Now, if you will, to Philippians
chapter 3. It has been several weeks now
since I brought a message from the first three verses in this
chapter. And in these first three verses,
Paul you will remember, gives three marks of God's people,
God's redeemed people, the Israel of God. In verse three, he said,
for we are the circumcision. We are the Israel of God, the
spiritual Israel of God. And then he gives these three
marks, which worship God in the spirit. Remember our Lord told
the woman of Samaria, they that worship God must worship Him
in spirit and in truth. There is no other way to worship
God except in spirit because God is spirit. Many people try to worship God
by images and things that they can see, and they think that
by fleshly exercises, bodily exercises, that they are worshiping
God. But God is spirit. And anyone and everyone who worships
Him, we must worship Him in spirit and in truth. And notice the
next thing, which worship God in the spirit and rejoice in
Christ Jesus. He is the truth. Remember, he
said, I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no man cometh
unto the Father but by me. And then he said, we have no
confidence in the flesh. As we look at these next seven
verses today, I have three points to make. First, I want us to
see an objection of the false teachers answered. An objection
of the false teachers answered. Now there were false teachers
as there has always been. As long as there have been teachers,
faithful good teachers of God, there have always been false
teachers. And most of the time the false
teachers way outnumber the true teachers, those who teach the
truth. And Paul answers an objection
of the false teachers. The objection would be this.
Well, you do not have any confidence in the flesh. You don't have
anything to be confident in. You know, you don't have anything
to take confidence in, Paul. And especially these Gentile
believers. They didn't have anything to
take confidence in, in their flesh. And so Paul answers that
objection. You notice in verse 4 he said,
Though I might also have confidence in the flesh, if any man... If
any man thinks that he has confidence in the flesh, the Apostle Paul,
he says, I'm more. I'm more. And then in the next
few verses, verses 5 and 6, he lists a number of things that
they would take confidence in. Now these things will go through
them, but they may not mean that much to you today. But remember
to an Israelite, to a national Jew, to a descendant of Abraham,
fleshly descendant of Abraham, these things meant everything.
They meant everything to them. This was their hope, this was
their stay, this was their confidence, this was their salvation. These
things that the Apostle Paul mentions. And the first thing
is circumcised, and not just circumcised, but circumcised
on the eighth day as the command had been given. Now we know from
the Word of God many many times they were not circumcised on
the eighth day. For instance, when they were
in the wilderness, when Israel was going from Egypt to the land
of Canaan, 40 years there in that wilderness, no one was circumcised. And that's not the only example
we have, but people would put this off. And so the Apostle
Paul says, if anyone has confidence in the flesh, I am more. I was
circumcised just exactly as the command, the ordinance was given
to Abraham our father. When it was first given, it was
given that the son should be circumcised on the eighth day
and this would mark them off as the descendants of Abraham. And the next thing he mentions
is the stock of Israel. Not a proselyte. There were others
who were proselyted to the Jewish religion, but the Apostle Paul
makes it clear that he was of the stock of Israel. Of the stock of Israel. And then
he says that he was of the tribe of Benjamin. Many of the Jews,
especially at this time, they could not trace their genealogy
back. When they were taken into captivity,
when the ten tribes, first of all, when they were taken into
captivity by the Assyrians, and then later when the two tribes
were taken into captivity by the Babylonians, they lost their
records, and many of them, when they came back, they could not
trace their genealogy. Paul says, I want you to know
I can trace my genealogy all the way back to Benjamin, the
tribe of Benjamin. And the thing about this is,
the tribe of Benjamin was the one tribe out of the eleven tribes
which stayed loyal to David's son who was a king in Judah. And so that just gave him a little
bit more prestige, a little bit more to trust in, to take confidence
in. I was circumcised the eighth
day as the law said. I'm of the stock of Israel. I'm
of the tribe of Benjamin, and then notice the next thing that
he mentions, and Hebrew of the Hebrews, my mother and my father,
and all the way back, as far as it may be traced, were all
Hebrews. There was never a Gentile brought
