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Good morning to everyone. You 
can turn in your Bibles with me to Philippians chapter 3. Philippians 3. I know since everybody 
is missing Pastor Butler in the pulpit, I'm going to wear some 
glasses here this morning. If I had a functional pocket, 
I'd put a pen in there, but I don't. I've been struggling to read 
some words and misreading some words over the last number of 
months, so thank you for bearing with me. Turning to sacred things 
then, Philippians chapter 3, you'll remember just before we 
read from the passage here that if you've been with us the last 
two Lord's Days, previous two Lord's Days, we've been looking 
at the Apostle Paul, his life, his ministry, his foci, ministerially 
and theologically and those sorts of things. And we have previously 
looked at Paul's former career prior to Amazing Grace coming 
to him. We've looked at his conversion and his commission to an apostle. We've also looked at his missionary 
endeavors a little bit last Lord's Day. This Lord's Day morning, 
we want to look at two things, his ministerial character and 
his doctrinal legacy. So those are the two simple things 
we'll look at this morning. And we're going to read to start 
us off Philippians 3, 1 to verse 11. This is the word of God. 
Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. For me to write 
the same things to you is not tedious, but for you it is safe. Beware of dogs, beware of evil 
workers, beware of the mutilation. For we are the circumcision who 
worship God in the spirit. Rejoice in Christ Jesus and have 
no confidence in the flesh. Though I also might have confidence 
in the flesh, if anyone else thinks he may have confidence 
in the flesh, I more so. Circumcised the eighth day of 
the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the 
Hebrews. Concerning the law of Pharisee, 
concerning zeal, persecuting the church. Concerning the righteousness 
which is in the law, blameless. But what things were gained to 
me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed, I also 
count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of 
Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all 
things and count them as rubbish that I may gain Christ. and be 
found in him, not having my own righteousness which is from the 
law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness 
which is from God by faith, that I may know him and the power 
of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings, being conformed 
to his death, if by any means I may attain to the resurrection 
from the dead. Amen. Well, let us pray. Heavenly 
Father, we thank You for the Word of God. We thank You for 
this act now of worship, the preaching of Your Word. Once 
again, we would ask that You would give us that measure of 
the Holy Spirit that our minds might arise to high thoughts 
of God and His Christ. Give us that illumination by 
the Spirit that we might rejoice all the more this morning. in 
Christ our Savior. We pray, Lord God, that the ministry 
of the Holy Spirit in this place this morning would be unto the 
edification, the encouragement of your people here, and unto 
the salvation of sinners, by your grace and for your glory. 
And we pray in the name of Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen. Well, 
this passage sets before us a wonderful juxtaposition in a manner of 
review, considering who Paul was formerly prior to Amazing 
Grace, who he is now, and what his character is in engaging 
in his commission as an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ. This 
gives us some wonderful juxtaposition, and that word simply means it's 
a literary or rhetorical device to take two things side by side 
and compare them, and very often things of opposite extremes. 
