Philippians chapter 3, and I'm going to read Philippians chapter 3 down through verse 9. Hear the word of the Lord. Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. For me to write the same things to you is not tedious, but for you it is safe. Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the mutilation. For we are of the circumcision who worship God in the spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. Though I also might have confidence in the flesh, if anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh, I more so. Circumcise the eighth day of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews, concerning the law, a Pharisee, concerning zeal, persecuting the church, concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. But what things were gained to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed, I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Jesus Christ my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish that I may gain Christ and be found in him. Not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith. Let's pray. Gracious Heavenly Father, Lord, we do come to hear your word today. And we recognize, O Lord, that it is through the preaching of the word that you impart grace and faith to the hearers. And we realize, O Lord, that we are listening to the very words of Christ in this text. Show mercy to us, O God. Open our hearts and our minds to the understanding of this letter. I pray, O Lord, that we would worship You in how we proclaim this, how we read this, how we preach this, and how we listen to the preaching of Your Word. Show mercy to us, O Father. It's in the name of Jesus we pray, Amen. So following our text here today, I'm going to stick fairly closely to the outline that I gave in the title. The title of the sermon is The Characteristics, the Essence, and the Foundation of Our Salvation. In other words, with half the population in America today professing to be a Christian, with church attendance and religious busy work at an all-time high in record numbers, How do the scriptures define the qualities of the church and of the true believer? What does the church look like? What does a true believer live like? And in light of the fact that many today throw around the word faith, they throw around the term half faith, believe in God, as if it is a work or a merit, How do the Scriptures define this word? What does it mean to have faith? What is the essence of our faith? And in light of the appeals made for ministers and men today to the will of natural men appealing to their natural corruptions. Upon what foundation does our righteousness stand before God? Does it stand upon our own righteousness? Or does it stand upon God's righteousness? What is the foundation of our salvation? So it's questions like these I hope we can answer today as we look at this text. And remember, as has already been stated, these are the words of Christ. This is Christ speaking to his church. Let's approach this with reverence and with fear and worship of him. So I must point out, first of all, that the Book of Philippians is a prison epistle written by the Apostle Paul to the Philippian church, a Gentile church in Asia Minor. And Philippians is one of Paul's most famous epistles, because it's called the epistle of joy or rejoicing. It was written from prison. Paul is in prison for preaching the gospel, and yet his tone is clearly, and his emphasis is clearly rejoicing the Lord. It's a cheerfulness almost, Paul's writing to this church. But what is particularly relevant to us in understanding the context is the fact that the church of Philippi basically had no major issues. This is not like Paul's letter to the Galatians or the 1st Corinthians, for there's little or no rebuke found within. In fact, in chapter 2, verse 12, Paul even says, You have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence. So they were an obedient church. Paul didn't have to worry about them following into disobedience while he was away. He was away in prison and he actually commenced their behavior as exceeding, maybe even exceeding his expectations while he was away. But when we come to chapter three, after taking that the tone of joy and rejoicing. We've seen a broad change in his tone. Look with me here, verse one. Verse 1 and 2, it says, Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. There's that reminder. For me to write the same things to you is not tedious, but for you it is safe. Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the mutilation. So notice his emphatic warning here, beware, beware, beware. This is strong language, and of course, it's meant to get their attention. We don't beware of something unless there's danger immediately present. In fact, the word, the Greek word for the word beware here is translated literally, behold, take heed of, regard with caution, proceed with caution. He's constantly looking out. He's saying, beware, there is danger around you. Watch out. So although this was a strong and obedient church that he Seemingly had no rebukes for no qualms with they needed to be warned and they needed to be warned seriously of the danger that was around them In fact at the end of verse 1 as he's getting to this warning He says very plainly for me to write the same things to you is not tedious But for you it is safe Clearly it is a safeguard Paul was purposely being tedious and Purposely being repetitious in his warning them about false teachers. And this is for their safety is a safeguard to keep them from falling. And it is this warning that essentially defines the rest of this chapter, the rest of the argument he makes in this chapter protection to keep the church from danger. And so, of course, I submit to you that is it not also. For our good today that we take heed that we beware that we watch out for what Paul is warning of here. Do we not still need to be warned in and of ourselves, warned in a tedious manner, repetitious manner, and reminded of the essentials? So there's that basic aim that I hope to communicate to you today through this passage. Now, I emphasize the issue of this safeguard because we must keep in mind the warning of false teachers The warning that Paul makes of these false teachers, if we understand, if we want to understand the flow of this argument. As I previously mentioned, the chapter is about the essentials of our salvation. He describes a Christian, he explains a Christian, and he basically proclaims the foundation of a Christian and of our salvation. But how he does this is he contrasts the true Christian with the false teachers. before them, of the dogs, of the evil workers, of the mutilation. There's a clear contrast here. He says, beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of the mutilation. And then he goes on in verse three, for we are this, we do this, I have done this. Beware of the faults and contrast. Here's the truth. So in that light, let's examine the specifics of this passage and let's examine First of all, what he means here, who he's talking about in the dogs, mutilators, the evil workers. Of course, we know from the language that Paul's referring to the Judaizers. And he does not go into detail and explain that he basically battles hand to hand with him in the book of Galatians, for example, or or maybe Second Corinthians a little bit. He dismisses them quite abruptly here, but he's talking about the Judaizers and the Judaizers were a group of Jews in that day. who claimed to believe and teach the same things of the apostles. They called themselves apostles, and they claimed to believe and teach the message of Jesus Christ. But most specifically, they were distinguished by their insistence that one must be circumcised and follow other Old Testament rituals in order to be saved. They had no problem believing in Jesus. They had no problem with the scriptures being the word of God, but they insisted that in order to be saved, To be made right with God, one had to be circumcised. And there were a constant hindrance to Paul throughout his ministry. Just a few verses of note. In Galatians 4.17, he tells the Galatians church that these teachers, quote, zealously court you, but for no good. So they were zealous in proselytizing. They were zealous in spreading their message. They were insistent upon their message. This is how one is to be saved. In Titus 1, he warns Titus that in verse 10, there are many insubordinate, both idle talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision. And that's a reference to this group of the Judaizers. And even in Galatians 1, he says he calls their message a different gospel. And he even pronounces a curse upon them for their teaching in Galatians 1 verse 9. So, a survey of the New Testament of Paul's dealing with these Judaizers will show that they were deceivers, that they were militant in spreading their message, but that their message was destructive and that they undermined the gospel. And so, he calls them here in verse 2, dogs, evil workers, mutilation. He's pulling no punches. By the term dogs, he's not referring to the cute and cuddly house pets that we have. He's rather invoking imagery of scavengers, prowlers, dirty, unclean, disease ridden. They were filthy teachers. In addition, he calls them evil workers, and this is pretty ironic if you consider what the Judaizers stood for. The Judaizers were distinguished for their strict adherence to the Mosaic law. They prided themselves on being blameless. They prided themselves on following the true law of God. They prided themselves and boasted in their rituals. But Paul says they're evil workers. They worked evil. They claim to be good. They claim to obey the law. They claim to lift up and build up the church. They claim to reconcile sinners to God. But they work destruction. They undermine the gospel. They worked evil. So it's under this guise of godliness that they were workers of evil. And he sums up basically his description of them with beware of the mutilation. And again, it's an ironic term, even a derogatory term. For in saying the mutilation, Paul's mocking their belief that one must be