We will be looking this morning in Philippians chapter 3. This is God's word. Finally, my brothers. Rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you is no trouble to me and is safe for you. Look out for the dog. Look out for the evildoers. Look out for those who mutilate the flesh. For we are the circumcision who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh, though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more. Circumcised on the eighth day of the people 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 under the law, blameless. Let's pray together. Our Father in heaven, we offer to you our thanks for this heavenly manna. And we would pray by the work of your spirit, help us to see Jesus. We ask it in his name. Amen. Please, you may be seated. Perhaps the best way to begin this morning is a question. How are you? How are you doing? Maybe you would say, I'm tired. I'm sad. I'm stressed. I'm mad. I'm hard pressed. I'm confused. I think Paul might ask a similar question as well when we look at our text, but I think he would add something else to it. I think he would look and he would say, how are you? Are you joyful? Are you rejoicing in the Lord? That's what he says, isn't it? Finally, my brothers rejoice in the Lord. It's an epistle of joy. We've been in it several weeks. Joy in Christ. And Paul's serious about joy. It's not an afterthought. It's not some casual thought. He's been speaking on it chapter by chapter, verse by verse, trying to promote and encourage you, believer, have joy. It's very serious to him. He finished the last two sections. Epaphroditus, receive him with all joy. Work out your salvation and do so with joy. And if that wasn't enough, Paul says, for joy, I will give up mine, my fellowship with the Lord Jesus in glory. I will give that up for the sake of you, Christian. that you might have joy and progress in the faith. It's very serious. He wants you to know that you and I, we can have joy, not joy that is ignorant of our world, Not joy that is foolish in the pains of the, in the problems that we would see. No, he's saying there's a lasting joy. There's a true joy, joy that doesn't even come from you. You see, he's arguing and he's trying to distinguish. There's something very different from happiness and joy. Maybe you've heard of him, Al Mohler, earlier this week, I thought, helpfully distinguishes that for us. This is what he says. Happiness has a great deal to do with external circumstances in this life. Joy has to do with the eternal truth of the goodness of God and His grace and mercy demonstrated to us in Christ Jesus. Listen to this. We can actually be unhappy when it comes to our current bodily experience in this world. But we are not to be without joy, which is the inevitable product of the gospel of Jesus Christ. You and I can have joy and you can be unhappy. Things can be hard. How are you doing? Are you joyful? That's how Paul begins. And it almost feels like he's interrupted. He says, rejoice in the Lord. And then he goes a very different direction. Why would you do that? Because what Paul is saying is, Christian, you may have joy and you need to know there are enemies of it. There's enemies of the gospel. They want to take your joy. And so Paul. not like a modern Presbyterian, says finally. He doesn't mean he's got a couple more points and 20 more minutes. No, he says finally, and maybe you're trying to figure out what does that mean? What does it look like? You and I have to wrestle with something. Paul's the human author, but there is a divine author. Perhaps Paul intended it to end there, but God had something more to say. Perhaps Paul was writing or having a scribe write it and he was reminded of a conversation he had the night before. There's something here. But you and I are to have confidence. Why? Because what he is saying is not a rabbit trail. It's not some wasteful logic. He's connecting your life and my life in the gospel. And he's saying joy. But if you want to have it, you need to know there are enemies, enemies of the gospel. And so he says, to write the same things to you is no trouble to me. Don't you appreciate that? That Paul in his day when Well, the culture would say, give me something new. I've heard that before. You've already said that, Paul. Give me a new teaching, a new philosophy. Maybe you and I have said that. I've read these verses before. Heard a sermon on this. I've thought on this. I want something new. Paul wrestles with the tension and says, no, what you need is joy. joy in Christ. And so I will say it again. I want you to know you and I are to safeguard it because there are some who are trying to take it from you. So how do we have this joy? What are we to be reminded of? What are we to be on the alert safeguard from? Well, I think Paul says two things. We are to beware and we are to behold. Look with me at verse two. Paul is saying, beware of them. Look out for false teachers. Why? Why look out for false teachers? Why look out for false doctrine? Because Paul says, it kills your joy. Just because it sounds good, doesn't mean it is good. Look out for false teachers. Look out for false doctrine. It kills joy. And a failure to understand that is a failure to miss and understand the gospel. And so Paul, well, he offers quite a strong warning, doesn't he? He's by no means being politically correct. You might even read it and say, you're out of line. Who are you to say such things? Paul says, look out for the dog. Look out for the evildoers. Look out for those who mutilate the flesh. Is he being harsh? I don't think Paul is saying that to insult. I think he's saying it to describe. He wants you and I to understand what are and who are these enemies? How do we pick them out? What are we to understand about their opposition? Who are these false teachers? Most