What is a Christian: By Definition

Pastor Lance explains the definition of a Christian from Philippians 3:3, and gives 8 characteristics of the true believer.

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Episode Transcript

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Father, we thank you for today. We are so grateful, Lord, for
the opportunity to give us in the middle of the week to study
Your Word and realize, Lord, that you open doors and You
close doors. And we realize, Father, that You
are sovereign. You rule over all.
So tonight, as we gather together and spend time in the
Word, we pray that You touch ourhearts and cause us, Lord, to

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really search our hearts and to know that which is true in Your
Word. Everything revolves around Your
Word. Everything about who You are is
spoken in Your Word. All that we need to know is in
Your Word. So we pray, Father, that we
would be master students of the Word of God, and that Lord, the

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things that you teach us, may they grow on us each and every
day. And maybe You walk in obedience
to Your name. I pray for everyone in the room
tonight. I pray Lord for their situation.
I don't know what's happening, their own personal lives, but
you know, and I just pray for them tonight.
They would be able to set aside all distractions, all those

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things that are encumbrances, and just receive the truth of
your word this evening and move them on to maturity in Christ
for the glory of your Kingdom until you come again, as you
most surely will, in Jesus name,Amen.
What is a a Christian? That's the question.

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Last week we looked at the Christian for the standpoint of
the fact that he's known by his decision.
Luke 923 says that if any man came after me, let him deny
himself, take up his cross and follow after me.
His decision to deny himself, Self denial.

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His decision to take up his cross, self sacrifice, his
decision to follow the Lord. Submission, That's the decision
that he makes. Self denial, A refusal to
associate with yourself any longer.
Why? Because you're sold out to doing

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all that Christ has asked you todo.
That's the decision that He makes, The instruction that
Christ gave us all throughout the New Testament.
When he come to the end of his life, He gets an illustration
about that. When Simon and Cyrene and Luke
23 was compelled out of the crowd to carry the cross beam of

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our Lord all the way to Calvary,in there you see a living
illustration of what it means totake up your cross and and
follow the Lord. He wanted to have an image
placed in the hearts and minds of everyone on the road to
Calvary that they would understand not just of the

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message that he preached, but ofthe model they lived and those
who followed him lived. And Simon of Cyrene was that
perfect model. And of course, he was compelled
to follow the Lord as you and I are compelled to follow the Lord
by his irresistible grace that calls him, calls us to Himself,

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that we might embrace all that He is.
That was last week, this week. The Christian is known by by his
definition. How do you define a Christian?
Would you be able to go to the Bible and give an accurate

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definition of a Christian so people would know that you
understand definitively who and what a Christian?
Really is I told you on Sunday that that some say well a
Christian is defined by by beinga believer in the Lord Jesus

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Christ because the Bible says that Acts 1631 believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.
And yet Jesus says these words in John chapter 2 verse 23.
Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover during the feast.
Many believed in his name observing his signs which he was

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doing. But Jesus on his part was not
entrusting himself to them for he knew all men and because he
did not need anyone to testify concerning man for he himself
knew what was in man so early onin the mystery of Christ.
Many believed in Jesus. It doesn't mean that they were

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Christians, It doesn't mean thatthey were saved because Jesus
was not entrusting himself to them, because he knew it was
exactly inside of man. Others would say, well to be a
Christian means that you are a disciple of of Jesus.
That would be a good definition of a Christian.

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And yet the Bible says in John 6verse 60.
Therefore many of his disciples when they heard this said, this
is a difficult statement, who can listen to it?
But Jesus, conscious that his disciples grumbled at this, said
to them, Does this cause you to stumble?
What then if you see the Son of man ascending to where he was

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before? It is a spirit who gives life.
The flesh profits nothing. The words that I have spoken to
you are Spirit in our life, but there are some of you who do not
believe. For Jesus knew from the
beginning who they were who did not believe, and who it was that

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would betray Him. And he was saying, For this
reason I have said to you that no one can come to me unless it
has been granted him from the Father.
As a result of this, many of hisdisciples withdrew and we are
not walking with him any longer.So just to say that someone is

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the disciple of Jesus does not necessarily define genuine
Christianity. Just because someone says they
believe in Jesus doesn't necessarily define the essence
of Christianity. Notice what it says.
It says many believed many were disciples, but they walked with

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him no longer. Then see a few a little here
smattering there. It says many would not walk with
him any longer and some would say, well, a Christian is
defined by the fact of his, his ministry and service, service

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for the Lord. Yet Jesus answered that early on
when he said not everyone who says to me, Lord Lord will enter
the Kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father
who is in heaven will enter many.
Again many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not
prophecy in your name and in your name cast out demons and in

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your name perform many miracles?Again, the word many is used.
Why? Because many, most are self
deceived. Most believe that they're on the
way to heaven. Most believe there are
Christians, many who believe, many are disciples, many who say

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we did this, we did that, we went here, we went there and
Christ says to them, I never knew you depart from me.
Those of you who practice lawlessness, that, that's just
astounding to me. The words of Scripture are very
particular. When the Lord speaks, he doesn't