circumcised in order to be saved. That is, they believe they were approving themselves to God by something they did, the cutting away the flesh. But Paul turns the tables on them and he affirms that they were actually mutilating themselves. They were self-destructive. They were tearing down under the pretense of building up. They mutilated their bodies, and as we see, they mutilated their souls as well. So it is in this backdrop, in warning the Philippians that they are facing this proselytizing, That Paul moves on and he breaks down the essentials of the true Christian. He breaks down what we are and he defines the church in remarkable detail. So how are we to know the true church? What do they look like? What does their faith consist of and rest upon? So beginning with the characteristics of believers and of our salvation. The first characteristic we can see from this passage is that we are a special chosen people. We are the circumcision, for we are the circumcision. And the emphasis is on the word the, and this led many translators to translate the word, we are the true circumcision, or we are the real circumcision. And so Paul's contrasting here. He's saying they are the mutilation. We are the circumcision. They claim to be the circumcision, but in fact, they are mutilation. We are the real circumcision. There's no compatibility between those Gospels. They are the false people of God. We are the people of God. And that statement had many undertones, if you will say. in regarding to we are the circumcision and what he is affirming there is that we are the special people of God as opposed to the Jews who by their circumcision believe that they were the special people of God. So you might be wondering what's the deal with this circumcision talk and I'm going to explain it here real briefly. As many of you know circumcision was commanded by God in the Old Testament beginning with Abraham. And then in the law of Moses for the people of Israel, circumcision distinguished the Jews from the pagan, unbelieving Gentiles of the day. For remember, God did not reveal himself to just any nation. In fact, he specifically called out Abraham out of a pagan nation and through Abraham formed the nation of Israel and through them they became the sole recipients of the law of God and the promises. So the nation of Israel was a special nation, a chosen nation, a nation which God bestowed his favor upon. So over and over in the Old Testament, we can see God calls Israel my people, my chosen people, my glory. Out of all the nations of the earth, Israel, my chosen, they were a special people of God. And this is important. Because in regards to circumcision, circumcision in the Old Testament served as a sign of one being under the covenant of God, of one embracing the law of God. And God commanded the males to be circumcised, and it's much like, of course, it's not identical to baptism, but it's much like baptism in our day. When someone accepts the terms of the covenant, he is baptized. In the Old Testament, when one accepted the terms of the covenant, the Mosaic covenant, Law of God, the covenant of Abraham, essentially, he was to be circumcised. And this is how he was. He was distinguished. But we know from the teaching of the New Testament and even parts of the Old Testament that the outward ritual of circumcision was only temporary and it had a much deeper significance to it. With the coming of the Messiah, Jesus Christ, the Old Testament types and figures and the ceremonial aspects of the law were revealed to be fulfilled in him. They pointed to a greater reality, namely Jesus Christ. And this circumcision, though indeed it was a command of God, was ultimately a sign of a greater reality. Regeneration. It spoke of the cutting away of the circumcision of the heart. And this is clearly explained for us in the second chapter of Romans. If you'll turn with me there real quick. Romans chapter 2. Romans chapter 2 verse 28 and 29 says, For he is not a Jew who is one inwardly, nor circumcision, that which is outward in the flesh, but he is a Jew who is one inwardly. And circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, not in the letter, whose praise is not from men, but of God. Circumcision was never about the simple cutting away of the flesh. It was never about a ritual. It was about taking out the heart of stone and God granting a heart of flesh, soft and obedient to the Lord. So when this outward ritual passed away and indeed it did pass away, there's no point. It's actually destructive. It's mutilating to continue with the inferior sign when the greater reality of Jesus Christ is set before you. We are no longer under the covenant of Moses. It passed away and was replaced with a new covenant in Jesus Christ. But the Judaizers argued that circumcision was to be continued. It must be continued, and Paul deals with this in several places. In 1 Corinthians 7.19, he says, circumcision is nothing, uncircumcision is nothing, but keeping the commandments of God is what matters. It wasn't the outward, but the inward reality that