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Pastor David Mitchell
Turn to Ephesians chapter 2 and Verse 8 and I'm going to take a little time before I get there, but you'll be there waiting and ready. When I get there We're moving into a new topic that deals still with the finished work of Christ the finished work of Jesus Christ.
All that he accomplished when he was on that cross. It also includes what he accomplished in his resurrection and in his ascension into heaven. All of it together we call the finished work of Christ this morning.
We move into a new topic one of the things that he finished and made possible for us. We'll just call it being circumcised by Christ the circumcision that is without hands and I want to read you a Couple of verses first to tell you what this is not talking about.
It is not talking about physical circumcision as you read in the Old Testament about The covenant that God made with Abraham and it involved the covenant of or part of that covenant involved the circumcision.
And it is the key Symbol in the Old Testament that a people is the people of God. I It's very similar in the fact that it is symbolic the Jews took their symbolism too far just like Many people who call themselves Christians have done especially the Roman Catholic Church has taken their symbolism so far that it almost replaces The relationship with God and the Jews did the same thing.
They took those physical things so far That it almost replaced their relationship with God and that's not what this is all about. So we are not talking about physical circumcision. Let me give you a couple of verses.
Galatians 5 6. The Apostle Paul proves that the physical circumcision is not required in order to have a relationship with God. In fact, he says for in Jesus Christ Neither circumcision availeth anything nor uncircumcision.
But faith which worketh by love what he says by what he means by that is it doesn't matter whether a person is Circumcised or not physically what matters is whether he has faith in Jesus Christ and he is therefore placed into Christ.
Galatians 5 11 says and I brethren if I preach Circumcision in other words Paul is saying if I went around and told people that they needed to keep the laws of Moses Along with perhaps believing in Jesus Christ.
But if I went about teaching or preaching Circumcision in other words the law of Moses the physical things that the law brought out if I went about preaching that why do I? Yet suffer persecution. Then is the offense of the cross ceased.
I I would that they were even cut off. Which trouble you. So there was a group of people going around a group of they call them Judy Judaizers who were people Jewish people who tried to make people believe that they needed to believe in Jesus Christ.
But they also needed to keep the laws of Moses. Then Paul said I wish that they were cut off and he's using a play on words there because he's talking about Circumcision and he's saying I wish God would just cut them off out of your life.
So that you would be dead to those people and not listen to their doctrine. In other words Paul is teaching that if he went around preaching that you had to keep the laws of Moses he said no one would have ever persecuted me and So he said that's not the truth the world loves the idea of rules and laws that man could keep in order to try to Be right before God the world loves that sort of thing.
That's why today more and more we see that the other religions of the world are more popular than Biblical Christianity one of the reasons that George Bush is hated so much worldwide and Especially in New Mexico a lot of the people in New Mexico hate Bush.
We see that we saw so many bumper stickers. They said drop Bush not bombs, you know and things like that all over, New Mexico. I was really glad to get home because I was Sensing that they not only don't like Bush they don't like any Texans anymore because we believe in the Bible so many of us and They don't like a man who takes a stand for right he calls right right and he calls wrong wrong he calls good good and bad bad and the world wants to reverse all that and So they hate him because of that.
It will be a miracle of God just as great as the miracle that happened when God elected Bush. Last time if he gets reelected you've marked my words. It will be an absolute miracle from heaven if he is reelected.
It will only show that God and his sovereignty chose to Have that man in power for four more years, of course, we know that's true no matter who gets elected, but but the world hates right and Paul said if I would go about and preach circumcision in the world would love that.
It's the same way today the religions even people that call themselves Christians Will hate you if you tear apart their doctrines and say none of that is how you get to heaven. If you take away the Church of Christ water, there's water baptistry back here.
I keep pointing to it in case your visitor. You don't know that thing raises up and there's a bad mystery back there. But they'll point if you point to their baptistry and say that does not make you any more saved than my water trough in the pasture behind my house.
They will get extremely angry. Because you're removing their Circumcision you're removing their laws and the things they're trying to do to work their way to heaven and you begin to remove that. They will persecute you.
I picked on them because I know that's one of their beliefs. You have to not only be baptized in water. It's got to be Church of Christ water. It would not save you if you got baptized in this Baptist water.
They think because they're looking at the symbols. They're looking at the religiosity of it all the rules and the laws as if that's what saves you. And Paul says Well, yeah. If I preach circumcision. Then I would avoid all persecution.
