Philippians chapter 3 this morning go to Philippians chapter 3 if you would please we are going to Work our way through at least a few of the verses here in Philippians chapter 3, you know I just I just have a request as we start this morning whoever does the Church bulletin if you could just keep my name out of there when I'm preaching I Mean there was a line out in the hallway this morning that it was just it just spoke to me and so just a simple request nothing major and and then they're lined up at my table there with some of my music CDs and sermon CDs and and so just as in humility I just asked that oh wow scaring people away is what it did Philippians Philippians is an amazing book. Every book of the Bible is amazing. You know, speakers and preachers get up and they always start it the same way. Wow, this book is an amazing book. Well, that's true for every book, okay? So that's why we've got to start it that way. But Philippians certainly no exception to that the Apostle Paul wrote this letter it's actually a letter that he wrote to this church in Philippi and if you were from Philippi you were called a Philippian and so that's why the book is titled Philippians it's a well-known book it's it's well known as the epistle of joy Over a dozen times in this book in these four chapters that we have with this letter Over a dozen times the word joy in one form or another whether it be a noun or a verb It appears in this book and obviously Paul was trying to drive home that truth to these believers but even more so Philippians is not about joy even more so it's about Jesus and Again as as we talk about books of the Bible and hopefully that goes without being said but I'm going to say it again The Bible is about Jesus The Bible through and through is about Jesus and Philippians again is no exception to that. It's about Jesus Christ Paul tells us who he is He tells us what he's done and the joy that he brings In fact, biblical joy, especially as Paul uses that term in his writings, it's a positive attitude or it's a positive emotion that is actually, it's a fruit. It's not something we have a recipe for and we can put it all together and create it in our lives. It's actually a fruit of what? Galatians chapter five, it's a fruit of the Holy Spirit. And because it's a fruit of the Holy Spirit, it's based on something, and that something is what God has given us in his wonderful Son, Jesus Christ. Something he gives us at salvation. It's called life. But life is a good thing, but it's even better than life. It's eternal life. That means it's not gonna be taken away. and it will never end. And so when we think about that, that's why we can have joy no matter what the situation is, because that can't be taken away. We can worry about all the things in this life that are temporary, things that can be taken away, our wealth, our money, our health, our family, our job. The list could go on and on. But I'm here to tell you this morning again, your eternal life can't be taken away if you're in Jesus Christ, a child of the King. That can't change. It doesn't matter if a hurricane and a tornado and a typhoon all hit at the same time. Your eternal life won't be taken away. That's why you can have joy as Paul talks about it in this book in Philippians. So really we could say the theme of Philippians is not just joy, but it's this Jesus is our joy Because really if you're putting joy or your joy is coming from something other than Jesus. Guess what? It's not true joy Because it can be taken away and if we're going to split hairs this morning on definition of terms that's the difference between joy and happiness Happiness is based on something that can be taken away. We can be happy one day and not so happy the next day. We can be happy in the morning. Well, I guess that's kind of an oxymoron, I guess, for most of us. We can be happy in the afternoon and lose that happiness in the evening, but not joy. Not joy. We can wake up with that. We can go to bed with that day in and day out and that is what True joy is all about. In fact, it's Christ's joy that fills us according to John 15 11 These things have I spoken unto you that my joy might remain in you This is Jesus talking and that your joy might be full. It's Christ's joy that fills us full and this means it's possible to be joyful no matter what the circumstance and Jesus Christ was Paul's joy. I think if you do any study on his life, going to the book of Acts and seeing how God saved him on the road to Damascus, And to hear his testimony and to see his testimony really here in Philippians chapter three, he gives us a little sampling of his personal testimony. But if you do any reading on the apostle Paul and his life and know anything about him, he truly was somebody who chose Jesus Christ as his joy. I mean, this is the guy who said stuff like this. In fact, it's in this letter. For to me, to live, is Christ. Woo! That's awesome. And then what does he say? To die is what? It's gain. It's better. I mean, how do you discourage a guy like that? They chain him up. They put him in prison. We'll get him now. Hey, you kill me, that's even better. If I die, that's even better. You know, I had to believe, I gotta believe that some of those men thought, you know what, we were just about to take you down, but we realized that would actually be better for you, so we don't wanna do that to you. You can't get a man like that discouraged. Jesus Christ was Paul's joy, and as he writes to this church, remember