And we note some juxtapositioning of losses and gains here on the 
part of the Apostle Paul. If we were to summarize these 
things up, we could say, first, the boast of a fleshly confidence 
versus the boast of the glory of Christ, first in verses 2 
to 6, and then in verses 7 to 11. the zeal for the destruction 
of the church, and then the zeal for Christ and His church. So 
verse 6 compared to verse 8. We have thirdly, fleshly confidence 
in a righteousness that comes from obedience to the law, compared 
to or juxtaposed with the by-faith confidence solely in the righteousness 
of Christ. If we were to look at it a little 
bit of a different way, we could say a son of Abraham according 
to the flesh, or a son of God according to the spirit, a Pharisee 
concerning the law, an apostle concerning the gospel, blameless 
according to self-righteousness, and blameless according to an 
alien righteousness that is the Lord Jesus Christ alone. To summarize 
it all up, largely and singularly, from the perceived excellence 
of Judaism to the actual excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus 
his Lord. This is what we have in Philippians 
chapter 3, and in considering the Apostle Paul, which consideration 
lifts us up to a consideration of his triune God and the Christ 
of glory We want to look at two things this morning, and those 
things again are Paul's ministerial character and Paul's doctrinal 
legacy. Concerning the first, Augustine 
wrote, His humility, His earnestness, 
His firmness, His gentleness, His sympathy, His severity, and 
especially His grace as it comes out so conspicuously in all His 
epistles. The first thing we want to look 
at with regards to the ministerial character of the Apostle Paul 
is his zeal for the centrality of the crucifixion of the Lord 
Jesus Christ. When Augustine here speaks of 
his zeal, and there is a wholesome zeal, and there is a zeal, of 
course, that is not according to knowledge. We see that even 
on the part of Christ's people. The Apostle Peter, as a saved 
man, is lopping off years and is getting in the way, if you 
will, Christ's messianic journey to march to the cross with resolute 
determination. There is, though, a wholesome 
zeal, and we see that also, and of course, on the part of Christ's 
people as they go about, in the case of the Apostle Paul here, 
as champions for the cause of truth. And you can turn with 
me to 1 Corinthians for a moment as we explore, first under Paul's 
ministerial character, his zeal for the centrality of the crucifixion 
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Notice in 1 Corinthians chapter 
1, and then we'll read a verse also in chapter 2, but in chapter 
1 here Paul is dealing with, he's answering the stumbling 
block nature of that the Jews have with respect to the fact, 
as Spurgeon says, could they endure? Could the Jews endure 
a crucified Messiah? They look to pomp and circumstance, 
they look to ceremonies and washings and multitudinous cleanings and 
and is it the case that all is to simply remain or all that 
is to remain is a crucified Messiah? He's dealing with the wisdom 
of the Greeks also. He's dealing with the fact that 
they search for wisdom, a worldly wisdom, but not that which is 
according to divine revelation. And notice what we have beginning 
at 1 Corinthians 1 and verse 18. For the message of the cross 
is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are 
being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, I will 
destroy the wisdom of the wise and bring to nothing the understanding 
of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the 
scribe? Where is the disputer of this 
age? Has not God made foolish the 
wisdom of this world? For since in the wisdom of God 
the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God 
through the foolishness of the message preached to save those 
who believe. For Jews request a sign and Greeks 
seek after wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified. To the Jews 
a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness. but to those 
who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of 
God, and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God 
is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men." 
That's a very interesting way to close that section because, 
of course, there is no foolishness of God, and there is no weakness 
of God. We're not to somehow interpret 
it, perhaps maybe that last clause more particularly, that there 
is somehow in God a measure of weakness, but it's so great in 
the sense that it's greater than man's highest strength. No, there 
is no weakness in God and there is no foolishness in God. The 
author here, the Apostle Paul, is simply dealing with the so-called 
perceived foolishness of the Gospel and the so-called perceived 
weakness of the God of the Gospel. Your God came down from heaven 
to die? Your God came down from heaven 
to be crucified upon a Roman gibbet of execution? How does 
that speak to us power, and how does that speak to us wisdom? 
Why, the church throughout the ages would say that at the crucifixion 
of the Lord Jesus Christ, or maybe backing up a moment, if 
we're to ask the history of the church the question, Where do 
we see the perfections of God demonstrated? We go to Golgotha. We go to Calvary to see the perfections 
of God demonstrated because there we have the holiness of God. 
There we have the justice of God. There we have the love of 
God. There we have the goodness of 
God. There, all the divine perfections come, as it were, to a blessed 
confluence And that's why the Apostle Paul here can say, we 
preach Christ crucified. And notice as well at 1 Corinthians 
2, at verse 2, for I determined not to know anything among you 
except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. This was the crucifixion of the 
Lord Jesus Christ, or Christ in Him crucified. Therein was 
true strength. Therein was true wisdom. Therein 
was true divine perfection demonstrated. And so we are to cast aside the 
wisdom of the world, so-called, and the so-called strength of 
the world, and we are to take on ourselves, take upon ourselves 
the blessed truth. of Christ and Him crucified. 