The Jewish world would love me and the world at large would love me. But he said that's not what I preach. I preach the cross and the cross only. Galatians 6 12. Paul continues as many as desire to make a fair show in the flesh now.
You can learn something about Pharisees right here. You can learn something about the modern Pharisees and the church is all around us these young people teenagers. Perhaps if they get get out of God's will and they go somewhere else to live after college instead of coming back home.
And being in our church then they're gonna have to be very careful as Far as whether that church and that pastor where they go is a hidden Pharisee. A hidden Pharisee is a guy who will make all kinds of rules that you have to live by and the church has to live by and You know why they do it.
Paul is going to tell us why in verse 12. They want to make a fair show in the flesh. They constrain you to be circumcised or whatever their rule is. Only lest they should suffer. I'm sorry. I got in the wrong place.
Oh, yeah. Only thus they should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ. In other words. Subconsciously, they know that by adding all these kinds of rules. The world will love that and they can build a huge church.
They won't suffer any persecution for the cross because they are not preaching the cross. Oh, they may talk about it. They may talk about Jesus. All of them do that. But when they start adding things that you have to do in order to be right with God, then the world loves that.
Paul says the only reason they do it is to make a fair show of the flesh. Look what he means in verse 13 for neither they themselves who are circumcised keep the law. In other words these guys that make up the rules that you're supposed to follow.
They don't keep them. We had one once that told us we shouldn't have a TV. So we took got rid of our TV for several years and then until I walked in his house and he had two of them. And I started thinking hmm.
That's strange. You know, so. Anyway, we enjoyed the quiet and read more books. So it was a good thing for us. But we found out that. Those who make these rules don't keep them and. Then he says for neither they themselves who are circumcised keep the law but desire to have you circumcised.
That they may glory in your flesh. Now you have to take the word circumcision here when he's taught he is talking about literal circumcision. But we're going to use that as a meaning for any type of legalistic idea.
That a preacher or a church group would put on you to make you think you'd be right with God or more right with God if you did their thing or didn't do the things they say not to do those kinds of things.
They are doing it for this reason. You can bank it bank on it because the Word of God says it. They're doing it because they're wanting to count you as a number your flesh sitting in their pew. Becomes a show in the flesh and now they can tell their brotherhood or their convention or whatever.
We got three ran 3 ,000 last Sunday. Listen, I used to go to those preacher meetings a long time ago 20 years ago. Probably at this point and I hadn't been back to one since. Because as you sit around and you have a nice meal with about 50 preachers and you sit at the table and you can hear what?
They're talking about and what the one I'm yeah. Well, we ran what you run last Sunday. Well, we ran about 250. Well, what'd you run about? 3 ,000 and this one all of a sudden he gets angry because you know, well I do too.
Anybody I think that has a church runs more than about 50. I get angry with them. There's a problem there. They're obviously making a show of the flesh or they would only have 40 or 50 like we do but that that is what the discussion is and what we found in the independent Baptist circles.
Especially is that they did have a great number of rules. They call them standards and. The one who could they would sit around the table and they would talk about. How their people looked where they wouldn't go places they wouldn't go things they wouldn't do and.
Then when they would bring the guest speaker in he would be out looking checking out the women make sure they all had skirts down. To their ankles. If they didn't they'd look at that preacher and say you messed up.
You don't have them in order. You don't have the sheep in line here, and it was a show of the flesh. Paul didn't it's nothing new is it Paul 2 ,000 years ago. Paul was discussing this. Now Colossian 311 says where there is neither Greek nor Jew circumcision nor uncircumcision.
So that proves that when we're talking about Christ. It says but Christ is all and in all that being placed into Christ is where salvation is. It has nothing to do with whether you're Gentile or Jew has nothing to do with whether you've been physically Circumcised or not.
In other words whether you've kept the Jewish Rules and all the baggage that they brought with them into Christianity whether you kept those or not makes absolutely no difference. Paul says what matters is whether you're in Christ.
He says circumcision nor uncircumcision availeth anything. But faith in Jesus Christ. So now we begin our study here showing what this is not for reference to we're not talking about anything physical.
When we're talking about being circumcised by Christ or in Christ. This is a spiritual Circumcision, but now what did physical circumcision? Picture. Why did God require it of Abraham and all of the males of the Hebrew nation?
Why did God in this covenant? Say that they shall all be circumcised and then as Moses took them through the wilderness. They began to stop doing that. And so that one of the first things Joshua had to reinstate when he got into the promised land was the circumcision of the males.