the Philippian church is, it was the first church that Paul founded in Europe. The apostle came to Philippi on his second missionary journey. And Acts chapter 16 tells us that it was a pretty special and dramatic way that God led him there. You get a chance sometime, read Acts chapter 16, especially verses 9 and 10. The Holy Spirit led him in a very dramatic way. And Paul writes the book of Philippians. There are several purposes for it, really a handful of purposes that Paul writes this book. But a couple that I want to focus on this morning is this, to emphasize the gospel and how it relates to every situation. That was part of that was one of the main purposes of why Paul wrote this letter to this church at Philippi. And if you look through all these chapters, if you just sit down and in one sitting, read through the book of Philippians, you will see him mentioning the gospel over and over and over and over again. In fact, one of my favorite verses It's a verse we've chosen for our children's ministry. It's chapter one in verse 27. Let your conversation or your lifestyle, the way you live, be as it becometh the gospel of Christ. And really what he's saying in that verse is live the gospel. Let the gospel be the measure of all that you do. Whether it's for somebody else, or whether it's the thoughts you think, or the actions that you do, Live the gospel. Let the gospel be your measure for how you live your life. You know what? That's difficult. That's not just something you wake up one day and say, okay, today I'm going to start doing this. Because we're bombarded with so many other measures of how to live our life. So many other measures of what do people think of me? What does my authority think of me? What do the people that I minister to or work with think of me rather than what is consistent with the gospel? So he he writes this book to emphasize to these believers that the gospel, it should affect every situation. But he also writes this book. And I love this purpose. And we see this throughout the book as well as to exalt Jesus Christ, to lift up Jesus Christ as the center of all of life. And personally, I like the analogy of Jesus being at the center of our life better than the 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. I like Jesus being at the center of everything rather than Jesus or God is number one and work is number two and family is number three because at some point, sometimes that gets all jumbled up and messed up. But Jesus can be at the center of my family. Jesus can be at the center of my job. Jesus can be at the center of everything I'm involved with all at the same time. The problem is when he gets off center in our focus, he gets off center and that's when things start to spin a little bit out of control. Jesus is the center of all of life and that's what Paul is getting across to these Philippian Christians as well. chapter 3 and verse 8 we'll see that he mentions Jesus Christ as well but in chapter 1 and verse 1 he talks about the servants of Jesus Christ the Saints of Christ Jesus verse 18 in chapter 1 every way whether in pretense or in truth Christ be preached therein I rejoice chapter 1 verses 20 and 21 now also Christ shall be magnified in my body For to me to live is Christ, to die is gain. 126, that you rejoicing may be more abundant in Jesus Christ. 25, that let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. 210 and 11, that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow, that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. And on and on it goes. Paul was exalting Jesus Christ. He was lifting him up. to this church, to these Christians there in this church that he had founded. And when Christ is the center of your life, Paul's message to the Philippians can be true of you as well. And if we were to look at the first three chapters, we could say this, Christ is our joy and sufferings. Paul makes that abundantly clear in chapter one. He's in prison. And he's talking about rejoicing. You can rejoice in your suffering. The Philippian Christians were experiencing some persecution. They were being attacked by some false teachers. Philippians chapter three, we'll talk about that this morning. Chapter two, Christ is our joy in serving. Being a servant, Christ, he should be our joy in serving. Not ourselves, sometimes we are tempted to serve so that we can get some attention. But Christ should be our joy in serving. And by the way, you can usually tell if Jesus isn't your joy in serving because if someone doesn't recognize you, what happens? You get a little ticked, little upset. I think I deserve a little recognition. I mean, I've been teaching Sunday school now for six months. Are you serious? Okay. But when Jesus is our joy, You can be teaching for 60 years and you just want him to get the glory. Jesus can be your joy in your, in your serving. And then thirdly, in Philippians chapter three, we see that Christ is our joy in salvation. Jesus is the joy of my salvation. Isn't there a song that, that has those lyrics to it? Jesus is the joy of my salvation the psalmist talks about that. Jesus is the joy of my salvation You know, sometimes I think that's why we walk around with sour looks on our face because we've lost Jesus is the joy of our salvation You know what Jesus is is more important than eternal life even Jesus is more important than any part of salvation because Jesus is salvation That's that that should that should get us wound up when we think about that. I