And Paul's ministry was marked by an absolute zeal for Christ 
and Him crucified, such that he would say things like, in 
Galatians 6.14, God forbid that I should boast save in the cross 
of our Lord Jesus Christ. the wonderful thing. God forbid 
that I would boast in anything else in this universe save for 
Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Perhaps in writing that to the 
Galatian churches, he's reflecting upon the fact of his former career, 
that his boast was not in Christ. In fact, he was in clear opposition 
to the Lord Jesus Christ. His boast was in the fact that 
he was circumscribed the eighth day. His boast was in the fact 
that he was of the tribe of Benjamin. His boast was in the fact that 
he was a son of Abraham, According to the flesh, a Jew of Jews, 
a Hebrew of Hebrews, his boast was in himself and in his own 
fleshly lineage. But now this side of amazing 
grace, he can say, God forbid that I should boast save in the 
cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. And as we ought to reflect upon 
our own boasting, that's wherein our boast should be. And our 
boasting, the Christian boasting in Christ alone is not simply 
from a vantage point that we're so holy and we're so sanctified 
that we have reason to boast in other things or ourselves, 
but we just don't because we're so holy. No, there's no grounds 
for human boasting, there's no grounds for a Christian's boasting 
in anything else save for Christ, our crucified Messiah. Our triune 
God, the Christ whom was sent to deliver His people from their 
sins. What a blessed zeal the Apostle 
Paul had in the proclamation of and the centrality of the 
crucifixion of our Lord Jesus Christ. We want to notice, secondly, 
so what is, in addition to this, or connected to this very intimately, 
what is another of Paul's ministerial characters or characteristics? 
You can turn with me to 1 Corinthians chapter 15. Because we see now here, secondly, 
his ardent defense of the truth. His ardent, his earnest, his 
passionate defense of the truth. is to be of such a vast importance 
to the Christian, it's important to God, as we see clearly and 
in multitudinous places in His Holy Word. It was absolutely, 
of course, important to the Lord Jesus Christ in His earthly ministry. 
I am the way, the truth, and the life. And those who followed 
after the Lord Jesus Christ, those sent by Christ in His ascended 
glory, also had this ardent defense of the truth. Notice in 1 Corinthians 
15, we're not going to read the entirety of the section, but 
beginning first at verse 1 of 1 Corinthians 15, the gospel which I preach to 
you, which also you received, and in which you stand, by which 
also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preach 
to you, unless you believed in vain. For I deliver to you first 
of all that which I also received, that Christ died for our sins 
according to the Scriptures, and that he was buried, and that 
he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures. Now turn to 
verse 16. For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not 
risen. And if Christ is not risen, your 
faith is futile. You are still in your sins. Then 
also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in 
this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the 
most pitiable. But now Christ is risen from 
the dead and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 
You see here his ardent defense of the truth, and this logical 
argumentation that the Apostle Paul engages in, it goes back 
to verse 12, but it culminates here in verse 16. If the dead 
do not rise, then Christ is not risen. In the context, there 
were those denying the resurrection of the dead, rejecting the truth 
of the resurrection of the dead. And the logical implication here 
obviously is that if the dead do not rise, then Christ your 
Savior, the one who you profess faith in, he is not risen but 
lies in the grave. The hope of the Christian is 
stolen away from these who are being stolen away themselves 
by error and heresy. Paul was serious about the truth. 
