Let's pray that the Lord will prepare our hearts to hear his word this evening. Oh Lord, we pray that you would, by your spirit, illuminate your word for us in this moment. May we be reminded of your great promises to us that are yes and amen in our Lord Jesus Christ. Fill our hearts with gratitude that we may not be mere hearers of your word, but doers also. It's in Christ's name we pray. Amen. You may be seated. I want to invite you at this time to turn in your Bibles to Philippians chapter three, And we'll be considering verses one through nine this evening. Philippians chapter three, verses one through nine. As you're turning there, I had to give a brief context to where Philippians chapter three is situated within this short epistle by the Apostle Paul. The first two chapters, one of Paul's main themes is this call to humility. He calls the Philippians to humility in the beginning of chapter two, and he points them to a number of good examples, people who have been humble themselves. Chapter one, we see the Apostle Paul. He was humble. At the end of chapter two, we see, we saw Timothy and Epaphroditus, great examples of humility. But the ultimate example of humility that Paul points us to is our Lord Jesus Christ himself, as he came to this earth in a human nature and suffered and died for us. Another theme that shows up is this theme of joy, and it's this theme that continues on into chapter three. So let's now turn our attention to the reading of God's holy and inspired word. 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 the dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the mutilation, for we are 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. Circumcised the eighth day of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews, concerning the law of 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 lost for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus 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. With us ends the reading of God's holy word. May he write his word upon our hearts this evening. Well as you see, Paul commands us to rejoice in verse one. And the way he gives us this command, the way he puts it, he expects it's something that we do constantly. It's not a one-time action for the Christian. In fact, chapter four, verse four confirms this. The apostle says rejoice always. But you may be wondering, how exactly is this possible? We look around ourselves in this earthly life, we see sin, we see misery, broken relationships, strife, suffering, evil, And the things that do indeed seem to promise joy, oftentimes leave us feeling unfulfilled. So how can we rejoice? Where do we find this joy? Well, notice that the apostle adds three little words after this command to rejoice. He says, rejoice in the Lord. He wants us to lift our eyes beyond our horizontal life on this earth to our vertical relationship to God. And this is where we find true and lasting joy. Joy that's not dependent on our circumstances. Thus, as you can see, the apostle presents us with two options this evening. We can rejoice in ourselves and our circumstances and what's around us, or we can rejoice in the Lord. And he's calling us to this latter option. He wants us to rejoice in the Lord. You may ask, well how, how do we do this? And he points us to true faith. That's the main theme that the apostle's taking up now in the rest of this passage, what is true faith? So he wants us to know that we rejoice in the Lord by exercising true faith. It's the main point that we want to consider this evening. We rejoice in the Lord by exercising true faith. And we'll unpack this main point in four points. So first we'll look at this faith that looks out for the enemy of faith. And then a faith that looks away from self a faith that looks to Christ, and a faith that leads to joy. So a faith that looks out for the enemy of faith, a faith that looks away from self, a faith that looks towards Christ, and a faith that leads to joy. So first, let's consider how our faith is meant to look out for the enemy of faith. Now you'll notice in verse two, The apostle commands us in quite strong terms. He says, beware. Or the ESV says, look out, look out. And he's telling these Philippians to beware, look out for the Judaizers. The Judaizers were Jewish teachers who had rejected Christ and had a false gospel. They were in Philippi and they were seeking to subvert the Philippians' faith, to lead them astray. He's telling them to beware. You'll notice that the apostle uses three terms to describe these Judaizers. And these terms are seeped in irony. First, you'll notice that he calls these Judaizers dogs. Now, the Judaizers were those who prided themselves in being ethnically Jewish. They were ritually clean. And oftentimes, they would call the Gentiles dogs. because their heritage came from the pagan nations. They were ceremonially unclean. For those of you who may be into hunting and have maybe a purebred lab you use for bird hunting, the Judaizers kind of thought of themselves as that purebred black lab that comes from great stock. And the Gentiles, they were these stray mutts that were wandering the streets. But notice what the apostle does. He calls the Judaizers dogs. Why? Because the Judaizers rejected Christ. And after Christ came, it is no longer up to one's ethnicity. That's not what matters. Rather, faith matters. Whether you're a Jew, whether you're a Gentile, by faith, we all are children of Abraham. By faith, we all are clean in Christ. And so the Judaizers who've rejected Christ, they have cut themselves off from the covenants of promise. They're unclean. They're no longer part of Abraham's family. Next Paul calls them evil workers. Again, the Judaizers were those who prided themselves in being meticulous law keepers. They thought that of all