Philippians (Lesson 29)

“Beware of dogs” is one of the sharpest warnings in Philippians 3, and it forces a question most of us would rather avoid: who or what keeps pulling me back toward the old life? We dig into Paul’s urgent cautions about carnal Christianity, evil workers, and religious people who love the outward symbol but resist an inward relationship with God. If you have ever wondered why you can know the right verses and still feel the tug of sin, this teaching puts honest words to that struggle.

From there, we connect Philippians 3 with 2 Peter 2 and Colossians 2 to separate mere ritual from real spiritual transformation. The issue is not whether someone carries a religious label, but whether Christ has done the “circumcision made without hands” that shows up in day-to-day choices. We talk about sanctification in plain terms: Jesus does not only save us from sin’s penalty, he gives liberty from sin’s grip, so we can actually live differently.

The turning point is Philippians 3:3 and its three anchors for Christian living: worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and put no confidence in the flesh. We explain why trying harder often fails, why self-trust is a quiet setup for a fall, and why joy in Jesus is not sentimental fluff but a practical strategy for lasting obedience. If you want Bible study that is direct, pastoral, and focused on real life, press play, then subscribe, share this with a friend, and leave a review so more people can find it.

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Transcript

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Welcome And Scripture Reading

SPEAKER_01 0:36

All right, greeting everyone. You I'm Brother James, and I welcome you once again to the Preaching of the Cross Radio Broadcast. We greet you in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. Glad that you've tuned into the program today. Hope that you can stay with us. We are going to be studying together from the Bible book of Philippians. And we are all the way to Philippians chapter number three. I know those of you who listen on a regular basis thought we'd never get here, but we've made it. Philippians chapter number three be our starting place today, and reading from verse number one. Want to jump right into the Bible study? Philippians chapter three, starting in at verse number one, reading for our context all the way down through verse number eight. Or seven. Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. To write the thing same things to you, to me indeed is not grievous, but for you it is safe. Beware of dogs, 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, and 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 gained to me those I counted loss for Christ. So

Why Repeated Truth Keeps You Safe

SPEAKER_01 2:44

here we find the Holy Spirit directing the apostle to write to the Philippian people things they already know, things they were taught when the preacher was there with them, establishing their souls in the faith, establishing their church upon the sure and solid foundation of biblical Christianity, and he now sees the need to write to them again to remind them of what they already know, and he says that it is no grief to him at all to review, it is no grief to him at all to repeat, it is no grief to him at all to go over the same territory again. In fact, he says for them it is safe. I want to say to you, my friend, that every time you go to church, you do not need to hear something you've never heard before. In fact, your great need may be to hear something again that you know very, very well. May I say to you that each time you turn on Christian radio, it might be more interesting, it may be more stimulating to hear something you've never heard before, but how often is the need of our heart, how often do the circumstances of our life require that we hear once again something that we already know quite well. And so it is safe, it is safe to have repeated truths that are well known.

Beware Of Dogs And Backsliding

SPEAKER_01 4:35

Verse number two, beware of dogs. I bet you didn't know that was in the Bible. I'll bet you didn't know that. Beware of dogs. So when you see that sign on somebody's front yard, remind yourself, Philippians three, verse number two. Remind yourself that's in the scripture. Now, he's what he's telling people here, he's not telling people to watch out for those uh four footed little creatures, though it'd be a good thing to watch out for them. They do bite, they do eat up your money. They do cause people to have unnatural affections. The United States of America spends four times on dog food what it spends on baby food. That's something to think about. Beware of dogs. Now they're classed with evil workers and class uh classed with the concision. He's not referring to the four legged furry creatures, he's referring to a particular class of humans. In 2 Peter 2 verse 19, we have our New Testament cross-reference. 2 Peter 2 19, while they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption, for of whom a man is overcome with the same as he brought in bondage. For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein and overcome. The latter end is worse with them than the beginning, for it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than after they have known it to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them. But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb The dog is turned to his own vomit again. Amazing. Proverbs twenty six eleven, source of the true proverb, and the sow that was washed through her wallowing in the mire. Now let's try to think about this horrific thought without thinking about this horrific thought. A dog has something in his belly making it sick. It gets rid of it. But then that dog is so dumb that it goes right back and takes that thing in again. It's a horrible thing. I hope you've never seen it. If you if you have, I hope you never see it again. The pig, you wash it, you get it all nice and clean, it doesn't appreciate. It goes right back into the mud. So when the Lord says beware of dogs, in the context, we are told to beware of those who have escaped the things of the world through the shed blood of the Lord Jesus, but who have never escaped what they are by nature, and so every chance they get they go right back to the old deeds, right back to the old way of living. Do you know why a dog turns to its vomit again? Because that's what a dog does. Do you know why a sow goes back into the mire? Because that's what a pig does. Do you know why a carnal man goes back to carnal things? Because that's what the flesh does. And the Lord told you to beware of those who are saved but are living in the flesh, living as though they never got saved. That's a good verse. That's a good verse. Beware of dogs. Beware of hanging out with and spending time with and fellowshipping with those people who say they are saved, but who laugh and sneer and joke and mock at Bible preaching. They are going to try their best to get you to be carnal like they are. They're going to try their best to get you to go back to the sin that Jesus Christ freed you from when he saved you if you were saved. That's the warning. That's the warning. And then the Bible says, beware of dogs, beware of evil workers. Look, you can fellowship with anybody. You ought to fellowship with those that are doing right. You ought to fellowship with those that are living clean. You ought to fellowship with those that are trying to serve the Lord Jesus. And those who are bent on doing evil. Stay away from them. Beware of evil workers. Then thirdly, beware of the concision. This is a word in the Bible that isn't even a word. Circumcision is a religious right ordained by God that was an outward, visible symbol of God's covenant relationship with the Jews. But the Israelites had no interest in a relationship with God, yet they gloried in the symbol of the covenant that they had with God, though they weren't interested in the God with whom they had made the covenant. And so the Holy Spirit has Paul twist and mangled the word circumcision into the word concision, which means mutilation. In other words, if your heart isn't right and you don't have a right relationship with God, all you did was mangle yourselves. All you did was cut your body up, but it amounts to nothing if you are circumcised but have no relationship with the Lord. So the

