If everyone could turn to Philippians 3, I am going to read several verses beginning in verse 1. Philippians 3:1-11 says:
Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you, to me indeed is not grievous, but for you it is safe. Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision. For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. Though I might also have confidence in the flesh. If any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more: Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee; Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.
I will stop reading there.
This would be a good way of looking at ourselves and examining ourselves. Are we utilizing any means and every means, all means, as it says, to “attain unto the resurrection of the dead”? How much effort are we putting forth because of what we are hearing?
We always have to condition these kinds of statements because of the nature of the day that we are living in since the churches teach that one must work for their salvation. Many of them will not admit this, but they really teach today that one must work to become saved. Then they will tell you step-by-step the works that you have to do to obtain salvation, which are all wrong. Nobody has ever obtained salvation at a crusade by coming down an aisle or through (water) baptism or through saying magic words like “I believe in Christ” or “I accept Him” or through saying the sinner’s prayer. Never, never has anyone become saved (through these means) because it is all work that we do.
The Bible does speak of Christians doing good works, but it is never to become saved. It is always a result of being saved, as it is God who moves in us “to will and to do of his good pleasure.”
So we are looking at this idea of utilizing any means necessary to “attain unto the resurrection of the dead.” When something extremely important and desirous is in view, a statement like this is normally made, “I will do whatever it is that I have to do in order to get it.”
People in the world have this kind of mindset towards many things of the world. Maybe they want to obtain a crown, maybe they want to win a race or a football game, or whatever it might be, and so they discipline their bodies. They exercise and keep their bodies under. They control their desires and wants.
And yet, really, these are all very selfish desires. It is selfish to want to obtain an earthly crown or to get the championship or to be the most valuable player. But we do see how people strive and put forth a great and diligent effort into getting these things that they desire.
But would this be the desires of the world if people were in their right mind, if they were thinking soberly and really had sanity? If we looked at the whole world and all of the things in the world and all of the things that people go after, how would these things measure up if we were able to put all of this together in one, big heap?
Put all of that on one side and then if we were even able to, put eternal life on the other side—eternal life, not life like as we have it now with its aches and moans and sicknesses and physical discomforts, but eternal life in a perfect body, rejoicing forevermore with all of the good things that we only get glimpses of in this life where we experience a little love and a little joy and a little peace and a little goodness—the fullness of everything given to the child of God and given forever and ever because they will never die or see sickness or cry again or mourn.
This is what the Bible tells us as God tries to just give us a little understanding of things to come. There are incredible blessings that are abundant beyond our wildest dreams on one hand, and not for just a measly ten, twenty, thirty, four, fifty, sixty, seventy, eighty years, but for a million, million times that. Even when you get to the end of that, you still go on a million, million times more.
So that is on one side. Then over on the other side, put the pleasures of this life, the earthly rewards, the earthly treasures to which people will devote the rest of their days to obtaining, like money and riches and power and honor and respect amongst others in the world. But when it comes to attaining everlasting life, how much effort is exerted? How much effort?
Now, again, we can strive and God tells us to strive to enter into the Kingdom. So we can do our utmost, and yet that is not going to help us, finally, get in the door into the Kingdom of Heaven. It is all in God’s hands. He does the work of salvation. This is completely His work and He gets all of the glory and all of the honor and all of the praise. But He does tell us, as He says in Acts 17, “He hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world”; therefore, He “now commandeth all men every where to repent,” to turn from their sins, to turn from the wrong way that they are going, the broad way that is quickly leading to destruction, and to go the narrow way where, yes, you will be a reproach and you will be reviled and you will be looked down upon by your friends and neighbors and family.
All of this is true. God never tries to hide this. He tells us again and again and again that this is what we can expect, “In the world ye shall have tribulation.” This is normative for a child of God, but we are in “great tribulation.” So we can expect the mocking and the reviling and everything else to increase many fold as we get closer to the date, to that appointed day that God has given us.
So the effort that we can put forth that is permitted by God in the Bible is to turn away from sins, even recognizing that we cannot turn completely because the main problem is our heart. But we can turn by throwing the cigarettes away and the beer away and the ice cream away and whatever else we are doing that goes contrary to the Word of God.
Is ice cream contrary to the Word of God? Well, maybe if you have had a bowl every night for the last three years. At that point, it could be because it is in excess, and yet there are many things in themselves that are not wrong. However, as we get involved in excess, it becomes sin.
