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3/2.
#172.
Yes.
2400 Oh, oh, oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh, oh, oh, oh oh oh by last way.
Opening address and, uh, reinforced by the him we just sang. I suggest that we take up Philippians chapter 3. I believe it is a chapter which would help us to gurn up our loins and, uh, open that out to us is the him we just finished. We sang the dearest object of our love compared with thee but dross.
It emphasizes the Lord Jesus being the object of our heart, our affections of our lives, our love, and, uh, associates, and attaches us to that which is heavenly.
Three.
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 saved. Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision. For we are the circumcision which worship God in the Spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh, though I might also have confidence in the flesh. If any other man thinketh that he hath aware of, he might trust in the flesh. Ay, more.
Circumcised the 8th day of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, and Hebrew of the Hebrews, as touching the law of Pharisee concerning zeal, persecuting the Church, touching the righteousness which is in the law blameless.
But what things were gain to me, those I counted lost for Christ, Yeah, 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 down, that I may win Christ.
00:05:03
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, that I may know him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings being made conformable unto His death, if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead, not as though I had already attained either were already perfect, but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.
Brethren, I count myself to have apprehended but this one thing I do for getting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded, and if in anything ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you. Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule.
Let us mind the same thing, brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an example for many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you, even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ.
Whose endless destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, Who mind earthly things? For our conversation is in heaven. From whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body.
According to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.
The Apostle Paul as the pattern.
Christian Life.
He is given to us as the.
Model, if you will, of Christianity and the individual life of the Christian.
By example of his life, and so he could say be followers of me now he could come short in that as and so he would say, even as I also am of Christ.
But the character of his life was the object of his life was a man in heaven.
And that was the prize that he wanted that person and his whole life was focused on that desire to have more for himself, of that one that was.
One who had drawn his heart's affections out to himself. And he's presented to us in this way in this chapter. And God presents it to us as saying, I want your life to be that as well. And so is script, as it's been said, where your treasure is, there will your heart be also in our live show where our treasure is.
And if our treasure is found in this person?
Jesus Christ our Lord.
Then it will manifest or display itself in the character of the life we live and the choices we make and what's important to us and what isn't. And so we have Him presented to us, whether we're young or older, as that one that God has given that.
We might learn from this man, the Apostle Paul's life, and see in it that pattern that God would have for our lives as well.
We might mention too, as we have been reminded many times before, that uh, the third chapter of Ephesians brings before us Christ as our object, and in that sense it does indeed, as we remarked earlier, take us up to heaven. Uh, the 2nd chapter is more Christ is our pattern, and perhaps more Christ.
00:10:00
In his earthly pathway and in his perfection down here. But the third chapter brings before, brings Christ before us as a risen Christ in glory, doesn't it? And so he's there as an object for us. And that's ultimately, as Dawn has mentioned, where Paul's ministry takes us. We're not to forget about Christ in manhood. We're not to forget about him as our pattern for us.
We he is indeed an example that we should follow in his steps, as Peter tells us. But ultimately, if we're going to walk well down here, we need to have him before us, not as merely a man who walked down here, but as a risen Christ in glory.
Hey, in life and something.
If we add individual conversations here and the question we're asked, well, what do you enjoy?
Everyone would have those things that they find pleasure in, and being natural people as we are, there's perhaps a variety of things that we can find our pleasure in. But there's one that's greatly emphasized in the beginning of this chapter, and it's rejoice in the Lord.
Can we honestly, truly say that in our daily life we find great joy?
In this person, the Lord Jesus, and more than that, I think it's important to recognize that it says the Lord or in Lord because when he's presented to us as Lord, he's presented to us as a person who has absolute complete.
Rights over everything having to do with our lives.
And that's something that.
Man resists completely in nature.
There's not a single person of us in this room that naturally speaks, speaking.
Wants someone else to tell us what we can and we cannot do we all by the fall of Adam have very independent natures. I want to decide what I do and what I don't do and yet in Christ we're brought into a new relationship with this person in such a way that we can actually find joy in someone that has complete.