Outward Religion Versus New Heart

SPEAKER_01 10:53

warning here beware of those who have only the outward form of a relationship with God, but have no inward genuine reality. So how could you tell that? By observing the life they live. Are they evil workers? Do they return to sin like a pig returns to the mud? Then they are the concision and we're warned to avoid them. Stay away from. Verse three, for we are the circumcision, which worship God in the Spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. Now, since he's just made reference to the fact that the outward visible act of cutting the flesh, without an inward heart relationship to God profits nothing, let's take a look in Colossians, the next book over, Colossians chapter two, and find out who these are that are said to be of the circumcision. In Colossians two, verse six, Colossians two verse six, the Bible says, As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him, rooted and built up in him, and established in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of man, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. Okay, so there's a contrast between walking like a Christian in verses six and seven, and being a Christian, but walking like the world in verse eight, verse nine, for in him dwelleth all the fullness of the God head bodily, and ye are complete in him which is the head of all principality in power, in whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ, buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God who hath raised him from the dead. So, in Colossians two, here's what we have. It doesn't matter if you've performed a religious ritual and separated part of your flesh from the rest of your body. What we want to know is whether or not the Holy Spirit has separated your sins from your daily life. That's the circumcision God is now interested in. So the Holy Spirit has the Apostle Paul say that we are those who don't walk around living in sin, but saying, Well, we were circumcised on the eighth day. He says, So what? That doesn't matter. We are part of the group who had the Lord Jesus Christ separate us from our sins, and we are walking and talking and living and acting in the visible manifestation, not of some one-time covenant that we made with God or our parents made with God for us, but we are walking in living proof that Jesus Christ can not only save a man from his sin, but can separate a man from that sin. You got liberty, thank the Lord, but it's not liberty to keep sinning, it's liberty to stop sinning. It's liberty to keep living not like you've always lived, but like Jesus Christ can enable you to live, to live like God wants you to live. Praise the Lord. So in verse 2, there are three things, three things of a negative nature that we are told to do. We are to beware of dogs, we are to beware of evil workers, we are to beware of the concision. Then there are three positives found in verse number three. We

Worship In Spirit And Truth

SPEAKER_01 15:14

are to worship God in the Spirit, we are to rejoice in Christ Jesus, and we are to have no confidence in the flesh, and that's the right order. That's the right order. First of all, worship God in the spirit. Worship God in the Spirit. Jesus would have us not simply rid our lives of that which is wrong, but to fill our lives with that which is right. In John chapter 4, verse 24, we read, God is a spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth. The right Bible without God will leave you a hypocrite or a Pharisee. The right church without God will leave you miserable. The right song book without God will become a show and a routine and boredom. I'm telling you, they that worship Him must worship Him. If you don't establish a relationship with God, your flesh is going to eventually drag you back into whatever you were involved in before you got saved. Your flesh doesn't quit being your flesh. If your inner man quits having its sway, the flesh will have its way. God is a spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. Not just truth, we need truth. But spirit and in truth, not just your brains, but your actions, your motives, your impulses. We need to get beyond acting like a Christian when we're around Christians, and genuinely living a life of worship, that is devotion to, sacrifice to the Lord our God. An intellectual formalized religion is not worshiping God in the spirit. We need to commune with God, giving Him the praise, the honor, the glory, the adoration that he deserves.