So God says to, yes, do this. Whatever the sin is, put it away from you. Do as the Ninevites did and sit in sackcloth and ashes and cry out for mercy because, “Who can tell if God will turn…from his fierce anger,” from the judgment that He intends against us?
This is the effort that we should be putting forth. By any means, we should, by God’s grace, be turning from sin. At the same time, we should be crying to Him for mercy that He would give us the gift of salvation.
Going back to Philippians 3, I would like to look at these verses that lead into these other statements that are very appropriate for the day that we are living in concerning attaining to the resurrection from the dead. Again, Philippians 3:1 says:
Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord…
This word “finally” could be translated as “furthermore.” It is like a continuing thought from the previous chapter. He is just picking up where he left off from the previous statements. So he says:
Finally, my brethren…
“Brethren” is the plural Greek word for “brothers.” Again:
Finally, my [brothers]…
By the way, there is nothing in the Bible that I can see that would prohibit Christians from calling each other “brother” or “sister.” I do not think that God’s makes a statement to where it would be wrong for us to do this. Some people may not want to do this for whatever reason and that is fine, but nowhere does God say that we cannot identify a Christian as a brother or a sister. Some people may not want to do this because they might think that they are giving them encouragement when they might not really be a brother or a sister. They could be giving them encouragement that they are a child of God when in actuality they are not, but this is not our business; this is not our concern. We are not to look at just certain ones and esteem them as a brother or sister. For example, many people do not have a problem with referring to Mr. Camping as Brother Camping; but for others, they would not. So I do not see anywhere in the Bible where God tells us that we cannot identify each other as a brother or a sister.
Continuing in Philippians 3:1, it says to:
…rejoice in the Lord…
My brothers, rejoice in the Lord! Rejoice is a command that is found in several places.
We read in 1 Thessalonians 5:16:
Rejoice evermore.
This is a command that God has given us.
There is a program on Family Radio called “Rise and Rejoice!” This is actually very good instruction for the child of God. Get up out of bed! Do not get up cranky and miserable and sluggish and go to work. I have done this many times, but God is saying not to do that. Rejoice! Rise and Rejoice! Rejoice evermore! Rejoice in what? This is the question.
[Comment from someone in the fellowship and digression from subject is deleted.]
So 1 Thessalonians 5:16 tells us to rejoice evermore, and there are many places where the Lord speaks of rejoicing. For instance, let us go to Matthew 5:11-12:
Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.
It does not seem like proper ground for rejoicing when we are reviled, persecuted, spoken falsely of and evilly against, and yet God uses this occasion in this context to tell us to rejoice. Why is that? He tells here to be “exceeding glad.”
But the world thinks that I am nuts! Some members of my family even think that I am nuts. My neighbors have seen my bumper sticker that says “May 21, 2011” and they think that I am nuts. All of these people could be talking about me and they probably are. They could be saying very bad things and mocking the whole idea of what the Bible is teaching. Rather than rejoice, should I not be worried and concerned? Should I not even be afraid of what people are saying about me?
No, God does not say that. He does not say that. He tells us that when these things happen, rejoice because this is an evidence, for one thing, that the message that we are sharing is true. If we find enemies who are against the Gospel—and since we are carrying the Gospel, it appears that they are against us—and we find that they are multiplying, then this is a strong indicator that the message that is being carried is true. This is because the world has no problem with its own, and yet the Lord Jesus tells us, “Because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.” So this is the reason why we might experience these reproaches and these revilings.
Just look at the example of the prophets all throughout the Bible. Look at Jeremiah. He was persecuted greatly for bringing the Word of God, for bringing the information that God was finished with Judah and Jerusalem and that He was going to bring the Babylonians against them. And yet we find that the prophets were a great example of a child of God and that they rejoiced in spirit, even though Jeremiah is identified as a weeping prophet. So these things do not stop one from rejoicing.
Let us go to 2 Corinthians 6:10. It says:
As sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing…
If you read the earlier verses, this is referring to the child of God’s experience in this life.
2 Corinthians 6:9-10 says:
As unknown, and yet well known…
That is, well known by God.
…as dying, and, behold, we live…
That is, in Christ.
