Ammon. And there he is. And we see this story unfold of how the tribe of Judah are in battle. They are in a war. And chapter 20 of 2 Chronicles and verse 18, what is it that we see them doing? Verse 18, and Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground, and all Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem bowed before the Lord, worshipping the Lord. So here they are, they're in a battle, they're at war, but what is it they do before? they worship, they praise, and they look to him, look to God as their source of provision and help. And then in verse 21, we see exactly what they cried out to God. They first of all, in verse 21 of 2 Chronicles 20, they praise the beauty of God's holiness. They see just how beautiful his holiness is, and then they sing these words, praise the Lord, for his mercy endures forever. You see, in the heat of trial, in the heat of difficulty and grief, that is when we worship. We don't stop worshipping and praising God for what he has done when the chips are down. No, King Jehoshaphat and his tribe certainly didn't. They worshipped in the truth that they knew about God. They didn't sing, oh thank you God, we praise you because we know we're going to win this battle, because at that point they didn't know that. They simply sang what they knew that was true about God, that his love and his mercy to us endures forever. Are you going through trials and difficulties and pain and grief and hardship? Worship on what you know to be true about God, that his love endures forever, centered around one person, back in Philippians 3, on Jesus Christ. Verse 3, we are the circumcision who worship God in the spirit, rejoicing Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. We put no confidence in the flesh. He's reminding them here one more time, one last time, their security is not in their circumcision. Your security in Christ is not in something that you have done for God. It's not in anything that you could ever do. It's not in how well you worship. That could very quickly lead us to make the mistake that the most godly people are the loudest people. Not true. You see, there'll be days when you are praying, when you don't get that warm, fuzzy feeling that you want to feel. And you might feel like God has left you, but that is where the Holy Spirit intercedes for us, reminding us of who He is and reminding us of the truths that we already know about Him. There'll be days when you just want to cry out to God and say, God, why are you doing this? and he will point you back to the place of safety, knowing that that place of safety, knowing that the place where you are safest are his kind and loving arms. So we are to put no confidence, we are to have no confidence in our flesh. Oh, but I'm quite clever. Put no confidence in the flesh. I've done things for God. Put no confidence in the flesh. I've preached, or I've shared the gospel really powerfully. No, put no confidence in the flesh, because in Christ alone my hope is found. He is my light, he is my strength, he is my song, and it is in his power, and only his power, that I stand. One of my best friends has got a really thick Bible and he's written on the side of his Bible very simply, May I never forget on my best day that I still need God as desperately as I did on my worst. You see, on your worst day, you need him, and he will be there right away. This is never a God who says, help is on the way. Do you ever hear that when people say, help is coming, help is coming? This is not a God who's like that. Help is always there. He is a very present help in trouble. On your worst day, he is there, he is with you. And then on your best day, remember your worst. And acknowledge that even then, even on my best day, I am in desperate need of the God who has helped me on my worst day. And who in his grace, on my very worst moment, and when I was totally lost in sin and shame, there he was. I needed him then. I need him now. That is what it means to rejoice in the Lord. That is what it means to be constantly looking out for evildoers. That is what it means to worship him in spirit and in truth. That is what it means to put no confidence in the flesh. May we never forget on our best days that we still need God.