Let us turn once again to God's
Word and turning to that portion of Scripture that we read in
Philippians chapter 3 and directing your attention with the Lord's
help to the verses 7 and 8. In Philippians chapter 3 and
verses 7 and 8 Paul writes, But what things were gained to me
those I counted last for Christ, yea, doubtless, and I count all
things but last, for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus
my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and who
count them but done, that I may win Christ." It is part of a passage that
is so evidently an experimental portion of one of the epistles
of Paul, in other words he is writing here of himself and writing
very much of his own experiences and we have it of course from
verse 4 right through to verse 14 You know something of the
construction of the epistles of Paul in general. We normally
find that as he writes to these various churches, in the first
part of the letter, we have that portion that is more especially
doctrinal in its content, and then in the second part of the
epistle, he spells out the practical outworking where there is a true
embracing of those doctrines and so the epistles are principally
doctrine and then practice but also there are those parts where
he weaves in something of his own experiences. He is that one
who is a pattern to them which should hear after believe as
he writes in the opening chapter of the first epistle to Timothy,
the pattern believer is what we see in Paul. It's not that
he wants to write of himself, it's not that he wants to satisfy
his own ego, but God so doubted him. that in the course of his
ministry there were those occasions when he had to speak of himself,
he had to defend himself very much the case of course writing
to the church at Corinth where those false apostles, those false
teachers had crept in and stolen the hearts of so many and how
the apostle himself was much despised and so in seeking to
declare the truth he has to defend himself, he has to write of himself
and his own experiences but it's also the case as I say here in
this portion from whence our text is taken this morning in
Philippians chapter 3 we have one of those great passages where
Paul writes of himself and his experiences of the grace of God
and In these two verses, 7 and 8, you will observe the repetition
of this word count. Three times he uses this particular
word. He says in verse 7, "...but what
things were gained to me, those I counted last for Christ." And
then at verse 8, "...yea, doubtless, and I count." all things but
last for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my
Lord for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and do
count them but done that I may win Christ and the particular
verb that he is using, this verb that's translated count here
in our authorised version is a strong verb and I want to concentrate
on that word as we consider this morning something of the content
of these verses. Our theme then is Paul's counting,
or Paul's reckoning. Paul's counting. Now we begin
here with a contrast, because the opening words of the seventh
verse is that word, but. and it is a strong and an emphatic
particle that is being used. There are two particular particles
in the Greek that could have been used, and it is the stronger
of the two. But, he says, he's contrasting
then with what he has been saying here in the previous verses. He speaks of himself at verse
5, circumcise 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, blindless, but So emphatic
is that word, but what things were gained to me, those I counted
lost for Christ. What has he been speaking of
then here in the previous verses? Well, he mentions that that he
had acquired by his natural birth, that that he had acquired through
his parentage, he had been born, a Jew. He was circumcised the
eighth day. He was of the stock of Israel. He was of the tribe of Benjamin.
