Spiritual Heart Surgery

As we began last week in this
great section, the theme of which I introduced last week would
be characterized by nothing else than the great call of the Reformation,
justification by faith, which the passage itself doesn’t even
culminate in verse 11. That’s where the bulk of this
idea is carried, ultimately speaking of the righteousness which comes
from God on the basis of faith. But even Paul carries it forth
from there, suggesting that it’s not enough to just pause there. And he carries the theme through
through verse 16 and even beyond that. We’ll begin. Just by way of a brief review,
Paul used some of the strongest language in the New Testament
to denounce those who were adding or seeking to add to Christ the
pernicious error of works. We began last week by looking
at those things, those epithets that Paul lodged at those who
were adding works to God’s work of grace. Paul called them dogs, evil workers,
and the false circumcision. We spent a lot of time last week
unpacking each of those. Paul wasn’t just looking to be
unkind. He saw this as grave error that
struck at the very heart of the Gospel. The chief article, as
the reformers called it, justification by faith. And Paul knew that
if these evil workers had their way, they would add works to
God’s work and the gospel would be undone. If you would, I want
to pick it up there in verse two. We’ll carry it forward and
we’ll pick up fresh beginning in verse three. Paul warned. the Philippian church, beware
of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of the false
circumcision. For we are the true circumcision
who worship in the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus
and put no confidence in the flesh. Although I myself might
have confidence even in the flesh. Paul was concerned. He had heard
some report from the church of Philippi. We don’t know exactly
what or how, but we know that what he heard was likely the
same thing that he was facing even in Rome, that the Judaizers
had arrived. bearing with them this idea that
one must be circumcised in order to be saved. And what they were
bringing forward was that whole work of the Jewish law, trying
to bring that forward into the church. And Paul would have none
of it. Paul would have none of it. And
it’s because of that that he called these evil workers mangy,
malicious, and mutilated, as we saw last week. That they were
mangy. They were dogs. The very thing
that they called the Gentiles, Paul turns the tables on them
and says, no, you are the dogs. The worst thing that someone
could be called in that day and age and that culture was a dog.
And Paul says that what these are doing, these false teachers,
is striking at the very heart of the Gospel, and because of
that, they are dogs. Secondly, they are malicious.
He called them evil workers. These weren’t just people who
were misguided. These weren’t just people with
some bad ideas. These weren’t just people that
maybe needed some little Bible study in order to correct their
opinions. These were those who were seeking
to add works to grace and thereby Paul calls them evil workers. They were Judaizers. They were
seeking to taint the pure gospel of grace in Christ. Finally,
Paul calls them mutilated. He calls them the false circumcision. And he says that in and of that,
what they were practicing wasn’t even legitimate themselves. And
it might as well be just called mutilation. They weren’t doing
anything. It had no merit, no benefit at all. And in that sense,
they were merely mutilated. And so Paul turns his attention
to the Philippian church. He’s told them who to watch out
for. And now he tells them what they
must look for in themselves. Not in and of themselves, but
having received a work of God, a work of grace in their lives,
what are they to be? What must they be like? I’ve entitled the passage, Spiritual
Heart Surgery. You’ll see the cause for that
in a moment. The very nature of this RITE
of circumcision was a changed heart. That’s what God wanted. Unfortunately, that’s not what
the Jews were practicing any longer. Not just the Jews who
are holding to Judaism, but the Judaizers who are bringing forth
their circumcision into a so-called Christianity. What are the identifying marks
of God’s children? The Jews claimed that it was
circumcision. The Judaizers believed the same
and felt that even with this Gospel, even with Christ, one
must, to be a true child of God, bear the mark of circumcision.
But Paul says, we are the true circumcision. Not only he and
the Philippian church, but all those who named the name of Christ.
We are the true circumcision. The true circumcision was something
that was supposed to be inward and consisted of the discarding
not only of the flesh in the Jewish ceremony, but the impurity
and insensitiveness of the heart. That’s what God was looking for.