mattered. In Galatians 5.2, Paul even says, if you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing. For every man who becomes circumcised is under obligation to keep the whole law. So he's saying here it is destructive to embrace the sign when the reality is before you. That's why he calls them the mutilation. They were sticking to this ritual and ceremony and they were undermining the gospel of Jesus Christ. So in contrast to that, Paul calls us the real circumcision, the true circumcision. And he goes on to there from there to define and expound upon the characteristics of God's people. This is beautifully brought out in Colossians 2 as well. You don't have to turn there. But Colossians 2. Paul speaks of this circumcision in regards to the church, in regards to the inward reality that it referred to. Colossians 2, verses 11-13 Paul says, in Him, in Christ, you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands by putting off the body of sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ, buried with Him and baptized in which you were raised with Him through faith in the working of God who raised Him from the dead. In you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven all your trespasses. So we were dead in our trespasses. We were dead in our sin. We were outside the covenant. We were Gentiles. But God made us alive. God circumcised our heart with the circumcision of Christ. And so the correlation there should be clear. Israel was a special and chosen people of God, signified by the circumcision. We, too, are the special chosen people of God, signified by the inward circumcision of Christ. And it becomes even clearer when we understand the word, the Greek word for church in the New Testament. Of course, it's Ekklesia. It literally means called out. You were called out. We have been chosen. So this false circumcision and this mutilation had their outward sign and the church, the special, the real chosen people of God had their inward sign. So to repeat my point. The church and the true believer is a special chosen people of God, not distinguished by outward rituals, but by inward realities. And just a side note here also, we talked about it, actually David talked about it when he introduced the Psalms today, that Paul couldn't be any clearer here in referring to a Gentile church as the circumcision. He's essentially saying you are Israel, right there. The church and Israel have been joined together in the new covenant, Two people have been made one in Christ. And this was shocking to the Judaizers. This was seriously offensive to them, to say that Gentiles, ignorant and unbelieving and dirty, were the real circumcision, were the real people of God. It would have infuriated them. It did infuriate them. But there's a second characteristic of a true Christian in this passage, and it's closely interconnected with the previous one. The second point here is in verse 2. Paul says, we are the circumcision who worship God in the Spirit. We are distinguished as being a worshiping people. And Paul isn't communicating here just a general worship. Because clearly the false teachers and the Judaizers had their own form of worship. They had their own rituals. They had their own ceremonies. What he's referring to here is the worship set aside particularly for God by his own special people and worship that was to be in spirit and in truth. Paul's echoing what Jesus taught here in John 4, for example. You don't have to turn there, but Jesus says, The hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. For the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth. What Jesus is saying is that the old forms and ceremonies were only temporary. Again, as we see, even the temple and the designation of the Jews as God's chosen people Has changed for the father is now seeking those who will worship him in spirit and in truth in the fullness of time in Christ Jesus. God's people must worship him in spirit and in truth. Not in ritual, not in ceremonies. So Paul's pointing out true worship is an outward. But it's inward. And this is what defines and characterizes the Church of God in our day. worship in the spirit from the heart and according to truth. In fact, this is not only does it define the church, but it's actually what we have been saved for. It is our purpose. God is seeking those who will worship Him in spirit and in truth. Turn with me here to 1 Peter 2. Peter echoes this beautifully. It's almost a parallel passage to what Paul is saying in the first part of this verse. First Peter, chapter two, and we're going to read verses nine and ten. Again, Peter speaking to a predominantly Gentile church, you are a chosen generation. A special, a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation. His own special people that you may proclaim the praises of him who called you out of darkness and into his marvelous light. We were once far off Gentiles, but by God's mercy, we have been brought near. And we are the chosen people of God. We are a holy and royal priesthood nation. And this is the exact same