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There was a time in Paul's life when all that he wanted was to be the best Jew that he could possibly be.
In fact, his entire life was consumed with religious performance that he sincerely thought was capable of making him righteous in God's eyes.
But after experiencing the risen Christ on that road to Damascus in Acts chapter 9 that we just read,
he realized that his life was spent laboring relentlessly for a salvation that's actually impossible to earn.
It's at that moment that he began to understand that despite his zealous commitment to God through Judaism,
his death would still result in condemnation and ultimately separation from God for all of eternity.
Rather than be honored by God for doing his best,
Paul realized that he would actually be rejected by God for not being good enough.
And upon this realization, he trusted Christ,
and he left behind all of those achievements that he had been working for,
for 30 years of his life perhaps.
He left it all behind.
So what was once an all-consuming pursuit to do the best that he possibly could,
to build up his list of religious achievements and good works,
now his own all-consuming pursuit and passion was to know Christ.
And to know Christ in a greater way,
and then to share this gloriously freeing gospel with others.
And that's ultimately what this entire chapter of Philippians 3 is all about,
the glorious gospel of Jesus.
Having spent half of his life following a lie,
Paul became passionate about exposing that deception.
Exposing the deception of the Judaizers
and to the legalism that was beginning to creep its way into the church.
And he focused on pointing the Philippians to the true gospel.
Now as we've studied in the last couple of Sundays,
in verse 2 he gives a warning to the church,
specifically a warning against the legalists, the Judaizers.
And then in verse 3 he gives a comprehensive description
of what true Christianity actually is.
Now he's turning to his own personal testimony
as a way of providing a defense of the truth of salvation by grace
through faith in Jesus alone.
The truth is sometimes the most effective way of sharing the gospel
and helping people to understand the truth of the gospel
is by simply sharing with them
the impact that the gospel has had on you personally.
What was at one time one of the most faithfully committed Jews
of the first century
was now one of the most faithfully committed Christians.
And these verses help us to understand
what made the difference for Paul.
In fact, we can really ask that question
as we jump into these verses.
What is it that made Paul go from being so committed to Judaism
to now being so committed in the other extreme
to Jesus Christ and Christianity?
Well, let's look at it together.
In verses 4 through 6 we see,
if you want to write this down in your notes,
the futility of self-righteousness.
The futility of self-righteousness.
Look with me again at verse 4.
Paul says,
Though I might also have confidence in the flesh,
if any other man thinks that he has whereof
he might trust in the flesh, I have more.
And then he goes through and he provides this description.
Circumcised the eighth day of the stock of Israel,
of the tribe of Benjamin,
a Hebrew of the Hebrews,
as touching the law, a Pharisee,
concerning zeal, persecuting the church,
touching the righteousness which is in the law,
I was blameless.
You can almost sense an expectation on Paul's part here
that the Judaizers that he had just warned against
might accuse him of being envious of them in some way.
That's often how things like this go.
Someone experiences something
or they have achieved something in their life,
and if there's a group that rejects that achievement,
it's easy to pass it off as if,
well, they just don't understand.
They just don't have it.
Perhaps as this letter was read to the Philippian church,
and maybe even other churches
that would have been in that area,
perhaps Paul anticipated that some of the Judaizers
would say he's only envious of us
because he hasn't achieved what we've achieved,
and saying he's only rejecting us
because he's not a Jew like we are,
or whatever it was.
Paul was both a Jew and a Roman.
That's what was interesting about his life,
and perhaps there had come a time
where some of these Judaizers
were unfamiliar with his testimony.
Maybe they truly didn't know what his life was like before,
and they just passed him off as being lazy or insecure,
stating that it's easier to reject their teaching
than to live up to it.
Of course, that's just conjecture on my part.
It could be that Paul just simply thought
that this was the most appropriate defense
to reveal the nature of his own life prior to conversion.
In any case, he launched into this series
of religious achievements
that would have made him
one of the most elite Jews in all of Judaism.
This wasn't just he was really good
at following all the rules.