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mumble His words. He speaks very clearly as to
what He wants to say. Many believed but would not walk
with Him anymore. Many were disciples but would
not not associate with Him anymore.
Many would say we did this, we did that, we served you, we were
faithful to you, we committed our lives to you.
Christ is saying Luke chapter 6.Why do you call me Lord, Lord

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and yet do not do what I say? Because you see, obedience and
salvation go hand in hand. Those who are saved obey, but
just because you obey doesn't mean you're saved.
And people say, well I'm so confused.
I believe I'm a disciple, I serve the Lord, I know the Lord

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and Jesus said these words. I would declare to them, I never
knew you. It's not so much that you know
him, it's just that he knows you.
And again you'll say, well, waita minute, I know the Lord.

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What do you mean he doesn't knowme?
I'm a disciple of the Lord. What do you mean?
If I if I walk away from him, does that mean I don't believe
any longer? Was I never really truly born
again from the very beginning? Again, the Bible says many, many
and many. There are many on the broad road

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to destruction. Few are on the narrow Rd. that
leads to life, but many are on the broad road to destruction.
And so it's very important for us to understand, listen, every
pastor needs to be concerned with the spiritual condition of
his flock. Every pastor needs to be

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overwhelmed by the fact that there are many people in this
church that profess Christianitybut don't possess the Christ who
is the author of Christianity. And every pastor who's concerned
about his flock is going to continually warn them over and
over again, compel them to matchtheir life to the standards of

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the Scriptures. What does the Bible actually
say? That's why Paul said for three
years that Ephesians church, I warned you day and night.
I never ceased to not warn you. I was always compelling.
You and Paul all throughout his letters would talk about the

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examination, the testing, the learning, the growing.
Are you sure you're saved? John and 1st John, James and
James's epistle, Peter and Peter's epistles, everything was
the same. Jude and his epistle, it's over
and over and over again. Christ would even say to the
Pharisees, the religious elite, everybody thought the Pharisees

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were going to heaven. Everybody thought the Sadducees
were going to heaven. These were the religious people
of His day. Everybody knew that they were
close to God. And Christ says to them in
Matthew 23 verse #27 Who? Woe to you, scribes and
Pharisees, you're hypocrites. For you are like whitewashed
tombs, which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside

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they are full of dead men's bones, and all in cleanness.
So you too outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly
you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.
You you have all the outward trappings, but none of the

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inward transformation. People can look a certain way on
the outside but never be changedon the inside.
And and Satan is a master at deception.
That's why in 2nd Corinthians 11he's called or he disguises
himself as an Angel of light. That that's why.

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But even in justice chapter 3 was so easily deceived.
That's why the Bible says in in Revelation 12 verse #9 that
Satan deceives the whole world. That's why John says he's the
Prince and the power of the air.That's why Peter says he goes

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about like a roaring lion seeking Who made me devour?
We, we can't set aside the Wherever there's the true, there
will always be the counterfeit. Wherever there are the wheat,
there will always be the tares. Wherever there's the genuine
believer, there will be the false believer.

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Wherever those who who possessedthe Christ, there were those who
professed the Christ, but no possessed the Christ.
That's the way Satan works. He's a master deceiver.
And any pastor that doesn't compel his church to search the
Scriptures to measure their lives against the standard of
the Scriptures should, should step out of the ministry.

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That's that's his, his ministry because he doesn't want anybody
to be deceived. He doesn't want anybody to end
up in hell. He wants everybody to know for
certain that they are on their way to glory and that there is
no discrepancy about their walk with the Lord, that they know
Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.That is just so important.

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And all the while, Satan gets people to believe that because
they do believe in Jesus or they're a follower of Jesus, or
they serve in the church for Jesus, that that's good enough
and that they're OK and that he can he can solve their

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conscience by getting into believe that you're doing all
the right things. But having the outward trappings
is no guarantee that there's been an inner transformation.
And Paul would address this in in great detail.

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He does it in a very unique way,which gives us the the supreme
definition of a Christian. So if you got your Bible term
with me to Philippians chapter 3, Philippians chapter 3.

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So many religions are designed around human achievement,
whether it's Catholicism, Mormonism, Jehovah's Witness,
Christian Science, liberal Protestantism.
It's centered around the things that I am doing that gave me

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merit before God. But in Christianity, it's it's
all about the work of God. It's all about what God does in
the life of a person because Godis a savior of man.
And so Paul wants to make that very clear.

