Identifying Marks of a True Christian

Introduction: The Question of True Christian Identity

0:03 This sermon was preached on Sunday morning, September 6th, 1981, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. May I urge you to follow in your own Bibles with me this morning as I read from the third chapter of Paul's letter to the Philippians. Philippians chapter 3, and I shall read the first 12 verses of this chapter. Philippians chapter 3, beginning with verse 1.

0:33 Finally, or furthermore, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you, to me indeed, is not irksome, but for you it is safe. Beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of the concision or the mutilators. For we are the circumcision who worship by the Spirit of God.

1:06 And glory in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. Though I myself might have confidence even in the flesh, if any other man thinks to have confidence in the flesh, I yet more circumcise the eighth day of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews, as touching the law, a Pharisee. As touching zeal, persecuting the church. As touching the righteousness which is in the law, found blameless.

1:45 Howbeit, what things were gained to me, these have I counted loss for Christ. Yea, truly, and I count all things to be loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I suffered the loss of all things. And do count them but refuse, that I may gain Christ, and be found in him, not having a righteousness of mine own, even that which is of the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith, that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, becoming conformed. Unto his death, if by any means I may attain unto the resurrection from the dead, not that I have already obtained, or am already made perfect, but I press on, if so be that I may lay hold on that for which also I was laid hold on by Christ Jesus. As we sit here in the presence of God this morning,

3:07 I want to attempt to engage the full attention of every mind and heart on the very threshold of our study, by pressing upon the mind of every hearer a very simple, yet a very pointed and vital question. And the question is this, What are the identifying marks of a true child of God? What are the identifying marks of a true child of God? What are the identifying marks of a true child of God?

3:48 In other words, what are those things which mark out a man, a woman, a boy or a girl as one who has been brought into vital union with Jesus Christ the Lord? What are the clear characteristics of a heart and life touched by the grace of God and by the power of the Holy Spirit? Well, the text that comes to us in the regular course of expounding Paul's letter to the Philippians is a text which, in a way that few texts does, sets before us some of those distinguishing characteristics of the true children of God. And the text to which I make reference is, of course, Philippians 3 and verse 3. For we are the circumcision, that is, the true people of God, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh.

Contextualizing Philippians 3: The Threat of Judaizers

5:00 Now, before seeking to open up those words, because they come to us in a train of thought, let me pause at the beginning of our sermon, simply to pick up that thread of thought before unpacking the things contained in verse 3 of this chapter. You'll remember in our previous study that we noted at the beginning of chapter 3 a definite transition in the apostles' concerns from the pastoral concerns of an administrative nature expressed in chapter 2, verses 19 to the end of chapter 3. The apostle now moves to a pastoral concern of a doctrinal nature. Paul, the pastor-administrator, concerned for the well-being of the church at Philippi in terms of sending various men to minister to them, Timothy, Epaphroditus, now becomes Paul, the pastor, concerned about doctrinal purity within the church. And as he moves in this transition, his central exhortation is given to us in verse 1, Rejoice in the Lord.

6:20 And in a sense, that one gospel command is the great antidote to the errors of legalism on the one hand and antinomianism or sensualism on the other hand. The two great errors and evils which he will deal with, in this chapter. If men will but find their rejoicing in Christ, they will be immunized against these doctrinal deviations. But then, having made the transition from the administrative pastoral concern to the doctrinal pastoral concern, by giving this central exhortation, he then issues this very sober warning that breathes much of the spirit, of the passage in Galatians that Professor Garlington opened to us in the previous hour, this shocking warning, three times he uses the word beware, and in the bluntest kind of Greek he says, beware the dogs, beware the evil workers, beware the mutilators of the flesh, and in so doing he brings into sharp focus the great burden of his heart

7:41 in this passage, namely, to warn the Philippians against the baneful influence of these Judaizers, these people who, wherever Paul established the church, would come and seek to infect the infant churches with their heretical teaching that Christ was not enough. If one was to have true acceptance with God, it had to be Christ plus circumcision and the keeping of the Mosaic ritual. Well, but the Apostle then follows the transitional concern, the central command, the shocking and sober warning with this positive statement, which is really again a dig at these Judaizers, for he says, He says to them, we, and we alone, would be a more loose sort of paraphrase, but it would convey the force of the original, for we, not those flesh mutilators who claim to be the true circumcision, the true circumcision party, for we, and we alone, are the circumcision who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put mercy on the world, and who have no confidence in the flesh.