This was Paul was one of the best of the best
when it came to being a Jew
and leading the nation of Judaism there in Jerusalem.
And doubtlessly,
it would have put some of these prideful Judaizers to shame
to hear exactly what he had to say.
But the purpose of it was not to boast
in what his life was like prior to salvation.
The purpose in him sharing this testimony
is to prove the futility
in one's own goodness and sincerity
as a means for earning salvation.
If Paul, being far more righteous
than these other Judaizers
that had crept their way into the church,
if he being far more righteous than they
had found his own pursuits worthless,
how much more then should they consider
their pursuits to be without value
in terms of eternity?
If even Paul could not earn salvation,
surely they who had fallen far short
of his accomplishments
could not earn salvation either.
So Paul shares seven of his religious qualifications
that he found out were actually disqualifying.
And I'm gonna group them into two different categories
for us to understand.
We'll just go through them quickly.
The first category is pedigree.
The second category is sincerity.
In fact, it may be helpful for you to write that
if you've got your scripture journal with you.
Write down the first one in verse five,
we see Paul's pedigree.
Now, I've heard that there are two great days
in the life of a boat owner.
Anybody own a boat or you've owned a boat before
in the past?
I've heard that there's two great days
in the life of a boat owner.
The day that he buys a boat
and then the day that he sells the boat
are the two best days in his life.
Now, I've never owned a boat,
but I have made a transaction
that I feel like helps me
to somewhat understand that statement.
About a year and a half ago,
I bought our family a very overpriced puppy.
Many of you have met her
if you've been over to the house.
She's a German short hair pointer
and we named her Getty
after our favorite hymn writers, actually.
And I remember, Ashlyn will remember this too,
being so excited as we drove to Rocky Mount,
North Carolina is where we picked her up.
Our friend, actually last week,
Marissa Wright was here
that helped us with the piano last week
while Michaela was gone.
And it was her husband, actually, Austin.
His family breeds German short hair pointers
and he had convinced me
to buy one of these puppies from his dad
from this new litter that they had.
And so Ashlyn and I drove
all the way to Rocky Mount, North Carolina
to go pick up this puppy.
And we were excited about it, weren't we, Ashlyn?
We were so excited.
I had all of these dreams for Getty.
I had this dream that she was gonna help me
with my marathon training,
that I was gonna run with her
and she was gonna help me with that.
I had these dreams that she was gonna help teach my girls
good responsibility and how to have chores
and things to do around the house to help.
Julie and I would stay up late at night
watching YouTube videos on how to train dogs.
And we fully believed that we would have the capabilities
of training this notably energetic
yet intelligent breed of dog to obey our every command.
The problem is, as it turned out,
I'm not a very good dog trainer.
Getty's not very fun to run with
and the girls absolutely hate
picking up poop out of the front yard.
When we went and picked up Getty,
Mr. and Mrs. Wright provided us
with a copy of Getty's Pedigree.
It's a document, if you're familiar with it,
it's a document that traces back her heritage
and her lineage that helps us understand
what we should expect in terms of her health.
If we wanted to train her to be a show dog,
we would have to have certain documents
that would prove that she was a purebred,
German, short-haired pointer
and all of these kinds of things.
And so we're given this pedigree,
we're given this and it's supposed to let us know
exactly who she is, what she's like,
what it's supposed to be
as far as her background is concerned.
And it tells us that Getty is as good as it gets
when it comes to GSP pedigree.
Now the first four descriptions that Paul gives
in relation to his Jewish pedigree
shows us that Paul,
as far as his lineage and his heritage was concerned,
in being a true Israelite,
was as good as it gets.
In fact, it would be very difficult
to find somebody that was more qualified
in this sense of having a good Jewish pedigree.
Let me just mention the four things quickly
that relate to this pedigree.
The first thing that he says
is that he was circumcised the eighth day.
Now the literal translation of this
means that he was an eight-dayer.
It meant that he was circumcised by his parents
seven days after his birth
in strict compliance with the Abrahamic covenant.
