SPEAKER_01
0:20 All right, welcome to day two, Philippians chapter three, verses one through eleven. 0:23 Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord to write the same things to you is no trouble to me and is safe for you. 0:29 Look out for the dogs, look out for the evildoers, look out for those who mutilate the flesh. 0:34 For we are the circumcision who worship by the Spirit of God, and glory in Christ Jesus, and put no confidence in the flesh. 0:41 Though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also, if anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more. 0:49 Circumcised on the eighth day of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews, as to the law, a Pharisee, as to zeal, a persecutor of the church, as to righteousness under the law, blameless. 1:00 But whatever I whatever gain I had, I count it as loss for the sake of Christ. 1:05 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord. 1:11 For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ, and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith, that I may know him and the power 1:30 of his resurrection, and may share in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. 1:39 Let's drill down on verses two and three. 1:41 Paul says, Look out for the dogs, one of my favorite verses. 1:44 Look out for the dogs, look out for the evildoers, look out for those who would mutilate the flesh, for we are the circumcision who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus, and put no confidence in the flesh. 1:57 All right. 1:58 When Paul calls these Jewish men dogs, this was quite the insult. 2:04 The term dogs was a derogatory term used towards Gentiles. 2:08 And now Paul is going to flip it upside down and he's going to use it to label the legalest Jewish people in this church, the people that have claimed to follow Jesus. 2:18 But the problem is this group of men were called Judaizers, and you see it, it's what pretty much the whole book of Galatians was written about. 2:25 It's what the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15 is about. 2:28 These Judaizers began to teach that, yeah, faith in Jesus is essential, but what is also essential is that you must also be circumcised. 2:38 And so what they were teaching is Jesus plus circumcision equals salvation. 2:44 And so the reality is Jesus plus nothing equals everything. 2:49 And if anybody ever adds anything to the finished work of Christ in regards to your salvation, then they are teaching a false gospel. 2:56 It is not Jesus plus works. 2:58 It's not Jesus plus baptism or Jesus plus first communion or Jesus plus a prayer. 3:03 It's Jesus and us just surrendering our life to him. 3:06 Now, see, the reason that circumcision was such a big deal is that all of their life, these uh Jewish zealots, they they had grown up, obviously under the old covenant, the old testament. 3:17 And circumcision in the Old Testament was a symbol of those in covenant with God. 3:23 At some point, maybe I'll explain why, but that's just what it was. 3:26 In the New Testament, the way that we have a covenant with God in the New Covenant or New Testament is by the blood of Jesus through faith. 3:34 And so Paul says, no, no, no. 3:36 The circumcised are not the people that have a covenant with God. 3:40 We are the circumcision. 3:42 And the reason that we are the circumcision is because of our faith in the finished work of Christ, we are the ones that are now connected to God. 3:52 We are the ones that have a covenant with Him. 3:54 Not Jesus plus works, but it's the gospel of Jesus Christ alone that we are saved by faith through grace. 4:01 Or I'm sorry, we are saved by grace, through faith, and not by works. 4:05 That's Ephesians chapter 2. 4:07 And in fact, if there's any New Testament symbol to show the whole world who is in right relationship with God, it is your baptism. 4:15 But your baptism is to declare what has already happened, that you have been saved. 4:19 It is not the baptismal waters that save you. 4:22 And Paul goes on to say, and our aim is worship. 4:26 He says, For we are the circumcision who worship by the Spirit of God. 4:30 And what we glory in is our glory is in Christ's finished work, not our religious checklist. 4:37 And by the way, this comes right after he says to write the same things to you is no trouble. 4:43 He's basically saying this: when you don't forget the gospel, when you don't forget that we were created by God for God, but that sin separated that relationship with us and God. 4:53 And yet God made a way through the perfect life of his son, the death of his son on the cross to pay the penalty of our sin. 5:00 And he put death to death by coming out of the grave on the third day, ascended to the right hand of God the Father, and will return in accordance with the scripture. 5:09 That when you know this, when you don't forget the gospel, what it will do is it will drive us to worship by the Spirit of God, and it will drive us to glory in Christ Jesus, and it will drive us to put no confidence in the flesh. 5:23 May it be so among us. 5:25 Amen.