And this impression upon his audience about the seriousness 
and the gravity of their error. If Christ is not risen, your 
faith is futile. You are still in your sins. One of the bigger points here, 
the second one is the next, but there is no salvation from sin. You see how important the truth 
is? The truth touches upon the matters of eternal things. If 
we follow after error, if we follow after heresy, we may prove 
ourselves to have not been Christians in the first place. Paul has 
an ardent defense and desire for the truth, of and for the 
truth, and here he pleads with the Corinthians not to chase 
after those things which may itch their ears. That was very 
hard to say. Verse 18, then also those who 
have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. There is no hope 
for those who have passed away. These errorists, these heretics, 
stealing away the hope that we have that those who have died 
in Christ, we will see again. They will rise to see the glory. Presently now, they're not sleeping, 
but those have presently passed into a glory and a vision of 
Christ, the blessed one. the madness and the hopelessness 
and the sadness that can be heaped upon a soul when they're stolen 
away by error. Paul exhorts them unto, Paul 
exhorts a multitude of his audiences unto a gripping hold of the truth. And it's not just for the truth's 
sake, if we can say it that way, but for the sake of the honor 
of the God of truth. For the sake of the honor of 
the Christ who preached truth who is truth himself, for the 
safety of Christ's church, who are by the grace of God, by an 
ascended Christ, through the sending of the Spirit, bringing 
a multitude of sons to glory at the last day. We also see 
not only Paul himself defending the truth in his own ministry, 
but also Paul in his dying days, exhorting those who are to follow 
after in his train, the defense of the truth. Notice in 1 Timothy 
chapter 6, 1 Timothy chapter 6, if Paul was about truth, then 
those whom he is exhorting, those apostles, those ministers of 
the gospel that he is exhorting, they must also, of course, be 
about that self-same truth. Notice in 1 Timothy 6, at verse 
at verse 20, his closing words, O Timothy, guard what was committed 
to your trust, avoiding the profane and idle babblings and contradictions 
of what is falsely called knowledge. By professing it, some have strayed 
concerning the faith. Grace be with you. Amen. This is a charge given specifically 
to Timothy by the Apostle Paul, but this is a charge that comes 
from God through divine inspiration to every Christian minister, 
and it extends to every Christian as well. Peculiarly for the Christian 
minister, they are to guard what has been committed to their trust. We don't handle the truth lightly 
with a loose grip. We don't set the truth aside 
as some sort of ancillary or tertiary thing, but rather as 
God himself, as Christ, as the apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ, 
as the prophets of old, have all set before us the importance 
of truth. we too are to elevate truth, 
to grasp it, to guard it, to ensure that a posterity will 
serve the crucified and the risen Christ. And connected to this, 
and thirdly, we want to note Paul's strong opposition to error. So in one sense, he's got this 
ardent defense of the truth, but also he's got this strong 
opposition to error. It's the difference between apologetics, 
and polemics, and you can see something. Turn with me to 2 
Corinthians, as we navigate around and about the Apostle Paul's 
writings to see these various characters, characteristics, 
concerning the Apostle Paul. Notice in 2 Corinthians 11, with 
regards to his strong opposition to error. 2 Corinthians 11, and 
when you get there, you can land at verse 12. But what I do, I 
will also continue to do, that I may cut off the opportunity 
from those who desire an opportunity to be regarded just as we are 
in the things of which they boast. For such are false apostles. 
deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for Satan himself 
transforms himself into an angel of light. Therefore it is no 
great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into 
ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their 
works. I read something recently, I 
can't remember where it was, but I think it holds true in 
a large regard. And it was something like, discernment 
isn't always necessarily knowing the difference between right 
and wrong, but knowing the difference between right and almost right. 
We have an absolute importance as Christians in the laying hold 
of our blessed Savior, in honoring the God, triune God of our profession, 
in defending the gospel that is solely by Christ through faith, 
in Christ alone, by faith alone, through grace alone. We are to 
be those who are discerning, not simply and largely, and some 
might say fairly easily, being able to discern between right 
and wrong, but establishing and knowing the difference between 
right and almost right, because Satan, his ministers transform 
themselves into ministers of righteousness, and their end 
will be according to their dastardly deeds and works. We are to be 
with the Apostle Paul and for the glory of our Christ about 
an ardent defense of truth and a strong opposition to error. 