wording that God refers to the nation of Israel in Exodus 19, 6. Almost identical passages. Royal priesthood, a holy nation, his own special people. But we were called out for what? That you may proclaim the praises of him who called you out of darkness. We were chosen to worship. That is the substance of our calling. That is what characterizes our life. It isn't our profession of faith. It isn't our outward boasting of religion, of T-shirts and our special Bibles. It is our life of worship that characterizes us as the church and the special people of God. In fact, you even ask a lot of professing Christians today, what is it that distinguishes you from the unbelieving world? What makes you so special? You'll hear all sorts of things. You'll hear, we've made commitments to Jesus. We live good moral lives. We read our Bible. We obey and we serve. We give our money. We love God. But believers are distinguished chiefly by their worship. It transcends just moral obedience, outward conformity to the law of God. Man looks at the outside, even when we evaluate ourselves, we look at the outside, but God looks at the heart and his worship and spirit and the truth that characterizes the life of a true believer. The third characteristic of this passage, characteristic of a true Christian, And it can't be separated from what Paul has already stated, of course. The church is a special chosen people of God. The church is characterized by true spiritual worship. Here, verse three here again. We are the true circumcision, circumcision. We are the circumcision. who worship God in the spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus. The term rejoice here is literally boasting. The church is characterized by those who rejoice, who boast in Christ Jesus, not boasting in the simple aspect that we've probably comes to our mind when we think of the word, but to boast means to rejoice in him, to exult in him, to glory in him, And not just in a name, not just because we're part of a club, but because of what He has done for us. We rejoice in the person and the work of Christ. This is a purposeful refusal to take credit or to boast in anything that was accomplished in our own self. See, the Judaizers love to boast in their adherence of the law. They love to boast in their rituals. They love to boast in their genealogy. But the Church of God do not glory in their own goodness. The true Christian does not glory in his obedience, or in the favor God has shown him, or in his riches, or in his circumstances, or even in his faith or self-denial. His success. No, He doesn't glory in any of that. The believers glory in the life and in the death of Jesus Christ. Paul in 1 Corinthians 4-7 asks the Corinthians, what makes you differ from another? And what do you have, Corinthians, that you did not receive? If you did indeed receive it, why do you boast as if you didn't receive it? This point is very clear. What do you have? Whether that be life, food, clothing, riches, family, health. What do you have? Even grace, faith, repentance, good works. Paul says he is what he is. I am what I am by the grace of God. What do we have that has not been bestowed upon us by the sovereign mercy of God? What do we have to boast in if everything is a gift? True church is defined by rejoicing in what Christ has done and in recognizing that the part that we have in Christ was bestowed upon us apart from anything we deserve. It is in Christ and His work alone that we have hope. All of our credit and praise and glory goes to Him, the author and the finisher of our salvation. Not in ourselves, not in anything that we can attain in our own efforts. So at this point, it should be clear where Paul heads next. We see a very clear theme in this passage, the essence and the substance of our faith, found here in verse 3. We are the circumcision who worship God in the spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in flesh. The essence of our faith is a dependence upon God as opposed to dependence upon ourselves and what we can do in our own power. This dependence flows from the great truths of election and predestination taught in Ephesians 1, John 6, Romans 9 and other places. This is opposed to the notion that it is our own wisdom and our own work that initiated and that sealed our salvation. This essence flows through the true and spiritual worship. And that we praise and adore God for who he is. We don't offer him up rituals and ceremonies and attempt to please him in our own power. And certainly underscores rejoicing in Christ as if we have anything else to rejoice and boast ourselves in. Brethren, the substance of our faith is humility. It is a dependence upon God, a childlike faith. And this is clearly distinguished here from the false teachers who depended and rested upon their own goodness. They relied upon their own ability to please God. They placed all their confidence and hope for eternal life and what they could do in their own power. So where does our confidence lie? Does it lie in the flesh and what we can attain in our own power? When the