Of all the males. Well, I'll tell you what it pictured it pictured separation and sanctification. It pictured that the people of Israel were different than the men of the world. They were different from the heathen they were separated from the world as a peculiar people unto the Lord and That's what it pictured they belong to God they were a people unto God and that's what all this picture and.
The problem is they got so caught up in their religious rights in the pictures and the symbols that they forgot. The relationship with the Lord and this is what Paul is addressing here and correcting.
Now there were three kinds of people talked about using this idea of circumcision the first would be called those that are of the circumcision of the flesh and that means the Jews if you're back in the New Testament and You see talk of Paul talk about those who are of the circumcision of the flesh.
He's talking about the Jews the physical Jewish people. If you hear the word those are the uncircumcision. That's talking about the Gentile world at large. And if you talk if you see him talk about a third designation the circumcision of the heart.
Then that's what we're talking about as we go into this study. That is the person who is born again. But it's of the heart. It has nothing to do with the physical Jewish legal rights anymore. And there's a great separation and a dividing here that Paul is teaching.
Because to the Jewish mind that was almost impossible that circumcision wouldn't be impossible. Important. It's like if you talk to a sincere Church of Christ person and you try to gently tell them look.
It doesn't make a hill of beans difference. If you get in your Church of Christ water, you can still go to heaven. They go. No, no, no. No, no that that's not right. And you you can't penetrate that mindset hardly God could but you can't.
You can say oh, well, let me ask you this. What if I was out on a desert island and? Plane crashed and there was a Bible in there and I got one page of that Bible and that's all I had. And it said whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
And I called upon the name of the Lord and I didn't have any water out there and certainly no Church of Christ. Are you telling me if I died I'd go to hell they'd say. What well, I? Want to say yes, but it doesn't make sense.
Well, that doesn't that's not fair. That's a hypothetical. We can't discuss that. And it hurts almost. This is how the Jew felt if you go back two thousand years ago to the first century Christians who most of them were Jewish.
By the way, but to tell them Paul says you don't have to you don't need to tell these new Christians to be circumcised. They go. Oh, yes you do. That we're going to totally be out of God's will if we don't do the laws of Moses, too.
That's how they thought and it was very very difficult. So Paul is addressing this now as we move into Philippians chapter 3 verse 3. It begins to give some insight into what Paul means by the circumcision of the heart.
For we are the circumcision. He's talking to a group of Jewish believers and He's about to tell him what circumcision is really all about. We are the circumcision which worship God in the spirit that's going to give you a list of what true circumcision of the heart means first of all, we worship God in the spirit and we rejoice in Jesus Christ and We have no confidence in the flesh now when you think about the physical right of circumcision that the Jews had.
It was a cutting off of the flesh and a casting away of the flesh and it pictured No confidence in the flesh. That's what it taught. There was a an object lesson there and that's what it taught. And so Paul says those who are circumcised of the heart not without hands, but by God a true Circumcision of the heart first of all, they worship God in the spirit.
It's not a physical thing. It's from the inward man. Secondly, they rejoice in Christ Jesus not in the rights of the law. You see he's talking to the Jews. So you got to read that into it. They rejoice in Jesus not in the laws of Moses and Thirdly, they have no confidence in the flesh.
What is he telling these Jews? Look, you got an elaborate system of rules. Even Jesus rebuked Part of your rules the parts that didn't come from the scripture even though he was still under the law when he was born in This world.
He rebuked the part that you added. He said keep the law, but he said not the part you added. And he rebuked the Pharisees for bringing laws on these men. He said that even you don't keep he told him the same thing.
He said you make your converts twice the children of hell that you are and he rebuked them and Paul says the true person that's been circumcised of the heart has Absolutely, no confidence in the flesh.
Why did he say that as part of this definition? Because The Jews were going about trying to keep a law or a set of rules and trying to do it in the flesh. Through the natural man through through character building enormous Great character and it always turned on them and they would find themselves in the same sins.
They were preaching against but they tried to hide it because the flesh Cannot be godly. So any system of being godly by keeping a set of rules you're trying to approach it through the will of the flesh.
Paul rebuked that he said a true circumcised person worships God's Spirit. He rejoices in Jesus Christ only and he has absolutely no confidence in his flesh. He knows he's a bad person. He knows that in the nature of the flesh.
That I was born in and still walk in. I cannot have confidence in that as far as my relationship with God because it'll fail every time. Romans 228 says for he is not a Jew which is one outwardly. Neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh but he is a Jew which is one inwardly.