Owen on this notes, the Apostle doth with all earnestness oppose 
this corrupting of the gospel, calling it another gospel, though 
indeed there be none other. These are his comments in fact 
on Galatians on Galatians 1, but it applies. But some would 
trouble them and pervert the gospel of Christ, Galatians 1, 
6 and 7. To pervert the gospel of Christ 
is to debase the doctrine of justification by faith as it 
is expressed. And the persons that did so, 
he pronounced accursed. The seriousness and the severity 
of teaching a doctrine that is no gospel at all, that flies 
in the face of amazing and victorious grace, is accursed. And such who teach it are to 
be called cursed. I think in our modern day, because 
of our delicate sensitivities and sensibilities, we have shied 
away from a strong polemic, not against Edna sitting in the pew 
just wanting to know her Bible and know Christ, but against 
teachers in the church, against preachers in the church who are 
preaching another gospel. They need to be called out and 
called what they are, a cursed of God. We're not to invite them 
to our conferences and sit down and shake hands and talk about 
God together. If they're against error and 
they're in opposition to the truth, they are accursed of God. Truth is the great uniter, not 
the great divider. And those who are opposed to 
truth, we're not to let in, lest they divide the church of the 
Lord Jesus Christ. Error is the great divider and 
not the defense of our blessed truth. And lastly, under his 
ministerial character, his earnest desire for the salvation of both 
Jew and Gentile. You see, the Apostle Paul was 
not a theological machine. He was not just some dusty, gray-bearded 
man who wanted to wax eloquently about theological concepts. No. His theology and his earnestness 
for the salvation of sinners were in perfect and complete 
harmony, and they ought to always be in every professing Christian. And to see this, you can turn 
with me first with regards to his earnest desire for the salvation 
of the Jews, you can turn with me to the book of Romans. And 
we'll note that this statement by the Apostle Paul echoes something 
of his master's statement, the Lord Jesus Christ. But first 
in Romans, chapter nine, notice, at verse 1, verses that you're 
no doubt familiar with, but let's rehearse them. Romans 9 beginning 
at verse 1. I tell the truth in Christ, I 
am not lying, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy 
Spirit, that I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart, 
for I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for 
my brethren, my countrymen, according to the flesh, who are Israelites, 
to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the 
giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises, of 
whom are the fathers, and from whom, according to the flesh, 
Christ came, who is overall the eternally blessed God, Amen. You see, Paul had an earnest 
desire for the salvation of the Jews, and as it is Paul's doctrine, 
that there is no salvation for ethnic Israel, that there is 
no separate divine blessing upon ethnic Israel, that it is alone 
those who are not sons of Abraham according to the flesh, but those 
who are sons of Abraham according to the faith, who are saved, 
who are divinely blessed, Paul has this earnest desire for his 
own countrymen that they would come to a knowledge of His blessed 
Christ. That one that he was once opposed 
to, but now by grace owned and preached, he desired that his 
countrymen that were now opposed to Christ would come by grace 
to a knowledge of the Blessed One. And Paul weeps for them. 
He wishes. He has a strong, ardent, earnest 
desire for his countrymen according to the flesh, that they would 
know the blessed Savior. That was promised to them millennia, 
you know, across millennia. Since the outset of that garden 
promise, which was really a garden curse, but a promise by virtue 
of it that the hero born of woman will crush the serpent with his 
heel, divine revelation mounts upon that deliberately, proposition 
upon proposition, narrative upon narrative, in order then to bring 
forth the Christ, that hero born of the woman, who would bring 
salvation to his people, to both Jew and to Gentile, to whom we 
now turn in Ephesians 3, you can turn with me there. Paul, 
his ministerial character, fourthly and lastly, but not exhaustively, 
is his earnest desire for the salvation of both Jew and Gentile. Notice in Ephesians 3, Ephesians 
3, and notice beginning at verse 1. as I have briefly written already, 
by which, when you read, you may understand my knowledge in 
the mystery of Christ, which in other ages was not made known 
to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit 
to His holy apostles and prophets. Note what this mystery is now 
fully revealed, that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs of the 
same body and partakers of his promise in Christ through the 
gospel, of which I became a minister according to the gift of the 
grace of God given to me by the effective working of his power. 
