Heavenly Father, we come to you in the name of Jesus Christ. God, we know your will is perfect, but we know your timing is not always our timing. And so help us to yield to you. Help us to be patient as we wait in faith upon you. Lord, I pray for this church, it is your church. And I pray and I know you will protect it. You will guard it because these are your people who you purchased with your blood. And I pray that you would raise up God fearing men. To come alongside and shepherd this body for your glory. So grant wisdom and discernment, grant patience and help. Help us in this, Father. Lord, we're coming before your word now. We revere your word. And I pray that as we open it up and I stand here to proclaim it, that you would guard my mouth, God. But I don't say that out of habit. I say it out of fear. Lord, protect my mouth. Guard my heart, Lord. Help me only to proclaim what is true. Guard the ears of your people, God. Help them to be Bereans. Help them to discern, Lord. God, what is true, help them to embrace with all their heart and give their life for it, God. Unveil Christ to us again this morning, Lord. Take us to a deeper revelation. As you say in Ephesians, grant the spirit of wisdom and revelation regarding Christ this morning. We pray along with Paul for our own hearts, God, that the Holy Spirit would do this work. This morning, some unto salvation and others under greater, greater sanctification and holiness. Work mightily. We love you in the name of Jesus Christ, amen. Philippians, we are beginning chapter three, we we started this, I think it was the beginning of the year. And we're in chapter three. We're starting chapter three today. We'll get to two verses today, but we'll read three verses for context. So if you don't have a Bible, there are a few Bibles in the back. We encourage everyone to be reading along with us. As Steve mentioned, if you put your name on a piece of paper with your email address in the back, we will send you all the sermon notes I'm going to go through so you can be discerning and hold me accountable to the text and you can be a Berean and hold fast to what is good. And so Philippians chapter three, verses one through three. 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 dogs. Look out for evil doers. 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. In our text here, Paul gives us a command to rejoice in the Lord, He gives us a warning in verse two to look out or to beware of these dogs. And then in verse three, he contrasts to expose those dogs by revealing what a true Christian is. And in doing so, he gives us another test of biblical assurance that we can examine ourselves in light of in verse three. We won't make it to verse three. That'll be for next week. But I just wanted you to kind of follow the pattern here. A command given to rejoice in the Lord, a warning giving about these dogs, exposing the dogs by defining a true Christian, contrasting them with the dogs in verse two, with the true Christian in verse three. And next week, we'll look at that, the contrast, and we'll use it as an opportunity, as always, to examine our faith in light of Scripture to see if it's living or dead faith. As always, we're just going to walk through these verses and allow the text to be where we begin. And then my hope is to, by grace, expound this text to bring out the truth of the text and by God's grace to let it do a work in our hearts. Verse one, it says, finally, my brothers, this is more of a transitional statement than it is a concluding statement. And so you could say here, furthermore, or now, then often, Paul, people joke about Paul because they say he has the mind of a pastor because he says things like finally, then and then he writes two more chapters. Like I'll say this is it and then I'll go for another 20 or 30 minutes, but this is not a concluding statement by Paul, this is a transitional statement from where he was at before making a transition into a new thought here. We know it's not concluding because he does write two chapters after it. So it's not a concluding statement. Then he gives us a command and here's the command. Rejoice in the Lord. Before I even begin to try to explain what this means, I want you to know it's a command and I just want you to stop. Whatever you're doing, wherever your mind is, I know we all face distractions in here. I want you just to stop and I want us to just obey this command before we even begin to understand it. Rejoice in the Lord. There's a simplicity to that, that all of us know what that means and it's a command. And so before I even begin to preach it, just stop and just rejoice in the Lord. I don't think we stop enough. I studied this text all week and then this morning at 6 a.m., I got up again. I looked at that word and I just said, before I even preach it, let's obey it. Let's just rejoice in God for who he is. We just sang about him. He's the beautiful one. And the lyrics in that song are true, it says, my soul must sing. Let's rejoice in the Lord, he's so good. Not even fully grasping what it means, but just rejoicing in the Lord that He's good, that we're here, that we're not dead, that we're not in hell right now, that He hasn't given us what we deserve. He's just lavished us in His grace at the blood of Jesus Christ. We rejoice in that, brothers and sisters. It is a command. This is not optional. This is not secondary to Christianity. This is primary. This is essential. This is the whole. God did not save you just to merely get you out of hell. So often we speak of the gospel and that Jesus Christ came down and he stood in our place and he bore our wrath and he died and he was raised and he sits on high above all things as Lord. And it's true. But the reason why Jesus came and died was not just to get you out of hell. It was to bring you into reconciliation and communion with God, that you would behold Him, and that you would rejoice in Him, and that you would glory in Him, and that you would find your whole being in Him. That's what this means. The Gospel doesn't end that we get out of hell. That's worthy of praising. But that was a means to unveil the glory of God, that we would be worshipers of Him, and that we would rejoice Him and love Him. and serve him. So don't stop at the glorious truth that we've been redeemed and purchased. That's glorious. That's a means. It's not an end. God is a means unto himself. Atheists don't want to go to hell. They want to buy the gospel that says Jesus gets me out of hell and that's it. They love that gospel. But that's not the gospel. The gospel is he purchased you unto himself. For the Christian, this command is not burdensome. It is our delight. It is our life. Yes, we have to fight for it, but it is our delight and it is our life. First John, chapter five, says that the commands of the Lord are not burdensome. This is not burdensome. If Jesus Christ is your treasure, this is not a burden. I'm going to give the faint analogy again. You haven't heard the faint analogy, it goes something like this. If you were to like the Dallas Cowboys and be a fan of the Cowboys and you're sitting at a table with other Cowboys fans and you have your paraphernalia on and I'm on a table behind you and I overhear you speaking about the Cowboys and I myself claim to be a Cowboys fan. When I hear those that talk, I want to be a part of that. I'm drawn to that. Right. As Christians. When we hear the voice, the name, the truth of Jesus Christ from his word, we're drawn to that. We want that. That is why the community of the saints, the fellowship of the believers, is not something that that you have to be grudgingly obey. I mean, brothers and sisters, if you don't want to talk about Jesus Christ, you have to ask the question, why? But in my analogy of back to this fan analogy, what if you're in a group and you've all got your cowboy stuff on, you're talking about all the things that cowboys are going to do. And I'm at the table next to you and I turn to you and I say, oh, I'm a fan of the Cowboys. And you say, oh, great. Great. You want to join the conversation and I say, you know, no, not really. Well, wait