In the words we have a threefold description of the true cir- cumcision : how they stand affected to God, Christ, self. I, They worship God in the spirit,
II. They rejoice in Christ Jesus.
III. They have no confidence in the flesh.
24 A DESCRIPTION OF [PlilL. III. 3.
T. They worsliii^ God in the spirit. This clause may be inter- preted : —
1. In opposition to the legal ordinances. So it is taken, John iv. 23, 24, ' But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Fatlier in spirit and in truth : for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a spirit : and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.' The Jewish worship is in a sense called carnal, the Christian spiritual : Heb. vii. 16, ' A carnal commandment ; ' Heb. ix. 10, ' Carnal ordinances imposed on them till the time of reformation ; ' and ' shadows,' Heb. x. 1. Now the Lord would have a spiritual worship, and the truth of what was in these shadows, these external forms, he allowed (instituted in the infancy of the church), so that they 'worship God in the spirit' is, they have embraced the true worship of the gospel, and serve God, not by the carnnl rites of the law, but by^the pure rational worship of the gospel. This is part of the sense.
2. It implieth worshipping God with the inward and spiritual affections of a renewed iieart : Heb. xii. 28, ' Wherefore, we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear.' Worship flow- ing from grace, engaging the heart in God's service, is that which God prizeth ; therefore a Christian should not rest in an external form : ' God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit,' Kom. i. 9.
3. It doth also imply the assistance and continual influence of the Holy Spirit: Eph. vi. 18, 'Praying always with all prayer and suppli- cation in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints ; ' and Jude, ver. 20, ' Praying in the Holy Ghost.'
The doctrine is this : That a true Christian is known by his worship, or is one that doth worship God in the spirit. Here I shall show you : —
1. What is worship.
2. Why a true Christian — (1.) doth worship; (2.) why in the spirit. 1. What is worship? It is either internal or external. The
internal consisteth in the love and reverence we owe to God ; the external in those offices and duties by which our honour and respect to God is signified and expressed.
[1.] Internal. The soul and life of our worship lieth in faith, and reverence, and delight in God above all other things : Ps. ii. 11, ' Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling ; ' such a delight as will become the greatness and goodness of God. Worship hath its rise and foundation in the heart of the worshipper ; there it must begin. In our iiigh thoughts and esteem of God especially two things — love and trust.
(1.) Love : Deut. vi. 5, ' Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy might.' We worship God \vhen we give him such a love as is superlative and transcendental, far above the love that we give to any other tiling, that so our resjiect to other things may stoop and give way to our respect to God.
(2.) The other affection whereby we express our esteem of God is trust, which is the other foundation of worship : Ps. Ixii. 8, ' Trust in
PlIlL. III. 3.] THE TllUE CIRCUMCISION. 25
the Lord at all times, pour out your hearts before him.' Delightful adhesion to God, and an entire dependence upon him ; if either fail or ;be intermitted, our worship faileth. If delight : Job xxvii. 10, ' Will he delight himself in the Almighty ? will he always call upon God ? ' Isa. xliii. 22, ' But thou hast not called upon me, 0 Jacob ; but thou hast been weary of me, 0 Israel.' They that love God and delight in him cannot be long out of his company ; they take all opportunities and occasions of being with God. So dependence and trust : Heb. iii. 12, ' Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God ; ' James i. fi, 7, ' Let him ask in faith, nothing wavering : for he that Avavereth is like a wave of the sea, driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord.' Depend- ence begets observance : they that distrust God's promises will not long keep his precej)ts. If we look for all from him, we will often come to him and take all out of his hands, be careful that we do not offend him and displease him. ^
[2.] External. In those offices and duties by which our honour and respect to God is signified and expressed — as by invocation, thanks- giving, praise, obedience. God will be owned both in heart and life, in all these prescribed duties by which our affections towards him are acted. If God did not call for outward worship, why did he appoint the ordinances of preaching, praying, singing psalms, baptism, and the Lord's Supper ? God, that made the whole man, body and soul, must be worshipped of the whole man ; therefore, besides the inward affec- tions, there must be external actions; in short, we are said to worship God either with respect to the duties which are more directly to be performed to God, or in our whole conversation.