Jesus is the joy of our salvation is with you at Philippians chapter 3 in verse 3 He says rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh Jesus is the joy of our salvation Don't rejoice in something you're doing or have done or who you are or what you've accomplished Rejoice in Jesus Christ Christ is our joy in salvation so in chapter 3 Paul clearly explains several concepts of salvation, three amazing concepts of our salvation. He talks in verses one to nine, he talks about justification. Big Christian word, we're gonna talk a little bit more about that in just a couple minutes. He talks about sanctification, verses 10 to 16, and he talks about glorification in verses 17 to 21. Don't get worried, we're just gonna do the first one today. verses one to nine, we're gonna go on what I'd like to call this morning a justification journey from chapter three and verses one through nine. I'd like to read through those verses. If you have your copy of God's Word with you this morning, if you would follow along. Philippians chapter three, verses one to nine, he says this, finally my brethren, so now he's closing this letter, he's winding it down, finally my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you, to me, indeed, is not grievous, but for you, it is safe. Beware of dogs. Beware of evil workers. Beware of the concision. By the way, that's every mailman's verse right there. Beware of dogs. For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. Verse 4, Though I might also have confidence in the flesh, if any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more. circumcised the eighth day of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin and Hebrew of the Hebrews as touching the law, the Pharisee concerning zeal, persecuting the church, touching the righteousness, which is in the law blameless. But what things were gained to me? Those I counted loss for Christ. Yea, doubtless and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and do count them but dung. that I might win Christ. In verse nine, and be found in him not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness, which is of God by faith. This is a journey justification. The doctrine of justification is a central doctrine of the Christian faith. In fact Martin Luther called justification the cornerstone of Christianity. J. I. Packer said that any church that has lapsed from justification by faith can scarcely be called a Christian church. If you understand church history you know that justification by faith was the hallmark of the touchstone of the Protestant Reformation. I want to try to define justification for you this morning, put some words up on the screen for us to think about this because this really is an amazing concept in salvation. First of all, the justification is the pronouncement that as far as the law is concerned, the defendant is not guilty. but declared innocent. That's what justification is. We could also say this. It's God's legal declaration that as on the basis of the perfect life, now here we go with the gospel. God's legal declaration that on the basis of the perfect life and the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ, a sinner is as righteous as his very own son, Jesus Christ. That's pretty amazing to me. That should be amazing to us. That's, that should bring the joy. That's where the joy should bubble from because justification includes acquittal. It includes the not guilty verdict, but it's more than acquittal. That's the beauty part. It's more than acquittal. To acquit is to declare a person not guilty. But in justification, God does not simply declare a sinner of all charges. He declares a sinner to be positively righteous. We have the righteousness of his son, Jesus Christ. which is no small thing. It's perfection. So positionally, guess what? You are. You're perfect. You're perfect in God's eyes. When God looks at you, he looks at you through the spectacles, through the lens of his son, Jesus Christ, and he sees perfection. But be careful. It's not anything because of you ever, ever. It's nothing because of you. It's all because of Jesus Christ. That's justification. That's the only reason it can be true. Justification story is told of a man who owned a Rolls Royce. Anybody on a Rolls Royce in here this morning? All right, good. stories told of a man who owned a Rolls-Royce and he lived in England and he wanted to take a trip to Europe and Tour the French countryside and he wanted to do it in his Rolls-Royce So he crossed the English Channel put his Rolls-Royce on a ferry and and and as he was into his tour a couple days his vehicle broke down his Rolls-Royce broke down and so he called the company and They said, we will send you a mechanic immediately. We will fly you a mechanic. And so that's just what they did. They flew him a mechanic. He arrived within a day. He was there. He got the parts. He fixed the vehicle. And the man was on his way again. And he enjoyed his tour. And he got back a couple weeks later, expecting to see a bill in the mail. But he didn't. So he waited a little longer. And finally, He called the company, he relayed to them what had happened, tried to tell them exactly when it was. And a couple days later, he got this letter. Dear sir, thank you so much for your letter. You need to know that we have no record in our files that any Rolls Royce has ever broken down at any place, at any time, or for any reason. That's justification. That is a small picture of the