a minute, you're a fan, why wouldn't you want to join in the conversation and boast and our cowboys? Well, I just don't want to. Well, let me ask you something, did you watch the game last week? Well, no, I did not. I didn't watch the game last week. Well, who's your favorite player on the team? I don't even know who's on the team. Well, do you have a Cowboys T-shirt at home? Because you can see we all got the hats and the jackets. Where's your Cowboys T-shirt? I don't have a Cowboys T-shirt. Those people, the fans, the true fans of the Cowboys, would rightfully turn to me, the professing fan of the Cowboys, and say, you claim to be a fan of the Cowboys, yet you don't want to speak to him. You're not really drawn to them. You don't wear their clothing or speak about them. You don't know any of the names of the people on them. You know what? You say you're a fan of the Cowboys, but I want you to know your life proves you're not a fan. And they would be right. That's logical reasoning. John says the same thing in First John. He says, you claim to be a Christian, yet you don't want to speak of these things. You're not drawn to the name Jesus. You're not drawn to the people of Jesus. You don't know anything about the players in the book of the people of Jesus. You're a liar. You're not a Christian. And that's the message throughout Scripture. You see, Christianity is not praying your prayer to get out of hell. Christianity is about a new creation in Jesus Christ. Yes, who's redeemed from hell, but redeemed unto Jesus Christ to glory in him, to rejoice in the Lord so they can spend eternity with him. And if that's not the Christianity, you know, you don't have real Christianity. And I would be failing you as a pastor to let you believe that you have it. That's the very essence of it. A true lover of Jesus Christ. He is our portion. When you find him, you go and sell everything you have with joy, Matthew 13, 44, and you buy that field to get that treasure. He's the treasure. If Jesus Christ isn't the treasure, you don't have him. Now, I'm going to show you, I know it's a command, so you're going to say to me, but it's a command. So there's work to be done in that. There is work to be done in that. It's a command. You're right. But there's a basis. It's called salvation and regeneration. They come together. And it's the opening up arise that you when you saying the word beautiful one, you mean that your eyes have been unveiled, that he is beautiful. That's what regeneration is. It's the unveiling of the eyes to see the sin around you as filthy as Ezekiel 36, 31 would say. You loathe yourself for your iniquity and your sin and your eyes are unveiled to Christ and he's beautiful and you run to him in repentance and faith. That's salvation. A little different than walking an aisle and praying a prayer because you don't want to burn in hell. Big difference. OK. To rejoice is to be glad and just to have joy. Joy in Christ. We noted at the beginning of our study in the book of Philippians, this is a common theme for Paul and Philippians that really throughout all of his writings, Paul loves Christ and he finds great joy in him, although his life, if you've ever read about it, wouldn't be one that would naturally have a lot of joy in it. But if we could change or sum up Philippians into a statement, we would call it joy in Jesus. And these next two chapters are going to see that just explode as the understanding of that this command for joy is different from what we would say is worldly happiness. We studied this when we first started the book. I just want to go through it again. It is different than worldly happiness, which is circumstantially and emotionally based. Non-Christians experience worldly happiness based on circumstance and emotion. They feel good because someone likes them, they get goosebumps, this or that, and they experience what they would say is, they might call it joy, but it's just happiness. It's happiness. And you, before you were born again, you experience worldly happiness. You got a job, you got a paycheck, you got your wife, you got this, you got your house, whatever you got. And there's happiness in that. But it's it's situationally based and driven and emotionally based and driven. But it's not true joy. This is a command given to brothers, it's given to Christians, Paul does not command and neither should we on Christians to rejoice in the Lord. You're asking them to rejoice in something that they're absolutely blind to. You're saying they look at the beauty of God and they say, I don't see a thing there. Why? Because they're spiritually dead. They cannot discern the things of the spirit because they're spiritually discerned. First Corinthians, chapter two. You have to be born again to see these things, so this is written to believers, he says, my brothers rejoice in the Lord. Let me tell you this, though, although our joy in Jesus Christ is not emotionally based, it's not void of emotion. It's not going to be less than what the world has, so there is emotion and our joy for Jesus. Some of you wonder, why do I get excited up here? Why do I weep? Why do I raise my voice? Why do I smile? I just can't because I am so infatuated with Jesus Christ. Let me tell you this, everyone in this room is infatuated with something, something gets you excited. I don't care if you say it's not your personality or it is your personality. You get excited about something. And I hope it's Jesus Christ. Because there's nothing more to get excited about than Jesus Christ. The reality of this is what has your heart? If you're born again, Jesus Christ has your heart. Yes, it's a lifelong fight to guard that and to battle off everything else trying to take his place. I understand that's why it's given in the command form. But if you're born again, Jesus Christ has your heart. That is a defining mark of the believer. And without that, you can have no assurance from scripture that you were born again. You can't. So it's definitely not lacking of emotion. Definitely not lacking of emotion, but it's not based on emotion. So if this joy, this rejoicing is not like the world's temporal happiness, which is based on happenstance or circumstance and emotion. Well, what is this joy based or founded on or in? And Paul tells us it's a rejoicing in the Lord. This isn't joy or rejoicing for joy's sake. It's not just God is so concerned that you're happy separate from him. So he just wants you to have joy. So just throw a party with no purpose in it and have joy. This is joy in the Lord. And this is what distinguishes Christianity. This is a joy in Jesus. In other words, the framework in which the Christian's joy is experienced is in our relationship with the Lord. Rejoice, Jesse, in the Lord. I have a relationship with him. It's not to just be one of a servant robot that has no emotion. You're to love the Lord your God with all your heart. There's emotion there, soul, mind, thinking, understanding, strength. Everything you have is to be given to the love of the Lord and to rejoice in him. This isn't mechanical religious obedience. Christianity is not morality. If you believe that, again, you've missed it all. It is a new heart that treasures the commandments of the Lord. We sang that earlier today, too. I love your commandments, I love your precepts, I love your truth, I love you. Help me to see him better. But it's not a begrudging of these things. So it's my experience with God that I rejoice. It's in my relationship with him that this joy and rejoicing comes forth. This is important. Think through this with me for a second. It isn't even in what he can provide or does provide or can do or does do. That's not even the basis of our joy. Think about this. It's not in what he can or does do or provide. It is in him. You see, if your joy is only in what God can provide for you, then he becomes a means, not an end. And there are billions of people today who claim the name of Jesus Christ, but he's nothing more than a means to get them out of hell. God is not merely a means to get you out of hell, believe me, we need to get out of hell, we need redemption and