THE REAL THING (PART 1)
PHILIPPIANS 3:1-2
05/03/95
Before I became a pastor I was very much involved in a Ministry called C.A.R.E.S, which stood for Christian Apologetic Research and Education Service. The goal of this ministry was to reach out with the Gospel of Jesus Christ to those involved in various cults. Our main outreach was to Jehovah’s Witnesses and Mormons.
While a part of this ministry I was exposed to many different believes of many different groups. Most of these people sincerely believed that they had the "true gospel". But when I examined their "gospel" in light of the Scriptures, it became clear that it was not the gospel of Jesus Christ, but a man made gospel, a gospel that did not bring freedom as does the true gospel, but one that bring bondage.
In almost every case these man-made gospels burdened the people who were in them with some sort of requirement for salvation. Something which they themselves had to do. Or someone other the Jesus Christ that they had to believe in. In most every case these burdens were so heavy that not one of the persons I meant could measure up to the point were they could say with certainly, I know I will go to heaven. This again was because of they were never quite sure of themselves.
Now with the true gospel one can say that yes I KNOW for certain that I will have eternal life, that I will go to heaven. Not because I am trusting in myself to do something, but because I trust in the work already done on my behalf by the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now today we are going to see what Paul as to say the area of Christianity, and false teachings. Teaching which add burdens on people that God never intended. If you open up your pew Bible to page 1018, we will be reading Philippians chapter 3 verses 1-3.
Philippians 3:1-2 "Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. For me to write the same things to you is not tedious, but for you it is safe. Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the mutilation!"
Now in this verse we see Paul responding to the false teachers that apparently were trying to lead the Philippians astray. In this passage he gives the marks of these false teachers. In two weeks we will take a closer look at the marks of the true believer, but for now;
Notice that he begins by telling the people to "rejoice in the Lord!". Now I have mentioned in past sermons that joy is a reoccurring theme in this letter. Paul wishes the people of Philippi and us, to understand the great joy there is in having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. When one has the proper relationship with Jesus there is much joy in our lives. We will discuss this a length in a later sermon, but for know Paul says rejoice in the Lord, and he states this write before he goes into a warning concerning these false teachers.
I believe he does this as a way of saying there is joy in the Lord, but if you listen to these false teachers, if you accept the gospel that they are preaching they will steal that joy from you. They will rob you of the joy the Lord wants you to have when you have a loving relationship with Him.
I also want you to notice the seriousness of the warning Paul gives concerning these false teachers. He states "beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the mutilation". He repeats that word beware three time. Beware! Beware! Beware!. He is trying to stress the danger that comes with this false teaching, not because they may cause one to be burdening for life, but they can cause one to miss eternal life. So Paul’s warning concerning these teachers needs to be taken very very seriously.
So let us take a look at these teachers and what kind of teachers that they were. And the seriousness of their error. These were a group of people known as Judaizers And they are called this because of there teaching that it was not enough to simply have Jesus as your saviour, but you also had to obey the Mosaic Law.
Basically what they had was group of people whose old habits were hard to break. These people had been raised in the Jewish faith, and it was difficult for them to break with those traditions and laws. So they came up with their own religion, follow the law, and accept Jesus as the Christ. This group that Paul mentions was laying extra emphasis on the rite of circumcision.
To them if you were not circumcised you could not be saved. You had to have the external mark of circumcision for you to be righteous before God.
These people sought to steal the joy that we spoke of in a relationship with Jesus Christ. They wanted to add burdens to the people and this was something which Paul wishes to bring to the Philippian people, as well as ours, attention. They needed to beware of these Judaizers.
Now in our passage Paul uses some strong words in describing these teachers. First he calls them "dogs". Now one of the favorite terms of the ancient Jewish people towards gentiles was to call them "genital dogs". They called them dogs because the gentile would eat any meat whether it was unclean or not, just like the dogs of the middle east. WE should remember that the dogs of the ancient Middle East are not like the dogs we think of today. They were scavengers, roaming the streets, rummaging through the garbage heaps. They were not house hold pets like we have today. no fe-fe’s or spots in those days.
So to be called a dog was great insult in those days.
But here Paul turns the table on these people. He now calls these certain Jews dogs. To Paul they are the vicious ones. They are the ones the are feeding on the "law" of ceremonies. They are looking to outward signs for salvation rather then the heart.
Paul also calls them "evil workers". Describing these same types of people in 2 Cor. 11:13 Paul writes;
"For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ."
This phrase denotes two things obviously, first they were evil, second the worked at it. They did not just sit on their evilness, they laboured for it’s cause, they sought to spread it. Now I would guess that we would have to place them in two different categories. Those who do evil and know they are doing evil. And those who are doing evil but do not realize that what they teach is evil. Now either way they are doing evil in the sight of God, and both are equally guilty in God’s eyes.
If you are traveling down the road doing 55 mph and a police man pulls you over, and he comes up to you and give you a ticket because the speed limit was only 25 mph do you think I you say to him but officer I didn’t know the speed limit was only 25 that he will let you go. Even if you honestly did not know, I don’t think he will. Ignorance is no excuse for breaking mans law, and nether is ignorance an excuse for breaking Gods law. Because in both instances, it is our responsibility to know that law, it is our responsibility to know right from wrong.