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And so he says these words in verse #1 or chapter 3.
Finally, my brethren, rejoice inthe Lord.
Now he says that several times throughout the book of
Philippians because he wants them to have joy in the Lord.
Because that's the only place you really have joy.
It's not joy in your job or joy in your marriage, although
hopefully you have joy in your marriage and hopefully you find

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some kind of sympathetic joy in your job.
But real joy comes because of your relationship with the
living God. So, so Paul says rejoice in the
Lord because that's the relationship that matters.
That's the relationship that counts.
That's the relationship that that gives you security.
That's the relationship that gives you all the grace and
mercy and love that you can possibly ever understand because

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it's the Lord himself who grantsit.
So he says rejoice in the Lord. He says to write the same things
again to you is no trouble to me.
And it is a safeguard for you. See, Paul's concerned that he
protects the people at the Church of Philippi.
We should be protecting the people of God, giving them as a

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safeguard. What does the Bible actually
say? And so Paul says what I'm going
to write to you. I, I, I've said to you before
and but it's not a problem for me to say it again.
It's not a problem for me to repeat myself.
It's not a problem for me to re emphasize things I've already
talked to you about. Why?
Because this is a safeguard. This is a protection for you.

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This is how you watch out for your life.
That's the way pastor should be.So he says this pursue, beware
of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of the faults,
circumcision, beware, beware, beware the words of warning,

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stand alert, watch out, be careful.
There are dogs that are out there.
There are evil workers that are out there.
There are the false circumcisionthat is out there.
And you need to beware of this, He warns them.

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Because that's what pastors do. They want to make sure that
their people are alert to the dogs.
Well, why would they say dogs? Well, Jews call Gentiles dogs,
and here is a Jew, Paul, callingJews dogs.
Now, these are not little pet dogs.

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I have two of those, OK, really nice fluffy, smell good kind of
dogs who lick you and love you and that kind of stuff.
This is not a pet dog. This is a, this is a ravenous
dog. This is a rabid dog.
This is a dog filled with disease because in those days
most dogs were, were scavengers,scoundrels who ate from garbage

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bins, who were filled with diseases.
He's calling these false people.He gives a command, rejoice in
the Lord always. Then he gives the caution,
beware, beware, beware. And then he gives the contrast
and the contrast in between the false circumcision and the true

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circumcision, the false marked ones and the true marked ones.
He gives a contrast because he wants them to understand that
the unbelievers are dogs, evil workers, and they are the false
circumcision. And so he's warning them about

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these, these people who are diseased like people because the
ultimate disease is the disease of sin that leads you to hell.
And you want to be aware of those people.
And then he says beware, beware of the evil workers.
And the word is cacaos, which isevil at its core, evil at its

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core. Earlier, Paul would talk about
ravenous wolves. In in Matthew Chapter 7 he would
say that that these false teachers are purveyors of demon
doctrines. Here he calls them dogs because
they're they're scavengers who who feed on innocent lives.

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He calls them evil workers because at the depth of their
heart they are vicious. They don't care for your soul,
they only care about their own lives.
And then he calls them the falsecircumcision.

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The literal translation would bethe mutilation, which is more of
an explanation of what he's trying to say.
This is very, very important. To understand true circumcision,
you must understand false circumcision.
Therefore, you must understand what circumcision is all about.

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And if you know anything about the Abrahamic covenant in
Genesis chapter 17, in fact, letme read it to you.
Genesis chapter 17 verse #9 God says this.
God said further to Abraham, NowAs for you, you shall keep my
covenant, you and your descendants after you throughout
your generations. This is My covenant, which you

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shall keep between me and you and your descendants after you.
Every male among you shall be circumcised, and you shall be
circumcised in the flesh of yourforeskin, and it shall be the
sign of the covenant between me and you.
And every male among you who is 8 days old shall be circumcised.
Throughout your generations. A servant is born in your house,

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or who is brought with money from any foreigner who is not of
your descendants. A servant who was born in your
house, or who has bought with your money, shall surely be
circumcised. Thus shall my covenant be in
your flesh for an everlasting covenant.
But an uncircumcised male who isnot circumcised in the flesh of

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his foreskin, that person shall be cut off from his people.
He has broken my covenant. The sign of the Abrahamic
covenant was circumcision. That was a sign.
Now note this. It's a marking.
It marked three things. One, it marked the Jews

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identification with God #2 it marked the Jews separation from
the world. And that marking symbolized

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their commitment to purification.
So let me explain that to you. It's a mark of identification.
The Jews were responsible to their God, and they were
responsible in such a way that they were to obey and honor

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their God. And because their God was holy,
they were to be separate from sin.
Because they identify with His Holiness, so their
identification was with His Holiness.
Their separation was from their sinfulness and their
purification would would affect their eternal destiny.

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But over time, the Jews messed that whole thing up.
You see, what made a Jew a Jew was was was was circumcision.
That was the identifying mark ofa Jewish man.
And all the Jews revelled in this, so much so that the

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identifying mark of circumcisionbecame more important to them
than what that mark actually symbolized.
And the word is circumcised means to, to, to cut away.
And it's the, it's the cutting away of the foreskin of, of the
male organ. Now, now, why would God do this?
What was so unique about this? Who would know this?

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The Jews would. But you see, it's very, very
important. Let me ask you a question.
How is sin passed from generation to generation?
Through the procreative act, right?
You know why Jesus was born of avirgin?
Because no man could conceive A sinless child.

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It's impossible because man's a Sinner.
Man's a Sinner not because he sins.
Man's a Sinner because he's borna Sinner.
It's in his DNA. That's who he is.
And ever since Adam and Eve fellinto sin, everybody born after
that is born into sin. You're born separated from God.