salvation, believe me, I'm not minimizing that at all, but the joy, the rejoicing Is in him. Not just what he can do or has done, it's in him. This is why Christianity and salvation doesn't end with you getting out of hell. That's where it begins. It ends in him. So we need to ask right away, is God a means to something else that I love and therefore I find joy when he provides what I love over here? Or is he a means unto himself? And that's what I love. That's a big difference. That's two different Christianities. One is a genie in the bottle who meets all your fleshly selfish needs, which is most American Christianity today. The other one is the Lord of Glory that you've been graciously unveiled to see, and you can't get enough of him. See, in this one, he's the end. He's the means to himself. And this one, he's a means, but unto things you love other than him. That's a big difference. That's an eternal difference. It is a rejoicing in him for who he is. That song was a great selection. Can I ask you, is he beautiful to you? Let's just do this. This is a hard question. Is he beautiful to you, even if he sends you to hell? See, that's the question, I think. That's the question. I think we think everyone's beautiful who gets us out of hell, right? If I got you out of hell, you'd send me and you're beautiful. Thank you. But here's the question I think we need to ask to see if we are really rejoicing in the Lord. Is he beautiful, even if at the end of this you go to hell? Because that's what we all deserve. I think we all would agree to that. So the beauty is in him. I think that's the question we need to ask ourselves, do I love him just because he got me out of hell or do I love him for who he is, for his godness, for his majesty? You see, when we've been born again, I know we don't see it fully yet, and I can't wait for that new body to see it real face to face. But what I can see with the veil of the flesh right now, because of regeneration, I'm not speaking about Jesse, particularly Christians who have been born again. There's an unveiling of God and his majesty that is beautiful, and therefore we rejoice in him. See, I believe that the scriptures would teach this because we've been born again and unveiled the eyes given life to see that Christians who have been born again would seek after God, even if he still sent them to hell. Because that's what regeneration is, is the unveiling to see the glory of God. And when you've seen the glory of God, you're drawn to it. The problem with us and our our our state of depravity from the birth of the lineage of Adam is that we're spiritually blind. We don't see him for what he is. We see. things created and begin to rejoice in them and reject the creator because he's over us and we want autonomy. And I don't want that. I'll take you if you'll be my genie, but I don't want you for trying to be my lord because you don't see his worth, his beauty, his majesty and sovereign grace that the Holy Spirit comes and awakens you to truth and unveils your eyes and you go, whoa, you are amazing. That's Christianity. That's Christian. And then you rejoice also, yes, that he purchased us out of hell through the blood of Jesus Christ, for sure. I don't want to minimize that, but I think we need to draw a distinction that says, you know what, he's worthy even if we go to hell of our rejoicing in worship. He's God and he's good. So this is why our joy is not circumstantially or emotionally based. It's supernatural. Our joy is rooted in God being God, it's rooted in him, and by grace, he opened up your eyes to see it. If you're truly born again. So knowing this, this is why Paul can say things like this. Rejoice in the Lord always. And again, I say rejoice. You see, because of this is a supernatural joy that has been awakened through the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit and regeneration of a new birth and your eyes have been unveiled to see the glory of God and his majesty. It's not circumstantially based. Then even when the circumstance around you is of suffering and pain and displeasure to the flesh, emotion, physical, you're still seeing the glory of God and you can go. Amen, I have joy. This is why Paul can say in James chapter one, count of all joy, my brothers, when you face trials of various kinds, he doesn't say that because trials feel good. He says that because if you're a Christian, you can see the glory of God in Jesus Christ and you have joy, even though what? Well, even though things like this, you're sorrowful, yet you're always rejoicing. That seems like a contradiction. If it's based on fleshly happiness, it would be. His fleshly happiness is circumstantially based. So if I'm in the midst of sorrow, I feel what I feel sorrow. But as a born again Christian with the supernatural joy and the Holy Spirit of the unveiling of the eyes, I'm in the midst of sorrow. And yes, I feel the sorrow physically, but supernaturally, by the grace of God, I see the glory of God and Jesus Christ and I can rejoice. So I am sorrowful physically, circumstantially, yet I'm always rejoicing. Paul doesn't deny the reality of the fallen world, the fallen flesh and suffering. He says we're above that as Christians. We don't pretend like it's not there. We don't act like it doesn't hurt in the midst of tears. I can rejoice. This is why Paul can say in Acts chapter 16, when he's sitting there with Silas after having been beaten to the point of blood. By rod and thrown in a jail cell where they should have been sorrowful and pitiful and woe is me, they're singing hymns to Jesus. Why? Because they live above circumstance. They live with the born again eyes that sees the glory of God, even in the midst of circumstance crumbling all around them. Why does God command you to rejoice in him? I'll tell you why. He's worthy of it, but there's a testimony here to the lost world. You see, if you are controlled by your circumstance, your God seems very weak. You see, when people when the Philippian jailer looked at Paul and Silas, who had been just beaten with rods and didn't try to escape, what did he say to them? What do I need to do to be safe? I want your Jesus is what he said. Why? You guys are singing hymns in here. We just beat you to blood. We know it's the blood, because after the jailer is saved, he brings it to her home and he treats their sores. They've been beaten to open wounds. They should have been angry and bitter and have self-pity, but they had kingdom eyes, they saw the glory of God and they sang hymns in there. That's supernatural. That won't happen normally, but if your eyes are fixed on Jesus Christ, it will happen. It will. And what a testimony. I think people will come to you and say. Who is your God or what is this piece? Danielle and I were in a store about a month ago. And just looking around in the store together and the lady in there just in the middle of normal conversation, and she stops us and she goes. What is this piece you guys have? I said, oh, let me tell you about it. So I got to go through the whole gospel with it right there. A piece is in one. My hope is in one thing. My joy is in one thing. It's in Jesus Christ. And the loving, chastening hand of a good father, when you begin to make your joy in something other than him, will remove it from you. That's very gracious of God. Very gracious. Let's remember this, too, brothers and sisters, joy is the fruit of the Holy Spirit. Galatians 522. But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, meaning what? You're not born again. You've never experienced joy. You know that because if I don't have the Holy Spirit, this is a fruit of the Holy Spirit, true joy that Paul is calling us to. If I'm not born again, I've never experienced joy. So this is why it's so wrong for us to look at the fallen world and ever covet them, because everything they think they have, which is happiness, circumstantially based, is a lie. We, with the spirit of God, only us have ever experienced joy. Why? Because the Holy Spirit lives in you if you're born again. And if you don't have the Holy Spirit, let me tell you, you've never had joy. I know they don't