So Paul states they were evil and that they also were workers. Again not just sitting around but working for their cause. Jesus described these types of teachers who are hard at work in Matt. 23:15;
"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves."
So these false teachers were and still are traveling the land, spreading their false teachings to the unsuspecting.
The final thing Paul refers to them as being is "the mutilation". Paul refers to the circumcision that was preached by these teachers as nothing more then mutilation. It does not make them more righteous, it does not make give salvation, in regards to spiritual matters Paul states it is nothing more then mutilation.
These people were also mutilating the gospel as well. They were taking away from the work of Christ by adding something to it, thus mutilating it. Any thing or anybody who adds anything, to the gospel as found in the Bible mutilates. It does not matter how small the addition is, it does not matter how many teachings, or rules you add to the gospel, it is mutilation.
Because the true gospel is pure. It stands perfect as it is, because the one who brings it, Jesus Christ is perfect.
Any time something is added to the gospel it note only mutilates it but it transforms it into different gospel.
2 Corinthians 11:4 "For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted, you may well put up with it."
One thing about different gospel they will always preach a different Jesus, one who is not God for instance, or a different Spirit again a Spirit that is not God or not from God.
So Paul is saying beware of these different gospels, these different spirits, beware of those who preach another Jesus.
Now some may ask what do these Judaizers have to do with us. Will there are modern day Judaizers. Those whom Paul would call "dogs" "Evil workers" and "mutilators" those who preach a different gospel and another Jesus.
Now I make mention the these groups not to be mean, not to suggest that I am better then they are. I mention not to suggest that there intents are evil. Yet the doctrine these groups teach is what the word of God calls evil. Most of the people involved with these groups are very sincere and are nice people. but they are sincerely wrong when it comes to their view of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
I also do not wish to infer that this church has the only truth, no church does. No denomination has a market on the truth. What is true is regardless of what church you belong to the only way to salvation is Jesus Christ.
So I name these groups to warn you as Paul warned the Philippian people.
One more thing I would like to mention before I name these groups is that what I say about them I can prove, not through what someone else as written about them, but through there own literature, there own teaching, so if you do not agree with anything I may say about these groups I will be happy to show what they believe from their own mouths.
So groups I would call modern day Judaizers;
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. As know as the Mormon Church. Now the Mormon church tries very hard to present itself as just another Christian denomination. But beware they are not a Christian denomination. They Mormon Church teaches a different gospel. They teach a different Christ, a different Spirit.
In Mormon theology men can become gods, and have their own planet, and Mormon women, you get to be eternally pregnant, in order to populate that planet.
So it is plain to see when you look at just what they teach that they add to the gospel, they mutilate the gospel.
The second group I will mention are those who preach a "social gospel". Which is a gospel that has removed Christ all together. The social gospel of today states that you don’t need Jesus as your Saviour, you just need to be a good person. Just do good works.
Realize that when you take Christ out of the Good News there is no good news. Because our good works are nothing when it comes to the righteousness of God. We may say well I am a good person, I get to heaven. But what are you comparing good to. To Tim Mcvay that man who blew up the building in Oklahoma city. Colin Hyde, the man who killed that police officer last year is good compared to him, he only killed one person. The point is that compared to God, and He is the only one that counts none of us are good.
WE ALL NEED CHRIST! Those who preach a social gospel, preach a different gospel then that in Scripture, so we must beware.
Then there is the Watchtower, the organization of the Jehovah’s Witnesses. Again a very sincere group, I have meant some wonderful people who were JW’s, people I loved dearly. But again it is a different gospel. A gospel based on works, a gospel based not one just faith in Jesus Christ, there Jesus is not God but a god, but a gospel based on membership in the Watchtower. If you are not a JW’s Witness there will be no salvation, no eternal life. They have mutilated the gospel by adding to it.
Finally there is the New Age. While this is not one group of people but many, they teach a very distorted gospel. A gospel which would have us belief that we are gods. That we are the one who are sovereign, that we are in control. This gospel teaches that if you don’t get life right this time, do not worry you will get another change, but the true gospel states in ;
Hebrews 9:27 "And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment,"
No second changes in the true gospel. Only one God in the true gospel. While the New Age movement entails many teachings, teaching which even contradict one another, we must be warned of it’s dangers, as they seek to mutilate the true gospel.
Now those are not the only modern day Judaizers, but it gives you an idea what to look for. If they preach a different Christ, if the preach a different Spirit, if they add anything to the gospel which is given to us in the word of God, then flee from such teaching.
As we have looked over these groups, and what it is to add the gospel, I would just like to share with you what the true gospel is, the Real Thing!
The only place we can find the true gospel is in the Bible.
1 Corinthians 15:1-4 "Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you; unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures,"
There it is! That is the gospel. Christ died for our sins, was buried, and rose for the dead. That is what you need to believe in for eternal life. And not just believe it in your but believe it in you heart. For when you believe this in your heart, you will have a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. One that will bring eternal life. If you have any questions concerning you salvation, if you are not sure whether you have eternal life of not, I would love the opportunity to speak with you and show you from the Word of God what you need to do to be saved. So please see me after the service or give me a call.
As I close I just want to leave you with some words of Paul, word to remember the next time someone shares with you a gospel contrary to the one in Scripture that we just read, Paul writes in;
Galatians 1:9 "As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed."
SHALL WE PRAY