The Significance of 'We Are the Circumcision'

9:05 Now, having given you the thread of thought, as I seek to open up the text, let me first of all direct your attention to the significance of the opening words of the text, and then the majority of our time will be spent on the meaning of the identifying marks contained within the text. First of all, then, the significance of the opening words of the text. I have already alluded to the fact that it was these documents, Judaizers who claim to be the true circumcision party, and they did so because circumcision was the divinely ordained sign of God's covenant love, grace, and commitment to His ancient people. If you have any question about this, read Genesis 17, verses 1 through 14, and in that pivotal passage, you find, From God coming in sovereign grace to Abraham, entering into covenant engagements with Abraham, and then laying upon Abraham and his descendants the solemn obligation of using circumcision as the identifying mark of His covenant people.

10:27 And that passage closes with this threat that if one would not undergo, that mark, he should be cut off from the people of God. And so, very conveniently, there was this mentality developed amongst the people of God that they had this singular mark of identification, not as an external right, for there were pagan nations that practiced circumcision as a mere external right, but as the sign of God's peculiar electing love to the nation of Israel, circumcision began to be synonymous with all that was involved in being God's special people. And so when we come into New Testament times, we find the world conveniently divided into two categories, the circumcision and the uncircumcision. And so you will find that language in the New Testament. Peter was called the apostle to the circumcision.

11:32 Paul the apostle to the uncircumcision, or to the Gentiles. But now in Christ, all that was signified by that external act, and by its identification with God's covenant promises, all of that has now found fulfillment in Christ, so that that very sign of circumcision, which begins with the word circumcision, is the sign of God's heavenly power. He is the only one who can verify that the Jewish people have notek on this. And so I will continue to be the show today as I continue to talk about circumcision and the uncircumcision.

12:06 But now in the New Testament time, I will go a long way, because I find a very interesting matter, I want to go a long way, and I will show you a comparative example of why God has been so gracious to Abraham. I will show you an example of why God's� Sermon became a great weapon of crucifixion for his people, to be able to produce great signs in their faith and to bring much greater glory to the world. Now this circumcision was the perfect sign of Jesus' body and of the world. It was the size of his feet of the world.

12:14 It was the size of the Lamb of God. Not by replacing circumcision with baptism, but by the replacement of the inward circumcision of the heart upon Jew or Gentile, thereby abolishing any necessity for that ancient rite. And therefore in Colossians 2 and verse 11, Paul can say, in union with Christ, you are circumcised with a circumcision not made with hands. And therefore the necessity of that ancient rite, marking out God's special people, preserving them and keeping them distinct from the nations until the promises made to them found fulfillment, in Christ, now that that fulfillment had come. Circumcision was a matter of national custom, a matter of religious liberty, but whenever it was made a matter of necessity for acceptance with God,

13:21 it became part and parcel of the heretical teaching of the Judaizers. And so the apostle, by a very masterful turn, as it were, of words, says, these who claim to be the circumcision party, they are nothing but mutilators. And he uses a play on words as we saw two Lord's days ago. And he says, the true circumcision party is to be understood in terms of those of us, Jew and Gentile, who have come within the orbit of the gracious redemptive activity of God in Jesus Christ.

14:04 And he says, these who claim to be the circumcision party, they are nothing but mutilators. And he uses a play on words as we saw two Lord's days ago. And we and we alone are now marked out as God's true people. As circumcision and all that surrounded it in terms of covenant engagement marked out God's ancient people, so His true people now are marked out not by the knife of Moses, but by that which is accomplished through the sword of the Spirit and the gospel of the grace of God.

14:36 So then the opening words of the text are an assertion. We, Jews and Gentiles who have come into union with Christ, we are the circumcision. We are the true people of God. We are God's covenant favored loved ones.

Introduction to the Three Identifying Marks

14:58 Now then that moves very naturally into the meaning of these three identifying marks of God's true people. And as I seek to open up those marks, I want to say several things by way of introduction. And first of all, I want to say this, that when the Apostle chose these three distinguishing marks in this setting, he did not choose them arbitrarily.