…as chastened, and not killed; As sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich…
So a believer can be sorrowful. If you remember, Ecclesiastes tells us that “he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow.” A child of God can be sorrowful for their loved ones and for their family and friends because this day is coming; but at the same time, they can be rejoicing.
You see, people get the wrong idea about what rejoicing is. It is not the joy of the world, which is foolishness and folly. It is not just laughing and laughing and being silly. That is not the rejoicing or the joy that the Bible talks about. It is rejoicing in the truth of the Word of God. It is holding onto the promises of the Word of God. It is realizing that these things are true and that no matter how bad it is or how things used to be and now are and maybe will be for a few more months, no matter how bad all of the things in this life can get, the child of God can rejoice; yet we cannot just rejoice for the sake of rejoicing.
This is the problem of the world because they want to be happy, but they want to be happy just for the sake of being happy. We have to have a reason for being happy. They think that they have to have something to make them happy, when in actuality what they need is someone to rejoice in.
I saw a sign that was probably for some kind of TV show or movie that said, “Believe and hope!” But what does this mean? If you do not have hope in God, what do you believe in? Do you believe in the idea of hope? If you do, that is vanity and it is empty. That has no substance of any kind. Believe in the Lord God. Believe His Word. Then you have something that you can trust, believe in, and hope for.
We hope for God to fulfill His Word. God tells us that this is the right thing to do because we do not see this as yet. This is what hope is. Hope is for things not seen. This is what faith is, but people tend to hope in mysterious things.
Christmas just passed, which is a time when we see these billboards on I-95 and other places that say, “Love! Joy! Peace!” I will not mention the product that this was for, but these statements are meaningless. It is meaningless to just say these words. It does not mean anything. There has to be something or someone behind them, which is Christ Himself.
Let us go back to Philippians 3 again. We read in Philippians 3:1:
Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord…
The word “Lord” is in the dative case, which means that it is “into.” We rejoice “into the Lord.” We have to be in Him. As the Bible says, “If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.” If we do not have the Spirit of God, then of course we cannot rejoice in the Lord because we are not “in the Lord.” We need to first be “in the Lord,” and yet we cannot place ourselves there. This is something that God has to do. He has to save us and He has to give us the gifts of His salvation. Then we can be “in the Lord” and we can properly rejoice.
Let us also go to Luke 6. We read in Luke 6:22-23:
Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man’s sake. Rejoice ye in that day, and leap for joy: for, behold, your reward is great in heaven: for in the like manner did their fathers unto the prophets.
There is also this condition in verse 22 that when we are reproached, it really should not be for something that we ourselves are doing. We have to watch and be careful that as we share the Gospel with people, we are not the reproach ourselves. We have to be careful that we are not the one who is giving the enemies of the Gospel an opportunity to blaspheme because of something that we are doing in our own lives.
If we are carrying the Word of God, the truth of the Bible, then it is for the Son of Man’s sake. The Bible speaks of doing things “for the Lord Jesus Christ’s sake” or “for the word’s sake” or “for the Son of man’s sake,” and they are all synonyms that mean the same thing.
So we tell people as we hand them a tract, “This is a tract where the information comes from the Bible.” We give these to people or we talk to a person as we explain some of the truths of the Bible. When we discuss this with others, we may find that our friends are no longer interested in being our friends or that our co-workers are no longer very interested in spending time with us at work, and so on.
This is why it says earlier in Luke 6:22:
Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company…
According to the Bible, this is a form of hatred, because the believer carries the true light of the Gospel and men hate the light. They love the darkness that they are in, and so they try to move away from the light to get away from what they are hearing from the Bible. This means that, at times, they are moving away from you, and it is because you are the one carrying the message.
Of course, you could easily reconcile this by putting away the Bible. Put the Bible away, put away the tracts, stop talking to them about May 21, 2011, or about others truths from the Bible, and then you will be in good shape. You will fit right in and you will have no difficulty at school or at work or in the neighborhood or anywhere else you may go, because the world loves its own. It is only when Christ has chosen you out of the world that there is a problem and people begin to respond negatively towards you.
By the way, one of the big reasons behind this kind of response coming from the world, especially as Satan is able to stir this up, is to make you turn back. It is to make you go away and to stop talking about these things, and it can be very successful. It is very successful for those who are not truly saved.