To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace 
was given that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable 
riches of Christ. Don't you love that phrase, the 
unsearchable riches of Christ? If you're here this morning and 
you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, know that in Christ we 
have unsearchable riches. This is why Peter can say that 
we have not been redeemed by silver and gold, but by the precious 
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. We have treasures, children and 
adults, we have rich treasures in Christ. And not just rich 
treasures, but unsearchable riches in Christ Jesus. If we could 
imagine some sort of treasure chest, not some sort of vain 
imagining, we're not gonna engage in idolatry here, but if we could 
imagine a treasure chest of riches and we open the lid and we reach 
in and we keep pulling these riches out, these silver and 
gold riches, these jewels and all of these things. And the 
well, the chest of those riches is unfathomable. It never ends. 
We're continually digging out these beautiful things of silver 
and gold and, you know, bespecked jewels. The unsearchable riches 
that we have in the Lord Jesus Christ are like that. We can 
never exhaust the riches of our Lord Jesus Christ. We can never 
exhaust the glories and the excellencies of the Lord Jesus Christ. When 
the Apostle Paul writes, uses that word in Philippians 2 that 
we read at the outset, the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus 
my Lord. That word of excellence is the 
same word that he uses later on in the epistle when he talks 
about peace that surpasses all understanding. The excellence 
of the knowledge of Jesus Christ is something supreme to hold, 
is what that word sort of carries the weight of. It's supreme to 
hold, it's superior to hold. We have these things down here 
in our lower world that are lawful, many unlawful things, but there 
are a lot of lawful things that we can have a measure of. cherishing 
in, that we can love, that we can hold, and all those sorts 
of things, but when we compare these things to the excellence 
of the knowledge of Jesus Christ our Lord, or stopping for a moment, 
when we compare these things to Christ Jesus the Lord, there 
is an excellence, there is a surpassing, there is a super abounding excellence 
to Jesus Christ above every single thing in God's creation. The 
Apostle Paul saw that and it was his earnest desire for the 
salvation of both Jew and Gentile. We want to just note his death 
and then close with something of his doctrinal legacy. Paul, 
after exercising his ministerial character throughout many years, 
Paul, after being about the zeal for Christ, about ardent defense, 
about strong opposition, and about that earnest desire for 
sinners, the Apostle Paul died. Most likely, or tradition in 
history speaks to the probable fact that he died by beheading 
under Nero and perhaps at the same time as the Apostle Peter, 
Eusebius, an early Church historian of the 4th century, wrote this, into unholy pursuits, and armed 
himself even against the religion of the God of the universe. To 
describe the greatness of his wickedness is impossible. This 
is Nero. As a common saying declares, 
Nero was Emperor of Rome at the time of the Apostle Paul. As 
a common saying declares, he practiced such iniquities that 
even his hearers were struck with horror. and in this way 
he became the first of the emperors who showed himself an enemy of 
the divine religion. Peter and Paul were both martyred 
at the same time. One of them in the city of Rome 
and the other was beheaded. Paul in fact is said to have 
been beheaded in Rome itself and Peter likewise to have been 
crucified under Nero. This account is confirmed by 
the name of the burial places in the cemeteries there, which 
even to this day have been called by the names of Peter and Paul. You'll remember that the Apostle 
Paul, and we noted it last Lord's Day, as he's writing to Timothy, 
he said that he is being poured out as a drink offering. The 
time of his departure was near. Of course, speaking concerning 
his death here, as we read under Nero, he knew that He had fully 
poured out, if you will, his sacrificial offering of service 
to God and to the risen and exalted Christ. But remember with Paul, 
that wasn't a sad thing. for me to live is Christ and 
to die is gain. Paul didn't fear the beheading 
by Nero. As Pastor Butler has said many 
times, an alive Paul was a menace to opposers of the truth. A dead 
Paul was also a little bit of a confusing menace to the opposers 