You can read that in Genesis 17
or in Leviticus chapter 12.
And the point is, Paul was an insider
as far as the nation of Israel was concerned.
He was an insider from birth.
From the very beginning,
he was treated by his parents,
he was raised by his parents
in exactly the way that the law said
a child was to be raised.
And that began with him being an eight-dayer.
Now the second description that he says
is that he was of the stock of Israel.
He was of the stock of Israel.
This had to do with his national race.
Now it was possible for a non-Jew to be an eight-dayer.
But Paul came from a pure line of Israelites.
It wasn't just that he was a proselyte to Judaism,
that his parents had just wanted to move him
into this identification with Israel.
So even as a pagan child,
he was circumcised seven days after his birth.
That's not what happened with Paul.
Paul's line, his lineage was of true-blooded Israelites.
In fact, the term Israel and Israelite
that Paul uses here was an inside term,
which Jews referred to themselves as.
Others would have referred to them as Jews,
but only Jews called themselves the children of Israel.
So it was significant what Paul's saying here.
He says, I'm an eight-dayer.
I am of the true stock of Israel.
Thirdly, he says, I'm of the tribe of Benjamin.
Now there was significance to this,
because Benjamin was the only tribe
that had stayed loyal and faithful to Judah
in the divided kingdom.
Eventually, when Judah went into captivity with Babylon,
Benjamin went into captivity with them.
After 70 years, when they came out of captivity,
Benjamin came with Judah
and helped to resettle the nation in Jerusalem.
Israel's first king was a Benjamite.
His name was Saul.
Perhaps his parents had even named him
after Israel's first king being a Benjamite.
So in addition to his pure bloodline,
Paul was from one of the most respected tribes.
Do you see how he's beginning to build this pedigree?
I'm an eight-dayer.
I'm of the true stock of Israel.
I'm from one of the most respected tribes in Israel.
And then he gives us a fourth one
that kind of reemphasizes and summarizes it all.
He says, I'm a Hebrew of the Hebrews.
Now, this reemphasized Paul's lineage as being elite.
Though he was born outside of the Holy Land in Cilicia,
his parents were sure to raise him
as a faithful Jew in Jerusalem.
He was not only an eight-dayer.
His parents had not only fulfilled
everything that the law had said parents,
Jewish parents were supposed to do with their children.
But when most of the Jews in this culture
were Hellenized by Greek culture,
Paul was raised with Hebrew as his first language.
Not only was he raised with Hebrew as his first language,
he was sent to the best Jewish school in Jerusalem.
Acts 22 says that he sat at the feet of Gamaliel,
who was a famous rabbi of the day.
He was a Hebrew of the Hebrews.
Not only was his lineage and his pedigree short,
but his parents had painstakingly taking every effort possible
to have him in the best Jewish schools,
listening to the best rabbi available at the time.
He did everything that he was supposed to do.
He was an elite Jew.
And the emphasis of this pedigree showed
that Paul was not a mere proselyte to Judaism
as many of the Judaizers might have been.
His family wasn't saved, or not saved,
but his family wasn't converted to Judaism later on in his life.
They had always been Jews.
He was as good as it gets when it comes to national heritage.
And this meant something significant to these Jews
who cared greatly about their heritage and their lineage.
But the second thing that he says, or the second category at least,
is sincerity.
Sincerity.
Now you see this in the last phrase of verse 5,
and then again in verse 6.
The first four traits had to do with pedigree.
The last three had to do with Paul's passion
in following God through Judaism.
And listen to this description that he gives.
The first one that he says in verse number 5,
he says,
Now the Pharisee movement, or denomination in Israel,
came during the intertestamental time.
There was a 400-year gap between the last prophecy in the Old Testament
to when John the Baptist came on the scene in the New Testament.
400 years where God was silent with his nation.
And during that 400 years,
the nation of Israel had abandoned and turned away from
the true worship of God like they had done many times before.
And so for noble reasons,
there was this movement started from within Israel
that was known as the Pharisees.
Now the word itself means separated ones.
They were separatist.
That's what they were.