question is asked, how do you know that you are a Christian? What is your answer? Do you point back to the day that you made the profession of faith? Do you point back to your changed life? Your pattern of obedience? Do you point back to your baptism? To the day you uttered a prayer? Brethren, this is confidence in the flesh. If, of course, you are relying upon it in sincerity. But no confidence in the flesh means that we have no rest in, no reliance on, no belief in, no agreement with, no trust in and no obedience to what we can do in our own power, what we can do outside of the sovereign working and grace of God. Don't look to a profession of faith or even your own obedience as evidence for your salvation. Maybe to confirm your salvation, don't get me wrong, but don't look at it as the very basis and foundation of your salvation. For instead, we look to heaven. We look to the right hand of the Father. We look to Jesus Christ. There is our righteousness. There is where our confidence lies. And let me just add here, just as we don't rest in circumcision or in baptism or in rash, hasty professions of faith or commitments, we also don't rest in our proper doctrine. We don't rest in our conservative worship. We don't rest in the fact that we homeschool our kids. We don't rest in the fact that we fight against abortion. We have no confidence in these things. We can pray all the right prayers. We can shed all the right tears. We can believe all of the right things. We can live in outward conformity to all that is set before us. It does nothing, though, to commend us to God. Nothing. And so our confidence doesn't rest in that. It rests in Jesus Christ. And it is precisely this point that Paul goes on to make in verses four through nine. He emphasizes the fact that we have no confidence in the flesh. And he goes on to give a brief account of his own experience. And from there, he makes a beeline straight to the cross, straight to Jesus Christ and his imputed righteousness. That is the foundation of our faith. It is not our own righteousness. It is Christ's righteousness. Foundation of our faith found here. I'll read verses four through nine again. Though I might have confidence in the flesh, if anyone else thinks he might have confidence in the flesh, I more so. Circumcised the eighth day of the stock of Israel, the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews concerning the law of Pharisee, concerning zeal, persecuting the church, concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. But what things that were gained to me, I have counted lost for Christ. Yet indeed, I also count all things lost for the excellence of the knowledge of Jesus Christ, my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law. That which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith. So the characteristics of our faith is that we are a special chosen people. That we have been chosen to worship God in the spirit and truth, not in outward ritual and ceremonies. That we boast and rejoice in what Christ has done for us, not in our circumstances or anything of our own power. And that we place all of our confidence, not in the flesh, not in our merits, not in our goodness, not in anything that we've done. Nothing. But our hope rests upon the foundation of Jesus Christ. Our hope rests on the rock, the one mediator between God and men. Not only did Jesus pay for our sins at the cross, yes, He bore the wrath of the Father and extinguished our sins, the sins of those who would believe in Him. But He did more than that in His life as well. not only took away our sins, but He has imputed righteousness to us by faith. In fact, in 1 Corinthians 1.30, Paul says, He, speaking of Jesus, became our wisdom from God, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption. So that as it is written, he who glories, let him glory in the Lord. Again, we see this theme. Rejoice in the Lord. Rejoice in the fact that Christ is your wisdom. That Christ is your sanctification, that Christ is your righteousness and your redemption. We do not glory in ourselves. We glory in the perfect and completed work of Christ. So Paul here in Philippians three wraps up his argument, his argument that he started in verse one. And I won't go into the details, but basically he gives an account of his life and he says, if you want to boast in the flesh, let's talk about what I've done. If someone could boast in the flesh, I'm more than anybody. Let me let me give you a little taste of my righteousness, of my line, a bloodline as a pure Jew, not a proselyte. I was pure from the eighth day circumcised, a Hebrew of Hebrew. I was a Jew in the highest sense of the word. I was a Pharisee and zealous in every aspect of the law. You want to talk about righteousness? We can talk about righteousness. But what trust does Paul say? What trust does he put in his good works? How does he conclude his argument? But he says, what things were gained to me, I've kind of lost for Christ. What good, what merit came from these things? Did they bring him closer to God? Did they