understand that. I know we can't even explain that to them. But we understand that and what grace and what it should do, what's the practical implication there? Don't you dare covet people who have never had joy? Who find temporal happiness and temporal things that will be burned up one day? Don't covet that. This is supernatural joy in its origin, divine in its sphere. It's in my relationship with him, yet it's commanded. We have to understand it's still commanded, so the new birth gave you the ability to see and experience joy. But I want you to know, as we walk through this life with unregenerate flesh in a fallen world, always screaming at you, there's a fight for joy in God as the Christian. There's a fight for it. And you need to be engaged in the battle of that fight. It's a matter of biblical perspective, faith in God and his word. It is. There's so many reasons I could give you just sit here for the rest of the time and just give you reasons why you need to be in the word. You need to be in prayer. I mean, as the brother mentioned last week, we talked with to think that you can live the Christian life apart from the word of God is insane. It's insane. You can't you just can't do it. And I'm not saying Christians can't struggle with the reading of the word and the priority of the word in their life. I know that they can. But to think that you can have this joy and glorify God in your life apart from the word of God is insane. You just can't do it. What can we do then? Well, we can pray. Pray, what would you pray? I would pray things like in the book of Psalms when when the psalmist prays, God, open up my eyes and they may behold. What are you asking me to do? I would praise things like Ephesians chapter one, where Paul prays for the church, that God would grant them a spirit of revelation and wisdom of what Jesus Christ has accomplished. What are you saying? Can we see God? through the new birth, but he works in his in and through his word to help us have better clarity and understanding. So we have to do our part of putting this in front of us as much as we possibly can. And if we ask for him to do his part of the increase to continue to unveil, thinking of Jesus Christ on the road to Emmaus with two believers, they're Christians. But he says when he opened up the word to them, their hearts burned. That's what we want. A greater revelation of Jesus Christ, of the opening up of his word to see these things, to bring us to a place of seeing him as beautiful as he is, that we would rejoice in him. So you have responsibility in this. God has made the way for the new birth. He's given you the Holy Spirit. He's given us his word. Now, your responsibility would be to humbly pray, to open up and see these things and to read his word that you could see it even deeper. We grow in our understanding of these things. I hope you don't think at the moment of your conversion, you got all you needed. These things are eternal in their depth and the deeper you go, the more glorious he becomes. That's why you talk to a very mature Christian, Lord willing, you'll see a great passion for Jesus, why they've seen more of their sin and they've seen more of his grace. He who has been forgiven much loves much. You don't even realize what you've been saved from when you're first saved. Start walking this down, you're like, man, everything I'm doing is saying, God, you're so gracious and merciful. He has forgiven much and it produces a love for him in your heart. So we can pray, we can renew our minds, we can take thought captive against temptation of the world. And as we'll get to chapter four, we can think on things above. Before we go any further, I'll just ask. Is your mark, is your life marked by rejoicing in God? If I followed you around this week. OK, not snapshots, we all know snapshots don't prove anything. Movie camera follow around. Give you the helmet cam, it was on you and for one week it just followed and we played it up here at the end of that week, we would come to the conclusion. That's a rejoicer in Jesus right there. Oh, they're struggling. Their circumstance is hard, but without a doubt, a rejoicer in Jesus. Sorrowful, oh, yeah, but rejoicing for sure. Would we come to that conclusion because this is a command, it is to be obeyed and you have responsibility of what you can do. I can tell you this for sure, 100 percent, you ready? I can't guarantee that if you pick up the word and read it for an hour a day every day this week, that this will happen to you. But I can tell you this for sure. If you don't pick up the word this week, it will not happen to you. It won't. It's not optional, it's foundational, as reminded this week of when I was studying this, the first Peter one eight. Though you have not yet seen him, you love him. That's the mark of the Christian, though you do not see him now, you believe and rejoice with joy. Inexpressible, inexpressible joy. The mark of the Christian. What else does Paul say? He says to write the same thing to you is no trouble to me and is safe for you. OK, so he commanded us in joy and I was going to say this to write the same thing to you is no trouble to me and is safe for you. Paul has given the church a command to rejoice in the Lord and he's about to give them a warning in verse two. And he tells them before he gives the warning, hey, church, I want you to know this for me to say this to you again. It's not a problem for me and it's going to be good for you. There's something to learn in that. Few things to note there. Repetition is one of the most effective means of teaching and growing and discernment. Scripture is full of repetition. Parents, we can learn something from that, can't we? How many times do we have to say it over and over to our children? If you're a parent, you've been here before. You share this with your child again and again and again in the same hour. And then you turn to them in sin and you say, what's wrong with you? How many times do I have to tell? And right in the middle of your sentence, you go, oh, yeah. You got to tell me a lot, don't you? And you don't tell me like that. You're gracious with me. You're kind, kind with me. You're gentle with me. Yes, you rebuke me, Lord, and you chasten me. But it's done in love. You catch yourself and you go, mm hmm. God, give me patience here. Repetition is one of the most effective means of teaching, and we know that because the Bible does it. I have to have a scientist tell me that the Bible told me that it's true. Brothers and sisters, we need to have a deep theology as well as a broad theology. And repetition breeds deep theology. It's sometimes it's amazing that we will preach through a book because that's what we do. We just preach the books of the Bible because it keeps us broad and it keeps us deep because it's repetitious. We'll preach through something here. And a month later, I'll talk with one of you and go, oh, I read this book or I heard this sermon. This guy was talking about this, I've never even heard this before, and literally I preached it verbatim a month ago. I'm like. What thinking in my head, we just went through that. Why didn't it go in, though? One, because God probably wants to keep me humble and praise the Lord for that, but two is because it doesn't all go in the first time, does it? The spirit seems to take pieces of each of it and just disperse it exactly where you need it, which is only what he can do. So he just takes bits and pieces of it and says, you know what, Clint, you need that today. And that's the piece he got. It doesn't mean the rest of it is a need. It means the Holy Spirit brought the increase in that moment. He can hear the exact same sermon the next day and what a different aspect if it comes alive to him. That's the working of the spirit of God. But that happens through repetition. It seems to go if I ever preach a sermon, it just goes deeper and deeper and deeper and deeper. And you may not even realize it's happening. But I can tell it's happening and I'll tell you that. I love looking around at somebody that I met three, four or five, six years ago, I love remembering the conversations