Rights.
Over us and over our lives we find it perfectly in the Lord Jesus life. He could say I delight to do thy will, Oh my God. He found his joy in complete and perfect obedience to the will of God as a man. The first one in all history that has ever found his joy naturally that way, but the Lord Jesus being who he is.
Could say that, and now we through new birth can also say that we joy in obedience to the will of our Lord.
It's right with conversion, doesn't it?
If thou shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
The idea that we have here in the United States of America so often is, Oh yeah, you can believe in Jesus for your salvation and you can do pretty much what you like.
That's not going to be a happy life. That's not what God had in mind. It's there is one who is Lord. And like you say, the beginning of that life become begins with a surrender to the authority of the Lord Jesus in every aspect of life. That brings real joy. And so he says in chapter 4 as well.
Verse 4. Rejoice in the Lord.
Alway, did you hear that?
00:15:00
Again I say rejoice.
Are you always rejoicing?
Brother Bill, are you always rejoicing?
Well, I'm going to tell you a short story, but you finished what you were saying first.
Well, I can remember an exchange in a reading meeting being reported to be many years ago where I won't name the brothers, but one of them asked the other, if you're rejoicing in the Lord Alway, can you say that? And he said, yes, I think I can. And the brother himself said, well, I can tell you that when I've got a splitting migraine headache.
I find I am not rejoicing in the Lord the way I should. And, uh, I can relate to that. And so, uh, I think it's something that we ought to be doing and it's the standard God holds us to. And if we were walking with Him as we should, we would be in spite of physical infirmities. But I have to confess that things get in the way sometimes. Is that reasonable? I think I have to agree with that, brother.
The.
The rejoicing that it's speaking about is not just a superficial joy, it is something that runs deep in the heart. And I think if even when you have a splitting migraine headache, brother, if I would talk to you about the Lord and our portion in Christ, I think you would rejoice, wouldn't you?
Bob, I'd like to tell you a story from our grandfather on his deathbed. He was struggling for breath. Every other breath was blessed the Lord, O my soul, and forget not only benefits, we take him two or three times to say that I can remember that as a child.
He was rejoicing in the Lord in circumstances that most of us would be complaining about.
That's why it says rejoice in the Lord, doesn't it? Doesn't say rejoice in your circumstances.
But in those circumstances, you can rejoice in the Lord.
Our portion in Christ, brethren, is so secure, so constant, that we have reason to rejoice always. In fact, it's a command. Rejoice in the Lord always. Doesn't say if you think you can, No, always.
In Romans chapter, the high point, the highest point in the whole of the book of Romans.
Is found in chapter 5 in the words We joy in God. You can't get higher in the whole of the book than that We joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ. It's been commented that if you took a man who was not saved to heaven, he'd be looking for the exit. He'd want to get out. He would not find heaven a place of enjoyment.
Well, what attracts his heart?
In spite of the fact that the word heaven gives the idea of perfect place, perfect circumstances, and everything else, what controls a person is what's in the heart and what they find their joy in. And so God has done a work in US. It wasn't there when we were born, but He has done a work in us that now we can find and do find our joy in God.
Those things that bring joy to his heart.
We have been made now so that we enjoy the same things. What's the number one joy of the heart of God?
His Son, what is he made to be? The number one joy of our hearts. His Son, what are we going to enjoy together for eternity with God, our Father, His Son? And so the apostle Paul was learning and had learned in a very practical way.
To say I want more of that joy every day of my life, that which is to be mine for eternity. And so it's brought out to us in this chapter how those things that hinder it as well as those things that contribute to it. And so it is for us to.
00:20:13
Want to know him better, For to know him is to love him. To know him is to find joy in His person.
Because God has made us in such a way now that nothing else will fully satisfy the yearnings of our renewed hearts than that person.
And He will fill it to overflowing. But nothing else that could ever be presented to us in this world at this point.