However, God’s people have no option. They have nowhere else that they can go. They have to. They must continue to share the truths that they have learned from the Bible, because God is moving in them to do this. Someone might occasionally be frightened or turn back; but even though they fall seven times, the Lord raises them up again and they continue on. So a true child of God will witness and share the truth irregardless of the response and how trying or difficult it might be
Let us also go to 1 Peter 4. I will start reading in verse 12. 1 Peter 4:12-14 says:
Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy. If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified.
So God says in 1 Peter 4:13:
But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings…
As the Bible spells this out, we know the many difficulties that Jesus had in His ministry on earth. Well, we are given the privilege—the glorious privilege—of participating in the sufferings of Christ.
Why did Jesus suffer? He suffered for His people. Why do Christians suffer today? What is ultimately the reason for this? We suffer for the elect’s sake, to get the Gospel to the elect that they might hear and that God would bless them and save them.
So there is a strong similarity. We suffer as Jesus suffered. He suffered for His people. Those who are already saved bring the Gospel to the world. In doing this, we suffer a little bit, just a tiny bit in comparison to what Christ suffered. This is the privilege that God has given His people.
If we go to Philippians 1:28, it says:
And in nothing terrified by your adversaries…
An adversary, this is what Satan is. He is the adversary of the Gospel. He is the adversary of God and he is the adversary of anyone who carries this Gospel.
In 1 Corinthians 16:9, we read:
For a great door and effectual…
“Effectual” is the same word that is translated as “powerful” in Hebrews 4:12, “For the word of God is quick, and powerful.”
1 Corinthians 16:9 continues:
…is opened unto me, and there are many adversaries.
There are many adversaries because the “door of utterance” or the door of the Gospel is opened by God and is going out into the world. And He intends to save a “great multitude,” translating them “from the power of darkness, and…into the kingdom of his dear Son.”
Do you think that the enemy is just going to make this a cakewalk? Do you think, as a song says, “Shall I be wafted through the skies on flowery beds of ease, where others strive to win the prize and sail through bloody seas”?
It is through much tribulation that we enter into the Kingdom of God. We can expect this because this “great door” is open. As a result, there will be many adversaries. Satan will be battling and fighting, as well as his emissaries, every step of the way.
And what have we found over the last several years in relation to the churches? We have found that the churches have been hostile. Not all of them, but many pastors and preachers and individual members of churches have been against the teaching that is coming forth from the Bible at this time. They have been adversaries to the truth; and God is telling us that when “a great door and effectual is opened,” we can expect that there will be “many adversaries.”
So returning to Philippians 1:28, it says:
And in nothing terrified by your adversaries: which is to them an evident token of perdition, but to you of salvation, and that of God.
We are told in the Bible, “Be not afraid.” We are not to be terrified by the reaction of men to the message that we are carrying. Do not fear what man can do.
I think that I have mentioned this before. When I was in India on a Family Radio tract trip in mid-1990, it was great. A lot of people were taking the tracts. There is not a better feeling in the world when you know that what you are doing is the right thing. God does give joy to His people who are involved in doing the right thing; maybe it is just the joy of obedience as God’s people do the right thing. But everything was going great except for one incident when a cow came along and kind of scared me a little, and it was only a little nudge; however, I turned to give someone a tract and this guy came walking up to me with a huge snake that had been draped around his neck all the way down to his pant pockets. He walked right up to me and got very close to my face, and I backpedaled. I just got away by a few feet because I am not crazy about snakes. This caused him to smile, but he did not take the tract. He just smiled and walked away.
Why do you think that he did that? He wanted to see, as it says here:
And in nothing terrified by your adversaries: which is to them an evident token of perdition…
Maybe you have shown fear in the past or maybe you are afraid to where you do not even want to go out on a corner to hand out tracts. Maybe the last time you went, someone ripped a tract up in your face and called you a name, which hurt your feelings. Yes, it does hurt. It hurts. It is a very real reproach and reviling; but, you see, if you are afraid, that is “an evident token of perdition,” which means that you might be unsaved and that you might be destroyed shortly.
Also, the people of the world are looking for you to back away. This is why you get some of the reactions that you get when you are sharing the Gospel. They are looking to see if you really believe what you are sharing with them. They sometimes want to see just how far you are willing to go to continue to stand there and share this with them, especially when they say or attempt to do something to you.