make him more savable? Instead, he says, what he had gained, he kind of lost for Christ. He suffered the loss of all things. All things, all goodness, all merits, all riches, all self-will, all esteem, all comfort. He suffered the loss of it all and he counted it as rubbish, as dung, as worthless, so that he would gain Christ. The Bible says in many places, it talks about our sin. Romans 3, it talks about that none is righteous. In Isaiah 64, it says, all our righteousness are as filthy rags. In Romans 8, it says, the natural mind is enmity against God. It is not subject to the law of God. Of course, we know that. But he goes on, it says, nor indeed can it be. The natural man cannot obey the law of God. It's impossible. Outside of the Spirit, outside of God's electing love, it is impossible for man to do anything, to make any step towards God and salvation. And as a culture, I think we've, a lot of us, of course, with the election nowadays, I've come to question this, but a lot of us admit the depravity of men or the simpleness of men, the bent towards evil. But what we don't see is that our good deeds are just as tainted or not, or even more so than our bad deeds. Our good deeds are an abomination to God because in those good deeds is when we think we are most approving ourselves to God. It is in our prayers and our religious work that we think we're offering something to God and it is despicable to God. It is an abomination to Him. We do not see our own sinfulness. We don't see the depths of it. We don't see the infinite holiness of God. And we think He would be pleased with a prayer. We think He would be pleased with giving our money. We think He would be pleased with service. Our sin, our good deeds, our good deeds are most blasphemous before the Lord. It was John Bunyan who said, my best prayer, My best prayer had enough sin in it to damn the entire world. He understood the depths of his sin. Brethren, if you've missed everything else, do not miss this point. The root of all error, the root of all false teaching, The root of all poor doctrine is a misunderstanding of this one truth of God's Christ-imputed righteousness and our depravity. All of the world's religions are centered around doing something to please the deity. They're centered around the good of man. What good can we do? These errors are exposed and laid bare in this passage. You've heard it before from this pulpit. And I'm going to repeat it again. That it isn't only your evil deeds that you must repent of before God, but it is most importantly, your good deeds that you must abandon, that you must repent of before God, if you're to have any part in Him. That's what Paul says, what was gained to me. He talks of some very good things. He was zealous for the law, but what was gained to him, he counted loss. He repented of. He saw his good deeds as filthy rags. Praise be to God, and it's not the end of the story. Though he saw his sin, he rested in a perfect righteousness. Not in a righteousness stemming from his obedience, but by faith, the righteousness of another. Jesus Christ. The foundation of our faith is his righteousness and that God will grant that righteousness to all who come to him in faith humbly before him. In repentance. So we've covered a lot of ground in a short time, but I want to close with two applications, two specific applications for us today. First application should be obvious, I've already hit on it. Examine yourself. Does your life resemble what Paul is talking about here? Does your life resemble a reliance upon your own self in some way, shape or fashion? Is your life marked by worship? And please understand, I don't mean coming to church and worship and singing songs. I don't mean the outward form of worship for Certainly that is worship, but that is not the end of what I'm talking about here. The end of true worship isn't just singing songs. And most specifically, the end of true worship isn't to sing songs that we like, or to get an emotional high, or to get excited, or to get motivated. It certainly isn't to entertain, to make people feel comfortable, or to attract a crowd. The end of true worship is to glorify God. It is when we forget ourselves completely. He is the sole object of our worship, and it is a reverent, fearful worship, as Hebrews 12 speaks of. Worship is a matter of the heart, this adoration of God, its affection towards God, its thankfulness towards God, its amazement of God, its obedience to his law, and it's only offered up with the blood and the merits of Jesus Christ. So I'll just ask you, is your life, is your home, is your family marked as a worshiping, characterized by a worshiping life? Do we worship God in our families? Do we worship God in our free time? Do we worship God when no one else is around? For if our life isn't marked by worship, If our life isn't characterized by inward, deep worship, dedicated worship, why would we think we have any portion with Christ? He has saved His people for that very purpose, to worship. Is your life marked by rejoicing in Christ's work? Or is it marked