He can speak of himself then as an Hebrew of the Hebrews. These were things that he acquired
simply by his natural birth. And then he goes on to speak
of the things that he attained to in life. He says at the end
of verse 5, as touching the law, he was a pharisee. And then in
verse 6, concerning zeal, he was zealous, zealous for the
Jewish religion, and so he was an arch-persecutor of those who
were of the sect of the Nazarene. He goes on to say, touching the
righteousness which is in the law, he was blameless. He speaks, then, in a sense,
you see, of what his Jewish pedigree was all about. Now, all of the
things that he is speaking of here in verses 5 and 6, we're
not to think that these things are intrinsically evil. That
is certainly not the case. The Jewish nation were a very
favored nation. Had not God said in the Old Testament
Scriptures to those who were of Israel you only if I know
of all the families of the earth how God dealt with them in so
favourable a manner the Psalmist speaks of these things does he
not there at the end of the 147th Psalm He showeth His word unto Jacob,
His statutes and His judgments unto Israel. He hath not dealt
so with any nation, and as for His judgments I have not known
them. Praise ye the Lord!" God had
favoured these people, not because of anything that was special
about them, they were the least of all peoples, but God in His
sovereignty and made choice of them to be his own peculiar treasure
in the Old Testament Scriptures. And Paul is very much aware of
these things, there's nothing intrinsically evil here. Remember
when he writes to the church at Rome, again he makes mention
of such things there in Romans chapter 3. He asks the question at the beginning
of the chapter, what advantage then has the Jew Or what profit
is there of circumcision? Much everywhere, chiefly because
unto them were committed the oracles of God. And then he goes on to say something
more about their privileges in the 9th chapter there, in verse
4, who are Israelites. to whom pertaineth the adoption,
and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and
the service of God, and the promises, whose are the fathers, and of
whom hath concerned the flesh Christ came, who is over all
God blessed for ever. Amen." How favoured these people
were, how highly privileged they were of God. There's nothing intrinsically
evil then in all these things that the Apostle is speaking
of as he makes his contrasts. Those things spoken of in verses
5 and 6. He was, he says quite clearly,
of that sect of the Pharisees. The Pharisees are of course an
interesting group of people. We read much of them in the New
Testament Scriptures. And what do we know about the
Pharisees? Well, we're told that the roots of that sect of the
Jews reaches back into the period between the Testaments, the intertestamental
period. In many ways it was a reaction
to those Jews who had begun to embrace Greek culture. There was certainly a great deal
of interplay between the Greeks and the Jews. We know that at
that time the Jewish Old Testament scriptures were translated into
Greek. That book that is known as the
Septuagint. And there were many Jews who
became rather careless and indifferent with regards to their distinctive
Judaism. They began to embrace the Greek
culture. And it was in that situation
that the sect of the Pharisees began to appear. They had a great
zeal, these Pharisees, for the Old Testament. and for the traditions
of the Jewish fathers and so forth. And we remember how we
see them, of course, so often arising in opposition to the
Lord Jesus throughout the Gospels. For example, if you turn to the
22nd chapter of Matthew and see what we read there in Matthew
chapter 22, and verse 34. It told how when the Pharisees had
heard that Christ had put the Sadducees to silence, they would
gather together. So they were pleased with Christ,
you see, because he had silenced these Sadducees. Then one of
them, one of the Pharisees, which was a lawyer, asked him a question,
tempting him and saying, Master, which is the great commandment
in the law? This Pharisee, this lawyer, not
a lawyer as we would understand it today, but one of the Pharisees
who was a particular expert in Jewish law. And he is trying
to catch Christ out with his question. What is the great commandment
in the law? These men had such a tremendous
zeal for the law of God. And Paul, when he was Saul of
Tarsus, was very much one of them, as he says here at the
end of verse 5, as touching the law a pharisee. That's what he was. He was just
like those other pharisees. They were a group then that had
arisen to contend for Jewish laws and Jewish traditions and
they were in opposition to other groups that we read of in the
New Testament we've had reference there to the Sadducees they were
also the Erodians and they were very different to these other
groups they were very different certainly to the Sadducees how
radical the Sadducees were They were a group who denied certain
truths. They denied, for example, the
immortality of the soul. They also denied the physical
resurrection of the body. That was the Sadducees. And Paul
was able to turn his knowledge about these things to his own
advantage. When he's arraigned before a
Jewish council, remember, in the book of Acts, in Acts chapter
23, and there at verse 6 here is
Paul before the Jewish council and we're told at verse 6 in
Acts 23 when Paul perceived that the one part was Sadducees and
the other Pharisees he cried out in the council men and brethren
I am a Pharisee the son of a Pharisee of the hope and resurrection
of the dead I am called in question And when he had so said, there
arose a dissension between the Pharisees and the Sadducees,
and the multitude was divided. He knew, you see. He knew what
the teaching of the Sadducees was, how they denied the truth
of the physical resurrection. And why was he there? Because
he had been preaching Christ, and he had been preaching the
resurrection from the dead, and he turns it there to his own
advantage. They were such a radical group,
those Sadducees, very different to the Pharisees. And then also, as I say, there
were another group called the Herodians. In many ways they
were a political group. They were the followers of Herod
Antipas. And all of these various groups
in their different ways set themselves against the Lord Jesus Christ.