15:27 Those of us who were preeminent, who were privileged to be at the family conference, will remember that when Dr. Ferguson was opening up the Beatitudes, he made the point in his introductory exposition that when our Lord describes the subjects of the kingdom of grace in those blessings of Matthew 5, he did not choose them capriciously or arbitrarily, but he selected those character traits which stood out in stark, contrast to the mentality of the religion that prevailed in that day. Well, in the same way, when the Apostle would put, as it were, the spotlight upon the distinguishing marks of the true people of God, he did not select them arbitrarily, but he selected those marks which were calculated to cut to the very heart of the erroneous, thinking and teaching of the Judaizers. In other words, he was scratching where they itched with respect to Judaizing error. And the second thing I want to say by way of introduction is that these three things are not an exhaustive description of the distinguishing marks of the people of God.

16:53 Many other things constitute the distinguishing marks of God's people. This, this list is not exhaustive, as surely as it is not arbitrary. And then the third thing I want to say is that they constitute a unit. When Paul says, we are the circumcision, we are not then free to say, well, in the big leagues, if you get a hit once out of every three times, you bat 333, you might even win a batting title with that.

17:26 That's not too bad. And if you bat two out of three, you're batting over 600, well, you'll do something that even Ty Cobb couldn't do. So if I make it through one of these, that's fine, through two. No, no, my friend, listen carefully.

17:40 All who are the true people of God manifest every single one of these distinguishing characteristics. If one of them is lacking, you are not of the true circumcision. You are not one of God's covenant children. You are not one of God's children.

18:00 You are not one who is in union with Jesus Christ, having experienced that circumcision of the heart, not made with hands, but by the Spirit of the living God. All right then, what are those distinguishing marks of the people of God? The first is this. Look at your Bibles and you'll see it.

Mark 1: Worship by the Spirit of God

18:25 We are the circumcision who worship, by the Spirit of God. Now our academy students will know that there is a problem as to the precise text, and there is also a linguistic problem with regard to the cases of some of the words, but I am personally satisfied that the translation of the 1901 version and many of our modern versions is the preferred translation. We are the true circumcision who worship by the Spirit of God. Now the word used for worship is a word that originally was used for service in general, but by the time the Apostle Paul wrote, it came to have a much more restricted usage in the church, and it refers not just to service in general, but service connected with the ritual of formal worship, so that Paul can use the noun form in Romans 9.4 as one of the peculiar blessings of the nation of Israel. Romans 9 and verse 4, as he's speaking of the wonderful privileges of that nation, who are Israelites,

19:54 whose is the adoption and the glory and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and here's our word in the noun form, and the service and the promises. There was only one nation to whom God had given from heaven a revealed way of ritual access to Him. There was only one nation that could claim that its tabernacle or temple, its priestly altars and service and sacrifices were, were revealed directly from heaven, and that was God's ancient circumcised people, the nation of Israel. And now the apostle says, and notice how he strikes at the heart of the Judaizers, who glory in external ritual, who find themselves, as it were, buttressed by what they think is all of the detail of Old Testament ritual revealed, by God, from heaven upon the mount to Moses. And now he, by a master's stroke, says, do you know who the true circumcision are? Not those, and that we go back to submit ourselves to the ritual and worship of the old covenant way,

21:22 but we who worship by the Spirit of God. And why does he say that? Well, for the simple reason that the Holy Spirit is the crowning gift of the age of fulfillment. And when the Spirit was given by the resurrected and ascended Christ, He brought into the hearts of the people of God in spiritual reality everything of which the Old Testament structure was but a shadow, a shadow, a type, and a symbol.

22:04 So when Christ, the bleeding Lamb, is revealed to a heart of the sinner by the Holy Ghost, what need is there for a literal Lamb upon a literal altar with a literal priest? You see, it is the Spirit who has brought inward circumcision of the heart, who has cut away, as it were, the fleshiness of the heart. It is the Spirit who has circumcised the ears, the ears to hear the voice of God, who has circumcised the heart to respond in faith and love to God. And so no longer is there a ritual worship that is externalistic according to the letter, but that worship which characterizes the true people of God is that it is worship under the present, powerful, and inwardness of the Spirit's presence and work. It is the Spirit who enables us to gaze upon an unseen Christ with delight, a Spirit who enables us to feel the presence of an unseen Christ with joy, who enables us to taste the realities of an unseen Christ with relish. And so the mark of the true people of God is this, they worship,

23:33 by the Spirit of God. They are the ones of whom our Lord spoke in John 4, the hour cometh and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship in spirit and in truth, for the Father seeks such to worship Him. Now let me press this upon your consciences for the next few moments.