Yet God’s people have a great weapon in prayer, and I learned this that day when that man in India came up to me with that snake. I try to always do this now. I try to pray before I go out to share the Gospel. I pray for wisdom and for protection and for help. I pray for the wisdom to know what to say and what to do in every situation towards every person. I will not say that I have not been made to fear again to some degree in a couple of other circumstances, but it helps a lot to realize that this is actually the goal of those who are opposed to the Gospel, the adversaries of the truth, to get a reaction from you that is very human and fleshly. It helps them to gauge whether or not you are really a representative of God or not, whether or not you are really a true ambassador.
Then it says in Philippians 1:29:
For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake;
It is given. Faith is a gift. Repentance is a gift. Suffering for Christ’s sake is also a gift. It is a gift from God. Why is suffering a gift from God? It is a gift because as Jesus said in Matthew and in Luke, “Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.”
This could mean that you are one of God’s people if you are continuing on. It could be an evidence of this. I would not say that just because someone has handed out a million tracts, it means that they are necessarily a child of God. However, it can be further evidence that someone is a child of God, because God has given us this gift of partaking in the privilege of suffering the tiniest bit as Christ suffered for His people and for the sake of the elect.
Going back to Philippians 3, it says in Philippians 3:2:
Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision.
Society gets so much from the Bible. The world’s culture and societies get a great deal from the Bible. Even the “Beware of Dog!” sign that people put up on their property comes right from the Bible, “Beware of dogs.” We see the Bible’s influence in many cultures of the world as Christianity has been brought to them.
Here God is giving us some good advice. It is good advice to beware of dogs. It is good advice to not go into a yard where there might be a big dog that is not friendly, and yet we know that the purpose of the Bible is the Gospel’s spiritual meaning. We can take an earthly meaning from this and that does have a little value, but really the final or greater meaning of this is that dogs represent something.
For example, the Bible tells us of a woman from Canaan who was pleading with Jesus that He might save her daughter. At some point in the discussion, the statement was made, “It is not meet to take the children’s bread, and cast it to dogs.” She responded, “Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.”
So Christ was likening her to a dog, which was an unclean animal. The Bible makes a distinction between clean and unclean animals. In that case, it referred to all of the unsaved or the Gentiles. But God uses this in other ways, too.
Turn to Isaiah 56. I will begin in verse 9. Isaiah 56-9-11 says:
All ye beasts of the field, come to devour, yea, all ye beasts in the forest. His watchmen are blind: they are all ignorant, they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber. Yea, they are greedy dogs which can never have enough, and they are shepherds that cannot understand: they all look to their own way, every one for his gain, from his quarter.
Who is this referring to? This is referring to unsaved pastors, unsaved teachers, those who are in the churches. Remember that God gives us the command to be watchmen. All of His people are to be watchmen. We are to watch for the sword to come, and Jesus restated this command many times when He said, “Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.”
So we are to watch. We are to watch in the Bible. That is where the spiritually-designated watchmen are to look. They are to be watching in the Bible, and yet God says of His watchmen in Isaiah 56:10, those who identify with Christ, those whom if asked would say that they are a Christian:
His watchmen are blind…
It would not make too much sense to put someone up in a watchtower who was blind, someone who could not even see his own hand in front of his face, let alone be able to look off into the distance to see an enemy coming, which is God coming with the sword of the Lord. And yet this is the problem with many of the rulers of the churches today. They are blind. This is why they do not see this. This is why they do not understand this. This is why they are not taking action themselves and why they are not warning their congregations. It is because they are blind.
So it goes on to say:
…they are all ignorant…
And God tells us in Daniel 12 in reference to our day that “the wise shall understand” but that “none of the wicked shall understand.” They will remain in ignorance concerning this information that is coming out of the Bible and of the day of His coming. They just cannot understand.
Then it says:
…they cannot bark; sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber.
This is why we find junkyard dogs where we see the sign posted, “Beware of Dogs!” It is because late at night someone wants to get into the junkyard to get a special part for their car, and so they jump into the junkyard, when all of a sudden and out of nowhere comes this big, mad dog running towards them, barking and scaring that person. If he can get away, he hops back over the fence.
That dog was acting like a watchman because he had been given that junkyard to protect. As well, God has given in the past elders and deacons and individuals the role of teaching from the Bible in the churches. Up until a point, the Word was sealed up. But once we got to the time of the end, the Lord opened up the seals. He had already commanded all Christians to watch, “Keep watch!” Then at the proper time as He opens up the seals of the Bible, the true watchmen see and begin to sound the alarm to warn the people.