into my genealogy, and also by this he no doubt declares, I
speak Hebrew. Many of the Jews at that time,
the time when Paul was alive, they couldn't speak Hebrew, but
he could. He was a Hebrew of the Hebrews. And then notice he says that
he was a Pharisee, as touching the law, a Pharisee. We know, and the Apostle Paul
declares this in Acts chapter 23 and verse 6, that of the Jews
there were the Sadducees, there were the Herodians, and there
were the Pharisees. Now the Pharisees, they were
what we would call today the fundamentalists. They were the
fundamentalists. And Paul, he said they were the
most straightest sect of our religion. And not only was he
a Pharisee, but he says, I was the son of a Pharisee. They were
very observant. of their traditions. Remember
the Sadducees, they did not believe there's a resurrection. The Pharisees
did. Sadducees did not believe in
demons or spirits. The Pharisees did. Everything
Paul is saying here is what the Jews of that day would commonly
take a lot of confidence in. If anyone is saved, if anyone's
going to go to heaven and be with God, certainly with these
credentials, I'm one. I'm one who will. I'm a son of
a Pharisee. But notice in verse 6, concerning
zeal. Not only those things that he
mentions in verse 5, but think about this. While all the other
Jews, all those like Saul of Tarsus, while all of those just
stood idly by and saw the disciples of Christ fill Jerusalem with
this doctrine, that is the teaching of Jesus Christ, Paul said, I
didn't. I didn't. He was convinced this
was a false sect. That is, those who were of this
way, the way of Christ, the way of the Lord Jesus Christ. He
said, I didn't sit idly by. I'll tell you what I did. I did
everything I could to persecute the church, the body of Christ. That's what I was doing. And
when they stoned Stephen, the first martyr, they laid their
clothes at my feet. And I was there giving my consent,
yes, by all means, stone him, put him to death by stoning. And I had credentials from the
high priest. That is the reason he was on
the way to Damascus, wasn't it? To find any, if he could find
any of this way to persecute them. do his best to cause them
to blaspheme the name of Jesus Christ. If any man, Paul says,
if anyone might also have confidence in the flesh, I more. Now to us today, let's see if
we can make this somewhat relevant to us because none of us here
this morning would ever take confidence in these things that
he's mentioned. But I tell you what people do
take confidence in today. There's many things. Many things
of the flesh. Some people take confidence in
the fact that their parents, my father, my mother, they were
believers. They were fine Christian people. They really did serve the Lord.
And they take some confidence in that. And then others, I tell
you something else, I was sprinkled. When I was just a few months
old, My parents, they took me down to the front of some church
building, they called the altar and the baptismal font, and that
priest put some water on my head and made the sign of the cross,
and he said, now I'm part of the kingdom of God. And others
say, well, you know, I wasn't sprinkled as a baby, but when
I was a young person, just a young child, I made a profession of
faith. I walked down some church aisle,
and you know, the story the preacher told, it was so sad, and I was
filled with tears and sorrow, and I just couldn't hold back. And they sang verse after verse
after verse of invitation hymn, and finally I just had to run
down there, shake the preacher's hand, and after a little while
I was dunked under the water. Confidence in the flesh. Now some of these things that
I've mentioned, there's nothing wrong with those things. But
if that is what a person trusts in for their salvation, yes,
they're wrong. It makes no difference to you
and your relationship to God about your parents, That's your
grandparents. You've been blessed if your parents
were believers. There's no question about that.
If they brought you to church and took you to where you heard
the gospel, you've been blessed above many people. But still
the fact remains, Jesus Christ our Lord said to Nicodemus, and
it's true to each and every person, except a man be born again, he
cannot see the kingdom of God. No one can be born for you into
the kingdom of God. No one can believe for you. No
one can surrender to Jesus Christ. No one can take up your cross
for you and follow Christ. This is something that is personal,
but the point is Paul He answers an objection to these false teachers,
these Judaizers who would come, and especially in the Gentile
church, like at Philippi, and try to bring them under the law,
and tell them, until they submitted to the things of the law of Moses,
well, they might be saved, but really, there's more, there's
more. We hear that quite often, don't
we? There's more. What could be more than Christ?