would agree and say it's, well, it's the Judaizers. And if you read the epistle, the book of Philippians, you won't necessarily see them mentioned. And so perhaps they're in Philippi, and Paul's addressing it, or perhaps he's gotten word, and they're on their way. But nonetheless, he's saying, there is one. There's a group. There's a doctrine that's coming, or is here. And it wants to take your joy. And it's serious. And I want you to understand what's at stake. These Judaizers, who are they? They are followers of Jesus who would say, if you want to be a Christian, you need to follow the Lord Jesus and you need to obey the Mosaic law, especially Gentiles. And that is to say, you need to be circumcised. You need to obey these food laws. You need to obey these rituals. If you're truly a Christian, then you would obey like this, you would look like this. And Paul deals very directly, doesn't he? He says, dog, look out for them. And not those cute puppies that you might have. Or perhaps you think a mascot. That's not what he's thinking. That's not what he's talking about. He's using this term dogs. He's talking about wild dogs, unclean dogs. It's a religious statement. This is how the Jews described Gentiles. They were saying that, well, Gentiles, they're the wild dogs. They're the people who are outside of God's blessing. They're the people who are outside of God's covenant. And Paul is saying, you've missed it. Look out for the dogs. You see in Christ, there's a reversal of things. There's a change of status, Paul is saying. Actually, it's the Judaizers that should be regarded as Gentiles. Those who are outside the blessing. because they don't believe the gospel. They are saying to you and to me and to all who would listen, you need to follow Jesus plus fulfill these requirements. It's that plus that Luther would call it's the damnable plus. He's saying at any point in time, you add to the gospel, you have forsaken the sufficiency of Christ. He's no longer enough for you and me. You have added these requirements to what it means to be a Christian. And Paul is saying, no, Look out for the dogs. It's unclean. It's unhealthy. It will steal your joy. So he calls them dog. And then he wants to explain more about why. He says, look out. The evildoers, why evildoers? It's because of what we just said. They're telling people, you need to focus more on your works than you do on Christ. You need to do these things in order for Christ to love you, for Christ to accept you. You have to have some merit in the game. And so to tell people that what it means to follow Christ, what it means to be in Christ is you have to produce this work. Well, you're an evildoer, Paul says. He says, look out for evildoers. Now don't be confused here. Paul said earlier, we've talked about it, that there's obedience in the Christian life. And what we need to pause and understand is there are two different doctrines at play. To be justified, to be made right with God, you may not, you cannot save yourself by work. And so Paul is addressing that and he's saying, those people are evildoers. But as a Christian, as one who is in Christ, those works are produced. Maybe to simplify it for you is, don't mistake a prescription with a description. Paul is saying, if you're in Christ, obedience describes your life. If you are abiding in the Lord Jesus, Obedience describes your life, but it is not a prescription for what it means to be saved. You do not clean yourself up in order to come to him. You come and he cleans you up. And so Paul says, look out for the evil doers. Paul finishes and he says, look out for those who mutilate the flesh I think he's driving home a point. Look out for the dog. Look out for the evildoers. Look out for those who mutilate the flesh. What is he talking about? He's using some irony here and he's saying these are the people who say you have to be circumcised. You have to obey the law. There's flesh involved. And he's saying, yes, there was a promise that was given to Abraham in Genesis 17, circumcision. It was the sign of the covenant. And he's saying these Judaizers do not understand the covenant. They don't understand the new covenant, and they don't understand the old covenant. They're overemphasizing some kind of external behavior or external act. And he is trying to tell you, look out for them. The prophet Jeremiah, he lets us know, he says this. Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will punish all those who are circumcised merely in the flesh. That was Jeremiah. And here's the real irony. Moses, this is what Moses says. When he says to circumcise, therefore, the foreskin of your heart and be no longer stubborn. And just a few verses later, he will say, the Lord, will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your joy, that you may live. Judaizers, you missed it. They've entirely missed it. They're focusing on some act that does nothing. It does nothing. And in fact, when you come into the New Testament, that's why in Acts chapter 15, they are saying before the council, unless you have been circumcised, you cannot be saved. And Paul has already debated them. That's not true. And Peter stands up. And what does he say? He says, the truth of the issue is salvation is the work of God through the ministry of the Holy Spirit. What is most important, Peter will say, is that you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and that salvation is by grace alone. That's for us as Jews, and that is for them as Gentiles. There is one way to the Father, and it is through Christ. Paul is saying, Look out, look out, look out, this is serious. They will destroy your faith if you believe that. He is saying the argument is quite simple. These people, what they are trying to build, they are destroying. Instead of healers, they're mutilators. They're