The True Circumcision

Introduction: The Context of Self-Examination and Warning Against Judaizers

0:02 The following message was delivered on Sunday evening, July 3, 1994, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey.

0:14 Now will you turn with me, please, in your Bibles to the portion of the Word of God read in your hearing, Philippians chapter 3. Our meditation in the Scriptures tonight is both a communion meditation, which means the thrust of the message is calculated to help prepare us for our coming to the table, but it is also a continuation of the present brief series in which I have been seeking to press relentlessly upon your consciences the question, Are you for real? For those visiting with us, we have entered a period, a brief period, but a very concentrated, and I've used the word relentless period, of self-examination, and that for a number of reasons, not the least of which it has been a considerable length of time since we have had such a series of messages, and because the issue of our immortal souls is at stake, we cannot afford the lie. We cannot afford the luxury of growing careless and presumptuous. And our text tonight is Philippians 3 and verse 3, in which the Apostle says,

1:38 For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God, and glory in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. Now, in attempting to open up the words of this text, let us consider just briefly the setting in which they were written. As the Apostle is opening his heart to this church at Philippi, which we might say was teacher's pet, it was a church that held a place of unique affection in the heart of the Apostle, and there are many indications of that throughout this letter to the church. And also some strong indications of it in the letter to the Thessalonians, when he speaks of his great concern for them and for others.

2:37 But these words that are before us here in verse 3 of chapter 3 were not spoken in a vacuum. The chapter began with Paul's call to the Philippians to rejoice in the Lord, and then he no sooner gives that, that exhortation, but that he launches into a very firm, almost abrupt warning, beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of the concision. And this warning was precipitated because Paul became aware of the fact that these people whom we have come to identify as the Judaizers were seeking to influence. This is the thinking of the believers at Philippi. Now the fundamental error of the Judaizers was this. They were not attacking the doctrine of the divinity of Christ, the substitutionary atonement of Christ, his bodily resurrection from the dead, but according to Acts 15 and verse 2, the basic theology of the Judaizers was this.

3:53 They were teaching, that except people, Acts 15, 1, are circumcised after the custom of Moses, they cannot be saved. Paul and his companions had preached at Philippi that hell-deserving sinners are saved from the wrath of God and accepted as righteous on the grounds of the work of Christ received by faith alone. Now along came the Judaizers and said, the problem with Paul's message is that word alone. We do not want to negate anything he has said about the person and work of Christ and the necessity of faith, but we want to put commas and dashes leading to circumcision and keeping the law of Moses. And so in seeking to warn these Philippians against the insidious influence of the Judaizers, he says, beware of the dogs. The very term that the Jews would use of the Gentiles, Paul turns and says, these ultra-Jews who would take you converted Gentiles and bring you into circumcision and into the law of Moses, they are the real dogs. They are the real Gentile dogs.

5:19 They are the unclean, ravenous packs of dogs who would devour you. And while they think they are law workers and good workers, he says, beware of the evil workers. They are workers of evil while thinking they are working your highest good. And as they go about constantly seeking to enforce upon people peritome, the Greek word for circumcision, to cut around, he says, they are the kata tome.

5:57 They are the cutters down. They are the mutilators. And he puts them in the category of those who are engaged in paganism, in mutilating rituals. And so the apostle is not at all kind in his words with respect to the Judaizers.

6:16 He calls them dogs, evil workers, and mutilators. And then, having given the warning, he says with great emphasis, for not they, but we. And in the original, that force comes through very clearly, for we, even we, Jews and Gentiles, we are the true circumcision. And then he gives the three distinguishing marks of the true circumcision of God.

The Significance of 'We Are the Circumcision'

6:51 So that's the setting, the background, and the drift of the passage in brief. And as I attempt in the next moments to open up the passage in a relatively surface manner, consider with me first of all the significance of the opening words of the text, and then secondly the meaning of the identifying marks of the true people of God as found in our text. When Paul says, for we, even we, we are the circumcision, what is he saying? Well, remember, the Judaizers held circumcision in high esteem.