But the Pharisees are the ones we are particularly interested
in because this is that sect to which the Apostle Paul had
belonged. What are these Pharisees? Well,
the very word Pharisee is derived from a Hebrew verb that literally
means to separate. They were a group that were separated. They separated themselves from
these various other groupings. They certainly separated themselves
from those of the Jews who were too keen to embrace Greek culture. And here is Paul, and he is speaking
of his pedigree. what he was by his birth, what
he had attained by his education. He was a Pharisee and he was
the son of a Pharisee. He goes on to say, after the
20th sect of our religion, I lived a Pharisee. There in Acts chapter
26 and verse 5, he lived the life of a Pharisee, as touching
the law he was a Pharisee, and he was very proud of it. These
men, you see, they were so religious, and they made a show of their
religion. All that they did, they wanted others to see, and
they wanted people to take account of them as the most religious
amongst all the Jews. Again, so these things are spoken
of in the Gospel. The Lord Jesus speaks of them
in that 23rd chapter of Matthew, verse 5, "...all their works
they do for to be seen of men. They make broad their phylacteries,
and enlarge the borders of their garments, and love the uppermost
rooms at feast, and the chief seats in the synagogues, and
greetings in the markets, and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi."
Or they loved to be recognized. Those philatelists, you know,
they had those little leather boxes that they would wear on
their foreheads or on their wrists, which contained various verses
of Holy Scripture. They wanted people to see the
sort of religious men that they were. They made a show. They
were really hypocrites. That's what their religion was.
It was like an act. It was something that they put
on before men. And again we see the Lord Jesus
exposing them in the course of his ministry in the Sermon on
the Mount. What does he say to his own disciples? There in Matthew
6 take heed that ye do not draw arms before men, to be seen of
men, otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven.
Therefore when thou doest thine arms, do not sound a trumpet
before thee as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the
streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you,
they have their reward. But when thou doest arms, let
not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth. that thine
arms may be in secret, and thy father would see it in secret,
himself shall reward thee openly. Again he goes on later there
at verse 16, Moreover, when ye fast be not as the hypocrites
of a sad countenance, for they disfigure their faces, that they
may appear unto men to fast, verily I say unto you, they have
their reward. Or they just made a show of their
religion. It was a piece of play acting.
And they did it that the people might see them and take account
of them and that they might highly regard them as the most religious
of men. And that's what the religion
of Paul, the apostle, once was. He was sore He was a Pharisee,
he was the son of a Pharisee. As we've said, he was schooled
at the feet of one of the great Jewish teachers, Gamaliel. Oh,
he was steeped in these things. But then, there had been a tremendous
revolution in the life of this man. And that's the context,
you see, in which the words of our text are set this morning. But, he says, What things were
gained to me? Those I counted lost for Christ." He had a religion, but what was
that religion? It was something that he had
been born into, it was something that he had been schooled in. It was really nothing more than
a natural religion. It was something of a man's own
works, something of a man's own doing. Look at what he says in
verse 4, 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. In other
words, he is saying all that religion that he once knew was
simply a fleshly religion. It was not a religion that was
from above. It was not a religion that came
from God. It was something that he had worked at himself. He
had made himself such a religious man. And it is all this, you see,
that he comes to realize is nothing more than worthless. In fact, he uses a very strong
word there at the end of verse 8. He says, I do count them but
donk, refuse, excrement. The sort of thing you might put
your foot in by mistake as you walk along the street. That's
what it was, something nasty that he wanted nothing more to
do with. He was done with natural religion.
All this is a context, friends. And now we have to learn the
same. Cease from your own works, bad and good. and wash your garments
in my blood." That's the language of the hymn writer, is it not?