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And so the Jews were the people of God and the people of God
were to model the way to to whatit means to be a follower of
God. And so God gave them a very
unique and distinguishing mark of identification with God in
His Holiness and separation withGod from their sinfulness.

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But it didn't take that course with them.
But it should have. Because you see, every time man
would procreate, he would pass on sin and more sin and more sin
with everybody who came from thewomb of a woman.

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And yet, and yet that circumcision was to remind every
drew that cleanliness on the outside was no substitute for
cleanness on the inside. And that's why Christ always
emphasized the circumcision of the heart.

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Leviticus 2641 talks about the circumcision of the heart.
Deuteronomy 6 Excuse me 10 verse#16 circumcise the heart.
Deuteronomy 30 verse #6 circumcise the heart.
Jeremiah 4/4 circumcise the heart.
Ezekiel 34 or Excuse me 44 sevencircumcise the heart.

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But over time, the Jews saw thisas their as their badge of
eternal security. We are children of Abraham.
We have been circumcised. We are children of God.
This is our way into eternity. But it wasn't.
It was it was a sign that led tosomething else.
It was a sign that led to the ultimate symbol of inner

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purification that they needed tohave, that needed to be pure
from their own sin. And the only way that would
happen is through the arrival ofthe new covenant.
And that new covenant was ratified by the blood of Jesus
Christ our Lord. And so Paul says, I want you to
beware of the dogs. I want you to beware, beware of

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the evil workers. Now I want you to beware of the
mutilation because all these false Christians who claimed
that circumcision gets them intoheaven, all they are is
mutilating themselves. It means absolutely nothing.
They're like the prophets of of Baal in first Kings 18 who used
to cut themselves open, try to get their God to to pay

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attention, but he did not because there was no God except
the one true God. So there's a mutilation.
That's how Paul says that in Romans chapter 2.
Listen to what he says, For indeed circumcision is a value
if you practice the law. But if you are a transgressor of

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the law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision.
In other words, your circumcision means nothing as he
speaks to help Jews understand, because all these Judaizers
would follow Paul wherever he went.
Paul would go into a city. He'd preach the gospel.
Salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone in Christ
alone. And people would give their

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lives to Christ, and the Judaizers would come in and say,
hey, you know what? It's more than that.
We believe in Jesus and we believe in grace, and we believe
that Jesus died on the cross. But there's more to it than
that. You got to be circumcised.
You got to keep the Mosaic law. You got to keep the ceremonial
law. And Paul says those are dogs,
those are evil workers. They're they're, they're the
mutilation, they're the false circumcision.

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They're not the true circumcision.
And they were adding works to the saving grace of God.
And whenever you add works to salvation, it's an error.
Let's let's say someone says to you, OK, are the 7th day
Adventists saved? Are they going to heaven because

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they go to the 7th Day AdventistChurch?
They may be, they may be. But if they believe that going
to church on Saturday gets them to heaven, they're not.
It's like the person in the Catholic Church.
I don't care what church you go to.
That's the irrelevant If God's going to save you, he's going to

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save you. But if you're going to a
Catholic Church, can people in the Catholic Church be saved?
Yes, they can be. But if you believe as going to
the Catholic Church that what I'm doing by taking Mass and by
being baptized as an infant or particularly the sacraments,
then that's going to get me intoheaven, then then you're not

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saved. You can't add works to grace,
can't do that. And Paul's very, very concerned
that you need to be aware of these people that are trying to
add something to the true essence of the Gospel.
So then he defines the Christianfor them, makes it very clear.

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He says we are the true circumcision.
Oh, by the way, Paul goes on to say this in Romans chapter 2.
He says this for he is not a Jewwho is 1 outwardly, nor a
circumcision, that which is outward of the flesh, but he is
a Jew who is 1 inwardly. And circumcision is that which
is of the heart by the Spirit. The true Jew is one who is

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circumcised in the heart inwardly.
Just because you've been circumcised on the outside,
because you've done the externaltrappings, if there's been no
internal transformation, the external trappings mean
absolutely nothing. And so Paul says this, he says

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very clearly, we are the true circumcision, we are the true
marked ones who are the ones that are marked by God.
OK, these are the false marked ones, but these, these are the
true marked ones. He says this who worship in the
Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no

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confidence in the flesh. There's your definition of a
Christian. It's the best concise definition
in the Bible of a Christian. They worship God in spirit or by
the Spirit. They glory only in Christ Jesus,

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and they put no confidence in the flesh.
In other words, the true believer has a heart adoration,
a heart exaltation, and a heart humiliation.

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We are the ones who worship in the Spirit of God or by the
Spirit of God. The word worship with trio is an
all-encompassing term. It's more than just singing
hymns on a Sunday. It's more than going to church
on a Sunday. It's about true worshippers.
Remember the conversation that Jesus had with the woman of

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Samaria in John chapter 4? We told her that there's coming
a day where you're not going to worship on this mountain, Mount
Garrison, or in this temple, butyou're going to worship in
spirit and in truth, because Godis seeking true worshippers.
Everybody's a worshiper, right? Everybody worships something.