Would ever fully satisfy what God has made us to be.
Make a comment, it says to write the same things.
I'm gonna comment on some things that were said in the opening address in connection with to write the same things.
In first Peter where it says gird up the loins of your mind, right before that it speaks of the revelation of the gospel and the message of the gospel, and then it says gird up the loins of your mind.
And then it goes on to recognize the hope that is set before us.
There's a very practical, I believe, connection with that in the day in which we live. We live in a day when man is never satisfied with what he has and he always wants something new. He always has to have something new.
And so for example, in a practical sense, today some of the major telephone Internet, whatever companies have built right into their pricing structure and their plan that every so many once a year at least if not more, you automatically get the latest and greatest cell phone Internet connection.
Man, we'll spend.
You know, a new version of the iPod or some pad comes out and you'll spend all night waiting to have the very first new edition of it and the the one he has in his pockets less than a year old.
That has been conditioned. The world has conditioned man to that. It used to be that automobiles, you had life cycles of coming out with a new design every so often, but the companies that figured out how to make a faster change over were more successful.
Product new announcements used to be once a year or two, and now they're every four months. That's the larger companies need to bring in.
The newest, latest, greatest Does it bring happiness to man? No, it doesn't. But it's part of the way he has been.
Mentally conditioned to think he needs it to be happy. And brethren, part of the girding up of the loins of the mind is to be satisfied with the fullness of God's revelation and not constantly thinking. We need something new and something that improves on what we already have. But we have been conditioned generally.
Not to think that way. And it has perhaps more effect on our mental attitude than we may generally realize. And so it's important for us, if you will, to get off the bus if necessary, to enjoy without the constant need of something new and better in technology and so on, to find our enjoyment in that which.
Does not change Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today and forever. And He's presented to us as the only object that satisfies eternally without the need to put out an upgraded new addition.
00:25:15
So let's not be upset if you don't, if you go home when you haven't learned one new thing at this conference, if you have a little more of himself.
Chapters that when the Lord begins to present the truth by His Spirit, He presents that which is most likely to be the hindrance to our entering into it and enjoying it. In the second chapter, as we mentioned, it's Christ in manhood. Christ is our pattern. Perhaps what we might say more the graciousness of the Christian life.
And while we don't want to go back to the second chapter, it is noticeable there that the hindrance there is verse three of chapter 2. Let nothing be done through strife or Vainglory, but in lowliness of mind. Let each esteem other better than themselves. If we're going to be like Christ in our practical walk, there is a danger of vying with one another for positions of importance and.
As a result, strife and envy and so on come about. But it's different in our chapter, isn't it? What's the hindrance to the enjoyment of Christ in glory as our object?
Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision to what does that refer. I would suggest, and maybe others can develop it, that it's really in essence a reference to.
Judaizing principles which would bring the church down to the level of this world.
In the Old Testament, the Gentiles were referred to as dogs.
They were outside of that sphere of blessing and that, uh, sphere where the promises of God were enjoyed. And if they wanted to have any of them, they had to come through Israel. But they were referred to as dogs. And even the Lord Jesus himself used that imagery in talking about Gentiles. But what's happened now, Oh God, as we learn in the book of Ephesians, is brought you and Gentile into one body by the cross.
Where are the dogs now? It is those who would seek to bring the believer down to the level of Judaism, to bring him back to the level of things in this world, to make Christianity into a worldly religion.
To bring it down to the level of this world and make it popular. And we know that Satan has been all too successful in that over the centuries. And so this second verse, I would suggest, refers to that. And that is the biggest.
Shall we say hindrance to the enjoyment of Christ as our object and the enjoyment of a risen Christ in glory? It's the biggest hindrance to the believers having the energy of his new life by the power of the Spirit, by looking at a risen Christ in glory.
It has to do where our affections are.
When we came traveling up here, we stopped at 2 Bayside and other people stopped their cars.
Most of them came out of their cars with two dogs or more.
Or at least one.