It wasn’t supposed to be just a mere ritual. It was supposed
to be an outward sign of an inward reality. We’ve heard that before. Deuteronomy 10.16 said it this
way. So, circumcise your heart and stiffen your neck no longer. God wasn’t looking for just formalities
and ritual. God was looking for transformed
hearts and lives. Deuteronomy 30, verse 6. Moreover,
the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your
descendants to love the Lord your God with all your heart
and with all your soul, so that you may live.” God wanted changed
lives, not just ritual. Leviticus chapter 26. Verse 41, I was also acting with
hostility against them, to bring them into the land of the enemies,
or if their uncircumcised heart becomes humbled, so that then
they may make amends for their iniquity. God wanted changed
hearts. God wanted a spiritual heart
surgery, not just an outward ritual. Jeremiah chapter 4, verse
4, Circumcise yourselves to the Lord and remove the foreskins
of your heart, men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem.” And
that is what God has always wanted. That’s what God always wanted
from the beginning was changed hearts and lives, not just outward
ritual, which is exactly what the whole thing had degenerated
into. Mere ritual. And mere outward
celebration of sorts that meant nothing to God any longer. And as it carried forth into
the New Testament and into the Gospel, not only was it meaningless,
it was absolutely harmful to embrace both the rite of circumcision
and the Gospel of Christ. And so, Paul says we are the
true circumcision as compared with them Their circumcision
is only outward. It’s the flesh only. And the
true circumcision is the circumcision and operation that has taken
place on the heart. Romans, I want to take you on
a brief tour. We may not look at all these
Scriptures, but I want to look at a few of them to show you
that this was a thought that Paul was battling in almost every
New Testament church of his era. Turn to the book of Romans, if
you would. He was battling the same Judaistic
thought, not only with those would-be converts, the Jews,
but also those who were actively Judaizers. As we’ve already said,
look at Romans 2. And I want to look at v. 25-29.
Where Paul says, for indeed, circumcision
is of value if you practice the law. In other words, Paul says,
if you want to hold to the law, if you’re able to practice the
law, and you’re able to live according to the whole thing,
And earn your own righteousness. It’s of great value because it’s
part of the law. And you would have to practice
that as well with the entire rest of God’s law in order to
be perfect. Indeed, circumcision is of value
if you practice the law, but if you’re a transgressor of the
law and his point is, who isn’t? This will culminate, you remember,
in the statement that all have sinned. And that was his great
point that all Jews and Gentiles alike have sinned. But if you
are a transgressor of the law, your circumcision has become
uncircumcision. So if the uncircumcised man keeps
the requirements of the law, will not his uncircumcision be
regarded as circumcision? His point is simply this. that
if Jews went through this empty ritual and showed no change of
heart whatsoever, weren’t able to attain to the law, what about
those? What about those who lived in
humility before God and began to live a life according to God’s
law, even without the knowledge of it? What’s more important,
an outward ritual or an inward reality? Look at verse 27. And
he who is physically uncircumcised, if he keeps the law, will he
not judge you, who, though having the letter of the law and circumcision,
are a transgressor of the law? For he is not a Jew who is one
outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the
flesh. But he is a Jew who is one inwardly,
and circumcision is that which is of the heart by the Spirit. not by the letter, and his praise
is not from men, but from God.” Paul says it’s heart work that
God is after, not flesh work, not a mere outward ritual. Look
at, if you would, the book of Ephesians. Ephesians chapter
2. As we saw last week, the Jews
liked to throw around this term and speak of themselves as the
circumcised and the Gentiles as the uncircumcised. And that
was the great delineating mark, the great difference between
God’s people and the people of the world. Paul addresses the
same thing, writing to the Ephesian believers who were being mercilessly
Judaized. Therefore, remember that formerly
you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who were called uncircumcision
by the so-called circumcision, which is performed in the flesh
by human hands, remember that you were at that time separate
from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers
to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God
in the world. But now, But now in Christ Jesus,
you who are formerly were far off, have been brought near by
the blood of Christ. Justification by faith in Christ
and His finished work on the cross has become to them far
beyond this physical act. Turn, if you would, just next
door to the book of Colossians, please. in the book of Colossians, in
chapter 2. We have one of the greatest opening
statements there in verse 9 on the deity of Christ, where Paul
writes, in Him all the fullness of deity dwells in bodily form,
and in Him you have been made complete. Here we have this perfect
God, this perfect Savior. And in Him, He tells the Colossians,
they are complete. They have no need of any external
work. And He is the head over all rule
and authority. And in Him, you also were circumcised. Oh no! They had this rite performed
on them. They succumbed. Or did they?
Read on. And in him you were circumcised
with a circumcision made without hands in the removal of the body
of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ.” In other words, he
says, look, you didn’t have the Jewish rite of circumcision. You didn’t succumb to the works,
adding works to the work of grace. You had the true circumcision.