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Everybody worships someone. There's, there's an idol,
there's a God in our lives that we bow down to, maybe not
physically, but it it governs our lives.
All of us are worshippers. Man by nature is a worshipper,
but the true worshipper worshipsin spirit or by the spirit.

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And God is seeking true worshippers.
Remember First Thessalonians 19,They turn to God from idols to
serve the true living God. That's the true worshipper when,
when you become a Christian, right when you give your life to
Christ, you turn to God and you turn away from idols, you turn

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away from that which you worshipped before, you turn away
from that which was governing everything that you did before,
and you embrace the Messiah. And so those in Thessalonica,
they turn to God from idols in order to serve, worship the true

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and living God. So Paul says we are the marked
ones, we are the true circumcision.
We are the ones who worship in spirit.
So how do you know that's you? What are the characteristics,

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the marks of someone who worships in spirit or by the
Spirit? How do you know this is you?
There are certain qualities thatmake up your worship.
Listen, if you don't worship GodMonday through Saturday, don't
think that you can come in here on Sunday and truly worship God

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because worship is a lifestyle. The adoration we have for God
happens not just on Sundays, it happens every day of our lives.
And so there are certain characteristics that that make
the worshipper distinguish the true worshipper, distinguish
from the false worshiper #1 I'llgive you several words here.

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First word is recognition. Recognition.
You recognize who God really is,and you bow before Him.
Matthew 17 Peter, James and Johnon the Mount of Transfiguration.
And God the Father speaks from the from the cloud that envelops

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everybody, saying, this is my beloved son in whom I am well
pleased. And Peter, James and John fell
flat on their faces before the Lord and worshipped him.
All, all true worship stems froma recognition of who God is.

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The reason you bow before Him isbecause of His identity.
He's the God of the universe. In fact, the Bible says in Psalm
211, worship the Lord with reverence and rejoice with
trembling. This is very important.
Why? Because from recognition the
second word is trepidation. Trepidation Worship the Lord

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with trembling. Everybody who's a true
worshipper trembles under the authority of God.
Psalm, Isaiah excuse me 66 verse#2 To this man will I look to
him who's broken and of a contrite heart, and who trembles
at my word. This is the man I look to the

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one who trembles at my my word. Over in Isaiah chapter 8, the
Lord says this. It is the Lord of hosts whom you
should regard as holy. He shall be your fear, He shall

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be your dread. Then He will become your
sanctuary. It's the Lord of hosts whom we
regard as holy. It's a recognition that the Lord
of armies, Yahweh Sabatath, is, is holy.
Well, if that's the case, if he's a holy God, the more I see

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my holiness or see His Holiness,the more I'm able to see and
view my sinfulness. Therefore, I rejoice with fear
and trembling. So once there's a recognition,
there's also a trepidation. The Bible says in Psalm 33 verse
#8 that all the earth fear the Lord, that all the inhabitants

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of the world stand in awe of him, stand in awe of him.
Two worshippers are marked by recognition of who God really,
truly is. That recognition is followed by
a by a trepidation. That trepidation is followed by

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an examination. An examination.
Why is that? I love what AW Tozer says when
he said no worship is wholly pleasing to God until there is
nothing in me displeasing to God.
That is just so good. No worship is holy pleasing to

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God until there is nothing in medispleasing to God.
That's true worship. That's the examination.
That's why David said search me,O Lord, Psalmist Psalm 139,
search me, O Lord, try me, see if there be any wicked way in me
and lead me in the way of righteousness.
David would say over in Psalm 55created me a clean heart, O Lord

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and and renew a right spirit within me.
There's the cry of the true worshipper is Lord, cleanse me
from within deal with my sin. I want to confess my sin to you
knowing that you are faithful and just to forgive me of all my
sin and because there's a recognition of His Holiness.
There is an absolute enormous task of seeing nothing but my

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sinfulness. That's how you know you've truly
seen and recognized God. That recognition leads to a
trepidation. That trepidation leads to an
examination. Search me, O Lord, try me.
See if there'd be any wicked wayin me.
And then that examination leads to an affection for him, a love

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for him, great affection. Why?
Because you let you serve a forgiving God, a merciful God.
And there's this great affectionfor for the Lord.
Hero is with the Lord, our God is 1.
They should love the Lord of Godwith all your heart, soul, mind
and strength. The intensity that's there, the

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inclusiveness that's there. You love him with all your
heart, all your soul, all your mind.
Not just partially. That's why.
That's why at the end of of the ministry of Christ, after he had
been resurrected, he found Peteron the Sea of Galilee.
And what was the question he asked Peter?
Peter, do you love me? Why?

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Because the essence of worship is an affection for the God you
say you recognize as the supremeLord of host, the Holy One of
Israel. The answer Three times.
Peter, do you love me? Because if you love me, you're
going to follow me even to your death.
But the affection for God is so strong.