And and Marianne made that remark.
That's where the people's affections are today with their dogs.
Where shouldn't be our affections be with the Lord Jesus Christ instead of these outward things where dogs can be very affectionate because they are very dependent upon us?
But we are more dependent upon the Lord Jesus Christ, and we should have our affections toward Him.
00:30:11
Contrasting that last, uh, category in verse two, brother Bill, which you said beware of the.
Concision.
In verse three it speaks of the circumcision and I think it is helpful to see the difference.
Concision is cutting at.
Circumcision is cutting off. In Christianity, the flesh is completely cut off. We don't recognize it. It is gone before God. It is dead and buried. And what do you do with something dead and buried? You leave it there. Christianity is on the other side.
But concisions still recognizes the flesh and seeks to cut at it. That's fleshly. And that is what you mentioned. Brother Bill is the bringing down to the level of this world again and a worldly religion. Beware of it.
We have the same thing in Colossians chapter 2 notice.
In verse.
Umm, 20.
Wherefore if you be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world?
Why, as though living in the world are ye subject to ordinances, touch not, taste not, handle not which all are to perish with the using after the commandments and doctrines of men.
So if you are still recognizing the flesh as something that God is dealing with, you're going to do that. You're going to put rules and regulations in place to control the flesh. But in Christianity, our position is completely different and that's why it says in verse three of our chapter, we are the circumcision. In other words, if we understand what true Christian position is.
It's a place where the flesh has been completely cut off and God does not recognize it any longer. We are in a new position in Christ, completely new. So to be brought back down is something that distracts from Christ.
Bob referred to Colossians two. I would like to also read verses 11 and 12, in whom ye also are circumcised. That's the verse in our chapter. Verse 3. Circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, and putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ, buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.
And you being dead in your sins, and the uncircumcision of your flesh at the quickened, together with him having forgiven you all trespasses and so on. Here we have the same principle brought out earlier in the chapter in picture form in the Old Testament. It's after they crossed the Jordan River, their death, spiritually speaking for us. There are death with Christ. And then they went to Gilgal and there they were circumcised and as Bill.
Commented his address is at that point that the reproach of Egypt was rolled off of them, and in connection with our chapter and the object of Christ.
As I said a few minutes ago, an unsafe person.
If you took him to heaven, having only the life of Adam, they'd want to leave. They would not wish to stay.
We recognize doctrinally that we have gone out of Egypt, the world.
To go to Canaan, if you will. But as it's been said and was said, you can take a man out of the world, but it doesn't necessarily take the world out of his heart.
00:35:08
Adams, Rice.
Never leaves the world as long as it's here.
Adams Rice is not capable in heart of leaving the world.
But we.
Can recognize that we have new life in Christ, but at the same time our atom life, if you will. We can look at it that way, the flesh in US.
Is not going to change. It still loves the world and it's only when God, practically speaking, has his way in US that we can fully enjoy.
That which is our true portion.
And we only do so when we recognize ourselves as having died with Christ, yes, more than that, having been risen with Christ. And it's when we recognize our position in Christ, in resurrection.
And the fact that the flesh is to be treated as dead or cut off, that we truly enter in practically, brethren, into those things that this chapter presents to us.
And so, as it says in verse three, we are the circumcision.
We may not always live it, but in position where the circumcision.
And God would work in us, so that in practice we live.
The other side of death and we live in resurrection life and then heaven is everything. Until then, it's not.
Until then, we're like the concision we want in some mixture.
Half of the new and half of the old are sometimes 80% of the new and 20% of the old. But there will always be in us that tendency toward a mixture. Here at the conference. It can be 100% to enjoy the Lord. But the conference isn't the real test. It's after we get home and we're in daily life at home and we've got access to as much world as we want with the click of our finger.
And then it's there's a tendency in us to have a mixture, to have some of the old and some of the new. But in true practice, the apostle Paul is an example of a person that was 100% for that, which is the true position of the Christian.
