PHIL. iii. 7, 8. “But what things were gain to me, those
I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things
but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my
Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do
count them but dung, that I may win Christ.”
I. LET us look at the apostle’s insufficient grounds of trust.
1. He repudiates sacramental efficacy: “circumcised on
the eighth day.”
2. The second repudiated confidence is honoured parent-
age: “of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an
Hebrew of the Hebrews.”
3. The third repudiated confidence is religious authority:
“as touching the law a Pharisee.”
4. The next repudiated confidence is intense earnestness:
“concerning zeal, persecuting the Church.”
5. The last repudiated confidence is ceremonial blame-
lessness: “touching the righteousness that is in the law
blameless.”
II. The compensating power of the excellency of the
knowledge of Christ. The law of compensation runs
through creation. A man climbs up to high places and
calumny and care go barking up at his heels. There is
beauty dazzling all beholders, and consumption preys upon
the damask cheek.
Come to Christ; that is the end of it. Come to Christ!
Mark the zeal with which the Apostle Paul proclaimed the
truth — indomitable and unfailing— with which he clung to
the Master.
W. Morley Punshon, D.D.