destroying your joy. They're taking away your faith, as it were. Paul says, beware. Don't listen to them. Don't trust them. But don't just beware of false teachers. Paul's gonna say, beware of yourself. Beware of you. That's what he's getting at in verses four to six. Maybe you've been there and you've said, well, if I can't trust them, if they have misled me, who do I trust in? Do I just rely on myself? Am I the only one who can count on? I can only count on myself. And so I trust in me. Paul says, beware of yourself. Put no confidence, as Paul will say, in the flesh. And it's an important statement. He's trying to make it quite clear. You cannot. say, I have one foot in this camp with Jesus, and one foot I earn, and I work for, I work toward, because it's an impossibility. If that's you, you have confidence in the flesh. And he's using that word flesh intentionally. It's a word that would convey something to the hearer. They would have understood flesh as something that's frail. It's frail, it's weak, it will fail. And Paul is saying, don't you see the irony? The Judaizers are telling you to put your faith in yourself, in flesh. You're telling yourself, if I can just do something, it will work. And the irony is, you and I know it will fail. We have tried it. So Paul says, in case you don't believe me, let me give you a resume. Let me give you a resume. Paul is about to outline himself and what he is trying to say is, if you think, if you think, maybe, just maybe, you can trust in yourself. Paul says, if there was one, it's me. Paul's not trying to be arrogant. He's not trying to be some top tier trash talker. He's objectively saying, I'm better than you. He's saying, who I am as a person, I'm better than you. What I have done as a person, I'm better than you. And if I cannot put confidence in the flesh, neither can you. So Paul says, let me prove it to you. Let me prove it to you. Who am I? Look at what he describes himself as. circumcised on the eighth day. What is he getting at there? He's saying I grew up in a family. I was born into a family that strictly obeyed the Old Testament laws. I'm not like the pagans. I'm not even like some of the Jews who were circumcised but didn't do it according to the law. I'm that strict. That's how I was raised. I was circumcised on the eighth day. The people of Israel, it's my very birthright. I'm not a proselyte. I'm not a convert. I'm not some second-rate individual. This is my birthright. I was born as a child in the kingdom of Israel. I'm an Israelite. And then he's gonna go on and make another point. In case most of you say, check, check. Okay, I'm of the tribe of Benjamin. Yes, the tribe of Benjamin. What historically is helpful to you about that? Well, in exile, it says that almost every tribe's genealogies were lost. You had no longer any idea where your family line was, not of Benjamin. They could trace it back. Paul says, I know exactly who I am, and I can show you my family line. The tribe of Benjamin, that child, the beloved child of Jacob and Rachel. The tribe of Benjamin, where the first king of Israel came from. And what was his name? Saul. What's my name? Saul. That's me. I'm of the tribe of Benjamin. I'm a Hebrew of Hebrews, he says. An early church father, John Chrysostom, he says what that means is he was raised in the language of the people. It means Paul was taught as one who could speak Aramaic and Hebrew. It's the natural language of the first century Palestinian Jew. That's me. That's who I am. You can't touch me. I'm that good. Look at what I've done. As to the law, a Pharisee, it literally means separated ones. You've heard of them. It's the group of people who give their entire life to a very strict obedience to the law. Not just the Mosaic law, but all the extra ones that they've added. As to the law, I'm a Pharisee. That's the zeal, a persecutor of the church. He's not saying I tweeted bad about this church. He's not saying I just talked bad. He says I'm a persecutor. In fact, in the book of Galatians, he's gonna say, I didn't just persecute, I gave everything to destroy it. And if you don't believe me, I signed death warrants for Christians. Nobody touches my zeal. That's how zealous I am. As to righteousness, under the law, blameless. I didn't just do okay. I'm blameless. In other words, my life is literally above reproach. Who are you? What have you done? Paul says that not even I can put confidence in the flesh and look at who I am and look at what I've done. Because here I am. Now, let me pause for a moment and help you understand something. What Paul is saying, he's saying, achievement, privileges, they're not evil. But trusting in them, that is evil. Trusting in them instead of the gospel, that is evil. You don't choose who your parents are. You don't choose where you live. You don't choose a lot of things about your life. But if you decide to trust in that, Paul says, you've missed it. Privileges, they cannot save you. No matter who you are in this world, high, low, it will not save you. And if you're in Christ, if you're privileged, it doesn't get you any further. And if you're not, you are just as close. Status is not determined by who you are. Christ saves all men, women, children equally. You do not put confidence in the flesh. You do not put confidence in your achievement. Maybe you're saying or have thought, I've been pretty good. I've obeyed a lot. And I think Paul would say to you, great, it doesn't save you. What is Paul getting at? I think he's trying to tell you and me something. As Americans, we like to overestimate our obedience and we underestimate our disobedience. When you think you're good, you have failed to see where you've missed it. Paul says your achievements won't do it. You're zealous, you're passionate, you have vision. What's Paul demonstrating