358. Cease from your own works, bad or good. Not just a cessation
from those works that are clearly sinful. No, we have to cease
from all our pretended religion, all our natural religion. We
have to see that it is only that that is of God. that that comes
from above, that that begins, of course, with a birth, a new
birth. The Lord Jesus speaks to another
of the Pharisees, Nicodemus, there in the third chapter of
John, and makes it clear, ye must be born again. Oh, except
a man be born from above, born by the Spirit of God, he cannot
see, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God. Now the Scriptures
constantly remind us of this. Look at the language that we
have there at the end of the book of the Prophet Isaiah. There in the very last chapter
of Isaiah, Isaiah chapter 66, God speaks of the man that He
will look to. Verse 2, "...to this man will
I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit and
tremulous at my word. He that killeth an ox is as if
he slew a man. He that sacrifices a lamb is
as if he cut off a dog's neck. He that offereth an oblation
is as if he offered swine's blood. He that burneth incense is as
if he blessed an idol. Yea, they have chosen their own
ways, and their soul delighteth in their abominations. Now, what
is he saying here? In verse 3 he is speaking of
those sacrifices that were all prescribed in the Levitical law. the killing of ox, the sacrificing
of lambs, the offering of oblations, the burning of insects. But there
were those, you see, who had nothing more than that formal
religion, that natural religion. And it was abomination in the
sight of God. It was evil. They were slaying
men and offering unclean animals to God. How Isaiah, you see,
exposes this formal religion, not only there at the end of
the book, but he does much the same in the very first chapter
of the book. There in Isaiah chapter 1, we
have the same message as we find in Isaiah chapter 66. In chapter
1 verse 11 the question is put, to what purpose is the multitude
of your sacrifices unto me, saith the Lord? I am full of the burnt
offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts. I delight not
in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he-goats, When
ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your
hand to tread my courts? Bring no more vain oblations,
incenses and abomination unto me, the new moons and sabbaths,
the calling of assemblies. I cannot away with, it is iniquitous,
even the solemn meeting. Your new moons and your appointed
feasts my soul hateth, they are a trouble unto me. I am weary
to bear them. And when ye spread forth your
hands, I will hide mine eyes from you, yea, when ye make many
prayers, I will not hear, your hands are full of blood." Or
they thought, you see, that a natural religion, a formal religion,
was all that God required, going through the motions. No, not
so. What does God look for? Broken
hearts, humble walkers, These are the ones who adhere in the
sight of God, not a natural religion. The Puritan Richard Sibbes says
here, good works are in their proper nature goods, yet if we
rely on them, they stop the way to Christ. All we have to look
beyond any works, nothing in any way must intrude, we must
look only to the Lord Jesus Christ. And now the language of Paul,
you see, here is so emphatic. What does he go on to say in
verse 8? Yea, doubtless, he says, and I count all things but loss
for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. Now it's interesting the construction
of the language there at the beginning of that 8th verse.
If we were to render it in a very literal sense, it reads like
this, but, nay, rather, indeed, also. It's translated, yea, doubtless. But how there's this multiplication
of words, but, nay, rather, indeed, also, I count all things but
not. Paul, you see, is forsaking his
natural religion, or by the grace of God he's been delivered from
that. He has no confidence in the flesh. He may once have had
a great deal of confidence in his pedigree, his birth and his
attainments. No more. He has been delivered
from all natural religion. And now, he speaks of how he
comes to count these things. That what things were going to
me, those I counted lost for Christ. Yea, doubtless. and I
count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge
of Christ Jesus my Lord for whom I have suffered the loss of all
things and do count them but donk that I may win Christ."