7:34 And they did so because circumcision was the divinely ordained sign of God's covenant love and grace, the identifying mark of his ancient people. We'll soon come to that in our Old Testament reading in Genesis 17, verses 1 to 14. So the people who were God's special people by way of covenant love and covenant engagements and therefore with this covenant sign came to be known as the circumcised and all others were regarded as the uncircumcised. And you find this in such passages as Colossians 3.11 and many other passages in the New Testament. However, circumcision, circumcision was always intended to point to something inward and spiritual, never to something merely outward and carnal. And therefore the Old Testament prophets, starting with Moses, constantly call the covenant people to experience in their hearts what they had experienced in the outward external ritual circumcision in their flesh. They call, they call them to circumcise their hearts and not their foreskins.

8:58 From Moses onward through all of the prophets, God was saying to his ancient people, though this sign is to be placed upon all of the males in the covenant community without distinction, it was never to be rested in as though it had some virtue in itself. It was to be a symbol of God's quality, and it was to be a symbol of God's grace. And so the Old Testament prophets were called to an inward spiritual circumcision of the heart. And when our Lord Jesus came and all the realities of the new covenant were introduced in his work, climaxed in the sending of the Holy Spirit, the middle wall of partition between the circumcised and the uncircumcised, the Jew and the Gentile was broken down, and all the types and symbols of the old covenant, found fulfillment in Christ and in his work, so that every new covenant believer, according to Colossians 2.11, experiences circumcision of the heart. And I want you to look at Colossians 2.11 for just a moment with me.

10:12 Paul says that in union with Christ, all of God's people are made full, in whom, that is in union with Christ, you will be made full. You will be made full. You will be made full. You will be made full.

10:23 You will be made full. You were also circumcised with a circumcision not made with hands in the putting off of the body of flesh in the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, wherein you were raised with him through faith in the working of God. So that the New Testament counterpart of circumcision is not the rite of baptism. It is the circumcision of the heart.

10:56 It is the putting off of the body of flesh in the circumcision of Christ. And we bear witness to that inward spiritual circumcision in the ordinance of baptism, declaring that in union with Christ, we have died to the old man, we have put off the body of sin, and in the virtue of Christ's resurrection, we are, we are united with him to rise in newness of life. Now against that background, notice the tremendous wisdom and pastoral passion of the apostle when writing to the Philippians, he warns them about the Judaizers who come along and say, look, Christ and faith are not enough. You need circumcision. You need to keep the ritual laws and ceremonies intact. And you must be fully initiated by Moses if you would be fully saved.

11:56 Whatever you may have of salvation now, at best it is incomplete, at worst it is invalid, unless you are circumcised and keep the law of Moses. And Paul, having warned the Philippians of these whom he calls dogs, evil workers, and flesh mutilators, now says, no, you must understand, we already are God's true covenant. people. We are already the circumcised. We are already those who are in saving relationship to the God of covenant grace and covenant mercy. The promises made to Abraham now have fulfillment not in those who have an external rite and ritual, but in those who have the internal reality of circumcision of the heart. The mark by which God himself identifies his people is not the knife of a mosaic ritual, but by the operation of the sword of the spirit, the word and the spirit working in the heart, bringing us to newness of life. And so he says, for we already are

Identifying Marks of the True Circumcision: Introduction

13:14 the true circumcision. These Judaizers have nothing to do with the circumcision of the heart. They want to add to you. They want to make you part of the circumcised. They cannot make you what you already are. We are the circumcision. Then notice the identifying marks of those who constitute the circumcision, that is, the true people of God. And as we look at these three marks, I want to note with you three things by way of introduction as we consider them one by one. They are not arbitrarily chosen. Just as the Beatitudes give the composite picture of the sons and daughters of the kingdom, peculiarly suited to the setting of that period in our Lord's life against the backdrop of all of the influence of the scribes and the Pharisees. Just as the birthmarks identified in 1st John have peculiar significance against the backdrop of the influence of the Gnostics, as Pastor Lamar kept emphasizing in his expositions of that book in the adult class. Some time ago, so here when Paul says, we are the circumcision, who, and then he mentions