we had then and what you're saying and doing now, I'd love to see that such joy. To see you guys grow in grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ, amazing, and I don't think most of us see that growth so much in ourselves, right, because it's little bits every single day. But I remember the conversations by God's grace. I remember those conversations we had at the beginning, day ones and day twos and in your homes at the beginning. I remember those. Then I hear you talk now. That's encouraging. Just this bit by bit growing in grace and the knowledge of Jesus Christ. Man, that's exciting. We need deep theology. We need to go deep and we need to go broad. That's why you need to read all the Bible and you're reading and you do meditative study in the Bible as well. You do both of those. When you love truth in people, repeating a truth and warning is not trouble for you. Right? We can grow impatient. We need to work on that as parents. But you love your children, so you're happy to go through it again. You say, God, give me the grace to go through it again. And what Paul's saying here is this. What I'm getting ready to tell you guys, you need to hear it again. It's important for you. I don't mind repeating it. I'm sure Paul has told them so many times. I know he has. I know he's told him so many times. He's going to tell him again. And he wants, you know, it is in trouble for me. He loves these people. Remember back in chapter one, verse twenty five, when Paul was struggling with whether he would depart and be face to face with Jesus and to die as gain or he would stay here. And he said in verse twenty five that if I stay here, I know I'm going to be staying here for you as a worker with you in your faith and your joy. Remember that? So Paul knows if I'm here, I'm here to serve the church. Good takeaway from that is this. Paul does not count his life as his own. That's why it's not a problem to repeat this. I'm here for you, he's saying. I'm here for you. This is what I'm here for. I'll sit here as your pastor. I am here for you. And I pray that God grace grants me the grace to be a patient pastor, to carefully over and over go through these things again. Some of you are here. We're here at the very beginning. We started plunging through some of these truths and you've heard him 50,000 times. I want you to be patient with some who just started coming as we go through these truths, because I remember one brother came to me and said this to me. Why do you keep preaching on false assurance and false Christianity? He's like, that's all you preach on. You just preach on false Christians all the time. And he was frustrated with me. And I went to him and I said this to him. We preach systematically through books. Right. Yeah. So are you accusing me of not preaching the text? Well, no, then the reason I preach it, because it's in the text. That's my job. If you don't like the repetition, you don't like God's word. That's the truth of it. I hit on false conversion because it's in almost everything. It's in verse three. When we get to verse three, Paul's putting forth. Here's what a real Christian is. What's the practical implication for us to do in light of that, to look at it and do what? Second Corinthians thirteen five. Examine yourself to see if you're in the faith. It would be foolish to say, here's what a Christian looks like, but we're all Christians. Let's move on. Let's just skip verse three because we're Christian. That's not why he does it. He does it because he knows this. There are terrors mixed in with the wheat. There are goats in here right now thinking they're sheep and they're goats. And by God's grace, through his word being preached faithfully, Lord willing, they'll be transformed into sheep. And I'm not going to be the one with blood on my hands, as Paul would say, because I didn't preach the text because I don't want to go through that again. Every time it comes up, we're going to go through it to its fullest extent that I can. And God leads me in that. I don't pick and choose what I preach. That is one reason why we do systematic preaching through books, because I don't want you guys to be dependent upon what I want to preach. I want to know what God's word wants. And it's perfectly balanced as you just walk through God's word. It hits us all every time, everywhere we need it. So if we're getting tired of hearing the same message, take it up with the Lord, because I'm just preaching his word by grace. It's the issues with the words repetition, but obviously there's repetition for a reason why we need it. We need repetition. So Paul says, I don't mind saying it again. I don't mind teaching on it again. So repeating it for Paul is not irksome. He's willing to invest time and explain in detail to make sure that they get it. It's safe for them, it's in their best interest, Paul wants to protect them. Because he's going to give a warning here. I'd say one of the responsibilities of a pastor that is very neglected in what we would call mainstream Christianity today. The responsibility of a pastor to protect the flock. Because you know what? That's not very seeker friendly. To protect the flock. It's not. A little abrasive. It's a lot abrasive. We're going to see just how abrasive it is here. This wouldn't happen in a seeker friendly environment. Why? Because it's uncomfortable what he's getting ready to do. But it's necessary. See, if you are here as a hireling and not a true shepherd, then you'll skip stuff like this because it's not going to bring more people into the seats, might cause a few of them to leave. But a true shepherd just preaches the text. And trust the outcome and the consequences to the Lord. So if I want to be accused of anything, I want to be accused of this faithfully preaching the text. Faithfully preaching the text, no matter who it offends. Remember, in Hebrews 13, 17, it says to obey your leaders and to submit to those who are in authority over you, then it gives you the reason why, for they're keeping watch over your soul. It's one of the jobs of a shepherd to keep watch over your soul. And one of the ways you do that is by warning people about false teachers. And false conversion, that's exactly what Paul is getting ready to do here. Thought about, again, why does it have to go so deep? Why does it have to be so repetitious? I think because the deceit is so deep. That the truth must go deeper. We are infiltrated. With false teachers in this world and false Christianity and false gospels and false doctrines, and it needs to be so repetitious, so we go deeper than those lies do and we stay above it. That's why it has to go so deep. So what's the warning? What's Paul warning them about? And what is so concerning and serious that he has no trouble repeating it again to them? Verse two, look out for the dogs, look out for evil doers, look out for those who mutilate the flesh. In Paul's warning, two things are going to happen. First, he's going to expose false teachers. Second, he's going to contrast false teachers from true converts in verse three. And again, that'll give us the opportunity next week to examine ourselves. If we look at the end of verse two and the beginning of verse three, we'll know right away who Paul is warning this church about. Look out for those who mutilate the flesh. In the NSV, it says the false circumcision. And then in verse three, he contrasts that which will do next week, and he says, because we're the real circumcision. So he's telling him, I want you to beware. I want you to look out for someone. These dogs, these evil doers. But he names who they are as a group. They're the false circumcision ones. And these people know exactly who Paul's talking about now. Maybe there was a group of them who didn't name them individually by names, but he just named the names right here. It's the circumcision group that I'm warning you about, the false, the ones who mutilate the flesh. That's who I'm warning you about, church. I want you to beware of them. I want you to be careful. I want you to look out for them. See, that's not a popular message today, is it? Don't name names. Big