24:00 As you sit here this morning, do you know what it is in all the world's all of the whole history of your so-called worship experience? For some of you from the time as little children, you sat in Sunday school and the opening exercises were called your worship time. From that time onward to this very present hour, can you say that you know anything of worship that has no explanation but that God, the Holy Ghost, has come, powerfully and efficaciously to take all of the types and shadows and symbols of that old ritualistic worship and give you the reality of them in your heart?

24:49 Can you say that there is a delight in Jesus Christ which only the Spirit can give? That there is a felt reality in the singing of psalms and hymns of praise which only the Spirit could give? Can you say that there is a delight in Jesus Christ, can you say that there is anything of that inward relish of the Word of God and the presence of God which only the Holy Ghost can give?

25:18 Or is your entire worship experience summed up in the words, you've been at the right place at the right time, doing the right thing and saying the right words, but it is all bypassed the deepest springs

25:39 of your being. There's been no engagement of the heart with joy. There has been no running affections to Christ. Why?

25:51 Because you see, it is only the Spirit who can take those realities of the age of fulfillment. Christ has come. The middle wall has broken down. All types and ceremonies have been fulfilled in Him, but He is out of sight.

26:08 Peter says, whom having not seen, he says, yet you love Him. And how do I love an unseen Christ more than a seen ritual and a seen priest and a seen altar and a seen sacrifice and a felt and a touched ritualistic service? How can I love unseen things more than those that are seen and touched with the senses? Only one way.

26:33 When the Holy Ghost makes them more real than the things I can see and touch and feel.

26:42 So the mark of God's true people is that they worship by the Spirit of God. And my friend, if you know nothing of worship by the Spirit of God, you know nothing of grace. You know nothing of salvation. Let me say to those of you who can say yes, by the grace of God, the measure is altogether too small and the degree is altogether too weak and the constant, the expectancy is such that it embarrasses me.

27:15 Yet I do know something of the reality of worshiping by the Spirit of God. Oh, listen to me, people of God, and listen carefully. And you young people and children, listen. For if the Lord tarries in not a few years,

27:32 I'm sorry, in just a few years, those of us who now lead you will be lying in our graves. Listen, listen, listen carefully. In direct proportion to the absence of God, to the absence of God, to the absence of God, to the absence of the Spirit from the worship of God's people will be the intrusion of carnal external, quote, helps to worship. You hear me?

27:59 In direct proportion to the absence of the Holy Spirit will be the introduction and the inclusion of carnal aids to worship. First of all, it will just be a very plain wooden cross, a wooden cross, plastered on the front of the pulpit.

28:17 And then it will just be a very plain candle on the communion table. And then just be a very simply adorned choir. And then a very, and what happens? As the life and power of the Spirit depart, external, visible, tangible aids to worship are introduced.

28:41 And that's the sad history of the church. And it finds its fullest and most blasphemous expression in the church. In the church of Rome.

28:52 Oh, you dear children, pray that God will make the truth so real and that you will experience such delight in the simplicity of worshiping God in the Spirit that the first time anyone in a place of leadership tries to introduce carnal aids to worship in this congregation, stand up in the meeting, call to the Word of God.

29:23 Some of us have given our lives that there might be a place where the simplicity of New Testament worship is maintained by the grace of God.

Mark 2: Glory in Christ Jesus

29:37 We are the circumcision, he says, who worship by the Spirit of God. But then he goes on to give a second distinguishing mark. Look at it.

29:51 The second distinguishing mark of the true people of God is this, and they glory in Christ Jesus. Now the word, translated glory, is often translated in the New Testament, boast. Now we've heard a lot about boasting as Mr. Garlington led our study in 2 Corinthians.

30:12 And Paul delighted to quote from that pivotal text about boasting or glorying found in the Old Testament in the book of Jeremiah, chapter 9. Jeremiah, chapter 9.

30:28 This will help us to understand, I think, the meaning of the word, even the children should be able to grasp its significance when you read it in this setting. Jeremiah, chapter 9, and verse 23. Thus saith the Lord, Let not the wise man glory or boast in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, and let not the rich man glory in his riches, but let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord. And the apostle quotes or at least gives a summary statement of this text in 1 Corinthians 1.31 and in 2 Corinthians 10.17. Now let's try to picture what Jeremiah is saying.

31:23 Don't let the wise man glory in his wisdom. Now here's a man who's smart and he knows it. Now if he's going to glory, or boast in his wisdom, what does he do? Well, he constantly fills his mind with how much he knows and how much he holds in his mind.