Now what was it that brought about this remarkable change
in this man, this revolution? It was his conversion of course and it was a remarkable conversion
But what caused Paul to reckon and to count and to reason in
the way that he was now doing? So different to how he was previously. Well, I want to mention two things. Two things that caused him to
reason thus. First of all, he learned something
of the spirituality of the Lord of God. And secondly, He was
brought to trust in the Lord Jesus Christ alone. Those two
things were the cause of him reckoning in the fashion that
we read of here in the text. First of all, he learned the
spirituality of the Lord of God. Now previously, his previous
life was one in which the law was rather preeminent and prominent. Look at what he says at the end
of verse 5, as touching the law, a pharisee. Again, the end of
verse 6, touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. He was a pharisee. And those
pharisees, they certainly had a great veneer of respectability. in the way in which they sought
to conduct themselves. As I have said, they made a show
of their religion. They wanted to appear the most
religious of all people. We made reference already to
Matthew chapter 23. It's that chapter, of course,
in which we find the Lord Jesus denouncing those scribes and
those pharisees. It's that chapter that's full
of awful woes. And what does he say at verse
27? Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites, for you are like unto whited sepulchres, which
indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's
bones and of all uncleanness. Even so, ye also outwardly appear
righteous unto men, but within you are full of hypocrisy and
iniquity. There was, you see, that veneer,
that outward covering of respectability. And that was Paul. That was Paul
when he was Saul, when he was a Pharisee. As he says in verse
4, though I might also have confidence in the flesh, he really knew
nothing of the truth of the Lord of God he thought like so many
of the Pharisees that he knew it he was an expert in it he
lived in accordance with its commandments and his precepts
that's how he considered himself but really he didn't understand
anything about the Lord of God and he acknowledges that when
he is converted he acknowledges it there in Romans chapter 7
he tells us I was alive without the law once but the commandment
came and sin revived and I died thought he knew the law but he
didn't know it at all it had never come to him It had never
done its work in his heart, never brought him under that real deep
conviction of his sin. That's what he's saying there
in Romans chapter 7, I was alive, he was alive, he thought he was
a religious man. He thought he was keeping the
Lord of God blameless in the sight of God. But the commandment
had never come to him at all. You see these people who make
so much of the law of God as if by keeping the law of God
they're going some way or other to commend themselves to God.
Those who are looking to their own works, their good deeds,
their righteousnesses, they don't understand anything of the law
of God. They're legalists. And they're ignorant. And they're
ignorant of the truth, the truth of God's law. And how Paul speaks
of such characters when he himself was delivered writing to Timothy.
Remember there in the opening chapter of the first epistle
to Timothy he speaks of those who are desiring to be teachers
of the law neither understanding what they say nor whereof they
affirm. He speaks of these characters.
They desire to be teachers of the law. That was Paul. Like
all the other pharisees like all those who are self-righteous
they desire to be teachers of the law, you have to keep a certain
code, you have to live your life in a certain fashion in order
that you might be saved, in order to commend yourself to God. Now here when he's writing to
the Philippians we see how in the context Paul is writing against
these people. They said, there were those who
were saying that Gentile believers, Gentiles who had come to faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ, all they needed also to embrace the
law, they needed to receive the right of circumcision, and to
bring themselves as it were under the Lord of God. This was one
of the great themes that we see the Apostle Paul having to address
time and again in his epistles, and especially of course when
he writes to the Galatians. He speaks of these legalists.
But he also mentions them here. Look at what he says in verses
2 and 3. Beware of dogs, beware of evil
workers, beware of the concision, for we are the circumcision which
worship God in the spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have
no confidence in the flesh. uses this interesting word, concision. He's speaking about those who
are contending for circumcision, to bring Gentile believers, as
it were, under the law. But Paul calls them evil workers
and dogs. And he says, beware of them,
beware of the concision. The word literally means cuttings. And there were those cuttings
that were illegal. They were prohibited by the Levitical
law of God. Cuttings in the flesh. Read Leviticus
21 and verse 5. They were illegal under the law
of God, these cuttings. And that's what Paul says of
these, you see. Beware of them. Beware of them. What is circumcision? It is spiritual. When he writes
there at the end of the second chapter in Romans, look at the language of Paul
here, Romans 2.28, he is not a Jew which is one outwardly,
neither is that circumcision which is outwardly in the flesh,
but he is a Jew which is one inwardly. And circumcision is
that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter, whose
praise is not of men, but of God. The spiritual circumcision. It's
the new birth. It's a man being born again.
And where there is that new birth, there will be that desire to
mortify the deeds of the body. To put to death the deeds of
the flesh. So Paul, you see, speaks so plainly
against these legalists. Now he understands the right
and proper purpose of the Lord of God. The Lord is spiritual,
he says, but I am carnal, sold under sin. He'd known and experienced
something of the true office of the law. What thing? Soever
the law saith. It saith to them who are under
the law that every mouth may be stopped. and all the world
become guilty before God therefore by the deeds of the law shall
no flesh be justified in his sight for by the law is the knowledge
of sin and that's what Paul was brought to oh when the commandment
came sin revived and he died oh he died to himself he died
to all confidence and all trust in the flesh he was brought truly
then to an end of himself. And this is the cause I say.