God changed your heart. Look at verse 12, having been
buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up
with Him through faith in the working of God who raised Him
from the dead. When you were dead in your transgressions
and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together
with Him, having forgiven all your transgressions. having canceled
out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which
was hostile to us, and he has taken it out of the way, having
nailed it to the cross.” You need to add nothing to your faith
in Christ. That’s what he told Paul to the
Colossian believers. And he reiterated that in chapter
3, verse 11, speaking of a renewal in which there is no distinction
between Greek and Jew, circumcised, uncircumcised. And on he goes. 1 Corinthians, he told them,
circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing. But what matters
is keeping the commandments of God. Turn, if you would, to the
Galatians. Back a couple of books. To the Galatians, fighting the
error here in the most vigorous attempts that he makes in all
of the New Testament, perhaps with this passage not excluded. To the Galatians, he wrote, look
at look at verse five or chapter five, rather, verse two Galatians
five, verse two, behold, I, Paul, say to you. that if you receive
circumcision, Christ will be of no benefit to you. Could he
say it any more strongly? If you succumb to this outward
right, wanting to cover all your bases, Christ will be of no benefit
to you. And I testify again to every man who receives circumcision
that he is under obligation to keep the whole law You have been
severed from Christ. You who are seeking to be justified
by law, you have fallen from grace. For we, through the Spirit,
by faith, are waiting for the hope of righteousness. For in
Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything
but faith, working through love. As Paul said to the Romans, Christ
is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. It
is justification by faith, not by the works of the law. And with that statement before
him, that we are the true circumcision, what Paul does is point to three
elements, three features that characterize the true child of
God. We don’t need to go around now
and claim ownership on this term, the circumcision. Paul applies
it to the Philippians. But it refers to the true child
of God, the true people of God. He says the true child of God,
first and foremost, is one whose devotional service is divinely
actuated. One whose devotional service
is divinely actuated. Everything begins with God. Everything
is God. It’s all God working in and through
us because of what is provided in Christ. It’s all God. Look at verse 3. For we are the
true circumcision who worship in the Spirit of God. That word
worship. He’s an interesting word because
it originally meant any sort of any kind of service whatsoever,
even domestic service, service in the kingdom, service in as
a citizen. But the biblical use of the word
gives it an almost unwavering connection to worship. It was
the service of worship. That is that this word is so
often used in connection with and occasionally even the worship
of the priests, the very worship of the Jewish people. It referred
to the Jew, pardon me, to the service of Jehovah by his peculiar
people, said one. Listen, jot down, if you care
to these texts, this is where the word occurs, Luke two thirty
seven. You remember Anna at the birth
of John in Christ, who was a widow to the age of 84, and it says
she never left the temple serving. Hers was a priestly spiritual
service of devotion. We don’t know exactly what she
did. But that’s the word that’s used here, serving night and
day with fastings and prayers. God looked upon her service as
being of great value. In the book of Romans, Paul writing
in some of these most difficult terms. You talk about a magnanimous
heart. Romans 9, verse 3, For I could
wish that I myself were accursed, separated from Christ for the
sake of my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh, who are
Israelites, to whom belong the adoption as sons, the glory of
the covenants and the giving of the law and the temple service. This was the service of the priests.
This is devotional service. The book of Hebrews speaks of
it as divine worship. Hebrews 9.1, Hebrews 9.9 speaks
of those who are just worshipers. The verb particularly applied
in the New Testament to religious service. And over and over again,
it comes forth in the New Testament as referring to that devotional
service. It isn’t just plain, simple service. It’s devoted and devotional service. It’s service to the glory of
God. Listen to how it’s used in that connection, not just
with the Jewish service in the temple. In Luke 1.74, It speaks to the promise of this newly
given Messiah. And it says, to grant us that
we, being rescued from the hand of our enemies, might serve Him
without fear. That all of our lives would become
devotional to Christ. It did so for Paul. Paul, in
opening a number of his letters, speaks of himself and uses this
same word, devotional service, as characterizing who he was
and what he was about. Romans 1.9, For God, whom I serve
in my spirit in the preaching of the gospel. 2 Timothy 1.3,
I thank God whom I serve with a clear conscience the way my
forefathers did. It was devotional service that
was akin to the work of the priesthood that Paul likened everything
that he did. But it doesn’t stop there. The
call is issued forth to you and I, this same kind of devotional
service is supposed to be characteristic of you and I. After 11 chapters
of solid doctrine, Paul gets real practical in Romans chapter
12 and says it simply this way. Therefore, I urge you, brethren,
by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy
sacrifice acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service
of worship.” Same word. That’s our calling in Christ.