of the truth. Because Paul is one who could 
say, for me to live is Christ and to die is gain. I go into 
the presence of my Savior. I go into the presence of my 
victor. I go into the presence of the champion, the captain 
of our salvation. So whether living or dying, whether 
breathing or breathing no more, I'm with my Christ and I have 
much gain. I have unsearchable riches in 
the Lord Jesus Christ. In looking at the time, I actually 
don't want to go through his doctrinal legacy just to rush 
it for the sake of getting everybody home at a reasonable time, so 
we're going to close with some thoughts and a final quote here 
from Spurgeon. But some of the things we ought 
to focus in on in our exploration of the Apostle Paul are what 
can we take away from the Apostle Paul's ministry, what can we 
take from this as Christians 2,000 years removed, and what 
can we imbibe from Paul's character? One of the things we ought to 
be, and this is a given, it's obvious, but it needs to be oft 
repeated, especially as we are those who often need reminders, 
and that is, we are to be zealous for the excellence of the Lord 
Jesus Christ. a proper zeal, but a zeal nonetheless. Not a zeal untaught and unstable, 
but a zeal taught and stable, a wholesome zealousness for the 
Lord Jesus Christ. And how is this exercised? It's 
exercised first and foremost by doing what you're doing right 
now, not listening to me, but coming to church and engaging 
in the worship of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. How do we show 
our zeal for Christ? We show up in Christ's church 
and we worship along with brothers and sisters in Christ. Isn't 
it a blessing? It ought to be a blessing for 
everyone who's a Christian here this morning to come into this 
place, to read from God's word that is not just a dusty tome 
of 66 books slapped together by men with big hats, but really 
is the word of the living and true God, that we can open up 
these Bibles and read from divine revelation the things that God 
would have for the sons of men, concerning the Lord Jesus Christ, 
that we can read of the excellencies, the riches, and the glories of 
Jesus Christ, that we can pray God's word back to him, that 
we can pray not just as so many individuals, maverick Christians, 
gather together praying individually to the triune God, but as a band 
of brothers and sisters gather together, lifting up our voices 
in one accord. One person may be praying, but 
make no mistake, it is the church that prays. It is the church 
that is praying in unity of spirit. It's the church that is praying 
as one man, in one spirit, in one accord to Father, Son, and 
Holy Spirit. To be able to open up our hymnals, 
our psalters and our hymnals, and to stand up together and 
to belt out glories to Christ and glories to God, knowing that 
all around you there are faithful brothers and sisters singing 
not only to God, which is first and foremost, but also as the 
Apostle Paul writes, singing to one another with joy in our 
hearts that we might together worship this great God and glory 
in Christ and the gospel of Christ. What a blessing it is to be in 
church. There is no better place. Maybe you love Skittles and ketchup 
chips, but the grocery store isn't the best place on earth. 
You know, maybe you love flowers and plants, but the nursery isn't 
the best place on earth. Insert whatever you love here, 
that's not the best place on earth. The best place on earth 
is that foretaste of heaven, the church of the living Christ. 
which is the pillar and ground of the truth. We are to have 
a zeal, a zealousness for the excellence of Christ, and we're 
to be jealous for truth. Now, kids and adults, not jealous 
in the bad way, we're not to be jealous in any sort of sinful 
or bad way, but Jealous can also carry the language of vigilant 
concern for guarding a possession. Whenever you hear of jealousy 
or jealousness, the jealousy of God, the jealousness of Paul 
for his church, it's this vigilant concern for the guarding of some 
possession that you hold dear. We are to be jealous for the 
truth. When we discern error, we're 
not to allow it minds and our contemplations. Perhaps we can 
allow it in only to compare it with the greatness of that which 
is true, but we are not to entertain error, we're not to entertain 
heresy, we're not to, if we have itching ears, we need to scratch 
it not with error, but we need to scratch it with truth. I don't 
think we're to have itching ears anyway as Christians, so don't 
have itching ears. or to avoid having itching ears. 
We are to be jealous for the truth. And what is the truth? 