So could we say in simple terms that it's really the difference between simply dealing with the fruit or the plant itself and dealing with the root? I know if I can give a practical illustration, we are.
Whatever word you wanna use. Cursed, blessed with black walnut trees around our home. And, uh, one of them I took out and took the whole stump out, but the other one was right on the property line, right by a stream, and it would have been a job and a half to get the stump out, so I didn't take it out. What do I have to do? Keep cutting off the shoots as they come out every year because it wants to grow again. And cutting off the shoots is like the concision, isn't it? It's not dealing with the root of the problem.
It's recognizing there's something there that I don't want, and it's cutting it off, but it's not really getting at the root. But Christ, in his work on the cross, deals with the root of the problem, that old sinful self. Now by his grace we can reckon ourselves, as Romans 6 tells us, to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God. And as Dawn says, we'll never progress in our Christian life.
Never be able to enjoy a risen Christ in glory until that precious truth has a grip on our souls.
And we recognize that, as Dawn was saying, even though we don't always live it out, that positionally we are dead and risen with Christ.
00:40:14
Seven and verse three are seen when it says we are the circumcision which worship God in the Spirit.
Man doesn't worship God.
It becomes, more than anything else, he worships himself. I'm the center of my world, I have to make me happy, and so on. And he wants to be the focus of his own life and his own attention. But true Christianity brings us into the liberty of being delivered from ourselves, to be able to find in another, in God himself, the object of worship.
And veneration.
He says rejoice in Christ Jesus.
Did man naturally, when the Lord Jesus was here on earth, rejoice in that man? He did not.
He appreciated being healed.
Having disease taken care of, receiving the benefit that the man could bring. But did he find his joy in him? No.
No, he did not the envision. Instead of fond joy in him, he went so far as to hate him out of that envy and say we will not have this man, we're not going to find our joy in him. We don't want him. That's the natural heart. And to the measure to which the flesh is given a place, as in chapter 2, it says Vainglory. It may be vain, but it's there anyway.
Man wants the glory for himself.
That's nature, that's fallen nature, but it's very much there. And to find someone else to have this, the glory, the honor isn't natural and easy to accept. Well, he can have a little, but I want some too. But.
The right place, the true place, the place of liberty is to rejoice in Christ Jesus.
Difference in translation here uh in verse 3 for we are the circumcision which worship God in the spirit and King James translation it has a small S but in Darby's translation it says.
Umm, for we are the circumcision who worship God by the capital as the Spirit by the Spirit. And I I would just like to remind us as we speak about.
Umm, our occupation with Christ and our enjoyment of Christ that it is only in and by the Spirit of God who dwells within us. He's one of the very, very important components of the Christian experience. It's actually God dwelling in US who communicates the things of Christ and makes Christ and brings Christ home to our enjoyment.
He's the one who is working in us to produce.
Worship he's also the energy of the Christian life. The flesh is the energy of the first man. The spirit is the energy of the new man. And I, I know that that's a simplistic example and I know there's others here that can give a, a more detailed example there or explanation, but I, I, I think it's important for us to realize.
Where this enjoyment of Christ comes from if the believer will read.
The word of God.
And will allow the Spirit of God to take the word of God and minister it to us. The result will be an enjoyment of Christ because that is what the Spirit of God is there for. He will take the things of Christ and make them good to us if there's if we come together on Lord's Day morning.
00:45:02
And we we gather together for worship. If there is, if there is one.
Audible spec of worship that comes from our heart. It will have been generated by the Spirit of God because that's what he's been given to us for. So we have a I like to think that well, we know that we have been given everything that pertains to life and godliness and we have been given everything that pertains to life and God. We don't.
We don't generate that ourselves, it has been given to us and the Spirit of God is one of those extremely valuable tools that God has given to help us to be able to rejoice in the Lord ye.
That's what we have, John, chapter 16.
And verse 13 we have the work of the Spirit of God to exalt Christ. And it says here, Howbeit when he the Spirit of truth is come, he will guide you into all.