You tell me. What could be more than Christ?
Nothing. If you have Christ, you have
everything, and if you don't have Christ, you have nothing.
Now here's the second point. All things counted lost for the
knowledge of Christ. All things. All things counted
lost for the knowledge of Christ. We notice that Paul begins speaking
in the past tense in verse 7, but quickly he comes to the present
tense. But what things were gained to
me, those I counted lost for Christ. That's past tense. Those
things that were gained to me, those I counted, past tense,
lost, for Christ. When the Lord Jesus Christ appeared
to Saul on the road to Damascus, he was blinded, the scripture
says, by that great light. He saw Christ. And that great
light blinded him. He saw the glory of Christ. And
for three days, Paul could not see. He was physically blinded. They had to take him by the hand
and lead him into Damascus. And he was in a house there for
three days. He couldn't see anything. He
was physically blind. But, though he was physically
blind, his eyes were open spiritually for the first time. His eyes
were opened spiritually for the first time. And he saw that all
those things, all those things that he had mentioned here before,
all those things of the flesh in which he had confided, those
things that had given him so much comfort, so much assurance,
he saw, when he saw the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, that
all of those things in which men normally trust in and confide
in, he saw there was just so much rubbish. That's it. I counted all things lost for
Christ. I realized if I could do all,
if all these things were true of me and a hundred times more,
and I did not know Christ, I was a loser. I did not know God. His righteousness by keeping
the law. Paul, remember, before this,
above this, he said, the righteousness which is in the law, blameless,
in verse 6. He thought by his observing the
law, the Ten Commandments, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not
lie, thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, all of those commands.
Outwardly, no doubt, he had kept those things. I doubt that the
Apostle Paul had ever stolen a mite, whatever that was, a
penny. But inwardly, what he did not
realize is the law. It doesn't just deal with the
outward actions. It deals with the very principle,
the very beginning of desire to do that which is against the
law. In Romans chapter 7 it is, he
tells us that when the gospel, when the law came to him in power,
sin revived and I died. He saw that that righteousness
which he had by his obeying the law of God, it was worth nothing
before God. He needed a righteousness that
only Christ provides. And he renounced. He said, I
counted it all loss for Christ. Don't talk to me anymore about
all these things that I've mentioned here and how well off I am because
I am a Hebrew of the Hebrews and of the tribe of Benjamin
and all of these things that he named. Don't talk to me about
that stuff anymore. I counted that all garbage. Garbage. If that's what I trust in and
appear before God, God will cast me into a lake of fire. That's
just so. But notice in verse 8, someone
might say, well Paul, when you're writing this letter here, he
was in prison in Rome, when you're writing this letter of Philippians,
several years have passed. Several years have gone by. Since
you, in that original experience you had, you counted all things
but loss, but has anything changed? Do you have any regrets? Have
you changed your mind? Oh, no. Notice what he said. Yea, doubtless, and I count.
Today, sitting in this prison, the world might think that I
am, of all men, most miserable. Don't believe it. Don't believe
a word of it. I count all things for loss for
the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. For whom I have suffered loss
of all things and do count them but done that I may win Christ. Have you changed your mind Paul?
Since you made that original surrender to God, have you changed
your mind? No, no. I count everything as
loss compared to the privilege of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. Can you say that today? Can I
say that today? Everything else in this world
I count but loss, but done. The most important thing is to
know Christ above everything else. Think of what he gained by knowing
Christ Jesus as Lord. Well first he gained spiritual
communion with God in Christ and he lost all the empty ceremonies
of religion and trust me Those ceremonies, they look good to
the flesh, but they're empty. They're empty. They bring no
peace. They bring no comfort to a heart. When a heart is made
to see what we are before God, those empty ceremonies, he gains
spiritual communion with God in Christ. Number two, he gained
the justifying righteousness of Christ and lost all of that
self-righteousness, all of that self-righteousness which he had
trusted in before. He counted that badung. He was glad to be rid of that
because now he gained the perfect, the perfect, the accepted righteousness
of God, the holiness of God. He gained that in Christ. And number three, he gained true
peace with God in Christ and he lost that false peace that
he had by his works. You see the thing about works,
you never know when you've done enough. You just never know. And so you can never find peace.