Now, he's talking to the Jews and. And Circumcision is that of the heart in the spirit and not in the letter of the rules you see. Whose praise is not of men but of God. There's a lot in that message for us this morning.
If you are a person Who is circumcised of the heart and you rely totally and only on the Lord Jesus Christ for your salvation. The two things are true then. Number one you will receive no praise from man for that because man would rather see you try to keep a group of rules.
That's how all the other religions work. They're all based on this worldly philosophy. Men praise that kind of religion. They don't praise your brand. Because your brand relies on the crucified one and the resurrected one and him only.
And that is not loved in this world today. You may think so having grown up in the Bible Belt, but the Bible teaches very clearly. There is no praise of man, but it also says however There is praise from God.
So this lays out the groundwork for this study. There are certain elements that we've already found in Philippians 3 and in Romans 2 these elements are number one. This is discussing worshiping God in the spirit.
It has nothing to do with what your flesh can do what your body can do. Number two it involves rejoicing in Jesus Christ and in him only. Not rejoicing in any outward form of religion that we may create together.
Number three it involves having no confidence in your flesh even as a Christian. Now, let me stop there are some more points, but let me stop there and let's define what the flesh is. Because it's not what you're thinking it is.
You're thinking that the flesh is the members of your body. That's not right. Your flesh as it's used in the New Testament language is a principle and it is the principle of The philosophy. The philosophic underpinnings of the natural man it is the way the natural man thinks.
More than it's his body. Now we understand that that's only made possible by a part of that body, which is called the human brain. It's a fabulous organ that we all have. But yet the body is used only as an instrument of sin.
The sin comes From the principles and the philosophies that are in the mind of the natural man. So when you're born into this world, you're born in to a nature of sin. And that's what the word flesh means when as Paul uses he's not talking about specifically the members of your body.
He's talking about the sin nature principle that is in your members. It is built into it because you were born in it because you're from Adam and when Adam and Eve fell. The sin nature was created at that time within Mankind and it was passed on through each generation all the way to you the day you were born.
So as you were born in this world and you began to grow up and your mama began to tell you how beautiful you were and how sweet and wonderful you were and how She's gonna supply everything you need. You begin to think of self.
You came out even before you heard mama say anything crying because you wanted something. And you needed to have it. It's a selfish nature. The predominant Nature of the flesh is selfishness and then pride on top of it.
If you took just those two every other evil thing Can come from those two and the flesh it is ingrained with it your flesh today as saved as you are. Your flesh is ingrained with those two items and when you fall into the flesh and you're walking in the flesh.
It's gonna be all about you. It's all about you. When I'm in the flesh all about me and so Paul is saying the one who is circumcised of heart which now think of this. This is a Spiritual thing but it's pictured by the physical circumcision, which is a cutting off of flesh and a casting away of it spiritually in the heart on the inside of the man.
The inward man there is a circumcision that takes place that cuts off the flesh Sin nature principle and casts it away from the man so that he is now a new man a Circumcised man different than the natural man who walks around and all he has is the flesh.
Do you see that? It's a principle a spiritual inward man principle and Therefore we have no confidence in the flesh. A great teaching today. Is that you say? Well, I've been saved so I'm I'm okay. I'm safe I'm pleasing God and everything that I do and we forget to realize That the flesh is still there.
It's been cut off and it's been separated. But we can't totally escape from it. We're walking around in it and to the extent that we pay attention to those Philosophic ideas that come from this brain, you know.
Our brain had the input put in there a long time before we got saved didn't and it hasn't lost any of that input. So it can call it up Satan can place fleshly ideas that in your mind or he can extract some that you put in years ago and bring it up at will.
If he chooses to or his demonic hordes can do that to you. And it just flashes up in your mind to start thinking about the question is what will you do with it at that point? Have no confidence in the flesh.
Don't ever think gentlemen that you're strong enough as a Christian to deal with the temptations of the flesh because you're so strong. Ladies don't ever think that you're such a sweet dear Christian woman.
That you don't need to worry about that because it's just beyond you now. Listen the flesh principle the sin nature principle. We ought to have no confidence in it. We ought to realize that everyone sitting in this room is as capable of any horrible sin as any lost person in the penitentiary has done.
Even today you're capable of it if you walk in the flesh. So Paul puts this high in the priority of his definition of what the circumcised heart is first of all. We worship God in spirit. It has not to do with rules.
It's it's a relationship. We're connected. There's a connection and we can worship him in reality. Secondly, we rejoice in Jesus Christ because we know that's that's all we have. That's the whole of our Religion.