31:41 Furthermore, he feels an inward delight in how much he knows. Every time he thinks about how smart he is, he feels great. He thinks about what he knows and aware of it, he feels an inward exaltation and joy and a sense of pride. But then he does something more than that.

31:59 If he's glorying in his wisdom, then he seizes everything and every opportunity to call attention to just how smart he is. So if he has a chance to use a nickel word, he'll use a dime word or a 25-cent word. And then just look at you down his long, learned nose when you show a blank stare as though you don't understand the meaning of his word. Now that's what the man who is boasting his wisdom will do.

32:28 Then he says, and let not the mighty man glory in his might. There's that fellow on the street that's been pumped in iron and he knows he looks pretty good and he's got a little ripple now under his shirt so he wears T-shirts three sizes too small so everyone can see the ripples. When he walks down the street, well, what's he doing? He's glorying in his might.

32:49 His mind is constantly filled with the thoughts of his ripples. Every time he gets a chance, people think he's out just window shopping, but he's really just looking at his own reflection in the window as he walks by down the Willowbrook Mall and he says, he flexes his triceps and, you know, of course, none of you ever did that, but you've seen people doing that. And then he has a great sense of inward delight and he may even occasionally sneak out his mom's tape measure and see that his bicep is gone from 12 to 12 1⁄2 inches and a long way to go before he's Mr. America, but that's progress.

33:25 And then whenever he gets a chance to, he'll brag with his mouth or he'll show you by his performance that he has might. Now that's the man who is mighty or the boy mighty, glorying in his might. And we could carry on the same thing with regard to riches. Now that's the significance of the word to glory or to boast.

33:47 Now look at our text. The mark of those who are the true people of God is this. They not only worship by the Spirit, but they glory, they boast in Messiah, Messiah Jesus. In other words, they find their minds continually filled, their hearts exalting in the knowledge of and seizing every opportunity to speak about the glory that is found in God's Messiah, His anointed prophet, priest, and king identified as none other than Jesus, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus, in all of the shame of His humility. Jesus, in all of the shame of His life of poverty. Jesus, in all of the shame and humiliation and stigma, the scandal on of His cross.

34:56 They boast in Messiah, Jesus. Now you see again, this was a master stroke of the Judaic. Jesus had a place in their theology and in their boasting, but the big place was afforded Moses.

35:16 Jesus was incomplete without Moses.

35:22 You remember the Acts 15 passage, except you are circumcised and keep the law of Moses, you cannot be saved.

35:33 Of course, it didn't matter to them that Moses pointed to Christ in all the rituals revealed to and administered by Moses were to find their fulfillment in Christ. No, no. The point of their boasting and glorying was Moses and not Christ. Whereas the mark of those who are the true circumcision is that they glory in Christ Jesus.

36:01 And it's this very word glory that Paul uses in Galatians 6.14. God forbid that I should boast or glory in Christ Jesus. And it's this very word glory that Paul uses save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.

36:17 Now let me ask you as you sit here this morning, is this a distinguishing mark of your life? If I could, by some kind of delicate spiritual surgery,

36:31 cut down through all of the external layers of your heart until there was laid bare to my sight and to your own and to the sight of all of you. To all others. The real pulse beat of that in which you glory. What would be there?

36:52 In the deepest recesses of your heart of hearts. If that could be laid bare to your sight and to the sight of others. Would it be a fundamental boasting or glorying not in your riches, not in your might, not in your reputation, not in your attention, not in your attainments, not in your breathing, not in anything else but a glorying in Messiah Jesus.

37:26 You see there is a connection between these first two. Wherever the Spirit is present Christ will be treasured. For the Spirit has come to testify of Christ. To take of the things of Christ and to reveal them to the hearts of men with power.

37:46 So that wherever the Spirit is most powerfully present Christ is most dearly loved, most confidently trusted, most unashamedly confessed. We are the circumcision, Paul says. The heirs of that ancient promise that blessing would come to Abraham and to his seed and that seed is Christ. We stand as the true covenant people.

38:16 We are the people of God who worship by the Spirit of God who glory in Christ Jesus and in Christ Jesus alone. Let me say to you who are the people of God who can say yes in my heart of hearts though at times the pulse beat is all too weak and though at times what I really am is obscured by sin and by dullness Christ Jesus, Messiah Jesus is the focal point of my boasting. May I urge you to boast more and more in Him. Whatever blessings God has been pleased to give you in this fellowship and in this ministry never make it the occasion of carnal boasting. God may have to judge us for He is jealous for His glory. Boast in Christ. Boast in Christ alone.