here? Great, but you can be a man or a woman with passion. and it worked out in all the wrong areas. You can exercise vision on the wrong thing, zeal at the wrong time or the wrong place. It will not save you. Paul is saying you cannot put confidence in the flesh. What are you passionate about? That's what Paul's saying. Be passionate. But if you and I cannot be passionate about the gospel of grace, you have missed it. He's saying, rejoice in the Lord, look out, beware of these people, beware of yourself. And so what do we do? Paul says, behold something. Look with me in verse three. What does he say? For we are the circumcision. who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh. What is he saying? He's kind of illustrating a point he's already made to the church at Corinth. Your hope, your confidence, it's to be in Christ. You can be more bold than that of Moses. Do you remember that story at Mount Sinai? Moses would have to go up the mountain. He would put a veil over his face. Why? Because he would have to conceal or obscure the glory of God, but not when Christ comes. What does Paul tell you? See, when Christ comes, the veil has been removed. You and I get to beseech the throne of God. We get to worship. We get to be the true circumcision of God's people. He's saying, look at Christ. Be consumed by that. Fixate on that. Stare at him. It's Jesus. That's who you are. Paul says as a believer, as the true circumcision, let me help you understand what true biblical Christianity, what is it then that you and I are to do? We worship by the spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and do not make light of what he has said. First of all, he said, we, think about that. This is Paul and his resume, he's already given it to you. I am Paul and I have been circumcised. I'm talking to a congregation who most likely has not been. And he says, we. We're in this together. If you have repented and believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, you and I are we. We are in this together. We are united in Christ. And what is it that we do? We worship by the Spirit of God. What is he talking about? Perhaps it's that famous story that you and I know in the Gospel of John. It's that Samaritan woman at the well, and the problem at hand is what about worship? Where do we worship? What's the geographical place? Is it Samaria? Is it supposed to be this town in which the Northern Kingdom had set up a temple to worship the golden calves? Is that what we're talking about? Or is it Jerusalem, where the temple's even been destroyed? What do we do? When Jesus answers her, there's a time coming where geography's not what is most important. God is seeking worshipers in spirit and in truth. It means we will come together. God will enter the hearts of men and women, and he will lead you and me into worship. That is a powerful hour, as it were. This is not a waste of your time. This is not a habit in your schedule. This is the most important hour you give of your life every single week. He says, people who are in Christ, what do we do? We worship. And we worship in spirit and in truth. We come together as God's people. We worship. And what else do we do? We glory in Christ Jesus. But we hope in Jesus. But we trust in Jesus. We boast in Jesus. That's what Paul's getting at is we boast in the Lord Jesus Christ. And I think it's important for us to pause to think, what does that mean? You might be looking at this list and you're saying, you know, okay, Sundays are good for me. What it means to boast about Jesus outside of here. Okay, I'm good with that. But putting confidence in the flesh, I'm not so much good with that. What Paul is saying, this is a whole unit. You don't get to choose which activities as a Christian you want to do. This is what is meant to describe your life. We boast. And Jesus, what is it that we boast in? We boast in the finished, the completed work of Christ. In just a few moments, we'll sing that song. Jesus paid it all. Think about that. Jesus paid it all. What a horrible hymn if we said Jesus paid some of it. And Jesus paid most of it. but there's still more left on the table. Paul's saying, Jesus paid it all. And you and I, we boast in that. We glory in that. It's what my former senior pastor says, probably more regularly than anything else. Nothing in my hands I bring, simply to the cross I cling. That's what it means to worship in spirit and in truth. It's what it means to boast in glory in Christ. Why? Because it's about joy. Joy, joy today. Joy tomorrow. Joy for all eternity. A joy that's not measured in good and bad days. A joy that's not measured in circumstances. A joy that isn't concerned about the election, the virus, the finances. A joy you can have it now and for all eternity, no matter what's going on. And Paul says, I want you to have it. And it will come when we come together and worship. When we boast in the Lord Jesus Christ. When we believe the gospel. Also safeguard that there are real enemies trying to take it from you. So believe the gospel. Do not diminish it. Do not distort it. Do not detract from it. But dive in and live in it. Live in it. And what's the result? Joy. Paul says, beware, but behold, you and I, we will have joy. Let me pray to that end. Our great God and Father, we thank you that what you have created us for is worship. And what we gain in Christ with true worship that fills us with joy. We recognize the true nature of our world and of ourselves, that is sin, Satan, the flesh, the world, it's real opponent to the gospel. It's real opponents to joy. So help us by your spirit to beware of false teachers, false doctrines, and even help us, oh God, to beware of ourselves in order that what we behold is Christ, the true spring and fountain of life, of joy. And it's in his name we pray, amen.