Jesus Christ is the whole of our experience with God and thirdly we have no confidence in the flesh. We have not reached any great area of character. Oh. You may for a moment for a season, but you could drop just like that in a moment in a day.
So have no confidence in the flesh. Now, let's move to another one a fourth one. It is not outward. It is not of the flesh. It has nothing to do with the letter of the law. Paul said I'm pulling all this out of the Scriptures we've already read it has nothing to do with the letter of the law and Fifthly it is inward of the heart in the spirit.
It is not praised by men, but only praised by God. Let me ask you a question. Why is it that this type of spiritual? Circumcision cannot be praised by men. Someone tell me a reason they can't understand it.
What else can they really see it? It's not outward it's inward they can't see it. Is there anything that can be set up in the way of a building or a dome or a pipe organ or a great show. That has anything to do with this.
No Man cannot praise this. Let me ask you this if tomorrow one of you slipped into the flesh for just a moment and Someone passed you in a car and made you angry and you shouted at them and they could read your lips through the window and Then they meet you at church next Sunday as a visitor and they walk in and see you sitting here.
Can that man can that person understand that at all? Are you were you any less saved the moment you lapsed into that you did wrong? No, you weren't any less saved at all. You're still God's child and Then you come to church all of a sudden you've been praying you got right with the Lord about it and you're here and he Walks in the door and he's looking at that saying also now you're Holy Joe.
Can he understand that? No, the world cannot understand. Can he praise that what's he likely to do with that information? He's gonna take that all across town say that church is full of people. It'll cuss you out if you pull in front of them in your car and then they sit there and act like Holy Joe on Sunday that's exactly what they're gonna say about you.
So is there any praise in this world for the circumcision of the heart? Zero. Only God can praise it because he understands it. He created it. It's like a secret between us and God and the world cannot appreciate it.
That's why when we talk about evangelizing the world so much of modern evangelism. If you go back to the 19 right before the 1900s and come forward to now so much of it has been in vain because it's been based on a fleshly show of Things that men can go out and do in an organized way and try to show the world Jesus Christ such a way that will bring them in and what we do it's is more often than not we offend them and We can't save them.
The best thing we can do is give them the gospel show them that we worship God in spirit that we're not very good at Worshiping him in the flesh. We're not very good at keeping rules and being religious.
But we're happy and we're rejoicing in Jesus all the time. We have no confidence in the flesh. I'm not any better than you are. I'm worse than you are if we can show them that. And say yet in my heart in my spirit I'm with God and he's with me.
Let me read you Lewis Barry Schaefer's definition of the circumcised heart we stand thus before God as One whose sin nature or flesh has been judged and For whom a way of deliverance from the dominion of the flesh has been secured.
Well, that's all the time we have for this morning. But we will get into how that's done as we follow in Ephesians chapter 2 Verses 8 and following we didn't even get to it this morning. But we will get into that verse and verse by verse word by word go through and see what the circumcision of the heart is All about but it is a judgment of the old nature and the flesh.
It has already been judged in Christ the day. He was crucified. It's part of the finished work you were in him the day. He died you died your flesh was crucified when his flesh was crucified and So therefore on the resurrection day deliverance was provided From this sin principle and that's what we'll study.
Let's stand and have prayer together. If you had more endurance we would go on and finish it all for the next hour, but We'll do it next time. Lord we thank you for your word. We thank you for the clarity that you Teach us if we just get into the Word of God Lord it saves us from all of the winds of doctrine that are around us today more and more each day as the end days Are upon us and there are many false prophets who call themselves Christians and in places that are called churches and they are like black birds in the tree that has grown far too large for its natural size and father we Know that there are many around us who are attempting to make a fair show in the flesh.
By having large numbers of people who keep certain rules or act a certain way or have a certain religious jargon and Father may you please divorce us from that? May you please keep us in the spirit with a relationship with you that is genuine so that we are in a sense cut off from the old man and We can rejoice in our relationship moment by moment with the Lord Jesus Christ.
Having no confidence in the flesh. Lord may people see your light in our face. May that be the witness that we can give. We know that as far as character goes we fail many times perhaps every day. So father, we pray that the attention of the people around us would not be drawn to that but to the shine of Your light in our eyes and in our countenance and the happiness and joy that we have because of you may that be our witness to the world.
And Lord, we ask you to go with us into our time of fellowship and we ask you to bless the meal We're about to have in Jesus name. Amen.