The True Circumcision

In this part of the sermon: The three identifying marks are not arbitrary but specifically chosen to expose the Judaizers' errors. While not exhaustive, these three marks constitute a non-negotiable unit…

Compares having two out of three marks of true circumcision to a high batting average in baseball, emphasizing that unlike baseball, all three marks are required for true believers, not just a majority.

It will not do to say, well, I have two of them, but not a third. Now, if you get a base hit two out of three times coming to bat in the major league, and did that all through the year, you'd break all the existing records. You'd be batting in the 600s. If you get a base hit of one kind or another, one out of three times, that's like an A on your report card.

16:11 - 16:34 Read in full sermon

Driving home: It is an inflexible axiom that the less there is, of the Spirit's presence making real the things of Christ, the more there will be an itch for form and ritual which appeal to the physical senses.

Traces the Lord's Supper from its simple institution by Christ to its elaborate, superstitious corruption in the Romish mass, illustrating how the absence of the Spirit's presence leads to an 'itch for form and ritual'.

If the Spirit of God is enabling us to gaze upon an unseen Christ with delight, to feel the presence of an unseen Christ with joy, to taste the realities of communion with Christ with inward relish, the thought to have some carnal, physical things to make Christ real is not attractive to such a heart at all. And just look at the history of the Lord's Supper. From a very simple institution, which our Lord Himself initiated in an upper room with some leftover Passover bread and wine, for that's what it was. After the supper, that is, the Passover supper, He took a cup with some Passover wine, to...

20:58 - 22:27 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: The second mark is boasting or glorying in Messiah Jesus, fulfilling Jeremiah 9:23-24. True believers find their deepest delight and treasure in Christ and His work, not in their…

Explains what it means to 'boast' or 'glory' by using the example of a rich man or strong man, showing how they fill their minds with, delight in, and call attention to the object of their boasting, to illustrate how believers should boast in Christ.

What does the strong man do who is boasting or glorying in his strength? Well, he fills his mind with the object of his boasting. He feels an inwardness. He feels an inward delight in the contemplation of the object of his boasting.

26:35 - 26:51 Read in full sermon

Driving home: Their acceptance with God rests solely and totally and without rival in Jesus Christ.

Illustrates the complete lack of confidence in religious heritage or personal merit by comparing it to being born out of wedlock, unwanted, and living in extreme poverty, emphasizing that for acceptance with God, all such 'fleshly' advantages are utterly worthless.

Yes. But when it comes to the question in what do I place my confidence when I stand as a guilty sinner in the presence of a holy God, it's as though they had been born out of wedlock, reared as totally unwanted, unclaimed children living in cardboard shacks, in junk heaps, in garbage heaps outside of Mexico City or in the suburb of the city of Manila as I have seen them, as far as trusting in any of their religious heritage. It's as though they had never seen a word of the Bible, heard one of the Ten Commandments. When it comes to, resting in any of these, to any degree, they put no confidenc...

32:45 - 33:49 Read in full sermon

Driving home: Just add one thing. That's all.

Compares adding even one thing to Christ's righteousness for salvation to a single hole below the waterline sinking a ship, powerfully illustrating the destructive nature of legalism and the exclusivity of salvation by faith alone.

How many holes do you need in the hull of a ship to sink it? If it's below the waterline. Two, four, six, ten? One hole of sufficient size in the hull of the ship will sink the whole ship.

35:43 - 36:00 Read in full sermon

Driving home: Just add one thing. That's all.

Contrasts Paul's rejoicing when Christ was preached with wrong motives (Philippians) with his strong condemnation of those who tampered with the gospel's content (Galatians), highlighting the critical importance of gospel purity over motives.

I rejoice. Sure, some of them have got bad motives. They're trying to rub it under my nose, seeking to add affliction to my bonds. I leave them with God.

36:37 - 36:45 Read in full sermon