Rejoicing In Jesus Changes Desires

SPEAKER_01 17:47

Secondly, rejoice in Christ Jesus. I like that. I like that prefix rejoice. We had joy when we got saved, we need to get it again. I had joy this morning, but I need it again this evening. I had joy yesterday, but I need it again today. I had joy today, but I'll need it again tomorrow. I need to rejoice. You see, the reason saved people continue to find and seek pleasure in the things of the world is because they came to Jesus and got saved, but they never enjoyed him. He's the faraway, distant giver of eternal life. And then there are those Christians that live victorious, joyful, blessed lives. Why? Because Jesus is someone that walks with them and talks with them and fellowships with them and encourages them and blesses them. He's not a God afar off, but he's the God who promised thou never leave thee nor forsake thee. You will find satisfaction in Jesus Christ when you begin to enjoy living in fellowship with the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Notice rejoicing in Christ Jesus comes before the abandonment of self-confidence. As long as we're trusting our flesh or trying to put down our flesh, in either case we're occupied with the flesh. But when we can become occupied with the joy that is ours in knowing Jesus, when we begin to rejoice, be excited about, be happy about, be thrilled about, knowing Jesus, reading his word, speaking to others about him, talking to him in prayer. When that becomes, when that becomes the joy and rejoicing of our heart, then we're ready to put down that old flesh. Why? Well, if all the dog's got is his vomit, and all the pig has got is her mire, how do you convince them to give it up? They've got nothing else. But when you and I come to the place where we realize how much better it is to have Jesus, live for Jesus, walk with Jesus, enjoy Jesus than anything else, then and only then will we know the full joy and full gladness of this Christian life lived as it ought to be lived, to the honor and glory of the Lord. And that's that's the objective. That's the desire. My

Put No Confidence In The Flesh

SPEAKER_01 20:53

friend, you understand Do you understand that the flesh the flesh wants you to trust it? I'm not that bad. I wouldn't do that again. I'll never fall. I don't need to go to church and hear that preaching again. I'm I'm way beyond that. Do you do you understand? Your flesh. The Bible says in John three, that which is born of the flesh is flesh. It's no better than it ever was. It's no more righteous than it ever was. It's no more holy than it ever was. If that flesh was capable of shameful sin yesterday, it is capable of shameful sin today. Don't trust it. Listen to what a saved man said in Romans 7, starting at verse 16. If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good. Now then if It is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me, for I know that in me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing. For the will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good I find not. The Holy Spirit had the apostle Paul record this testimony. I looked for a way to do right. I tried to find a way to make my flesh obey God, and I couldn't find it. Self isn't going to fight self, flesh isn't going to fight the flesh. So the only way to get victory over worldliness is not to spend your life occupied with the flesh for right or for wrong. That is, to live after it or to uh be wrestling with it. But the way to the way to succeed is to get occupied with God. That is, to busy yourself with worshiping the Lord, and busy yourself with rejoicing in Jesus, and then the flesh will have no influence. Oh, it can cry out, but it'll be pushed so far away that you'll hardly hear its voice over the sounds of your praise and your joy and your rejoicing and your worship. That's the idea. That's the idea. Put away, put away the flesh, put away the lust of the flesh, put away confidence in the flesh. I

How Spiritual Falls Really Happen

SPEAKER_01 23:47

find this to be true. The people that I must minister to in an attempt to help them recover from some spiritual fall. The people I must minister to in an attempt to help them back to the narrow road after they've wandered away. Hardly ever were these people who didn't know better. Hardly ever do I have to open the Bible and show these people what they did not know prior to their fall. In almost every case, they know where they went wrong. They know what the Bible says about the wrong deed they committed, they know what I'm going to tell them as the way to recovery before I even tell them. So how then did they take such a fall? How did it happen? How did that seemingly good Christian man commit such a horrific deed? How did that seemingly fine Christian woman fall in that area of her life? I'll tell you how. They trusted their flesh. They thought somebody else might fall like this, but I won't. Somebody else might need that warning, but I don't. Somebody else may be in danger of that great transgression, but not me, not me. I'm way better than that. And because they were trusting in their flesh, they were not busy worshiping God, because they thought they were good enough to live victorious in their own strength, they were not worshiping the Lord Jesus, and so down they went. Not because the temptation was too great, not because the sin was unavoidable, but because they had made the great mistake of trusting themselves. My friend, busy yourself with worshiping God. My friend, occupy your time with rejoicing in Jesus Christ. And my friend, the Bible pleads with you. It's more than a warning, it's a plea. Put no confidence in the flesh. Do not trust yourself. Trust God. Trust God in every way, every moment of every day.

Resources And Closing Invitation

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This is the Preaching of the Cross Radio Broadcast. We have available to you several thousand hours of recorded sermons, Bible study materials, biographies of great Christians throughout the ages, many, many, many helpful materials. All of them are listed and available to you on our website, and that is JamesKnox.com. JamesKnox.com. You may also write to us at eight seven two Glenwood Road. That's in D land. Just like it sounds D-E-L-A-N-D, D Land, Florida. The zip code number is three two two seven two zero. And for those of you listening abroad, that mailing address is in the United States of America. Well, this program is heard at many different times over many different radio stations, and we're going to trust the announcer to come on in just a moment and let you know when this program will be heard again over this particular station. We hope and pray that at that time you and a friend that you invite to listen with you will join us for the preaching of the cross radio broadcast. Until then, I'm Brother James.

SPEAKER_00 28:31

May the Lord richly bless you and join us every weekday for another weekend of the cross radio broadcast.