And they were immeasurably committed to following the law
and had even developed hundreds of their own traditions
that they taught alongside the law
as if it was just as important.
And they followed them to the extreme.
Unfortunately, what started as a noble task,
their zeal was negated by their belief
that lawful obedience could earn salvation.
At the time of the New Testament writings,
there was only, according to Josephus Flavius,
there was only 6,000 of these men
that even existed in the world.
Only 6,000 Jews that were willing
to commit themselves in this way to the law
and to these other traditions.
Not only was Paul one of these elite separatists,
but he came from a line of Pharisees
according to his own testimony in Acts 22.
Now many people believe that not only was he a Pharisee,
but they believe that Paul was also a member
of the Sanhedrin.
And we don't have this explicitly stated in the scripture,
but it's very possible that he could have been.
The Sanhedrin was a group of 70 men,
elite leaders among the elite leaders
of the nation of Israel.
And they basically ruled the Jews in a spiritual sense.
They cite Paul's persecuting authority,
the fact that he was chosen and allowed
to persecute the church in this way
as showing a sign of authority
that could have only come from the Sanhedrin.
The fact that Paul was single and had chosen to be so
was an indication that he very well
could have been a part of the Sanhedrin.
He had committed himself to the fullest extent
to be distracted by no other relationship.
And then his role in the martyrdom of Stephen,
they cite all of these things as evidence.
The bottom line is he was as committed
as you could possibly be to the law and to Judaism.
Touching the law, I was a Pharisee.
Here's the second thing he says.
Concerning zeal, persecuting the church.
I heard this week that zeal consists of two components.
One is love and one is hate.
Zeal is to love something so much
that you hate everything that is against it.
And Paul loved the law so much
that he loathed everything that seemed to be against the law,
especially Christianity.
And so Paul had taken it upon himself
to lead a group of persecutors
that were wreaking havoc among the early church.
He was a murderer.
He was taking men and women out of their homes,
delivering them to Jerusalem,
putting them in jail,
standing them in trial before the Sanhedrin.
And if they stayed committed
to the doctrines of Jesus Christ,
they were stoned to death.
This was all led by this man.
So when he says concerning zeal,
as far as my passion and my sincerity for the law
and my sincerity and passion for Judaism,
I persecuted the church and I did it extremely.
Although this persecution was immoral and sinful,
it wasn't illegal.
He'd actually been tasked with this
by the high priest to carry it out.
It wasn't an underground operation.
And Paul truly believed that what he was doing
in leading this persecution
was actually pleasing to the Lord.
That it's what God wanted for him,
that it actually made him right with God.
And then finally he says,
touching the righteousness,
which is of the law,
I was blameless.
Now Paul didn't believe himself to be sinless.
That would have gone against the Pharisaical belief.
But he did see himself as objectively blameless.
And he was.
When it came to the Pharisees' interpretation
of the Old Testament law and of their traditions,
Paul was above reproach.
He was unable to be accused.
He lived an exemplary life
that consisted of good works and religious commitment.
Kent Hughes said,
Paul speaks of his blamelessness as an objective fact,
as incontestable as his circumcision,
his membership in the tribe of Benjamin,
and his persecution of the church.
All of these tangible things that Paul said,
you can't deny that I'm these things
as far as my pedigree.
I can prove it to you.
He says with that same confidence
and same objectivity,
I was blameless according to the law.
Now here's the point of all of that.
If it was at all possible to earn salvation,
Paul could do it.
If anybody could,
it would be Paul.
But even Paul said that his list of accomplishments
was not able to make him righteous
before the holy God.
He learned that the grace of God only could save him.
And he was concerned with exposing
the deception of this teaching
to these churches,
especially Philippi.
Now many people today believe
that their religious pedigree and sincerity
can get them to heaven.
The prevailing thought of the day
is that a good God
would never send good people to hell,
but rather he will instead be gracious
and lenient to those
who try hard and do their best.
But that's not at all
what the Bible teaches about God or salvation.
The biblical teaching is that God is perfectly holy.