What caused Paul to reckon and to count and to reason in this
fashion that he speaks of here in our text this morning? First
of all, he had learned the true spirituality of the Lord of God.
He understood what the office of the law was all about. But
that wasn't all, as I said, two reasons. Secondly, It had been
brought to trust only in the Lord Jesus Christ. Look again
at the language, here in verse 7 and the beginning of verse
8. But what things were gained to
me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea, doubtless, and I
count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge
of Christ Jesus my Lord. And in particular, look at these
two words for the end of verse 7 for Christ then again in verse
8 for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus the word for here it's a strong
word really it means because of or on account of he counted
all loss on account of Christ. And again he says it, he counted
all things but loss on account of the excellency of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Or when he compares anything
with Christ, he sees how insignificant all things else are. When we
compare ourselves with Christ and our righteousness with His,
do we not then see how great our wants are? What are our righteousnesses
compared to those righteousnesses of the Lord Jesus Christ? Why
we're all as an unclean thing. All our righteousnesses are as
filthy rags. We do all fade like a leaf, our
iniquities. like the wind they carry us away
that's the language of Holy Scripture is it not concerning what we
are by nature all we see is sin as it really is when we come
to consider the Lord Jesus Christ we see the awfulness of sin in
that sense in the gospel more than in the law when we consider
all that that holy and righteous and just man endured of the contradiction
of sinners against himself when we ponder upon that death that
he died upon the cross when he made his soul an offering for
sin when he bore in his own person all that wrath of God against
sin do we not there see what sin really is? Joseph Hart says
law and terrors do but harden all the while they work alone
but a sense of blood-bought pardon soon dissolves a heart of stone
and this was Paul you see He knew what it was to have his
sins forgiven for the sake of the Lord Jesus Christ. Well,
we saw what he really was as a sinner in the light of that
revelation that he had received from God. Oh, it pleased God,
he says to the Galatians, to reveal his Son in him. And then
he understood. And then he counted everything
else as loss, as a nothing, as a zero. more than that. What does he say? The end of verse 8, for whom
I have suffered the loss of all things and who count them but
donk. All the loss of everything, nothing
to be compared with. Everything else in comparison
with the Lord Jesus Christ, as we've already said, it's donk,
refuse, excrement, filth. That's what Paul is saying. this
is how he reckons, his one desire was that true saving knowledge
of the Lord Jesus Christ that real experimental knowledge of
the Lord Jesus Christ not just knowing about the Lord Jesus
Christ but more than that, having Christ
revealed to him, yea, but also Christ revealed in Him. He wanted to be in Christ by
faith. This is what He goes on to say,
is it not? Look at verse 9, "...and be found in Him." To be found
in Christ. "...not having mine own righteousness,
which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of
Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith, that I may
know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship
of his sufferings being made conformable unto his death."
Oh friends, this was Paul's desire. This is how Paul reckons and
reasons, you see. He sees that there is one thing
needful, and that one thing needful is that true knowledge of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Oh God grant that we might know
it. How we have to prove ourselves and know ourselves, how we have
to examine ourselves. to see whether we be in this
faith and if as we look to ourselves
we begin to doubt and to fear what are we to do? we are to
look and to look again looking on to Jesus the author and finisher
of our faith oh God grant that we might be profited then and
learn something from the apostle himself and the manner of Paul's
reckoning. But what things, he says, were
going to me, those I counted lost for Christ, yea, doubtless,
and I count all things but lost for the excellency of the knowledge
of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss
of all things, and do count them but done, that I may win Christ. The Lord be pleased. to bless
His Word to us. Amen. Let us conclude our worship this
morning as we sing the Hymn 112. The tune is Ombudsly 385, Hymn
112. No more, my God, I boast no more
of all the duties I have done. I quit the hopes I held before
to trust the merits of thy son. The Hymn 112.