people, they kept the law the best, the most rigorously. But Paul says they actually are evildoers. They're evil workers. Why? Because their obedience isn't done out of true faith. It's not done unto the glory of God. Rather, it's done unto their own glory and praise. Thus, it's evil. This third term is mutilation, or some translations say mutilators of the flesh. And the Judaizers prided themselves in their circumcisions. They had valid circumcisions. They were the true people of God. Again, what does Paul say in Galatians 5? He says, in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but faith working through love. In fact, Paul will say in the New Covenant, if Christians view circumcisions as being religiously binding and part of what's needed to stand before God, you're in effect cutting yourself off from Christ. So rather than being a religious act, Paul is saying that the Judaizers, entrusting in their circumcision, they're like the pagan nations of the Old Testament who practice circumcision. basically was a mutilation. It had no significance. Notice what the Judaizers are trusting in. These three terms that Paul uses to describe them indicate that they were trusting in themselves and what their hands have done. They were trusting in their lineage, in their heritage, in their ability to keep the law, in their circumcision. It was all about themselves. And Paul urges these Philippians to look out, to look out for these false teachers. Why? Because it's these Judaizers who are gonna seek to subvert the Philippians' faith and cause them to turn the eyes of their faith inward upon themselves and their own ability to keep the law. Now, of course, I'm sure there are not Judaizers running around Linden, Washington seeking to subvert your faith. So, how does this apply to us? I think there's several or at least a couple ways in which there are individuals or influences that have a Judaizing effect on us. that we need to look out for, we need to beware of. First, I think in our day and age with internet and social media, there's many people who come as Christians or even claim to be reformed, but in a lot of ways are seeking to do what these false teachers are doing. They're seeking to add to faith alone by saying we need some sort of faithfulness, we need some sort of works done by us in order to stand before God. We need to look out. And second, and probably more applicable to all of us, we need to guard against our own conscience. Listen to Heidelberg Catechism question 60. Question 60 asks, how are you righteous before God? And the answer says, only by true faith in Christ Jesus. That is, although my conscience accuses me that I have previously sinned against all the commandments of God, have never kept any of them, and prone always to all evil. Our conscience can accuse us. Our conscience can seek to turn our faith inward upon ourselves. Now surely God does use our conscience for good, to convict us of sin and lead us to Christ. But the devil in our flesh can also use our conscience is to turn the eyes of our faith upon ourselves. And turning to ourselves, whether it's from teachers, whether it's from our own conscience, is gonna lead us in two inevitable ditches. If we have a relaxed view of the law and think that we can actually obey it, we're probably going to end up in pride, thinking that we actually can gain a right standing before God by our own law keeping. But if we view the law as scripture speaks of the law, in all its force, we're gonna end up in despair, because we realize, as we just considered, even the holiest of men have small beginnings of such obedience. In times of despair, as Heidelberg 60 told us, when our conscience is accusing us that we're unworthy of God, I think Paul's words in Romans 8 are particularly helpful. In verse 33 he says, who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. As we'll go on to see, if we have true faith, we are indeed justified in the sight of a holy God. Thus, our conscience nor any other person can condemn us. God is the one who holds the verdict of justification. So we need to have a faith that looks out for the enemy of faith. Well, how do we guard against these enemies? Well, this leads us to my second point. We also need to have a faith that looks away from self. This makes sense, right? If the enemies of faith are seeking to turn the eyes of our faith inward, then we should actively be seeking to look away from self. If you look with me in your scriptures, in verse three, Paul states that the Philippians are actually the true people of God. He says that they are the circumcision. That is, they have that which circumcised is pointed to, circumcised hearts. Paul also says that they worship God in the Spirit. In contrast, the Judaizers, who were seeking to obey the law in the flesh, according to their own power, these Philippians have the Spirit of God. And Paul goes on to say that they boast in Christ Jesus, that is the Philippians, and have no confidence in the flesh. So this now begins Paul's discussion of true faith. In verses three through nine, Paul's gonna talk of faith as doing simultaneously two things. Faith looks away from self, and faith looks to Christ. As I mentioned, we're gonna consider Now, faith looking away from self. Now, in verses four through six, you'll see that Paul lists his previous resume, as it were, his spiritual credentials. And he's responding to these Judaizers who think that they can actually come before God in the flesh, according to what they have done. And Paul wants to say that his resume could stand toe to toe with the best resume out there. And he says that even he has nothing to bring before God, nothing. Read with me verses four through six. Paul says, though I also might have confidence in the flesh, if anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh, I