beloved friends greetings in the precious name of the Lord Jesus Christ our Savior the one who is the Savior of sinners and we welcome you to the continued study in the Philippian epistle today we shall commence in chapter three now let us not forget that this epistle can be called the epistle of Christian experience we Christians should be fully assured that Paul the Apostle, who was the human author, was a worthy exponent of Christian experience. In chapter one, we learned that Christ was the purpose, the dominating principle for his life, which evidence he gave even even at the day when he found Christ upon his conversion in Acts chapter nine. In chapter two, Christ is the pattern for the Christian life. the only perfect one for Paul, the only one for all Christians to pattern their life upon the earth, living in loneliness of mind, self-effacing, living for Christ and living for others. In chapter three, which we begin today, Christ was the prize for Paul, a Christ in glory to which the apostle was pressing, to apprehend why Christ had ever apprehended him. And in chapter four we know when we shall reach that later, Christ was the power for the Christian life for Paul, and he also is the same for us today. Now we have before us the theme of chapter three, Christ the object, the prize, the goal of the Christian life. That is the central theme of the chapter. But Paul begins the chapter in verses one through three and reveals the truth regarding what we could call New Testament meaning of circumcision. Let me read the verses first, where Paul writes to say, Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to me, to you, to me indeed is not grievous, but for you it is safe. Beware of dogs. Beware of evil workers. Beware of the concision, for we are the circumcision which worship God in the Spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. Now, first of all, will you notice the opening words of Paul, saying, The exhortation, finally, My brethren, rejoice in the Lord. He is not calling upon them to rejoice in their salvation merely, nor in their circumstances, nor God's mercies and blessings, but to rejoice in the Lord Himself. They were to find their joy in nothing less, and listen to this carefully, nothing less than the person of Christ. They needed this exhortation, and so do we. We who are the children of God, for the best protection in the midst of our dangers, our spiritual problems, is to have hard occupation with the Lord Jesus Christ. Now Paul did not need this exhortation, for he was doing this. The person of Christ was always before Paul. Christ filled his vision. And though this was true for Paul, the exultation was given to the saints of Philippi. And it is given to us today. And if you know what Paul says, it's not grievous to me to write this, but he says, I'm writing it for your safety. My beloved, may I say frankly what we have here, for the safety of God's people, the best thing for you and for me to do is rejoice in the Lord. Some dangers are mentioned by Paul. There are dogs, evil workers, legalistic teachers. I can only commend the reading of Paul's epistles of the Galatians. You'll find within that epistle many false teachers had disturbed the Galatian believers and had done many evil works among them. And even in the city of Corinth, the Christians have been annoyed by these. These men corrupted the pure gospel of God's grace. by their false teaching, though they boasted greatly of their religious profession by keeping the law. They were trusting in the flesh. But if you please note what we have read in our scripture, Paul writes to say, We belong to the circumcision that does not trust in the flesh. We have no confidence in the flesh. In this scripture he speaks The Holy Spirit reveals that we should rejoice in Christ and have no confidence in the flesh. These corrupt teachers to whom the apostle refers, they glorified by their outward ceremonies of religious rites, such as outward circumcision of the flesh as being necessary. They were glorifying themselves. And Paul reveals that the true believers are spiritually really the circumcision who worship God. Not by the outward formal religious ceremonies and rites, but in the Spirit. My beloved, let me say frankly, you cannot worship God unless you have the Spirit of God in you. God is Spirit. And they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit. And according to truth, said the Lord Jesus in John chapter four, to the woman at the well. So may I repeat again, thank God it is the Spirit who causes us to rejoice in Christ, in His person, in His work, having not a bit of outward formal religious ceremony, but having no confidence in the flesh. The indwelling spirit fills the heart with Christ. The indwelling spirit glorifies Christ. True worship by the spirit is the result. And to have no confidence in the flesh is to expect nothing, whatever, from ourselves, but to glory only in Christ, which is true Christian attainment and experience. My beloved, let me please put it very factually. I am no business seeking to glorify myself, not even as a Christian, nor to speak of myself of what I am and boast of myself. My only responsibility and my main responsibility and chief responsibility is to glorify Christ. Let me speak of him. Let me talk, nothing, let me say nothing of myself and about myself. Did not the Lord Jesus say when he was here, I seek not my own glory? May I suggest to you and to myself, fellow believers, may that be true of us. Let us seek his glory, not our own. Whatever we do, whatever we say. But note in verses four through seven that Paul, in his own religious background, he said, if there's anyone could glory in the flesh, he said, I could do it more than any. Read what he says. He describes himself in his unconverted days. He was above the average in religious character, in religious zeal. He was blameless. He was above reproach in his religion. But take the words of verse seven. No. But what things were gained to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Whatever happened to him, my beloved, he lost his religion, and even his zeal that he had. thinking it was a zeal for God when he kept the law and blameless and when he persecuted the saints. A change came over Paul on the Damascus Road when he journeyed to persecute Christians. He met the glorified Christ. That vision of Christ laid him in the dust. He saw himself as the chief of sinners and all of his religious gain. He declares, These I counted lost. for Christ. My beloved, he found out all of his religion could never save him, and well might he call himself as he did the chief of sinners in First Timothy chapter one and verse fifteen. Acknowledging, it was not the religion of the Pharisees that I needed, it was Christ. My beloved listening friends, can I ask, do you have a religion? Do you profess some religion? Or are you sure that you have Christ? Religion, even the strictest, can never say. Religion only depends entirely on human efforts for salvation, by confidence in what I am doing, confidence in my flesh. Let me again present Paul's testimony even later near the end of his life, when he said, this is a faithful saying, worthy of all acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Now may I say frankly, here is a man who was one of the most religious persons who found that his religion could never save him. He found that the Son of God Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Paul had to bow and to confess that religious as he was, I'm the chief of sinners. And it is the Lord Jesus Christ who says the chief of sinners, Paul may never have been immoral in his character, in conduct. But he calls himself the biggest religious sinner who had so much to boast on, to boast so much about in that religiousness. But he says, I was lost. He found after all, he was a sinner. My friend, I wonder if I'm speaking to any person who is religious but lost. Many years ago, a dear friend of mine found that she was a professing church member lost in the church. Unfortunately, in the church which she attended, the gospel was not faithfully preached. but ultimately through some of her family she was led to come to the Lord Jesus Christ she wrote about her conversion in a little gospel track she made the title of that message which she wrote just like this she titled the message lost in the church oh my beloved we've got a lot of lost sinners in the professing churches of today Paul's testimony, take it. He advocates that it is worthy of every man, woman, boy and girl accepting it. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. You can argue with Paul if you want to when he insists that he's the chief of sinners. But if you do, certainly if Christ saved the chief of sinners, he can save you. My beloved, may I say in closing, be sure that you have Christ, not just a religion. Oh, blessed Father, we thank thee that it is Christ who is all in all. Not a religion, a living, loving person who died to save us. May the saints be encouraged and blessed and sinners saved through the message. Amen.