And in that holiness comes justice.
And in that perfect justice
is zero tolerance for sin.
He doesn't grade on a curve.
No one will stand before the judgment
hoping that God will be lenient
because they just did their best.
Now while a Christian heritage
is not inconsequential,
salvation is not inherited
or passed down from generation to generation.
I can't give it to Ashlyn and Harper
the way that I can give them
other material possessions.
It doesn't work that way.
Neither does sincerity equal salvation.
Many people are sincerely wrong.
There's no such thing as being close enough.
No points are awarded
on the basis of passion and effort.
It's either all Christ or nothing.
So Paul says there is futility
in self-righteousness.
The second thing quickly,
he talks about the surpassing worth
of knowing Christ.
That's in verses seven through nine.
The surpassing worth of knowing Christ.
Now in these verses,
Paul utilizes accounting terms
to illustrate the futility of self-righteousness,
but the value of knowing Christ.
Now I want you to picture if you would,
Paul pulls out his spiritual ledger.
He's talking about gain and loss,
debits and credits using accounting terms.
Now according to Paul,
before his conversion,
when he pulled out his spiritual ledger,
on the debit column
was a list of all of his sinful deeds.
He lists all the things that he had done wrong,
all the bad thoughts he had had,
anything he would have considered sinful
was listed in that debit column.
But in the credit column
was everything in verses five and six,
his pedigree and his sincerity.
And in Paul's mind,
so long as his credit column
outweighed his debit column,
he would make it into heaven
and earn eternal life.
And this is how many people view salvation.
As long as their good column
exceeds their bad column,
they believe that God will accept them.
Paul said after being confronted
by the risen Christ in Acts chapter nine,
everything that he counted as a credit
was actually revealed to him to be a debit.
The good works and religious commitment
that he thought was helping him
was actually damaging to him.
It was pulling him away
from the only thing
that could possibly give him credit.
And so therefore,
when he came to know Christ,
all of those things in verses five and six,
all of those accomplishments,
all of those achievements,
he scratched out and moved
from the credit column
over to the debit column.
He said they were good things
and maybe I had great zeal
and maybe the Lord was using me
in some way or another,
but those things were actually
pulling me away from Christ.
They weren't pushing me towards Christ.
They were actually a debit.
They were working against me,
Paul says.
The only real credit anyone could have
comes from the surpassing value
of knowing Jesus Christ.
Now there's only one thing listed
in Paul's credit column
and that is the righteousness of Christ
that comes by faith.
But in order for Christ
to be in his credit column,
he had to let go of all the other things
that he had formerly thought should be there.
Let's read the verses together.
Look at verse seven.
Paul says,
what things were gained to me,
those I counted loss for Christ.
I had to let go of those things
in order to gain Christ.
And then he reemphasizes it
and he says,
yea, doubtless,
I count all things but loss
for the excellency of the knowledge
of Christ Jesus my Lord,
or as your scripture journals probably say,
it says,
the surpassing value
of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord,
for whom I have suffered the loss
of all things
and do count them but dung
that I may win Christ
and be found in him.
And being found in him,
Paul says,
is not my own righteousness
which is of the law,
but it is that which is
through the faith of Christ,
the righteousness of God
by faith.
The only way that Christ
could be in his credit column,
the only way that he could actually
gain salvation
and eternal life
is if he let go
of all the other achievements
and cling solely by faith
to the righteousness
that comes by faith
through Christ Jesus.
Now Paul equates
in this passage salvation
with this phrase,
knowing Christ,
or the knowledge
of Christ Jesus my Lord.
Now the Greek word here
does not refer to
an intellectual knowledge,
but an experiential knowledge.
It's not enough
to know about Christ,
but one must know him personally.
This kind of knowledge
indicates that intimacy
that is found
in a personal loving relationship.
It's equivalent
to the Old Testament usage
of knowing someone
in marriage.
It's not that you know
about your spouse,
but you know them
intimately
through your personal
fellowship
with them.
The Judaizers
knew all about Jesus.