And it’s made possible because of God and His Spirit, because
of our faith in Christ. It is spiritual service to which
we are called. It is a devotional attitude that
we come to God with. That’s what He works in and through
us. That whole word, the Spirit of God, it’s almost as if the
word just lights up on the page when it falls off Paul’s tongue.
When Paul spoke of the Spirit of God, he had all the power
of God, all the majesty and glory Romans 8, 14, all who are being
led by the Spirit of God. These are the sons of God. First Corinthians 12, 3. Therefore, I make known to you
that no one speaking by the Spirit of God says Jesus is accursed. This was Paul’s great test. that
the Spirit of God was dwelling within us. The very Spirit of
Almighty God Himself. And that’s what Paul says is
the first mark of the child of God. It’s not some outward ritual. It’s the Spirit of God coursing
through him, prompting the child of God to a life of devotional
service. That’s who dwells in the hearts
of believers. He was sent for that very purpose. And Christians
worship God, who is Spirit, by the help of His Spirit. He teaches
us. He prompts us. It’s said, one,
Christians are enabled to offer that worship which the Father
seeks. A worship that is unfettered by forms or places, which may
be presented anywhere and at any time. The first quality. of a genuine
believer is a heart that overflows with worship. The origin, the beginning, the
very spring of that worshipful attitude is the Spirit of God
Himself. God saved us and sanctified us
and set us apart to worship Him. And true Christians, real children
of God, are those that worship God from the heart. It overflows
in all that they do. Their great purpose in life is
to glorify God in all that they do. Secondly, there’s another distinguishing
mark. It isn’t caused by an outward
operation on the flesh. The identifying marks of God’s
children are distinct and they are divine. The true child of
God is one not only whose devotional service is divinely actuated,
but whose ground of boasting is divinely oriented. It is divinely
oriented. Look at verse three once again.
We are the true circumcision. We are God’s children who worship
in the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus. This is a hard word, especially
for our current culture. I’ll tell you what it really
means in a moment. But the word translated here
as glory describes boasting with an exuberant joy about what a
person is most proud of. What are you most proud of? There
are a lot of people, even Christians, I’ve met that will boast in their
bank accounts. They will boast in their family
lineage. They will boast. I remember one dear friend of
mine used to boast that she had been baptized in the River Jordan. And any time she mentioned baptism,
she mentioned in the River Jordan connected with that. There are
a myriad of things in which even Christians will boast. Some will boast by whom they
were baptized. Some will boast by in what denomination
they were raised. Some will boast in what translation
they were saved out of. There are a myriad of things. The word can be used in a negative
sense to describe a proud, inappropriate boasting. And that’s where our
whole understanding of this word becomes clouded, because typically
that’s how we use the word in our given culture. That any kind
of boasting, I’m sure my own children are squirming because
any kind of boasting is wrong and sinful, but it can And it
often is in the New Testament used in a very positive way to
describe believers joyful, exulting in Christ. It’s used almost 40
times by the Apostle Paul and only twice by anybody else. This
was a Paul word. True Christians give credit for
all that they are and all that they have to the Lord Jesus Christ. In Him is their boast. That’s
Paul’s point. These false believers, they were
boasting according to the flesh. They were boasting in their rights. They were boasting in what they
had celebrated. They were boasting in the fact
that they were Jews and they were boasting in their circumcision,
but they weren’t boasting in God. The Reformers latched upon that
biblical truth that sinful men could do nothing to merit their
salvation. That’s where the whole thought,
as we saw last week, of salvation by faith alone, by grace alone,
that’s where that whole thought was reemphasized from the Scriptures,
that those who thought they could earn God’s grace by their works
proved that they lacked even the basic understanding of what
faith is. To glory in Christ went far beyond
a mere belief. To trust in Him and in Him alone
and what it expressed as a deep sense of privilege, a thankfulness
and a future hope. Boasting in Christ meant that
we take Him as the only source of righteousness as over against
what the Jew tended to do and taking the law and observance
and all of those things. Let me show you how the word
is used in Scripture. Listen, if you would, and jot
down if you care to. There are things in Scripture
in which people are commanded not to boast. Romans 3, 23 were
commanded not to boast in the law. Romans 3, 27 were not to
boast in works. 1 Corinthians 1 28. We’re not supposed
to boast in anything outside of Christ, says the base things
of the world that despised God has chosen the things that are
not that he may nullify the things that are. In other words, he
chose all of us. From the Jews standpoint, a motley
crew. So that no one may boast before
God. We’re not supposed to boast in
our family lineage. We’re not supposed to boast in
what we have done, what we bring to the cross. We’re not supposed to boast in
our gifts. First Corinthians 4.7, as if we had not received
them. As God taught you, you’re not
supposed to be boastful in what you know. 1 Corinthians 5, 6
says, your boasting is not good. In that context, they were boasting
in their libertine kind of attitude in not addressing sin in their
midst. They thought that they were more
loving than others in not addressing that grave sin spoken of there
in 1 Corinthians 5. And Paul says, your boasting
is not good. There are things that we’re not
supposed to boast in in Scripture. But there are also things that
we are commanded to boast in. Believers are commanded to boast.