by rejoicing in your own work? Where is your confidence? In closing, brother, in the second application, if you've been challenged by this verse, I speak sincerely, I have. Worshipping, rejoicing, no confidence in the flesh? Do you know how many aspects of life that extends to? I was telling Jerry before the service today, I could talk for an hour about this. There's so many applications there. This is serious, though. This is the church. It's the essence of our faith. But if you've been challenged by this passage, if you see your sin, I exhort you to second an application to live as though you place no confidence in your flesh, but instead rest all of your hope in Christ's righteousness. Live as though your righteousness is not your own. Live as though you have no goodness. Live as though you were constantly aware of your own sin. Then you will esteem others as better than yourself. Then you will refrain from gossip and slander and judgmentalism. Then you will see the beauty of lavish grace upon your life and it will spill over in abundant worship and rejoicing in Christ. Live as though the righteousness you have is not your own. Fix this firmly in your minds, then you will instantly recognize false teachers and a false gospel by the way they exalt man, by the way they glory in themselves and what they have done. Then your assurance will be in a completed, perfect righteousness. Then you will get your eyes off of yourself and serve God and realize that He is the fountain of all goodness and righteousness. Have you sinned? Have you strayed from God? Has His passage exposed you? If so, I want to close with a few words from the psalmist and how he describes that righteousness of Jesus Christ. This is the righteousness that is yours by faith. He delighted in the law of God and meditated on it day and night. He walked uprightly and worked righteousness. He did not backbite with his tongue. He did no evil to his neighbor. He did not take up a reproach against his friend. He despised the vile person and honored those who feared God. He swore to his own hurt and did not change. He did not lend money with interest. He did not take a bribe against the innocent. He had clean hands, a pure heart. He did not lift up his soul to an idol. He did not swear deceitfully. He continually sought and desired one thing, to dwell in the house of the Lord and behold His beauty. He worshipped the Lord in the beauty of holiness. And remind you, this is talking about Jesus Christ, the man, His righteousness that He fulfilled while in the flesh. He worshipped His God. He hid God's law in His heart. He longed for God as the deer panted for water. He hoped in God. He sung of God's steadfast love in the morning. He did not set His heart on riches. He thirsted for his God, his soul and his flesh fainted for God. He did not cherish iniquity in his heart. He waited in silence in times of trouble for his God. He was perfectly consumed for zeal for his father's house. He set God as his portion and his inheritance forever. He recounted consistently, constantly recounted God's wondrous deeds. He hated evil and loved justice. He walked with a perfect heart. He did not set anything worthless before his eyes. He did not let evil cling to him. He did not endure the proud heart. The list goes on. This is your righteousness. This is if you had obeyed what I just read, if you are in Christ. This righteousness will cover you in the day of wrath. or this righteousness will serve as a witness to your destruction. What will you do? Are you going to rest in your own righteousness? Are you going to rest in the purity and the perfection, the perfect and completed work of Jesus Christ? Having no confidence in yourself. Live as though you have a righteousness that is not your own. Look up to heaven. Behold Him at the right hand of the Father. Thy righteousness is in heaven. Thy righteousness, your righteousness is in heaven. It is finished and complete and perfect in the author and the finisher of our faith, Jesus Christ. Let's pray. Gracious Heavenly Father, how we could recount your wonderful deeds, how we could sing endless praises of your name for what you have done, how your righteousness extends beyond measure. We cannot even capture it with words. Oh, Lord, open our eyes. Grant life and faith and mercy to your people. Circumcise our hearts, Lord. Show us the violence of the flesh, so that we may cry, I am undone! Behold, I am unclean! I have seen the Lord of glory! Lord, that with this understanding we would serve our neighbor, and that we would walk uprightly knowing the lavish grace you have bestowed upon us, undeserving, while we were enemies, enemies to you in your name. Thank you, O God, for that righteousness. Thank you, O God, that we rest in that, that our sin, though besetting, Lord, was purchased, was extinguished, was propitioned, Lord. He became our propitiation, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Our sins have been extinguished. The righteousness is granted to us by faith. We ask all of this, Lord, in the name of Jesus. Amen.