justification of what justification is all about. God, the father, sees your position in Jesus Christ and says there's no record that my child has sin at all. Could there be a record of that? Oh, yes, there could. I'm speaking for myself now. I'd have I'd have I'd have four laundry lists record of sins in my life. But God looks at us through his son, Jesus Christ, and says, justified. When that old, wicked Satan comes and does what the Bible says he does against believers, what does he do? He accuses us before God. God says, justified. Justified. Again, not because of anything that we are, but because of who Jesus is. It's based on his perfect life. It's based on his sacrificial death. That was a big deal. The gospel was a big deal. By the way, what's the gospel? According to 1 Corinthians 15, it's the death, the burial, and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. That's a big deal. I read this recently. If the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ did not happen, nothing else truly matters. You believe that? I believe that. But the gospel is so powerful. That truth is so powerful. Listen to this. If the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ did happen, guess what? Nothing else really matters. That's how powerful the gospel is. That's the crux of the matter. I think I've mentioned that before as I've spoke to you in times past. The crux of the matter is the gospel. What happened at the cross? It's the crux. Everything hinges on that. Makes it powerful. It's omnipotent power. It's not just amazing power, it's omnipotent power. That's what happened there at the cross. And so in verses one to nine, Paul unfolds this justification journey. He takes these Philippians on this little justification journey. Justification by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. And so he begins by making it very clear in verses one to three that gospel truth must be protected. Gospel truth be protected. We see that in verses 1 to 3 in a couple ways. In fact look at verse 20 it says, finally my brethren rejoice in the Lord to write the same things to you. Paul was saying the same thing he had said to them before, but he says to write the same things to you to me indeed is not grievous. It doesn't trouble me. It doesn't discourage me that I've got to tell you this again. This is so important. I'll keep telling it to you. I'll keep saying it over and over. I'll say it till I die. That's how important it is. He says, it doesn't grieve me. It doesn't trouble me, but for you, it's safe. And really what Paul is saying to the Philippians is, listen, to understand the gospel, if you're going to accept salvation, if you're going to receive Jesus Christ as your Savior, you've got to understand the gospel. So I'll be glad to tell it again and again. Because if there's no understanding, guess what? There's no salvation. I have no problem telling you this again. I can see him writing it with a smile on his face. I'll tell him again. I'll tell him again because there might be one that doesn't understand quite yet. And it's so important. Gospel truth has to be protected. He says we know we know he's pretty serious about this because he uses the word beware in verse 23 times. It's a strong word is an imperative word. Hey, don't joke around about this. Don't mess around. Beware. Watch out. And then he has these strong words against the false teachers. He speaks so strongly against these false teachers. He uses beware three times. He calls the false teachers dogs, which is interesting because he's not talking about pet dogs. Okay. Don't be offended this morning. If you have a dog that you love, and now Paul's calling these false teachers, your little old Chihuahua or poodle or great Dane or whatever it is that you have. Paul here is using a word for dogs that he's talking about the wild scavengers that plagued the ancient cities of that time. They roamed in packs. They fed on garbage. They occasionally would attack human beings. And the Jews in biblical times, if they wanted to refer in a derogatory way to a Gentile, this is what they called them. You dog. Those dogs. They weren't talking about pets. They were talking about the wild, mangy scavengers that roamed those cities of that day. What was Paul's point? I think he was making it pretty clear here. Just as wild dogs are vicious and dangerous, they're to be avoided. So are the false teachers. The ones that are saying that salvation comes by any other means than Jesus Christ alone. Stay away from them. Don't let them get in amongst you. Those who teach salvation by works, they're dogs. Stay away. He also calls them evil workers. Beware of dogs. Beware of evil workers. Though claiming to be better and to be more righteous, the false teachers were actually unsafe. They were workers of evil. They were working against God. They were evil workers. And he also calls them, beware of the concision. It's a word that means the mutilation. What's Paul talking about here? He's talking about circumcision. Circumcision has always been essential to the Jewish people. It's a distinguishing mark of God's covenant relationship with their forefather, Abraham. Read Genesis chapter 7. Acts chapter 7 and verse 8 also talks about that. Circumcision, though, was a symbol It was a symbol. It pictured man's need to be cleansed from sin at the deepest root of his being, and like baptism, like baptism in the New Testament, circumcision was to reflect an inward reality. Jeremiah chapter four and chapter nine. Sadly, by Paul's day, though, circumcision had become just an outward ritual. For these false teachers, it was just an outward ritual totally lacking its intended spiritual significance. And so the false teachers were taught or were teaching a false circumcision. That's what this word concision means. Mutilation, a false circumcision. Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament, uses a related word to talk about or to refer to what they did in the pagan religious rituals. They would mutilate themselves as a way of worshiping their false gods. And so Paul's teaching is very vivid here. He's telling the Philippians, listen, this is so important. This truth is so important. false teachers are mutilating themselves. It's not true circumcision. It doesn't reflect a cleansed heart. It's meaningless. In fact it's like what the pagans do to their false gods. Stay away from them. Stay away from them. Paul just doesn't speak, doesn't just speak strongly against the false teachers but he makes it clear what true Christianity is in verse 3. Look at verse 3, for we are the circumcision which worship God in the Spirit. Paul is saying true Christianity is lived from the inside out. I love what Pastor Wes said this morning. Sound systems, screens, videos, whatever, that's not, those are just a means of worship. Those aren't, we don't need those to worship because we worship from the inside out. It starts in our heart. That's what Paul is saying. We worship, which worship God in the Spirit. He also says that true Christianity boasts in Jesus Christ. Verse three, and rejoice in Christ Jesus. That word rejoice means to boast in or to glory in, to rejoice, to bring glory to. That's what true Christianity is about. We focus and we look at Jesus Christ. True Christians give the credit for all they are and have to the Lord Jesus Christ. They can declare with Paul, as he did in 1 Corinthians 15, by the grace of God, I am what I am. It's all because of him. We boast in Jesus Christ. True Christianity also, the end of verse three, have no confidence in the flesh. True Christianity does not place any confidence in self. flesh represents man's fallen unredeemed humanity and as Paul said in Romans chapter 7 and verse 18 for I know that no good thing dwells in me that is in my flesh we don't take confidence in the flesh we don't take confidence in our abilities in our gifts in our talents those are ultimately from God given to us to bring glory and to Jesus Christ. And so Paul takes a little sentence here, a little portion to say, Hey, what is true Christianity? Speak strongly against the false teachers. But then he also makes it very clear to these Philippians what true Christianity is. Paul continues. Gospel truth must be protected, but also salvation by works must be rejected. Look at verse 4, "'Though I might also have confidence in the flesh, if any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I mourn.'" Now it's going to look like just for a second here, excuse me, it's going to look like just for a second here that Paul is starting to rest on his laurels. That he's going to start tooting his own horn. That he's going to start sharing with them, hey, look at me. Look at me. This is who I am. You want to go there? Let's go there because I'll beat you every time. I'll take you every time. If you're going to talk about good works, if you're going to talk about who you are and what you've done and what you've accomplished, we can play that game because I'll beat you every time. But he's setting the truth up. He's setting the truth of the gospel up here. If anyone can claim salvation based on who they were, or what they had accomplished, it was Paul. Paul lists here in these verses, verses five and six, who he was and what he accomplished. First of all, he tells them in the flesh, he was a true Jew. He was a true Jew. Look at verse five, circumcised the eighth day of the stock of Israel of the tribe of Benjamin and Hebrew of the Hebrews. First of all, he says he was circumcised the eighth day. He was not a Gentile. He was not a Gentile that had taken on the Jewish way of life. What's that called? Proselyte. He wasn't a proselyte, someone that had come to Jesus as a Gentile. He also is saying here that he was not just a proselyte, but he wasn't an Ishmaelite either, because Ishmaelites were circumcised in their 13th year as a 13-year-old. He was circumcised the eighth day. He was born a Jew, and his parents had followed the letter of the law in raising him precisely in conformity to the Mosaic law, what God had given to Abraham recorded with Moses. His parents, nor himself, were grafted into the Israelite nation. They could trace their heritage to the original ancestors. They were pure. They were pure in that regard. He says he's a Benjaminite. He's of the tribe of Benjamin, the only tribe outside of Judah itself that had remained loyal to David and his dynasty when the split had come. I'm of Benjamin. He said he's a Hebrew of the Hebrews, which means that he spoke the Hebrew language. He observed Hebrew culture. He observed Hebrew customs. He was the man when it came to being a Jew. He was a true Jew. He wasn't just a true Jew, though. He was the religious upper crust. Because he says, as he continues here, as touching the law of Pharisee. Now we, sometimes when we hear the word Pharisee or we talk about Pharisees, we think of that as kind of a negative thing. me tell you something that was a little different in Paul's