True. Well, I believe the Lord Jesus Christ is the truth. He said I am the truth. He is the living truth. And so the Spirit of God leads us to a greater appreciation of Christ and we become better acquainted with him where the Spirit of God has liberty. And that's why I feel the best place that we can be on the face of this planet earth.
To become better acquainted with the Lord Jesus Christ is where the Spirit of God has liberty.
By this Spirit to lead in worship and in ministry.
And I believe that.
To be gathered simply to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ is the greatest privilege, because I believe here it is that the Spirit of God has liberty to exalt Christ, as it tells us here in John 16 and 13. It says, For he shall not speak of himself.
Or from himself.
So the Spirit of God is the worship leader. Sometimes you hear about worship leaders.
There is a worship leader, brethren. It's the Spirit of God we worship.
By the Spirit of God, and that's so important. And I think it's good for our young people to realize sometimes the questions are asked, why don't we have musical instruments?
And this is the difference between the old order of things and the Old Testament and the new.
The old was adapted for man in the flesh.
Naturally speaking, I enjoy music, but when we come together to worship the Lord, we don't come for our own enjoyment. Brethren, that's the problem. We have switched the focus of enjoyment from Him to us. Oh, I enjoy that particular place. They've got such nice music. They might have good music. I don't say they don't, but I said that's not the focus.
We come together to worship him and the leader as the Spirit of God.
And that's why you don't have anywhere in the New Testament either the Lord Jesus or the Apostles.
Using musical instruments, you don't have it once.
The Spirit of God is the one to guide in the worship. He occupies us with Christ, and the more we're occupied with Him, the more is going to flow out of our hearts the expression of appreciation of His glorious person. That's what worship is. Sometimes people have said, and I think it's been helpful, we worship God for who He is.
00:50:17
We praise Him for what he has done.
And so it's the appreciation of all that God is for us. Brethren, the more we learn, the more we worship. Worship isn't necessarily audible. We read about the wise men that came from the East because they had seen the Lord star and they came to worship him and when they saw him.
Not in the Manger, but in the house. They fell down and worshiped him. It's not recorded any words they said.
It's simply the appreciation of the glory of who He is. That's worship. How wonderful brethren were made to worship God.
By the Spirit of God.
I could just make one more comment with regard to concision and circumcision. Concision is produced.
By the efforts of the 1St man.
C Circumcision recognizes the end of the first man and gives liberty for the Newman to operate. So when whenever we we set up, we set about to.
To, umm, try to regulate our lives in such a way that we'll we can we can please God. Those are the efforts of the first man circumcision recognizes it's an.
And takes up things in the new.
About truth and connected with Ephesians chapter 6 your loins skirt about with truth and is built brought out to us. That's the place that the lines are the place of strength.
Yeah, the contrast to truth is error or what is false. And the moment I embrace something that is false, I lose strength. That's what Satan did in the Garden of Eden to Adam and Eve. He tempted them with something that was false. And the moment they embraced what was false, they lost their strength.
Buy it and they fell into error. And so sometimes we live in an age when truth is treated as secondary.
You know love is #1.
Even love without truth.
And so it's given a supreme, you know, except everybody, except everything. You think your way. I think mine at the expense of truth. And sometimes in our Christian lives there is that tendency to put aside a little truth for a little pleasure or a little bit of the flesh or a little bit of something. What's the consequence?
To lose strength.
Because the minute something that's not truth is accepted and into the practical way of life.
There's no longer the girding of the loin the.
It has been given up, and we need to be very careful because we live in an age where the whole mindset is truth, relative truth. The little secondary. This is more important. That's more important, but it's the very first thing that preserves in the armor the life and the moment. It's given up, everything else will go, and it's time as well. So let us never underestimate.
The importance of absolute truth for the preservation of our souls. And as Wally said, it's found in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Word of God, and it needs not one tiny bit of it to be compromised or we will lose that which preserves us and gives strength to the Christian life.