14:27 three identifying marks, they are not arbitrarily chosen. They are chosen with particular reference to exposing the errors of the Judaizers. That's the first thing to note about these marks. They are not arbitrarily chosen. Secondly, they are not exhausted. When Paul says, we are the circumcision, who, and then he hangs together with coordinating conjunctions these three marks of the circumcision, this is not an exhaustive treatment of the marks of a true believer. That's why in this brief series, I have been seeking to sit down on specific passages which set forth some of the identifying traits of the true people of God for no one passage. It's exhaustive, and while this passage gives three marks of the true people of God, where ever you have anyone who is of the circumcision that is, who has truly experienced circumcision

15:34 of heart. Who has been united to Christ and in union with Christ has put off the body of the sins of the flesh and in union with Christ has risen to newness of life. These three things will always make great. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . And that's what functions as elevationこんにちは Be present. But this is not an exhaustive list of the marks of the true people of God. So, the list is not arbitrarily chosen, but against the backdrop of the Judaizers. It is not exhaustive, but now very important, these three things constitute a unit.

16:11 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.

16:34 Anyone bats in the 300s, why, he's considered to be at the top of his game. Well, you don't look at this list and say, well, if I have one of three, two of three, no. The circumcision are marked by all three. You will never find anyone whom God has made a part of his true covenant community, but what if you look at them accurately, you will find all three marks of the circumcision in their lives and in their experience.

Mark 1: Worship by the Spirit of God

17:06 The pronoun at the beginning, look at the text, we are the circumcision who, that pronoun is used, one time, and then the rest of the structure is hung together with coordinating conjunctions, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. Now then, let's look briefly at each one of these marks of the true people of God and ask yourself, is this describing me? First of all, they are described, described as those who worship God or who worship by the Spirit of God. There's a textual problem. Should it read, who worship God in or by the Spirit or who worship by the Spirit of God? Well, I believe the rendering in the ASV is the preferred rendering.

18:04 At the end of the day, there's no fundamental difference. I am aware of the textual concern, but for our purposes, we'll handle the text tonight as it stands, as it stands in the version that I've read in your hearing. We are the circumcision, not the Judaizers. We are the circumcision who worship by the Spirit of God.

18:27 Now, the word for worship can mean service to God in general, but in the New Testament, it is so identified with ritual service, it became a more limited word in its use. In Romans 9.4, in its noun form, it's mentioned as one of the distinguishing privileges of the Jewish nation. The Israelites, whose is the adoption and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the law, and, here's our word, the service of God and the promises.

19:02 That is the ritual service of God. To them alone, the Levitical system was given. To them alone, instructions about a tabernacle and a temple and the priestly functions. And sacrifices to them alone was this worship and service given.

19:21 So the apostle says the first identifying mark of the true circumcision is that their religious service is under the present, powerful, and inwardness of the Spirit's presence and work. We are the circumcision who worship by the Spirit, of God. Now why should this be an identifying mark of the true circumcision? For the simple reason that the crowning gift of the age of fulfillment in Christ is the gift of the Spirit, who takes the things of Christ and makes them inwardly real and vital to the hearts of the covenant people. No longer are we dealing with a priest whom we can see with our physical eyes, and a sacrifice upon a literal altar with literal blood shed in our presence, where things could be touched with the hands and seen with the physical eyes, but all of these things are now internalized and not made less real, but more real by the operation of the Holy Spirit. And it is an inflexible axiom that the less there is,

20:44 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.

20:58 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, took some leftover bread from the Passover meal, and without any elaborate words and ritual, putting on no special garments, constructing no special altar, no elevation of the host, no magical, mystical, and superstitious ritual, He takes leftover bread, and leftover Passover wine, and says, drink it, He breaks, and says, eat it in remembrance of Me. And when we turn to the book of Acts,