But those who are not true watchmen, those who are not really saved and who have no eyes to see or ears to hear, they are therefore like dumb dogs. When the criminal jumps into the junkyard, it is like there is a little Chihuahua coming up to him that cannot bark. Who is going to be afraid of that?
This is a correct analogy to the leaders and teachers in the churches who are not sounding the alarm. As a matter of fact, they are going contrary to those who are trying to sound the alarm and insisting, “No man knows the day or hour. So do not worry. This means that you are safe and secure. You are here in church and we have you registered on our roll. You are a member in good standing. Let us get our checklist out. You have been baptized, you have partaken of the Lord’s Supper, you have accepted Christ, you continue to come weekly, and you give of your tithe. Everything is in order. You have the proper papers and you will soon be on that transport to Heaven.”
But it is all lies. Every bit of it is a lie. They try to make it sound like you did this, this, and this; you did works and, therefore, you can see God and live forevermore. But the Bible says, no. The Bible tells us that “man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ.” We can never dare tell someone or even try to insinuate that they are right with God. This is between God and that person. We never try to give assurance to anyone.
So God also says in Philippians 3:2:
Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers…
“Workers” is translated as “labourers” in some places.
We also see this word in 2 Corinthians 11:13:
For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.
This is referring to working in the Gospel in some way.
Then it goes on to say that they are emissaries of Satan. That is why they are “deceitful workers.” They would claim to be working for God. They would claim that they trust in God and obey God and do His will; but, actually, it is Satan’s will. Therefore, God identifies them as “deceitful.”
Also in Luke 13, there is another reference to “workers.” This is referring to May 21. This is when “the master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door,” which will happen on May 21 next year. We read in Luke 13:27:
But he shall say, I tell you, I know you not whence ye are; depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity.
This is referring to many who will be crying, “Lord, Lord! We are a child of Yours. We are a child of God,” and Christ will say, “I know you not whence ye are; depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity.”
There is one last thing to look at in Philippians 3. We read in Philippians 3:2-3:
Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision. For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.
This word “concision” is only used here and it is a word that is related to “cut off.” We can see how it ties in with circumcision as circumcision is the cutting off of the skin of the reproductive organ and the shedding of blood that pointed to Christ.
So God tells us:
…beware of the concision.
Why do we have to beware of the Jews or of Israel? Yes, Israel recently became a nation again in the last century, after nearly 2,000 years of being scattered, but why beware of them?
It is because as we look at circumcision, we find that this is a word that God uses to indicate those who desire to keep the Law. In some way, they are trying to get to Heaven through their own righteousness. This is what God is telling us. We are to beware of any who would try to indicate through the Gospel that they are sharing that we need to do this or that (in order to be made right with God). Maybe we will come back to this next week regarding circumcision.
Then in the last half of Philippians 3:3, we read:
…rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.
This is a different word for “rejoice.” This is translated as “glory” and as “boast.”
For example, God says in Ephesians 2:8-9:
For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.
That is the same word. We are not permitted to boast in anything that we do. We are not to glory in ourself, and this is the same word as “glory” that is found in 1 Corinthians 1:31:
That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.
Or:
…He that [boasteth] let him [boast] in the Lord.
This is what we are to do, and we can. We hear people boasting. Maybe parents have said to their children, “It is not good to boast. Do not try to puff up yourself and blow yourself up by saying that you do this or you do that.”
This kind of boasting is wrong, but there actually is a boasting that the Bible will allow and encourage, which is boasting in the Lord or glorying in the Lord, glorying in what He has done. All of the good things that a man might want to say to another man about himself is prideful and boasting; but there is no Law against telling someone about Christ and about what He has done, all of the wonderful blessings that He has provided.
This is the direction that a believer should go in where everything points back to Christ. We rejoice in Christ, we glory in Christ, we boast in Him and in His Word, and our focus is on the Lord Jesus Christ and not on ourselves, which is what we read in Psalm 115:1:
Not unto us, O LORD, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory…
This is why the phrase from Family Radio, “To God be the glory!” is so appropriate and so good. For each of us, this should be our desire. We should no longer try to get the glory ourself but to give it to God.
Let us stop here.