more so. Circumcised on the eighth day, meaning he did have a valid circumcision. of the stock of Israel, the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews, saying that he had elite status by virtue of his birth. Concerning the law, a Pharisee. Concerning zeal, persecuting the church. Concerning righteousness which is in the law, blameless. Now in this last statement, Paul's not actually saying that he was perfect or literally blameless, but according to how the Pharisees would view the law, in their relaxed version of the law, he obeyed as well as any of them. But notice what Paul says in verse seven. He says that he counts this all as loss. In fact, he'll go on in verse eight and say that he suffered the loss of all things and counts them as rubbish. This word that Paul uses for rubbish is really referring to manure excrement. As someone who grew up on a dairy farm, one of my least favorite chores to do as a kid was to clean out calf pens. You would have a pitchfork and a wheelbarrow and you spend the day cleaning out and shoveling manure. It did not give me a very high or pleasant view of manure, but this is what Paul compares his best works, his spiritual resume to, manure. It's rubbish. Verse nine, he really sums it up well when he says, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law. He recognizes as he looks into the law of God, looks at his own heart, he has no inherent righteousness that he can stand upon. Of course, we do not have the same background as the apostle, but I think we all, by virtue of our fallen nature, are tempted and prone to look to our own spiritual resume for our value and sense of worth before God. And again, as I mentioned previously, this will lead us to either pride or despair, and likely we'll be on a seesaw between those two states. It's easy for us to find our confidence in the flesh and what we have done upon our performance. Oftentimes when we do this, when our confidence is in the flesh, then our joy is up and down. It's dependent upon the whims of how we're doing, our circumstance. Now I played a lot of sports growing up, and I remember a significant shift that happened mentally, the way I approached sports. For a long time, I would always be somewhat unconsciously aware of my stats as I was playing whatever sports it was. And I had a lot of expectations upon myself. I played with a lot of pressure. And if I started off a game well, I likely had a good game. But if it started off poorly, and the ball didn't bounce my way, generally, I'd be checked out mentally. But then something shifted mentally, where I stopped to really care about my stats or how I played, and I only really cared about playing hard. It was my only expectation. And what happened is I actually started to enjoy sports. I was a good teammate. I played the best individually than I ever had previously played. Why? Because I had a sense of freedom to how I approached the game. I didn't feel pressure and expectations that weighed me down. I think this is similar to the Christian life. That when we recognize that we are freed, that we don't have to do works to contribute to our justification, We're then freed to do good works for our neighbors. Because if you think about it, if we're still trying to do works for ourselves, for our own salvation and justification, there's a pretty selfish attitude. But when you realize that we're freed, that we no longer have to work for ourselves, our works are actually extraspective. They're for our neighbor. They're very unselfish. In fact, this is one of the great reformational truths that Martin Luther uncovered, the freedom of the Christian. We're freed to do good works for the glory of God and the good of our neighbor. So we need to have a faith that looks away from self. But at the same time, we also need to have a faith that looks to Christ. A faith that looks to Christ. So this leads me to my next point, As I mentioned before, verses three through nine, Paul is going back and forth as he's describing faith. And faith is doing that simultaneously two things. It's looking away from self, but he's also looking to something. It's looking to Christ. And Paul describes looking to Christ in a number of ways. In verse three, he says that he rejoices or boasts in Christ. In verse seven, after Paul got done listing all of the things he previously boasted in, all of his credentials, he says that he counted all as lost, why? For the sake of Christ. For the sake of Christ. He continues in verse eight, he counted all as lost, why? For the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. And continuing in verse eight into verse nine, Paul says that I may gain Christ and be found in him. All these descriptions are various ways to describe looking to Christ. He's a faith that looks to Christ. Well, what is it about Christ in particular that he's looking to? Well, verse nine clarifies this. Look with me at the second half of verse nine. Paul says, 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. Paul is saying that when we look to Christ, we are receiving his righteousness. And God now views us as righteous in Christ. God views us as if we obeyed as Christ obeyed. In fact, this is what Heidelberg question answer 60 says. It says that God grants to us the perfect righteousness of Christ, as if I had never committed nor had any sins, and had myself accomplished all of the obedience which Christ has fulfilled for me, if only I accept such benefit with a believing heart. This is kind of like a prism. What's a prism? Well, light goes through a prism, is refracted, and looks different on the other side. Well, God looks at us through the prism of Christ. So he no longer sees our filthy, unworthy hearts. He sees the righteousness of Christ. And verse nine further clarifies that this