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I love again what Tozer says when he says this.
He says true worship is to be personally and hopelessly in
love with God, That the idea of a transfer of affection never
even remotely exists. That's worship.
The transfer of an affection from my God to something else or

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someone else doesn't even remotely exist in my life
because I am all enamoured, all encumbered with the Lord God of
Israel. That's a true worshipper.
And Paul says we are the marked ones.
We are the ones who worship God in spirit or by the spirit.
Very important. The characteristics of that is

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1A recognition, second, a trepidation, third, an
examination, 4th an affection, and 5th a jubilation.
Rejoice in the Lord. There is great joy in worship.

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Numbers 8 verse #10 the joy. The Lord is your strength.
Romans 1417 The Kingdom of God is righteousness, peace and joy
in the Holy Spirit. That's why that Matthews 5-6 and
seven are so important. Remember in Matthew chapter 4,
Christ is going around healing all the paralytics, all all the

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blind, all the lane. He's healing everybody and
people are coming to him in droves.
Thousands upon thousands of are all around him.
Why? Because they were sick and
diseased and they wanted to be healed.
And Christ healed them all because he was graceful and
merciful. And then he sits down and
chapter 5 of Matthew and says, blessed are the poor in spirit,

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for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn, forthey shall be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger andthirst for righteousness, for
they and they only shall be satisfied.

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And he goes on and gives all these blessings.
Why? Note the context.
He says, look, I know you're happy because I healed you.
I know you're ecstatic. You're on cloud 9 because you
feel better. You know, it's like to be sick
and all of a sudden you feel better.
Or you've had surgery, you've been in pain.
All of a sudden, no more pain. Things are great.
I feel wonderful, right? Crisis.

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I know you're feeling good physically, but you're not
feeling good spiritually. I'm going to heal you
physically. But guess what?
I got bad news. You're still going to die.
You're still going to get sick and die.
OK? But here's the good news.
You'd experience the true joy ofthe Lord by coming to me on my
terms. That's what the Sermon of the

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Mount is all about, true blessing and joy and coming to
know Christ. And the Lord knew that.
He knew that their physical healing was not enough.
They need to be spiritually healed from the inside out and
therefore, once they were, joy would envelope them and listen,

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what's the fruit of the Spirit? It's love, that's affection,
joy, that's jubilation, peace, that's consolation that that's,
that's the next word of an outline Why?
It's all produced by the spirit.All of it's produced by the
spirit. How do I, how do I recognize who

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God is? What, what did Christ say to
Peter? Flesh and blood do not reveal
this to you, but my Father in heaven revealed this to you.
Revealed what? That I'm the crisis of the
living God. There's a recognition that
recognition leads to trepidation.
That trepidation leads to examination.
That examination leads to affection, that affection to

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jubilation, that jubilation, great consolation, peace,
serenity, knowing I'm a child ofthe living God.
That's why you let the peace of Christ rule in your Christ said
in John 1426. My peace I give unto you, not as
the world gives, give I unto you, but my peace.

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There's the consolation there, there, there.
There's the comfort. It comes because of the peace
that God gives us. That's why we let the peace of
Christ, as we talked about on Sunday, rule in our hearts.
I'm at peace with God. I'm on God's side.
He's going to he's going to dictate which way I go and what
I say and where I live and whereI work because he's the empire

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at peace with God. Isaiah 26 three.
He says what I will keep him in perfect peace.
Whose mind has stayed on me? What are the distinguishing
characteristics of one who worships in spirit or by the
Spirit, one's recognition of whoGod is to his trepidation before

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the God you've recognized? With that comes an examination
of my life, because I don't wantthere to be any wicked way in me
when I know that my God Forgivesbecause of His grace and mercy.
There's great affection for my God, great love for the Lord, so
much so that the transfer of affection never even remotely

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exists. How about you?
Who's vying for your affection as we speak?
What's vying for your attention as we speak?
With that affection comes jubilation, great joy in the
Lord. For that jubilation comes great
consolation. From that consolation comes

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great satisfaction. Psalm 73.
Psalmist said these words, Whom have I in heaven but you?
And besides you I desire nothingon earth.
Why? Remember Christ told Abraham in

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Genesis 15 verse #1 I am Abraham, your very great reward.
I'm it, I'm it, I am your very great reward.
That's why Peter says, quoting from Isaiah 28 in first Peter
chapter 2 verse #6 He who believes in him will never be

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disappointed. Why?
Because two worshippers find their satisfaction in Christ,
that's why. And lastly, devotion.
I'm not sure how many that is. 8The great 8 devotion.

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Devotion when? When Satan came to tempt Christ
in the wilderness in Matthew chapter 4.
I will give you the kingdoms of this world if you just bow down
and worship me. Bypass the cross.
You don't need the pain. I'll give you all the reward
without the pain. That's what Satan always does,
right? You can have the blessing, the
joy without the pain. Whenever you think that you can

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have joy without the pain. No, it's Satan and not Christ.
And Christ says, the Bible says that you shall only worship the
Lord your God, in him only shallyou serve.
Every true worshiper has a supreme devotion to their God.
They don't want to compromise. They don't desire to do that.