And so it can’t be this boasting can’t be a bad thing in and of
itself. The context is everything, because
Romans 5, 2 says we exalt, we boast in the hope of the glory
of God. We are proud. We thank God from
the depths of our being. We boast. in the hope of the
glory of God. And in verse 11 of that same
chapter, Paul says, and not only this, but we exalt, we boast
in God through our Lord Jesus Christ through whom we have now
received this reconciliation. Christians, we do have a boast.
And we have cause to boast. We have a commandment to boast.
In fact, if you ask my opinion, we’re not proud enough. We don’t boast enough in God. It’s one thing to boast of your
own self or your own accomplishments, but to boast in God is biblical. Listen to First Corinthians,
a longer section of that same text. passage I just read. Consider your calling, brethren.
There were not many wise according to the flesh, not many noble,
not many mighty, not many noble. But God has chosen the foolish
things of the world to shame the wise. God has chosen the
weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong.
The base things of the world and the despised God has chosen
things that are not so that he may nullify the things that are.
But by his doing. Pardon me, I skipped a rather
important verse. things that are not, that He
may nullify the things that are, so that no man may boast before
God.” All of those things humble us. No one can stand before God
and claim that, look, who’s here. But by His doing, you are in
Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God and righteousness
and sanctification and redemption, so that just as it is written,
Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord. Boasting isn’t bad.
But if you boast in anything outside of God, it’s vain. The echo there is 2 Corinthians
10, 17. He who boasts is to boast in
the Lord. Second Corinthians, twelve, nine. My grace is sufficient
for you. Power is perfected in weakness.
Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weakness
so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. But I want to take
you to one so that you can see a particular context. Turn, if
you would, to Galatians again. You may still be in Galatians. Galatians, chapter six. And it’s the same exact problem,
the same exact concern, the same exact context that he’s dealing
with here in the Philippian church. Verse 11, see with what large
letters I am writing to you with my own hand. He wanted to verify
that this was Him and not just somebody else saying these things.
Those who desire to make a good showing in the flesh try to compel
you to be circumcised simply so that they will not be persecuted
for the cross of Christ. For those who are circumcised
do not even keep the law themselves, but they desire to have you circumcised
so that they may boast in your flesh. They wanted to put another
notch in their belt. But may it never be that I would
boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through
which the world has been crucified to me and I to the world.” It’s
the same concern and view. Paul said, there are things in
which we as Christians are not to boast. But there is plenty
plenty which God commands us to boast, the cross of Christ,
God Himself, the hope of the glory of God. We are called to be the people
who glory in Christ Jesus and His perfect work of redemption
is to be the only ground of our salvation. Not to boast in our
own personal goodness, our own works, our own deeds and what
we deserve from God. But rather, Christ is to receive
all the honor. Christ is to be magnified above
and beyond anyone and anything. Jeremiah echoed this same sentiment
when he recorded In verse 23 of chapter 9, thus says the Lord,
let not a wise man boast of his wisdom. Let not a mighty man
boast of his might. Let not a rich man boast of his
riches. It was the prophet Jeremiah writing
to Judah and her neighbors. During King Jehoiakim’s name,
whose name had been changed to Neco. Remember that? The reason
I remembered Neco, I’ll tell you a funny story. You remember
Nico the candy? I mean, absolutely disgusting
stuff. They were little wafer like things
that came in this clear stuff. And there was a pink one that
tasted like Pepto-Bismol. And there was this gray thing
that tasted kind of like licorice. They were absolutely horrible.