22:27 we find that in conjunction with their common meals, they would celebrate, they would remember the Lord Jesus in the way of His appointment. No thought of special vestments, no thought of golden-plated or silver-plated goblets, no thought of elaborate rituals, why? Because the Holy Spirit was present, so that they were gazing with delight upon an unseen Christ. And when they took simple bread, and the ordinary cup, and without fanfare and elaborate religious ritual, remembered the Lord in the way of His appointment, when He was powerfully present by the Spirit, there was no thought of the institution of all of the nonsense that finds, its ultimate expression in the blasphemy of the Romish mass. And when we ask, when did the idea of a central elevated communion table called an altar come into the church? And when was bread turned into that which is called the host, and the cup elevated, and all of this elaborate ritual in direct proportion to the absence of Christ by the presence of the Spirit in the context of the simplicity of the gospel? When the simplicity of the gospel was corrupted, Christ was no longer present to hearts by the Spirit,

23:55 and when He is not present by the Spirit, men must have something, and so they moved to form and to ritual. And that's precisely what the Judaizers were attempting to do with the Philippians. They had everything in Christ to which circumcision pointed, and Paul says, we are the circumcision whose worship is energized, and enlivened by the direct, powerful operation of the Holy Spirit. We are not trafficking in mere words and forms and external activities.

24:28 The mark of the true people of God is they worship in or by the Spirit of God. The Spirit who comes to testify of Christ, the Spirit who takes the things of Christ and makes them real to us. Surely there are overtones of the words, of Jesus from John chapter 4, the hour is coming in which all who worship shall worship in spirit and in truth. That's the first mark of the true circumcision.

Mark 2: Glory in Christ Jesus

25:00 They worship by the Spirit of God. Secondly, Paul says they glory in Christ Jesus. Now the word glory is often rendered boast in the New Testament, and Paul delighted to quote from a pivotal text, of the Old Testament,

25:19 Jeremiah 9, 23 and 24. There in Jeremiah 9, 23 and 24, God prohibits one kind of boasting, and God encourages another. Let not the wise man glory or boast in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory or boast in his might. Let not the rich man glory in his riches, but let him that glorieth glory in this, that he has understanding and knows me, that I am the Lord who executes lovingkindness, justice and righteousness in the earth.

26:00 For in these things do I delight, saith the Lord. The apostle picks up that language when he says in 1 Corinthians 1, 30 and 31, But of him are you in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and regeneration, redemption, that according as it is written, he that glories, he that boasts, let him boast in the Lord. Similar language in 2 Corinthians 10 and verse 17. Now what does a rich man do when he boasts or glories in his riches?

26:35 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.

26:52 He seizes every occasion to call attention to the object of his boasting. Isn't that true? If someone's glorying in his riches, he is filling his mind with the fact that he has riches. He feels an inward delight in that fact and seizes every occasion to call attention to that which is the occasion, of his boasting.

27:19 Now the mark of the true circumcision is this. They boast in Messiah, Jesus. They boast in Christ, Messiah, Jesus. They boast in God's anointed prophet, priest and king, who is none other than Jesus of Nazareth.

27:41 In all the scandal of the cross, this one who came out of obscurity, and claimed to be God's Messiah, and ended up rejected and outcast, hanging on a cross like a common criminal. This one, Paul says, is the one in whom he gloried and boasted. God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. That's the mark of the true circumcision.

28:13 They do not boast as the Judaizers did in the flesh of others. This is what Paul says when writing to the Galatians about the same problem. He said, they are seeking an occasion to boast in your flesh. They go around like people putting notches in their rifles, saying, we've got 17 Gentiles to go to the rabbi and be circumcised.

28:37 They boasted, he says, in your flesh. He says, God forbid that I should boast save in the cross. We are the circumcision who boast in Messiah, Jesus. We glory in Christ Jesus.

28:53 That's the mark of the true circumcision. So that if you peel away the heart of the true child of God and get to the place where what he really is, is laid bare, there you will find that his treasure is Messiah Jesus. You will find that his treasure is the one who is set before us in the gospel records as God's only and God's only. Appointed and anointed prophet, priest, and king.

29:21 Jesus of Nazareth, God's Messiah. And you will find in the deepest recesses of the heart, it is that person and his work in which and in which alone they boast. They do not boast in what they have accomplished, in what others have accomplished. They boast in Messiah Jesus.