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They are completely undivided. They know they can't serve 2
masters Matthew 624 Because if you love one, you're going to
hate the other. You can't serve 2 masters.
It's like trying to go to two churches.
You can't go to two churches andgo to one church.
You can't serve 2 churches. You only serve one, right?
You can't be married to two people.

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You only be married to one. Everything's divided.
You're going to love one and hate the other, so you got to be
completely devoted to Christ andthat's the way it should be for
every single one of us. Remember Genesis chapter 22?

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Genesis 22 is the first time theword worship is mentioned in the
Bible. It's mentioned in this context,
Abraham says to his fellow travellers as he come to the
base of Mount Moriah says, wait here and I and the lad will go

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up and we will worship and we'llreturn to you.
I I find that so remarkable because that's in Genesis
chapter 22. The Decalogue wasn't given to
Exodus chapter 20, right? Years later about worship, you

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shall have no other gods before me, right?
But Abraham knew in Genesis 22 what it meant to worship his
God. What there was supreme devotion
in Abraham's life. There was supreme affection for
his God. He so much so that he would be
willing to sacrifice his son on the altar for the sake of his

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love for his God. When he says, take now your son,
your only son, your only begotten son, the son of your
love, take him and sacrifice him.
And Abraham said, I would do it because I'm devoted to you.
My, you are my affection. You are my complete and total
adoration and Genesis chapter 22embodies all of the 8

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characteristics I just gave you.And if we had time, we'd go back
to Genesis chapter 22 and show you how each of them are
manifested in the life of Abraham and Isaac on Mount
Moriah. Because that's a characteristic
of a true worshipper, because heworships by the Spirit.
And then it says second characteristic defines him.

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He glories in Christ Jesus. What a great statement.
It's it's a word that means to boast with exuberant joy.
We we think of boasting as as a,a negative term and it is in the
human realm, but in the divine realm it's a great term because

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you're glorying, you're boastingin Christ.
Paul said these words in Galatians chapter 6.
He said, But may it never be that I would boast or glory
except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the
world has been crucified to me, and I to the world, for neither
a circumcision anything nor uncircumcision, but a new

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creation. Far be it from me that I should
I should glory in anything otherthan the Christ, because I've
been crucified with him. And what's the true believer do
he? He boasts in Christ Jesus.
He has great joy because of Christ.
He glories in Christ Jesus. We live in a age today where

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where man is so enamored with himself.
He wants to receive all the glory, all the attention, all
the praise, but not, not the genuine believer, not the
genuine worshipper, not the genuine Christian, Oh no, the
believer. He doesn't want praise coming to
himself. He doesn't want a recognition

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coming to himself. He doesn't want admiration
coming to himself that if if that's you, you got to check
yourself at the door and ask yourself, am I truly wanting to
glory in Christ Jesus or do I want to be glorified?
Do I want to be seen? Do I want to be recognized?
The true believer glories in Christ Jesus.
He boasts in Christ. That's why Jeremiah, God said to

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Jeremiah, Jeremiah and 23 and 24.
Let not the the wise man boast in his wisdom, neither let the
rich man boast in his riches, orneither let the mighty man boast
in his might, because that's what we boast in.

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I like the glory in my riches, my wisdom, my intellect, my
education, my PhD or my double PHDI want to boast in those
things. I want to glory in those things.
I put them on my wall so when everybody walks in, they can see
Doctor this and Doctor that. We want everybody to see who I
am and what degrees I have, because I want to boast in my

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wisdom. I want to boast in my riches.
I want to boast in my might, my power, and my strength.
And God says to Jeremiah, Let not the mighty man boast in his
might, or the rich man in his riches, or the wise man in his
wisdom, but let him who boasts boast in this.

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Then it stands and knows that I am the Lord who exercises his
loving kindness and mercy and justice on the face of the
earth. You want to boast in something,
you want to glory about something during the fact that
you just know who I am, you recognize me for who I am, and

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you give all the praise and direction to whom it is due.
The true worshipper, he wants noglory.
He wants no praise. He wants no honor.
He wants no recognition. He wants God to be put on

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display. He wants God to be seen.
He wants God seen in his family.He wants God seen at work.
He wants God seen on the field. He wants God seen in the
operating room. He wants God seen at church, all
he cares about. Do people get a clear glimpse of

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the Christ? It's all that matters.
Nothing else matters. See we live in a world where
that is just so hard today because we are so self absorbed.
We are so into us. To me, we just can't stand it if

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somebody doesn't recognize me throughout the day.
We can't stand it if someone doesn't like my Instagram post,
we can't handle it. That's why you got to ask
yourself, are you a true child of God?
Many believe that we're not saved.

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Many were disciples who walked away.
Many will say and Christ will say, depart from me.
Never knew you. So a true worshipper.
He's the one who worships in spirit.