day. Paul was the son of a Pharisee, Acts 23. He had made the conscious decision to become a Pharisee himself. He had been trained by Gamaliel on his Pharisaical tasks. Gamaliel was the most celebrated Rabbi of that day. And whatever we think of Pharisaism today in the first century it represented the highest level, the upper crust that a Jew could attain. They were known for how careful and meticulous and earnest. observed the Mosaic Law. He was a true Jew. He was part of the religious upper crust as a Pharisee. He was also a persecuting maniac. Look at verse 6, concerning Zeal, persecuting the church. We know from his life, the story of his life, that he was one of the, he was the greatest example of someone who was taking down Christians and killing Christians and persecuting them. To Jews, Zeal was the greatest quality of a religious life. And Paul's zeal was strong. Everyone knew of his self-confessed hatred of the early Christians. But not only that, he tells us that he was Mr. Perfect. He tells these Philippians he was Mr. Perfect. This is pretty amazing. Touching the righteousness which is in the law, I'm blameless. I keep it all. I mean, Paul was, he was something else. I mean, if he came to our church, he would have been wearing not just a suit coat and a tie. He would have had a vest on. He would have had cuff links. And it would have all matched, too. He was the real deal. His hair would have been perfect. He would have smelled nice. Nicely nice. I'm distracted, sorry. He was the real deal. And he's telling the Philippians, listen, you want to go here, you can. I'm more. I'm better. I've done it all. I've kept it all. I've done all this. Paul had a perfect record when it came to following external, pharisaical traditions. Paul's testimony is that no one could blame him for not following even one of the rules in the handbook. Was Paul showing off? Was he showing off who he was by listing all of this stuff about himself? No. He was opening his life for everyone to see that although he was something by religious standards, it wasn't even close to what was needed to be saved. It's a powerful message. He was miserably and totally bankrupt with no hope. Isaiah 64 6 is all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags. And Paul is shouting to these Philippian Christians and to us today through God's word that salvation by works is absolutely impossible no matter who you are or what you've done. Justification comes only through Jesus Christ. I like what Warren Wearsby has to say about Paul at this point. Paul had enough good works to keep him out of trouble, but not enough to get him into heaven. For Paul, it was not the bad things that had kept him away from Jesus. It was the good things. He had to lose his religion in order to find his salvation. Now, Paul tells his Philippians this. He tells us this today. And for someone who trusted in Jesus Christ when I was six years old, now decades later, this is an old message to me. But I pray and I see God doing a work in my life, even to this day, of how he is renewing my love and my joy and my happiness in the gospel. In this truth, folks, we've got to get back to this. These are the same things all over again. But Paul is making a big deal out of the fact that, listen, there's some false teachers out there. And I'm not going to pretend this one. There might be some false teachers in here or some false teachers that you know about that maybe you watch on the television or listen to on the radio or have as a coworker. There's some false teachers out there. Folks, beware of the dogs. Beware of the evil workers. Don't let that thinking even begin to start into your life that you can do something for your salvation. You can't. Maybe you sit here this morning and you aren't a Christian. You haven't trusted in Jesus Christ and the salvation that he has made possible through his death, burial, and resurrection. Romans 10, 9 says, if you believe in your heart, the Lord Jesus, and confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, believe in him, that God hath raised him from the dead, you will be saved. That's the gospel message right there in a nutshell. Because of his death and burial and resurrection, we confess him, we receive him by salvation alone. It's not by our works, it's by Jesus Christ and what he has done. So as we close this morning, we're gonna close out this morning and we'll finish this at another time. I have a couple questions I wanna ask. First of all, do you base your salvation on anything that you are or have accomplished? I hope not. because Paul says in Chapter three, be careful, be careful that beware of that thinking. Do you think you can stay saved or keep your salvation because of who you are or what you've accomplished or by continuing to do something? I hope not. Because again, that's what Paul is warning against in this passage. It's my hope and prayer this morning as we close that you would understand that true Christianity is through Jesus Christ alone. Through Jesus Christ alone. And as you sit here this morning, you don't have to be someone special to come to Jesus. You don't have to have a certain bank account to come to Jesus. You don't have to have a certain last name to come to Jesus. You don't have to have done some good thing or given some amount to a charitable organization to come to Jesus. because it's all about Jesus. Jesus. It's all through him. Fill in the blank. It's not about that. It's about Jesus himself. I'm gonna ask