But my friends, when you come to know Christ, you find rest.
We rest in His finished work. He is our Sabbath. We've ceased
from our labors and we've entered into His work. And we have peace
with God. Therefore, being justified by
faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. And number four, he gained the
freedom of worshiping God in spirit and lost that bondage
that the law genders. You know the law, that's what
it does, it genders bondage. It says do this, do this, do
this. But it never gives liberty because
there's always more to be done. Always. And number five, he gained
eternal glory and lost all that pretended glory. Now I want you
to notice Paul expresses His vehement desire. It's not something
casual with him. His vehement desire to know more
of Christ. And he makes these three statements.
He says that I may win Christ, that I may be found in him, that
I may know him. his vehement, zealous desire
to know Christ. First he says that I may win
Christ. Now, I believe the analogy that
he has reference to is that of a runner, a man or woman who's
running in a race to win a prize. Now a person who wants to compete
in a race, they prepare, they do without things, they follow
the rules of the race and all of that. And Paul said, that's
my desire. I count all things but loss in
comparison to the excellency of Christ Jesus my Lord. I win
so as to obtain. And when I think of this and
other passages of Scripture where Paul makes reference to running
in a race, I always think of those that I've seen that are
running and they get close to the finish line, to the tape,
and they just kind of stick their chest out as far as they possibly
can. They want to cross that line
before the other people. That's what Paul is talking about
here. I press on. I want to win Christ. I'm not
satisfied with my knowledge of Christ. And then he said that
I may be found in him. And here, I believe he has reference
to the manslayer. Remember in the Law of Moses,
a man might accidentally cause the death of someone. And so
there were cities of refuge. There were six cities of refuge
spread throughout Palestine. And when a person realized that
he had accidentally killed someone, he had to go for that city. He had to run. And once he was
inside the city, he was safe. But as long as he was outside
the city, the avenger of blood could slay him. And Paul said,
I want to be found in Christ. Just like Noah was in the ark. Everyone else was destroyed who
were outside the ark. I may be close to Christ. This
goes back to his parentage, I believe, his confidence in the flesh. A person might be near, but listen,
are you in Christ? Do you know Christ? And that's the third thing he
said, isn't it? That I may know Christ. Matthew Henry made this
comment, he said, we are undone without a righteousness wherein
to appear before God, for we are guilty. There is a righteousness
provided for us in Jesus Christ, and it is a complete and perfect
righteousness that I may be found in Him. Not having my own righteousness. I don't want to trust in what
I've done for Jesus. I don't want to trust in my decision.
I don't want to trust in my prayers. my church attendance, my baptism,
no, I want to be found in Christ. Not having my own righteousness,
but the righteousness which is of faith, the faith of Jesus
Christ, His faithfulness in obeying the law, honoring God. And then he said third, that
I may know Him. Now think of this, as great As
great as Paul's knowledge of Christ was compared to other
men, and I'll speak for myself here this morning, but I just
believe if Paul was here today, my knowledge compared to his,
it'd be like a little teacup compared to the Atlantic Ocean. I mean, Paul, he knew Christ. He knew Christ. But what he is
telling us is even the man, the woman who knows Christ the most
in this world, we only know him in part. That's it, in part. There's so much in Christ, so
much to know in Christ, that even those who have gone the
furthest and learned the most only know Him in part. Turn back a few pages to the
letter of Ephesians. Ephesians chapter 3. And look
at this prayer that he prayed for these believers in Ephesus.