arms embracing everybody come together. Unity. So who's he warning about? Jewish false teachers. He's warning about Jewish false teachers to remember when we started the book, I took you to Acts, Chapter 16, and I helped you see where the Church of Philippi began when Paul went to Philippi and he met Lydia and they were out and in Philippi, it's mostly Gentiles. You see, if you're in a city, you have to have at least 10 Jewish men to have a synagogue. These people are meeting out in the field somewhere. They don't have a synagogue. It's a few women. They don't have many Jewish people here. Practicing Jews, at least so that the church in Philippi is mainly Gentiles. Right. So Paul goes there. He proclaims the gospel of Lydia. The Lord opens up her heart. She saved her household, say they get beaten. They get thrown in the prison. The prison jailer gets saved. His family gets saved. And here comes the church of Philippi that Paul is going to oversee and that he worked there for proclaiming the gospel. That's the beginning of the church in Acts, Chapter 16. We said that when we started the book. What happened in Acts, Chapter 15, now? The next chapter, 15, Paul, on a missionary journey, says this in verse one, But some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers. These are professing Christians now, unless you're circumcised, according to the custom of Moses, you can't be saved. So Paul's been dealing with this. These false these these mutilators of the flesh, these false circumcision people, they're running around telling these new Christian brothers, hey, unless you guys get circumcised, you can't be saved. And Paul has clearly been warning them about them and he has no issue warning him again. He once said, I want you to know this. Be on the lookout. For these people, these Jewish false Christians, heretics going around telling people, unless you're circumcised, you can't be saved. That's what he's saying. That's what he's saying to him. And you've got to love Paul for doing that. These men in Acts, Chapter 15, are teaching another gospel. This is why Paul thinks it's so serious. They're teaching Jesus Christ plus circumcision. They've added to the gospel. This heresy of adding something to the finished work of Jesus Christ is a heresy back here in the book of Acts, chapter 15. It's a heresy that continues today in places like the Catholic Church. The Jehovah's Witnesses, Christian scientists, Mormons. Oh, we believe in Jesus. You just got to be circumcised. We believe in Jesus. You just got to do good works. We believe in Jesus. You just got to take the sacraments. We believe in Jesus. You just got to get baptized. It's the same heresies. They just change what they're adding on to the gospel. They're heretics. And Paul says, beware of these, of the false circumcision. And he's saying to us today, beware of anyone who adds anything to the gospel of Jesus Christ. And the pastor's job is to expose that. By proclaiming the true gospel and exposing the false gospels. Paul said in Galatians 1,6-8, a verse you're all familiar with, I'm astonished. That you're so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel, not that there is another gospel, but there are some like these Jews who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preach to you, let him be accursed. That's serious language. This is what a good pastor does, a good shepherd does. Adding to the gospel or taking away from the gospel distorts the gospel. Oh, we believe Jesus is the Savior. He's just not God. He just distorted the gospel to false gospel now. Just distorted it. We know that. We need to take this serious, as Paul does, because it doesn't get any more serious. Brothers and sisters, you have another Jesus, you have another gospel, you go to hell. So I don't think we can put anything more serious on the line. And when things are this serious, Paul speaks up and he warns and he's not afraid to rewarn because it's this serious. Galatians 5, 6 clearly teaches us for in Christ, there's neither circumcision nor uncircumcision accounts for anything but only faith working through love, faith and the finished work of Jesus Christ is what saves people, not faith plus baptism, not faith plus circumcision. If you're one is Pentecostal, not faith plus speaking in tongues, see what they do. You just add something to the end of it and you distort the whole thing. And it's another gospel. And we are to consider you and that gospel accursed. That's how serious it is. To preach Christ plus circumcision, baptism, sacraments, good work, speaking in tongues or anything else, or to preach the gospel of Jesus or to preach the gospel or Jesus less than what he is or it is, is to preach another gospel. They're all heresies. They're all dogs. They're all to be exposed. We are to be contenders of the faith as a pastor. We are to contend for this faith. And one of the jobs of a pastor is to protect the flock from wolves. We want to come in. So what does Paul do with these false teachers? Let's just walk through it quickly, we'll be finished. He shows the serious of their doctrine by calling them dogs. It's not a compliment. Don't get the picture of your little puffy white dog on your lap. This is a derogatory term. It's meant to be derogatory. Do you remember in Matthew 15, the Canaanite woman, her daughters possessed, comes to Jesus. Jesus, come save my daughter. And he says, we take from the children. And feed it to the dogs, that's not a compliment to her. She says, yes, but master, even dogs eat the crumbs. And he says, you're right. Your faith is well, your daughter's well go. But here's the reality. This is not a compliment. From Paul, look out for the dogs is a derogatory term used in Scripture. Dogs were dirty, unclean, dangerous and to be avoided. So this is these animals that run freely and eat and could attack at any moment and go and pack sometimes. And you want nothing to do with them. Paul says, listen, I want you to know these people who distort the gospel. They're dogs. They're unclean. Don't go around them. Don't bring them into your home. Don't pet them. Don't socialize with them. They'll turn and they'll bite you. They're dogs. That's what he's saying. You see, I like that about Paul and we need that from pastors today. Who aren't afraid of the repercussions of people saying, oh, we're not going to have be friends with you anymore. OK. I'm OK with that. If I got Jesus, I'm preaching his word faithfully. I'm OK if you're not my friend. I don't need you as a friend. I need Jesus. I need truth because I'm going to give an account one day for this. He doesn't embrace them. He doesn't say, let's find the lowest common denominator of something we do agree on lock arms and try to do good humanitarian deeds. Hmm, that should make you angry when you see people do that. Let's just get together with the people, at least they say the name Jesus, they must be Christian at some aspect. He doesn't call them brothers about that one. When you refer to a heretic as a brother, you're not fulfilling your call as a pastor. These are not our brothers, not because I'm better. They have a distorted gospel. It damns people to hell. They work for Satan. That's what he's saying. So I don't rally with them to dig wells somewhere, but that's a good cause. They're dogs. I'm fine digging the well, I don't want to do it with them. Because I don't want to dig a well with them and have them tell someone Jesus plus and they go to hell, but they had good drinking water. I'd rather tell them Jesus alone through faith alone and die a horrible life on this earth, but spend eternity in glory. Give your life to the gospel. I don't like goofy mission trips. I don't like them. Because you lock arms with unbelievers. For so-called Christian good. Missions are about the gospel, and I'm not saying you can't go out there and help people, but it's a means to preach the gospel, to share the gospel. And without it, it's not missions. Call it what it is. It's humanitarian work. And if you want to call it humanitarian work and you want to do that, that's fine. Then I don't have a problem with it. But don't call it missions. It's not missions. Take a bunch of unconverted teenagers and go dig a well somewhere and don't even preach the gospel. That's not missions. Encourage them in their false faith. That's what it is. Teach people the gospel, let them know the gospel, let them serve in a local biblical church, let them understand truth and rightly divide the word and then send them out and give up your comfortable life to send them out. That's mission. And we can get behind that all day long. Paul calls him dogs because they're dirty, doesn't lock arms with him. No. What else does he do? He exposes them by their actions. He says they're evil doers. He said, I want you to know this. I'm warning you about somebody. They're dogs. Don't invite them in your home. Don't go up and pet them. Don't be friends with them. Nothing. Don't have anything to do with them. And you'll know them by their evil deeds. Now he's going to help you see who they are. And then next you'll see he's going to name them. So he says they're dogs. Don't have anything to do with in the dirty. You'll know them by their fruit. This is exactly what Jesus said in Matthew 7, 15 through 16. Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. How will I know them, Jesus? You'll recognize them by their fruit. Same thing Paul's saying in here. They're evil doers. The thing about this that's deceiving, though, they're usually very moral and righteous on the outside, but inside the dead. The dead, they're usually very legalistic to have a good sign, you'll see in a false teacher, not always, but usually because they build themselves up in their own self-righteousness and they don't have the true gospel. But they can be deceiving on the outside. They look like they're here to do good. They look like they're passionate. They do some moralistic deeds. But Paul says and Jesus says, watch them. You'll know them by their fruit. And don't think they're going to walk in here. You said this before. False teachers don't walk in here with black capes on hoods and the pentagram necklace. They don't do that. They walk in saying Jesus Christ is the greatest thing I've ever seen. That's what they walk in saying. But they draw people away and teach them false doctrines. Jesus plus, Jesus minus. Like the Pharisees, false teachers often have a strict external righteousness they hold to because but because they're not converted and trust in their own righteousness, they're evil doers. Watch the fruit. This is why one of the qualifications for being an elder is your life. You don't bear the fruit, you can't lead. Why? Because we don't want people not bearing the fruit, teaching stuff. Why? Because false teachers don't have good fruit in the end. You should be able to discern them. Jude 1, 4 says they crept in unnoticed. Don't think you're going to recognize them. And another thing I'll share with you on this. As we do encourage the gathering of the saints for Bible study and prayer, that's a community of believers. We encourage that. I hope when you guys get together, the great bed and fellowship, you talk about the word, you open the word, you study things together. I'm all for that. Praise the Lord. Be discerning. Be discerning. Some will creep in unnoticed. Listen, I can't be at every social event you guys have. I can't be at every time you open the word of God. I can't be there. I'm not supposed to be. I'm to train you up in truth. So you're not carried away by every wind of doctrine. That's what I'm supposed to do. I'm to grow you in discernment through the preaching of God's word. Right. But then you're to be a Berean when someone is sitting with you and saying, oh, yeah, well, it's Jesus plus this. And you go, whoa, whoa, no. I'll tell you this, when you do see that and you have concerns, please come tell me because I want to get involved. It could be someone just struggling with a doctrine, coming to an understanding of something. So we approach it in the right way. But it could be a false teacher. And I want you to know, I will err on the side of lacking in patience with false teachers because they can cause great damage quickly. Titus said, warn a divisive man once and put him out of the church. Don't let division come in the church, it spreads so fast. So we take that seriously. In Acts, Chapter 15, here's something else they were teaching, but some believer, but some believers who belong to the party of the Pharisees rose up and said it's necessary to circumcise them and to order them to keep the law of Moses. Now, look what it said there. Some believers. Who belong to the party of the teaching of what? Now, you can have one or two things. You can have someone who's coming out of something and needs to be taught more. But the fact that they're teaching this stuff is very concerning to me. So they may look like believers at first, but if they teach a different gospel, they'll expose themselves as evildoers. Exposes evildoers. So what does Paul do with these guys? He shows their serious seriousness that is a false doctrine by calling him dogs. He helps expose them by saying, look at the fruit that they're able to be evil doers. And then he names names. He names names. Everyone in the church knows and he says the mutilators of the flesh are the not real circumcision, he knows exactly who they're talking about. Oh, the Jewish Pharisees, they're trying to teach us that we know exactly who Paul's talking about. You say, why didn't he name a name, per se? I would guess there's a group of them, because it says in Acts 15, there were a group of these people going out. But listen, make no distinct question about it. Paul is naming names here. When he says mutilators of the flesh, he's saying those who are teaching circumcision is still necessary for salvation and they know exactly who Paul is talking about. You got to be in context, he's naming names that's forbidden in seeker friendly environments. You don't name names. You don't name names in those environments. Paul names names. When someone is habitually teaching false doctrine and leading others astray, it's necessary to name names. Necessary to name names. They are not our brothers, we are to warn the church. Even if society thinks we're being unkind, they will viewed as being unkind. I'm all right with that. I can live with that. You can view me as unkind. It's out of love for the gospel, being a contender of the faith and a love for the sheep God's placed over me that I am willing to name names when necessary. I won't do it haphazardly. I won't do it flippantly. This is not about critiquing every pastor's sermon and finding one thing he understood wrong and calling him a heretic. Listen, I'm gracious with men who strive to preach the word of God. Because it's very easy to critique preachers, something we all need to be careful of, not just saying about me, but just in general, these these preachers that are everywhere. It's very easy to critique a preacher. It's very easy. We've often said everyone should have to preach one message. Which stop our critiquing is to the sinful critiquing that we do good, Berean critiquing is good, but we need to name names sometimes. Paul did it in Second Timothy, Chapter four. Look what he said. Alexander, the coppersmith, did me great harm. Which Alexander, oh, the coppersmith one, just so you don't get confused, that's the one he did me great harm, the Lord will pay him according to his deeds. I'm not going to take revenge upon him. The Lord will pay him. I'm just going to expose him, protect you guys, protect you, Timothy. Beware of him yourself, for he strongly opposed our message. He's a heretic. False teacher is against the gospel. Beware of them. Regarding those who had shipwrecked faith for Timothy, one twenty, among whom Hymen, Hymen, Ace and Alexander, whom I've handed over to Satan, that they may not learn to blaspheme. This church knows who these people are. I mean, this is literally calling out someone they know who's been in the assembly before. Who is this? No, this is the one who you've been meeting with. I want you to know, turn him over to Satan. Jesus did the exact same thing, Matthew 23, 13 through 15. He's standing in a crowd with the Pharisees in front of them, people listening when he does this. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people's faces, for you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte. And when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourself. As Jesus, the peaceful, loving Jesus, and he is peaceful and loving. But he lays his life down for the sheep. In Ephesians, it says you to expose the darkness. Expose it. Brothers and sisters, when you're in an environment, I'm not saying you need to be rude and offensive, but when you're in an environment and untruth is spoken, we're not the Holy Spirit. I understand that. But to keep your mouth shut in that environment assumes agreement. And I don't think you would have to debate it right there. I think sometimes you can say this. I want you to know what you said there. I don't agree with. We can talk about it later, but I don't affirm that biblically. You say that I don't agree with that. If they want to go there, then go there. But I'm not saying you have to have an open debate every second, every time, just run around as the Holy Spirit. Right. And I think there are there's there's times to be gracious in the body when you have a young believer. You can say, Paul, that brother said, hey, I want you to know what you said there wasn't true. I want you to see why biblically it's not true. We'll be gracious with people. Be gracious with people, but be a contender for the faith. Be a contender for the faith. It will cost you friends. It will cost you family. In fact, Luke 14 says it'll cost you everything. And if you're not willing to give up everything, Jesus said, you're not willing to be worthy by my disciple, then meaning what you haven't seen me as greater than everything you can see. But if you've been born again, you see me as greater than everything, and, you know, to give up everything is to lose nothing. If you gain me, you gain everything. Giving up everything for Jesus is not giving up, it's gaining. I'll make that trade any day of the week. Any day of the week. We already went through this, I'm just going to skip through it, you can read it later on. Paul is calling the church to discernment. I'm to protect, but one of the ways I protect you is I build you up in truth, and you need to exercise that truth and become discerning. Putting it to practice, putting truth to practice, testing things. Is that true? Is that true? I don't know if that's true. And you're looking through the lens and you become discerning the ability to judge between what is right and what is wrong. A judgment, a discerning. First Thessalonians 5, 21 and 22. Test everything. Hold fast to what is good. Abstain from every form or appearance of evil. First, John, for one beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirit to see whether they are of God. For many false prophets have gone out into the world. You have responsibility here. My job is to preach, expose when necessary. Your job is to be discerning because I'm not with you every day of the week, nor should I be. One pastor told me this, Jesse, if you're preaching and pastoring properly, they will need you more, but they will need you less, but love you more. Why? Because you're growing in your own discernment in Christ's likeness. Doesn't mean you don't need to come and gather with the saints. It means you're growing in maturity. I expect young other believers to say, hey, I didn't understand this. That's fine. But as as the writer of Hebrews warn in Hebrews chapter six, some of you guys should be teachers by now, but you're still dealing with elementary doctrines. Why? You're not practicing your discernment. You're not studying the word of God and exercising the truth you're learning. And you're called to. Pastors, yes. You, yes, beloved, do not believe every spirit test them. He didn't say that the pastors said that to the church visions for already mentioned this one year to be built up in truth of the preaching of God's word so that you may no longer be children tossed to and fro by waves carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning and craftiness and deceitful schemes grow in truth and knowledge. Summarizing it now, rejoice in the Lord. Brothers and sisters, the battle here in fulfilling this command is never about God being good or worthy of rejoicing. And the issue is, do you see him as that? The battle is understanding and seeing him as what he is. There's a battle in your mind to renew it daily. You can do this by daily nurturing your heart in the word and not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. You can do it through humility and prayer. Open my eyes that I may behold the wondrous things of your law. You can do it as you seek God as an end rather than a means as your personal genie. Stop seeking what he can give you and seek him for himself. You were created to glorify God and enjoy him forever. In regards to the heating of these false teachers, look out for dogs, evildoers, those who mutilate the flesh, you responsibility here, study and understand the gospel so you can discern true and false prophets and defend the faith. Walk circumspectly, knowing the days are evil. Don't just haphazardly pick up books. Almost not always, almost always, if it's a good bestseller, don't read it. That's a good rule of thumb. If Oprah talks about it, burn it. OK, but here's the reality of it. Don't just sit there and say, oh, it's hot. It's in the Christian bookstore. Almost everything in the Christian bookstore should not be in your library. Five steps to a better life now, those should not be in your library. I don't care if they say Jesus on the front. Here's a good way to discern a book, flip it over and look at the back and see who recommends it. You know who the good men of faith are. If you don't see their names, why read it? There's enough good stuff out there. You don't need to read it. Why fill your mind with it? Consume yourself with the word, and there's another rule of thumb. You're not allowed to read books if it's in lieu of reading the Bible. So there's a rule for the church. You can't read books about the Bible if you're not reading the Bible. They can come in addition to and complement it, but they don't ever substitute the reading of God's word. These are fallible men writing about an infallible word. Read the infallible word. I have hundreds of books. I love books. But they never, ever take the place. In fact, I will tell you this, I read very few books anymore. I want to read more, but I just can't put this down. I want to read this more because this is perfect. So I have a lot of books that I haven't read and I'm just sitting there thinking, I don't know that I need to read all these things. You know, I read them as the Lord leads and I pray, but I want to be in the word more. So should you. So I'm not saying you can't read books. I'm saying never in lieu of reading the Bible. Walk circumspectly because the days are evil. Understand adding to the gospel or taking away from it makes another gospel. Next week, we will contrast these false dogs with true believers, and then we'll look at ourselves in light of that as an opportunity to test our own faith. Let's pray. Gracious, gracious Heavenly Father, God, the patience you have with us in one day is untold. I don't want to grieve you, God. God, we don't want to grieve you. We don't want our lives to be grieving you. We want to honor and obey and worship you and rejoice in you. We need you. I know, God, our growth is a work of you and a work of us, it's both. Help us to be faithful in our responsibilities. As I know you will be faithful in yours. The problem's always us, help us to stop making excuses, stop grumbling and complaining and be given to Jesus Christ. Help us to rejoice in you. Not in what you give, but in you. Yes, praise the Lord God for what you have given to us, your son, salvation, hope, but also in you, because you are good, you are God. Right our hearts and our thinking here, correct us, Father. Let our worship be pure. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.