They knew everything
there was to know
about him intellectually,
but they did not know him
experientially.
And in that sense,
they were no different
than the demons
in James chapter 2
and those standing
in judgment
in Matthew chapter 7.
In fact,
let me read those verses
to you.
James chapter 2
in verse 19
if you want to write
down the reference.
James says,
thou believest
that there is one God?
Good,
thou doest well,
but even the devils
believe
and tremble.
James says,
a purely intellectual knowledge
of Jesus Christ
is not enough.
Even the demons
know about Christ,
they have better theology
than we have.
They know everything
there is to know
about Christ,
but that doesn't mean
that they belong
to Christ.
And then as we read
a couple of weeks ago
in Matthew chapter 7,
Jesus said,
many will say to me
in that day,
Lord, Lord,
have we not prophesied
in your name?
We have preached
about you, Jesus.
And in thy name
have cast out devils.
We have demonstrated
power in your name,
Jesus.
And in thy name
done many wonderful works.
All of these things,
we put your name
and Christian
on the name
of our non-profit organization.
And then I will profess,
Jesus says,
I never knew you.
Again,
that same term.
And then he'll say,
depart from me,
ye that work iniquity,
evil worker,
not good worker.
Now what's the difference
between knowing about Christ
and knowing Christ?
You have to answer
that question.
The demons know
about Christ,
but they will not
submit to Christ.
Those in Matthew chapter 7
know all about Christ
and even take on
the label of Christian,
but they're not trusting
only in Christ.
The difference between
knowing about Jesus
and knowing Jesus
is submitting to him
as Lord
and trusting only in him
for salvation.
That's the difference.
It's not enough
just to know about him.
You must know him.
And until you're willing
to trust Christ alone,
apart from your works,
you cannot experience him
in an intimate,
personal relationship.
Listen how Jesus taught this
in a parable
in Matthew 13.
Two parables actually.
In fact,
write down that reference.
Matthew 13, 44 and 45.
Jesus said,
again,
the kingdom of heaven,
which is a reference
to salvation,
again,
the kingdom of heaven
is like unto a treasure
hidden afield.
The witch,
when a man hath found
this treasure,
he hides it
and then for joy
goes and sells
all that he has
to buy that field.
In other words,
a guy's coming along,
he finds a treasure
in a field
and he finds that
that treasure
is way more valuable
than anything else
that he has.
So he goes home
and he sells all of his goods
and he sells his house.
He has nothing left
and he goes
and he takes it
and he buys that field
in order that he can
gain that treasure.
And then in verse 45,
he gives another parable.
He says,
again,
the kingdom of heaven
is like a merchant man
or a retailer
seeking goodly pearls
who when he has found
one pearl
of great price,
he went and sold
all the land
or sold all that he had
and bought it.
So this retailer
comes through,
he's got a thriving business,
he finds this one pearl
of great price
and he sells his business
and everything
that goes along with it
in order to get
this one pearl.
And Jesus says,
that's exactly
what salvation is.
You can have
all of these things,
you can have all
of these religious accomplishments,
you can have
all of these things
you're trying to achieve,
things that are making
you happy right now
that you think
will bring you joy
in life
but when you finally
come to understand
the treasure
that you can find in me,
you'll give up
all of that stuff
in order to have me instead.
That's exactly
what Paul is saying
salvation is.
All of these things
I had worked for,
Paul said,
all of these achievements
I had had
were nowhere near
the surpassing worth
of knowing Jesus Christ.
And then he takes it
a step further
in verse number eight,
he says,
for whom I have suffered
the loss
of all things
and do count them
but dung
or rubbish
or excrement
that I may win Christ
and be found
in him.
Think about Paul's life
before conversion.
He had everything
that a man like Paul
could ever want.
He had power,
he had authority,
he had friendship,
wealth,
honor,
fame,
accolade,
everything that this world
pursues.
Paul had it
and he had it
at a young age.
He was not an old man
at this point.
He had done so well
in his pursuit of Judaism
that he had accrued
everything that a person
could ever want
in Judaism.