looking is an act of faith. Paul's saying that when we, by faith, look to Christ, we are the recipients of his perfect righteousness. And faith is the hands by which we grasp hold of Christ, his merits. Well, what do we mean by this when we say that it's by faith that we receive Christ and his righteousness? I think it's very easy for us to start viewing faith as a good work. We may know enough not to actually rest in our good works, but what happens then is we start viewing faith as a good work, so that we're saved by one good work, and that one good work is our faith. I think our conscience and the devil oftentimes uses that strategy on us. We begin to think that we have to have a certain worthiness to our faith in order for it to be justifying. It's not just true faith, but it has to be great faith. And that's what we look to. But Paul, Paul contrasts faith looking by faith to Christ and good works. Those are two ways to salvation. You can either rest in your works or you can walk away from your works and trust by faith in Christ. Again, question 61 of the Catechism answers this very issue. It says, why do you say that you are righteous by faith only? It says, not that I'm acceptable to God on account of the worthiness of my faith, but because only the righteousness of Christ is my righteousness before God. I receive the same and make it my own in no other way than by faith only. The catechism, more importantly, what Paul is telling us is faith is an instrument. It's an instrument by which we grab hold of Christ. It's the hands by which we receive Christ. Now children, I'm sure that you all have had to vacuum your house before. Maybe that's one of your weekly chores that your parents tell you to do. And when you go to vacuum your house, what's the first thing you do? You plug the cord into the wall. The vacuum would be quite useless if it had no cord, if you couldn't plug it into the wall. Now for the sake of illustration, consider that we ourselves are the vacuum. The cord is like true faith, and the wall and the electricity, that's Christ and his righteousness. That when we plug the vacuum cord into the wall, the cord itself is not that valuable. It's only valuable as it serves the purpose of plugging the vacuum into the wall. Same way, our faith is meant to just connect us to Christ. That's its purpose. When you consider your cord on your vacuum cleaner, it doesn't really matter if it's a really fancy cord or a really simple cord. As long as it does what cords are meant to do, it'll work. In the same way, it's not so much about the worthiness of our faith. As long as it's true faith, The worthiness of our faith does not make it saving or justifying. It doesn't matter how great our faith is, it's an instrument. This is why Jesus can say that the faith even as small as a mustard seed, as long as it's true faith, is able to save. It's able to save. So brothers and sisters, we need to have a faith that looks to Christ to receive his righteousness. We also need to have a faith leading to joy. So here I'd like to briefly consider how this faith, this faith that we just considered, a faith that looks out for the enemy of faith, a faith that looks away from self and looks to Christ, how does this faith lead to joy? Well, I began noting in the beginning that Paul commands us to rejoice. And I ask, how can we do this when we look around ourselves and we just see sin and suffering, brokenness? Even the things that do seem promising oftentimes leave us unfulfilled. Well, it's faith that gives us reason to rejoice beyond our circumstances. And what the Lord has done for us in Christ. And what happens when we, by faith, look away from self and look to Christ? Well, we're justified. That's another way to describe what happens when we see the righteousness of Christ. We're justified. His verdict has been given. We're not condemned, but we are accepted. And as the justified, we are the heirs of every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. We are part of the family of God. In fact, Paul will say at the end of chapter three that we are citizens of heaven now, and as such, we are awaiting a day in which our bodies will be transformed like the glorious body of our Lord Jesus Christ. And all of these blessings, brothers and sisters, are irrevocable. They cannot be taken away. So this gives us reason to rejoice no matter what's going on in our life, no matter what the circumstances are. I think there's still another way in which our faith can lead to joy. Much of our joylessness and anxiety in this life, I believe, has to do with us seeking to find our worth and identity as human beings on or in our performance or in our past, maybe something we've done in our past or something someone has done to us in the past. Maybe what other people think of us, maybe even what we ourselves think of ourselves. Thus, our sense of worth, our sense of identity is constantly in flux because it's contingent upon these factors, these variables. But faith tells us that our identity, our worth, is fixed and it's founded in God's opinion of us in the Lord Jesus Christ, and that can never change. Brothers and sisters, even though we should and we can find joy in each other and in the things of this earth, and even though there are times in this life in which it is right to mourn, our passage is telling us this evening that true and ultimate and lasting joy can be found in every circumstance as we look outside of ourselves by faith, to what God has done for us in our Lord Jesus Christ. Let's pray. Oh Lord, we thank you that you are indeed a solid rock on which we can stand. We pray that we would never forget the many blessings that we have as those who are in Christ. Pray that you would grant us every grace now as we go out into another week. It's in Jesus' name we pray, amen.