Mark 3: No Confidence in the Flesh

39:20 And if you would more and more have this distinguishing mark of God's people fill your mind with the realities surrounding Messiah Jesus. Fill your heart and your thoughts with that delighting in Him which is our gospel privilege and duty and seize every opportunity with your lips to speak of the glories of Christ. But then there is a third distinguishing mark and in a real sense this is but the negative side of the one we've just considered but because grammatically and structurally it's an independent thought I'm going to treat it as such. Here is the third mark.

40:03 The distinguishing mark of the people of God they are described as those who put no confidence in the flesh. Now this word flesh is used with great latitude in the Bible. In the New Testament. But in this particular context flesh means every advantage which one may have by birth any external conformity to the law everything which has come to us by human effort or human attainment.

40:40 Now how do I know that? Well from the very context if you look at the following language. Having said that the mark of God's people is that they have no confidence in the flesh the apostle goes on to say though I myself might have confidence even in the flesh if any other man thinks to have confidence in the flesh I yet more and then he describes what confidence in the flesh is. Circumcised the eighth day of the stock of Israel.

41:11 Hebrew of the Hebrews touching zeal touching the law. In other words in this context confidence in the flesh is trust in or dependence upon anything that I have by birth by culture by training or by any effort of my own that will give me standing and acceptance before God. Now the mark the distinguishing mark of all of God's people is they put no confidence in the flesh. Now you see how he's striking at the Judaizers again.

41:51 What did they do? They went around saying you will be complete only until you bear in your flesh the mark of God's people circumcision until people's confidence as we were reminded in the previous hour in a sense their assurance was based upon the knife of Moses instead of upon the cross of Jesus.

42:21 The knife of Moses became their point of confidence instead of the cross of the Son of God. Whereas the mark of the true people of God is they put no confidence in the flesh.

42:41 Now let me press upon your conscience the question is this a description of you? Some of you have been blessed with what we would say is good breeding. You come from a long line of people who have known and loved the God of the Bible. You cannot remember a time when the scriptures were not read in your hearing when you were not brought under the teaching and preaching of the word.

43:07 But have you been brought to the heart-wrenching realization that even with generations of such a heritage and all that has funneled down into your life because of that heritage because of that heritage when it comes to the question how shall I stand before Almighty God and find acceptance? I must regard all of that as though it didn't even exist. Paul says regard it as refuse with respect to the great question how shall I a guilty sinner find acceptance with the Holy God? Now in many other respects I do not treat it as refuse.

43:51 Paul in other contexts indicates that to have had the privileges he had in the light of his background in breeding and training were indeed wonderful privileges but with respect to the question on what ground shall I find acceptance with the Holy God? He said I count it all but loss. I count it all but refuse. I have no confidence in anything that arises from flesh.

44:24 Now my friend if you've been brought to that place if you have you'll know it. Now I didn't say you'll know when God brought you there but you'll know that you've been brought there. Now that's saying two different things. I have no basis from Scripture to say if you don't know precisely where and when God brought you there you aren't there.

44:46 But I do have biblical grounds to say if you haven't been brought there you aren't there. And if you've been brought there you'll know it. It's never a pleasant thing to have the rug pulled out from underneath you. Everything on which you stood you weren't as bad as other people.

45:04 You came from a good family. You were taken to church. You were baptized. You were christened.

45:10 You went to communion. You went to confession. You did this. You did that.

45:14 You did the other thing. And to have God begin to show you that all of those deeds were a stench in his nostrils. That you were nothing but sin from the top of your head to the sole of your feet and to the last cell as it were of your soul. Inwardly, outwardly, legally, dispositionally you were nothing but a mass of sin.

45:40 And all of your good breeding and all of your religious heritage and activity and all of that was not a proper resting place for such a guilty, needy soul. I tell you it's painful to be brought to that place. No one ever came to me. I never came under Holy Ghost conviction while clicking his heels saying oh isn't this wonderful to be discovered that everything I've ever trusted in is nothing.

46:05 No, no my friend it's painful.

46:08 Holy Ghost conviction is a painful thing. The stripping work of the Holy Ghost is a painful thing. My friend do you know anything about it? So that sitting here today you can say I put no confidence in the flesh.