He had it all.
But when he trusted Christ,
all of that became loss
and he suffered
the loss of it all.
Instead of friendship,
what Paul now had
was abandonment.
Even some of his closest companions
in the ministry,
aside from just a few,
eventually abandoned him.
instead of wealth,
he was poor
and he relied on
whatever he could make
in making tents
or whatever gifts
some of these churches
would pass his way.
Instead of honor,
he was tortured,
imprisoned for four years
and put to shame.
But he said,
all of those things
that I once lived for,
I now count as trash.
in order to know Christ
and be found in him.
You may look at that sacrifice
and think it's not worth it.
It's not worth that kind of loss.
It's not worth losing my family.
It's not worth losing my friends.
It's not worth losing my job.
It's not worth losing my money
or my hobbies.
You may say,
the cost that Paul paid
that Jesus calls us to
is way too great.
But think about
what unbelievable treasure
Paul had found in Jesus
that he was willing
to continue
in that type of suffering
for Christ's sake.
No one was forcing Paul
into this.
Think about what he gave up.
What kind of value
is there in Christ
that not only
would he suffer that loss,
but he would remain
in that suffering
for the rest of his life
willingly.
Why?
In order that he might
know Christ.
Jesus said in Mark chapter 8,
if any will come after me,
let him deny himself
and take up his cross
and follow me.
And then he says,
for whosoever will save his life
shall lose it.
Everybody that tries to hang on
to all the stuff,
living your life
for the wealth
and the fame
and the friendship
and all the other things.
Save up all of that stuff.
Eventually you're going
to lose it.
You can't keep it forever.
Eventually it will all be gone.
But whoever
will lose his life,
give all of that up
in order to follow me,
Jesus says.
For my sake
and the gospels,
the same shall save it.
What they will end up
getting in eternity
is far greater
than anything
they're trying to hold on to now,
Jesus says.
And then he asks this question
that I'm sure you've heard before.
What shall it profit a man
if he gain the whole world,
gets everything that he wants,
but he loses his own eternal soul?
And then Jesus says,
what are you willing to give
in exchange for your soul?
What is it in this life
that's so worth holding on to
that you're unwilling
willing to let it go
in order to truly follow Christ?
That's the question Jesus asked.
There's not a thing in this world
that could ever compare
to the surpassing value
of knowing Jesus,
the excellency of the knowledge
of Christ Jesus, my Lord.
Paul traded those pleasures
in order to stand before God,
not having his own righteousness,
but having the righteousness
of Christ.
And we have to ask the question then,
are we willing to give up all
in order to follow Christ?
Have we found in Christ
the treasure that's hidden in the field
and the pearl that's of great price?
And if we haven't,
what is it that you see
as more valuable
that would prevent you
from following him
or trusting him?
There's the futility
of self-righteousness.
There's the surpassing worth
of knowing Christ.
And then quickly and finally
in verses 10 and 11,
there's the ongoing pursuit of Christ.
Look at what Paul says.
That I may know him.
This is what he wants
more than anything now.
This is his passion.
This is his pursuit.
I want to know him
and the power of his resurrection
and the fellowship
of his sufferings
being made conformable
unto his death
if that by any means
I might attain
into the resurrection of the dead
or eternal life.
Once Paul had tasted
of the goodness of Christ,
he wanted more and more
and more and more.
Verses 10 and 11
reveal Paul's ongoing pursuit
of Christ.
The man that was once
consumed with self-righteousness
was now utterly consumed
with Jesus.
But these verses
aren't speaking
to the process
of sanctification.
Paul hasn't got there yet.
He's going to get there
in verses 12 to 16.
That's what we'll study
next Sunday.
He's not talking about
sanctification,
this pursuit of righteousness
after salvation.
He's talking about
the salvation
and the benefits
that Jesus brings
in salvation.
He wants to experience
those things.
He's passionate about
knowing Christ in that way.
And there's three of them
that he mentions here.
Power,
partnership,
and life.
Let me just mention them quickly.