That's what Pilate asked Christ before the crucifixion. And what 
is truth? I think we could join in with 
the Apostle Paul. That truth pertains to the revelation 
of God as it finds its sum and substance and consummation in 
the perfection of the work of Jesus Christ our Savior. the 
truth as God has revealed it concerning his son, that glorious 
one, the second of the blessed triune God who came in in the 
fullness of the times down to our lower world, assumed our 
humanity that he might save those who are guilty and vile sinners. What a blessed thing that we 
have in the truth and we are to be zealous for it. And we'll 
close with this quote from Spurgeon. If we can wrap this up. in a 
wonderful summary by Spurgeon, and many of you have heard this 
before, this quote, but it summarizes 
the Apostle Paul, and though we're not all ministers here 
of the gospel of Jesus Christ, it should be the summary of all 
Christians in a sense as well, because we are all ambassadors 
for Christ, we are all heralds for the Lord Jesus Christ, we 
are all those who are to conduct ourselves in this lower world 
such that we bring glory to Christ through the proclamation of his 
riches and excellencies wherever God may find us. Spurgeon wrote 
or preached. Paul did not blench before the 
sharp and practical reply of the conquerors of the world. 
He trembled not before Nero in his palace. Whether to Greek 
or Jew, Roman or barbarian, bond or free, he was not ashamed of 
the gospel of Christ, but gloried in the cross. Though the testimony 
that the one all-sufficient atonement was provided on the cross stirs 
the enmity of man and provokes opposition, Yet Paul was so far 
from attempting to mitigate that opposition that he determined 
to know nothing save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. His motto 
was, we preach Christ crucified. He had the cross for his philosophy, 
the cross for his tradition, the cross for his gospel, the 
cross for his glory, and nothing else. If you're here this morning 
and you're a Christian, you can enter into that with the apostle 
Paul, can't you? You can't enter into his apostleship, 
but as one saved by amazing grace, hopefully you can speak to this 
and speak from the heart and enter into this, that you have 
the cross for your philosophy, the cross for your tradition, 
the cross for your gospel and glory. And if you're here this 
morning outside of Christ, know that the Apostle Paul preached 
that we're all sinners who fall short of the glory of God. That 
we all, as sinners, justly incur, or we deserve the wrath of God, 
not only in this age, but also in the age which is to come. 
We all sin, we're all marked by vileness and wickedness and 
transgression. Yet there is one who came into 
this world, sinners to save. He came from on high, God of 
God, light of light, true God from true God, assumed our humanity 
that he might bring many sinners to glory. Believe on the Lord 
Jesus Christ and Paul promises, God and his sent Christ promise, 
that you will have everlasting life, blessed salvation, and 
the one alone who saves sinners for his glory. Let's pray. Heavenly 
Father, we thank you for your word of truth. We thank you. 
for what you've left with us in this deposit of truth as we 
have been studying the Apostle Paul. We've noted it's not a 
study of the man necessarily, but of the God of the man, of 
the Christ of the man, and of the blessed gospel that he preached. 
We pray that you'd fill us with high thoughts of our Savior, 
that we would reflect with great joy upon the excellence of the 
knowledge of Jesus Christ, our Savior, that you would help us 
to see his riches as unsearchable. The fact that he came into this 
world to live a life of obedience in the place of all who believe 
in His name, and that He died a perfect death upon Calvary's 
cross, a death of substitutionary sacrifice in the place of all 
who believe in Him, and that He was raised the third day and 
now sits at the right hand of the Majesty on high where He 
ever lives to intercede. for his people and to judge his 
enemies. We pray that you'd go with us 
now. Help us to honor your Sabbath day, to rejoice in truth, to 
love your church, and to have that zeal for Christ. We do pray 
that you'd help us in this by your spirit. In Christ's precious 
name we pray. Amen. Well, please stand with 
me. We're going to sing a doxology 
together. It's 564. 564 in your psalter. 
Let's stand and sing together. Amen, so let it be. The Lord 
hath left his glory. Amen, so let it be. Now may the God of peace who 
brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great shepherd 
of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, 
make you complete in every good work to do his will, working 
in you what is well-pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, 
to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. Well, please be seated, 
and we'll have a brief time of prayer and meditation. When the 
piano's finished, you're dismissed.