Mark 3: No Confidence in the Flesh

29:44 And then thirdly, it is said, that the true circumcision not only are marked by the fact that they worship by the Spirit of God, they boast or glory in Messiah Jesus, but, he says, they have no confidence in the flesh. Now I said this morning in looking at Romans 8, the word flesh has many usages in the New Testament. In this setting, what does flesh refer to? Well, here it means, obviously, every advantage, which one may have by birth, external conformity to the law, by religious privilege and activity, to everything which unaided human nature can do to try to earn brownie points with God. Now how do we know that that's what it means? Well, if we just look at the following context. Notice in verse 4, he uses the very phrase twice in verse 4, though I myself might have, confidence in the flesh.

30:50 If any other man thinks to have confidence in the flesh, I get more. And then what does he list as his potential basis of confidence in the flesh? He lists his heritage, his birth, his upbringing, his morality, his religious activity, his zeal, his external life, etc. In this context, putting confidence in the flesh is putting confidence resting upon as brownie points with God, as a means of securing the favor of God with which I was brought into this world or acquired myself, others, in the way of religious instruction, religious activity, morality, etc. Anything in that domain is, in the flesh. And he says the mark of the true people of God is they put no confidence in the flesh. That is, the true circumcision are marked by an enticement

32:09 that which is to be found in the work of Jesus Christ himself.

32:24 That's what it is. They put no confidence in the flesh. Are they great? Are they thankful for what they have inherited of a religious background?

32:34 Yes. Are they thankful for religious instruction? Yes. Are they filled with gratitude that by means of those influences they have not lived a profligate life?

32:45 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 confidence in the flesh. Their acceptance with God rests solely and totally and without rival in Jesus Christ.

33:52 And Paul himself is the great example of that. Later on in this passage, notice what he says. Though I had all of these privileges, I count them all but refuse, verse 8, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him. Not having a righteousness of my own, even that which is of the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith.

34:25 Never, never separate these things. The only righteousness that is acceptable to God is the righteousness, the righteousness of God. And where is it found? In Christ and in Christ alone.

34:39 It's not found in circumcision. It's not found in baptism. It's not found in ritual. It's not found in religious privilege and heritage and training and morality.

34:49 It is from God and received how? By faith alone. Oh, may God burn those words into our hearts. It is a righteousness from God, received by faith alone.

35:09 And as much as we emphasize that, there are people who go out of here and some of them say, how do you know you're saved? Well, because I believe. As though their faith were their Savior. No, your faith is not your Savior.

35:21 We are saved if we possess the righteousness of God. And where is it found? In Christ alone. And how is it received?

35:31 By faith alone. That's the emphasis of the passage. This is what Paul says is the mark of the true circumcision of God. Now you kids, answer this question.

The Danger of Adding to the Gospel

35:43 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.

36:00 How many things do you need to add to the righteousness which is from God in Christ, received by faith alone? To have your soul sink into hell, lost, and deluded. Just add one thing. That's all.

36:22 See, that's why Paul was so utterly intolerant of the Judaizers. When people were preaching a pure gospel with wrong motives as they were doing when Paul was in prison. You read about it in the earlier part of this letter. He says, Christ is preached.

36:37 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.

36:45 They're preaching a pure gospel. I rejoice. This shall turn to my salvation. But when sincere people were tampering with the contents of the gospel, he doesn't even pause to give any commendation to the Galatians.

36:59 He said, O foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you? Though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you, let him be anathema. I marvel your soul from removing from him who called you into the grace of Christ, into another gospel, which is not another gospel. Well, you see, they didn't claim to be bringing another gospel.

37:21 They said, we're just tidying up. Paul's gospel says, no, you don't tidy it up. You touch it and you destroy it. Dear people, these are matters of life and death.

37:31 And living in an age of ecumania, an age that puts little evidence in the concept of moral and religious absolutes and truth, we need desperately to come to grips with this passage. The true circumcision of those who've come to a settled, unshaken, unshakable conviction, that when they stand in the court of Almighty God, there is only one righteousness that will answer to God's demands, and that's the righteousness which he himself has provided. And he's provided it in Christ alone. And he has said it is received by faith alone.