First thing he says,
I want to know the power
of his resurrection.
The power of his resurrection.
Now the resurrection
was the ultimate display
of the power
of Jesus Christ.
If we were going to
reference his power,
it was seen ultimately
and in its greatest extent
in his resurrection
from the dead.
Now Paul had realized
in his pursuits
for salvation,
there was no power
within himself
to gain salvation.
He couldn't be good enough.
He couldn't do enough
religious things.
He had all the zeal,
all the partnerships,
all the things
that you could ever want.
And it wasn't enough.
He realized in himself
there was no power
for salvation.
So he says,
all I want to know
is Christ
and the power
that he has
to bring salvation.
I want the power
of Christ.
I want the power
of his resurrection.
The only thing
that can actually
bring me life.
The only thing
that can actually
bring me salvation.
Paul said
that I may know him
and that kind of power
because in me
is no power at all.
I need the power
of Christ
and I want it,
he says.
Then he says
the fellowship
of his sufferings.
This is partnership.
He wasn't saying
that he desired
to suffer.
Nobody wants
to suffer.
What he was saying
is that in Christ
he had someone
who understood
the suffering
that he would experience.
Rather than go
through the difficulties
alone,
Paul partnered
with Jesus
through the power
of the Holy Spirit
in suffering.
This is a benefit
of salvation
in Christ Jesus.
Not only do we
experience his power,
the only power
that can save,
but he then partners
with us.
And when we have
to let go
of all those other things
and we suffer
the loss
of all things
in order to gain Christ,
we are partnering
with him.
We have fellowship
with him.
It's the same word
that Paul used
in chapter 1
when he thanked
the church at Philippi
for partnering
with him in the gospel.
He said,
I have this partnership
with Christ now.
Christ is with me.
Everybody else
may abandon me,
but Christ is with me
and he has strengthened me
and he is helping me.
And he said,
I want to know Christ
in that way.
And then the last thing
that he has
or mentions
is being conformable
unto his death
or becoming like him
in death
is what that means.
And then he says,
in becoming like him
in death,
I am brought life
through the resurrection
of the dead,
through his resurrection.
And this is a little weird.
I really think
these two phrases
work together,
but as verse 11 especially
is a little bit difficult
as far as piecing the words apart
and really grabbing
and understanding.
Here's what I think it is.
Paul explained it this way
to the Galatians
in Galatians chapter 2.
You know the verse.
He said,
I am crucified with Christ.
Nevertheless,
I live.
Yet not I,
but Christ lives in me.
In the life
which I now live
in the flesh,
I live by the faith
of the Son of God
who loved me
and gave himself for me.
When Paul says
I'm crucified with Christ,
he's not talking about
a literal crucifixion.
Paul was still living.
Of course,
he hadn't been crucified.
He was talking about
putting to death
the old man,
the old way,
the old sin
in order to be given
new life
in Christ Jesus.
And in putting to death
the old man
and his sin,
he was crucified
with Christ
in that way.
He became
conformed
to the death
of Christ
and only by conforming
to the death
of Christ,
spiritually putting himself
to death,
was he able to attain
the resurrection
of the dead,
the eternal life
that only Christ
can give.
And Paul said,
that's all I want to know.
I just want to know Christ.
I want to know his power.
I want to know his partnership
and I want to know the life
that only he can bring.
What a wonderful testimony
that is.
I'm thankful that
God gives us this
here in Philippians 3.
Not only as
an inspiring look
at the life
of a man
who loved Christ
probably more
than any of us
ever have,
but to be moved
by the grace
of God
in his life,
to see exactly
how awful
Paul was,
yet God loved him
and gave him
this power
and gave him
this partnership
and gave him
this life.
And that's exactly
the salvation
that God offers us.
it doesn't matter
what your past
is like.
It doesn't matter
how many good works
you've trusted in
for salvation
up to this point.
If you'll just let go
of those things
and follow him,
he will save you
and you will reap
those benefits too.
Only he has that power.
Thank you for listening
to this sermon
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by Lakeside Bible Church.
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