That’s how I remember Nico. He was a puppet king. He taxed
the people heavily. He was the most consistently
wicked king. You’ll never get Nico out of
your mind now. He was the most consistently wicked king since
King Ahaz. He destroyed the scroll of Jeremiah,
essentially God’s word to the nations, persecuted God’s people
heavily, a time of overwhelming idolatry. And so what is the
people’s way out of this? Not to boast of their wisdom
or might or riches, but let him who boasts boast of this. that
He understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who exercises
lovingkindness and justice and righteousness on the earth, for
I delight in these things. There are things that God’s people
are called and commanded to boast in. These people, said one, gloried
not in themselves or in anything about themselves, not in circumcision
or Abrahamic descent, but in Christ Jesus alone. Not in Him
and Moses, not in son and servant alike. They gloried in Him, in
His great condescension, in His birth and wonders, in His life
and its blessings, in its death and its benefits, His ascension
and its pledges, His return and its stupendous and permanent
results. We are to boast. We are to boast
and have great confidence in what God has done through Christ.
Thirdly, what are the identifying marks of God’s children? The
true child of God is one whose devotional service is divinely
actuated, whose ground of boasting is divinely oriented, and whose
trust is divinely refocused. For we said Paul, are the true
circumcision who worship in the spirit of God and glory in Christ
Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh. The word speaks of
that which in which we place our trust, our reliance, our
confidence. Paul spoke of it to people to
whom he wrote, the Corinthians and others. Paul spoke of the
gospel in which he was entrusted. He had great confidence in the
gospel. But it has the idea in it of
a settled persuasion regarding a particular thing, something
upon which we meditate and mull on and come to a settled and
confident persuasion about that thing. The false teachers, these
Judaizers rested their complete trust in the flesh. And they
taught everybody else to do the same. But the true people of
God renounced it. The true people of God knew in
what they were to place their confidence, and it wasn’t in
the flesh. The flesh represents man’s fallen, unredeemed humanness. It pictures, said one, human
ability apart from God It denotes man as apart from
God and then at discord with God. Accordingly, it came to
stand for whatever in man is not subject to the Holy Spirit.
That’s where they were placing their confidence. So it reached the practical meaning
here of anything other than God. taken by man for his trust and
strength, religious observances, tradition, privilege, position,
personal religious reputation, anything other than God that
you place your trust in. In broad terms, another said, flesh
is anything apart from Christ on which one bases his hope for
salvation. That’s the great question. Remember,
how can we stand before a holy God? We must be righteous. How can we be made righteous?
The great answer is we are made righteous. We are justified by
faith. These merely human advantages,
whatever we attain to, whatever ceremonies, whatever heredity
we have, whatever legal or moral character we have. That’s what
the Judaizers rested their hope in, not us. Over and over again, Paul had
warned those to whom he ministered not to place their trust in anything
outside of Christ. Not to be duped. Not to be overcome. Not to be bewitched by a false
message. And he says here that the true
Christian is one whose trust has been divinely refocused.
That God is the one who has adjusted our perspective. That God is
the one who has taught us We’re not going to be saved by anything
that we do or accomplish. It is purely by Christ and Christ
alone. One Puritan summed it up in these
simple terms as I close. To all who believe the Gospel
and are thus led to place their confidence in Christ, God of
His infinite mercy imputes this perfect righteousness of the
Savior. He reckons it is theirs. He treats them as if they themselves
had been righteous like their representative. This is the great
doctrine of justification by faith. You see how humbling it
is to man. The faith through which we obtain
justification involves an acknowledgment of the reality and the exceeding
evil of our own sin and of our own utter helplessness. We come
to God confessing that the robe of our personal character is
but filthy rags in which we dare not stand in his sight, and we
receive from him the ample stainless, fragrant robe of the Redeemer’s
righteousness. In what would you place your
trust? Let’s pray. Our merciful God, we humble ourselves
before you, knowing that we did not and could not have earned
our way into your glorious kingdom. And because of that, we humble
ourselves. We bow before you in gratitude
and praise that you accomplished that impossible task for us in
granting to us the righteousness of Christ. Lord, we thank you
that you are the one that changed our hearts and reoriented us
to worship you and you alone. You place Christ before us as
the ultimate mark of glory. And if called us from any thought
of confidence in our own flesh and in what we might accomplish
in an attempt to earn our salvation. Lord, we thank you and praise
you. For Christ, Jesus, our Savior.
And for calling us to yourself through him. It’s in Jesus’ name
that we pray, Amen.