38:11 And therefore, all who are of the true circumcision with Paul can say, no confidence in the flesh. You see, the context of this does not mean that a true child of God may not fall into self-trust with regard to this task or that task. It's not talking about confidence in the flesh in a generic sense. The immediate context is the influence of the Judaizers who are saying, you need to have something done in your flesh before you're completely saved.

Communion Application: Do You Bear These Marks?

38:45 Paul says, no, no confidence in the flesh, circumcised or uncircumcised. Our confidence for acceptance with God is in Christ and in Christ alone. Now as we come to the Lord's table, let me ask you this very simple, straightforward question. As we come to the table, do you come bearing the marks of God's true circumcision?

39:20 Do you come as one who is worshipping by the Spirit of God? Do you know anything of the Spirit of God making real to your heart communion with Christ, fellowship with Christ, joy in the knowledge of Christ? Do you know in your heart not to the degree you long to know and perhaps to a degree you have known in the past and certainly not the degree you know you will experience in the age to come? But can you be said to be one who worships by the Spirit of God?

40:00 Are you one who glories in Messiah Jesus? Is your boast in Christ Jesus? Is your boast in the deepest heart of Christ as though you were a sinner who ever walked the face of the world? Your boast is in Christ and you put no confidence in the flesh.

40:38 You see, if you are not a Christian tonight, this is the great warfare that some of you are facing. You see, until the Spirit of God is pleased to show you what you are by nature in Adam and what you are in virtue of your conception in your mother's womb and what you have been from the time you exited that womb, even a sinner who has gone astray producing lies, it's a dangerous thing to say, I throw myself upon Christ and Christ alone. I have no backup chute. If I perish, I perish clinging to Christ.

41:18 I have no other resting place. I have no other plea. It is enough that Jesus died and that He died for me. Here are the marks of the true circumcision of God.

41:36 Not arbitrarily decided, by me, but dictated by the Holy Ghost through the Apostle Paul. We are the true circumcision. Do you fit into the we who worship by the Spirit of God glory in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh? And if you can say, by the grace of God, that is me.

42:05 What a marvelous privilege here at this table to affirm it, affirm it afresh as we take bread from an ordinary loaf and the fruit of the vine pressed out in a cup and we say as we partake of those emblems, I do stand with the true circumcision of God as one who knows the spiritual realities symbolized by ordinary bread. I don't need to have some magical operation in which this bread actually becomes the body of Christ in a corporeal, physical sense and somehow the fruit of the vine is changed into the very blood of Christ so that by this religious cannibalism I have grace imparted in us making Christ crucified real to the eyes of my soul. I need no so-called magic of the mass to turn this bread and fruit of the vine into something other than what they are, bread and the fruit of the eye. I worship by the Spirit. I don't need carnal, superstitious rituals and substances.

43:23 By the grace of God I glory in Christ Jesus. Not my church, not my pastors, not my knowledge, not my attainments. I glory in Christ Jesus. And when I think of the great question on what grounds can I stand before God even in my holiest moments, I put no confidence in the flesh when it comes to the question on what ground shall this sinner be accepted before God.

43:53 No confidence. In what I ever have been, whatever I may be, whatever I ever hope to become, no confidence in the flesh. My one plea is that I be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own, but the righteousness which is of God in Christ and received by faith alone. Let us pray.

44:19 Our Father, we thank You for the clarity of Your Holy Word. We thank You for overruling the vicious, insidious influence of these Judaizers to give us such precious truths from the pen of Your servant Paul. And we pray that You would help each of us once again to examine himself to see if indeed we are part of the true circumcision. If indeed we are found this night as those who are worshipping You by the Spirit, who are boasting in Messiah Jesus and who put no confidence in the flesh. Strengthen the faith and the resolve of those who indeed are part of the true circumcision this night. Use our coming to the table to strengthen in us those very character traits of the true circumcision. And for those who do not belong to Your true people, may they this night by Your blessing upon the preaching of the Word forsake every other ground of confidence and cast themselves upon Christ and Christ alone and be found a part of the true circumcision.

45:40 Bless then Your Word and continue with us as we come to this table of remembrance. We ask in Jesus' name. Amen.