Ephesians 3 and beginning with verse 14. He said, For this cause
I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of
whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that he would
grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened
with might by his Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell
in your hearts by faith, that you, being rooted and grounded
in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth
and length and depth and height, now notice this, and to know
the love of Christ which passeth knowledge. The love of Christ which passeth
knowledge. Those who know the most about
the love of Christ only know a portion. only a part. And what Paul here says in his
prayer for these Ephesians concerning the love of Christ might be said
of everything about Christ. Of everything. And to know the
obedience of Christ, which passive knowledge. The obedience of Christ. And to know the humility of Christ. which passeth knowledge. To know
the faithfulness of Christ, which passeth knowledge. This is what
Paul means here in our text, that I may know him as great
as his knowledge of Christ was, compared to others there was
still more. There was still more. And notice
it wasn't speculative knowledge of Christ that Paul desired,
but it was knowledge Our faith in Christ that would impact his
life. He desired to know Christ in
such a way that his life would be different, that his life would
be changed. Knowledge that would raise him
above the world. Knowledge of Christ that would
raise him above the things that glitter and things that appeal
to us and things that we run after. that I may know Christ. This knowledge he desired wasn't
just to fill his head with more truth about him, though there's
good in that, but the knowledge that he desired was knowledge
that would revolutionize, change his life so that he would live
above this world. That he would live as a man whose
citizenship really is in heaven. Really is. That's what he tells
us later on in this letter of Philippians. Our citizenship
is in heaven. Paul said, I want to live like
a man who really knows, who really believes. This world is not my
home. I'm just passing through. And
I want to know Christ and I want to live for Him. Brother Henry
Mahan, in his comment here, he said this. He said, this is what
I believe. There is communion with God and
perfect righteousness. This is what I want. By whatever
means it pleases God to bring me to this place. I want to be
like Christ in attitude, spirit, and heart. And I believe that
catches the thought here that Paul would express to us when
he says that I may know him. Well, don't you know him, Paul?
Oh, yes. I met him years ago. on the road to Damascus. But
I only know in part. I want to know Him. I want to
know Him. And the last thing we see, eternity
with Christ is worth everything. Notice what he says in verse
11. If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the
dead. Now, this causes some people
to wonder what did he mean that I may obtain unto the resurrection
of the dead." Well, Paul knew, believed, and taught that all
men will be raised, both the just and the unjust. He says
that And in Acts chapter 24, he said, And have hope toward
God, which they themselves also allow, that there shall be a
resurrection of the dead, both of the just and of the unjust. So when Paul here says that I
may obtain, if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection
of the dead, he's not talking simply about our bodies being
raised, because He knew that was going to be certain and sure
for all men, no exceptions, for we must all appear before the
judgment seat of Christ. But by the resurrection here,
He must mean the happiness that believers will have when both
soul and body are reunited and in the presence of God. When
a believer dies, immediately, he opens his eyes in heaven to
depart and to be with Christ, which is far better. Can't imagine
that, can you? What will that be like? Face
to face with Christ, my Savior. When our eyes close in death,
the first time we open them, To see Him who loved us and washed
us from our sins in His own blood. To see the marks in His hands
and His feet. But the body is deposited in
the earth and the body goes back to the dust from which God made
our bodies. But we know there's coming a
day, there's coming a shout and the voice of the archangel, the
trump of God, when those bodies that have turned back to the
dust are going to be raised, and for believers raised incorruptible,
and the spirit and soul which are with Christ will be brought
with Him, reunited with our glorified body, and be with Him forever. if by any means I might attain
unto the resurrection of the dead. I think of our Lord's words
in Luke chapter 9 when he said this, For what is a man advantaged
if he gain the whole world and lose himself, or be a castaway? What advantage? There is no advantage,
there's loss. And Paul said, my desire is to
be with Christ and be with Him forever. Anything I've lost in
this world, it cannot even begin to compare with the glory that
shall be revealed in us and with us when we are with Christ. I trust the Lord will bless His
word to all of us here today.