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He's the marked one. He's the one who glories only in
Christ. And I love this next one.
He puts no confidence in the flesh.
None, no confidence in the flesh.
I think it, Paul says to those in Galatia in Galatians chapter
3 verse number 30. You foolish Galatians, who has

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bewitched you, thinking that youcould be saved by the Spirit,
but now try to perfect yourself in the flesh, that somehow you
can grow yourself without the work of the Spirit of God.
Can't do that. See, everything in the spiritual

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realm is energized by the Spirit.
I'm going to talk about this on Sunday, because Sunday we're
going to talk about how how you don't quench the Spirit.
First Thessalonians 5, verse #19we're making our way slowly
through the end of the chapter, one verse at a time.
And we'll look at verse #19 how you don't quench the Spirit.
You'll be surprised how many times you go through the day and

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you quench the working of the Spirit in your life.
How you stifle the work in the Spirit, how you smother the work
of the Spirit, how you dampen the work of the Spirit in your
life. You'll be surprised how many
times that happens throughout each day.
And for the most part, we don't even recognize it.
And then we wonder why my marriage is as bad as it is.

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My ministry stinks. My life is in shambles, not even
knowing that we've stifled the work in the Spirit in our own
lives. But that's for Sunday.
I'm not going to talk about tonight.
But the bottom line is that you put no confidence in the flesh,
no confidence in the flesh. The flesh profits nothing.

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God doesn't want the spiritual, the Christian life lived in by
fleshly means. And you can, you can judge this
by just ask yourself about your prayer life.
Just ask yourself about your prayer life and ask yourself do
do I We talked about on Sunday acouple weeks ago.
Pray without ceasing unceasing prayer.

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It might be seeking the feeling of grace.
Am I in prayer about everything but but but as you go to prayer,
you are relinquishing you are relinquishing your involvement
in begging for God's involvementto do everything.
It's it's the spirit controlled life and and to believe the the

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genuine Christian, the true marked 1.
He puts no confidence in his flesh.
Paul would say I, I am nothing. I am nothing without Christ.
I like what John the Baptist said he must increase.
I must decrease that that shouldbe tattooed on your forehead.

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Put it there. He must increase.
I must decrease. So every time you look in the
mirror, you can see it. You have to read it backwards,
but you'll be able to see it at least in the mirror.
OK, so that the God gets all theglory and that I don't put any
confidence in my own flesh, but I just Lord, I trust you, I I
believe in you. That's why the Bible says for by

(01:00:16):
grace are you safe to faith thatnot of yourselves, it's the gift
of God, not of works, lest than imagine what boast, boast.
There's no works involved in salvation except the work of
God, right? Not by works of righteousness,
which we have done, but by the washing of regeneration and by
the renewing of the Spirit of God.
Titus 35. That's how a man is born again,

(01:00:39):
not by works of righteousness, which we have done.
And the true genuine believer, he puts no confidence in the
flesh. Why?
Why? The false circumcision is
putting all their confidence in their flesh, in their heritage,
in their lineage. The true believer has no
confidence in his flesh. That's why we've said the

(01:01:02):
Christian is defined by heart adoration, heart exaltation, and
heart humiliation. That's why I, Psalm 21st #7 says
some boast in Chariots, others boast in horses.

(01:01:23):
But we, we will boast in the name of the Lord our God.
We're not going to put our confidence in human things.
We're not going to put our confidence in armies.
We're not going to put our confidence in Chariots and
horses. We're not going to put our
confidence in the things that man does.
We're going to put our confidence in God.
We're going to, we're going to boast in God, in the name of the

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Lord our God. They will be brought down and
fall, but we will rise up and stand firm.
That's the mark of a genuine believer.
Christian is known by a definition.
He's the one who worships by theSpirit of God.

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He's the one who glories only inChrist Jesus, and he puts
absolutely no confidence in his flesh.
Is that you? I would trust that it is just
another way you can examine yourlife in light of what God's Word
says so that you are not a part of the many who said they

(01:02:29):
believed, or the many who said they were disciples, or the many
who said they served And the Lord said, I never knew you.
Don't be a part of the many, be a part of the few.

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The few that find the narrow, the narrow road and enter into
glory. Let's pray together.
Father, we are grateful for today all that you do.
Thank you for your word. Your word is so clear.
It makes it so, so understandable.

(01:03:13):
And I pray Lord, for everyone inthe room as they match their
life against the word of God. They would ask themselves, am IA
genuine worshipper of my God? Am I the one who glory is only
in the Christ? Am I the one who puts no
confidence in my flesh but completely and totally trust in

(01:03:39):
the Lord God of Israel? That should be us.
Lord, I pray that it is and thatLord you encourage us.
Lord, none of us are perfect. Do we worship you perfectly?
We do not. Do we glory in Christ Jesus
perfectly? No, we don't do that either.
Do we put confidence in our own flesh?

(01:04:00):
Many times, Yes, we do. Yet Lord of Hearts, desire is to
do what you've asked and what you've commended, and because it
is we want to serve and follow our King, maybe faithfully do so
until you come again, as you most surely will, in Jesus name,
Amen.