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.
Opening Prayer
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,
Introduction
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
Paul's Ministerial Character
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
Zeal for Christ Crucified
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.
Ardent Defense of the Truth
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.
Strong Opposition to Error
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.
Earnest Desire for Salvation of All
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.
Paul's Death Under Nero
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?
Application
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.
Spurgeon on Paul's Cross-Centered Ministry
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.
Closing Prayer
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.