46:26 Yes I thank God for my background. I thank God for my training. I thank God for my instruction. I thank God for restraints and privileges.

46:36 I thank God for all of it. But when I stand before him with the burning question how shall I whose native sphere is dark his mind is dim before the ineffable appear and on my naked spirit bear the uncreated being. When I ask the question how shall I a guilty sinner stand before God and be anything other than utterly consumed my answer is Jesus thy blood and righteousness my beauty are my glorious dress midst flaming worlds in these arrayed with joy shall I lift up my head. My friend do you have any confidence in the flesh or can you say by the grace of God that's a description of me put no confidence in the flesh. Now we come around full circle to where we began. We began our study with the question do you bear the distinguishing marks of a child of God those identifying marks of a true child of God. Well here they are.

Self-Examination: Do You Bear These Marks?

47:56 We are the circumcision we are God's true covenant people who worship by the spirit of God who glory in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. Whenever there's a group picture you know what we all do the moment we see it if we were in that group picture the first thing we do is we try to find our own face and how do we recognize ourselves because we have enough self-awareness self-awareness self-awareness to know what are our own individual distinguishing characteristics. Right? There's a group picture you say where am I?

48:38 Oh the reason you're able to point and say hey there I am look at me over there. Of course we always say the picture doesn't do us justice but we point and say that's me. Why? Because we have enough self-awareness to know what our distinguishing characteristics are that set us apart from others.

48:56 So you don't point to your uncle George when you're saying that's me. You don't point to your cousin Henrietta when you say that's me. Why? Because you know the shape of your nose the set of your forehead the shape of your ears or the set of them one or the other to such an extent that you recognize yourself.

49:19 Now my friend I want to ask you have you seen yourself in Philippians 3.3 this morning?

49:26 We are the circumcision here are the distinguishing marks. Have you seen yourself? Have you seen yourself?

49:37 Do you know what it is to worship by the Spirit of God? In this place this morning have you known anything of His gracious influence? Has there been any reality in the singing of the hymns? The singing of the Psalms?

49:52 Has there been the reality of a heart going out in faith and love to the reading of the Word? And when we were led in prayer was there anything of your heart? Was there any heart engaging God? Oh my friend don't pass that off as preacher's rhetoric.

50:08 Ask and answer honestly was this a liniment of your own spiritual countenance?

50:19 Do you worship by the Spirit of God? Do you glory in Christ Jesus?

50:27 Do you? Do you delight to fill your mind with thoughts of Him as the wealthy man fills his mind with thoughts of his wealth and the mighty God? The mighty man with thoughts of his strength? Do you seize every opportunity to speak of the one in whom you glory?

50:47 Do you know anything of glorying Christ Jesus? And can you say yes that's me? I put no confidence in the flesh. Now my friend I didn't write this verse.

51:01 The Apostle Paul wrote it by the inspiration of the Spirit. And if the Judaizing Spirit had died with the original Judaizers then this perhaps might have been an exercise in interesting historical perspective this morning. But you see that Spirit is within every one of us. The last place we want to flee is the only safe place to flee.

51:26 And that's to Christ and Christ alone. And having fled to Him the posture with which we originally came is the posture that must be maintained continually. If we are to grow in grace may the Lord grant us to be honest now as we must be in the day when we stand in His presence. Let us pray.

Concluding Prayer

52:02 Our Father we are so thankful that you have given to us the revelation of your mind in a book.

52:11 Though at times we have fancied how wonderful it would have been to have lived in the days when prophets spoke directly in your name. We do bless you that we live in this period of history that we have the more sure word of prophecy that we need not leave this place go to our homes and debate as to precisely what the prophet said. We can take our Bibles to our homes and meditate upon that sure written word of the living God. We thank you for the scriptures and oh we ask that by the Spirit the truths considered this morning may be written upon our hearts with power. Oh Lord have mercy upon those who in all honesty could not see themselves in this verse today. Oh trouble them give them no rest until fleeing every other basis of confidence they rest in Christ and Christ alone as He is offered in the gospel. For us who are your people oh Lord strengthen in us that ability to worship you by the Spirit increase in us that desire to glory in Christ Jesus and wean us from every last vestige of confidence

53:39 and boasting in the flesh. Hear then the prayer that together we offer in your presence and answer us for the honor of your beloved Son. Amen. Amen.