What did Paul mean when he said that the true believer puts no confidence in the flesh? Well, in order to explain, Paul gives some biographical background to his own life in order to show what he once trusted in to gain acceptance with God. Then he says it’s all rubbish, in comparison with Jesus Christ! He is the one we must put all our confidence in, not in anything we have done!
[powerpress]
The Futility Of Obtaining Salvation By The Flesh
Philippians 3:4-7
You will recall that last Sunday we discussed three marks of a true Christian: he worships in the Spirit of God, and glories in Christ Jesus, and puts no confidence in the flesh. When Paul mentioned putting no confidence in the flesh, it gave him the occasion to launch into a bit of his autobiography. Paul is anxious to teach the Philippians the futility of the flesh in obtaining salvation. Paul had sought long and hard in the flesh to earn his salvation but it had got him nowhere.
In Paul’s mind his life could be summed up like a Profit and Loss statement – or like a balance statement with credits and debits. In verse 7 he says, “But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ.” The word “gain” also means “profit.” So, Paul is talking about his profits and his losses. He says that he had put all of the religious credentials he had accumulated over his life in the “profits” side of the ledger. With each new religious accomplishment, he felt he was that much closer to gaining heaven. He thought that salvation could be obtained by religious works. But at some point in his life, he met Christ, and Jesus transformed his life in a radical way. And when he gained Christ, he transferred all of the things in his “profits” column to his “losses” column. He realized that all of the things that were in his “profits” column were futile, and worthless. He discovered that when he gained Christ, he gained everything he was always working so hard for with his religious works.
Notice how Paul puts what he had been looking for all along, but he just didn’t know it.
In verse 8 he speaks of “knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.” At the end of verse 8 he says, “that I may gain Christ.” In verse 9 he says, “and may be found in Him.” In verse 10 he says, “that I may know Him.”
Paul had discovered that the answer to all his needs and longings was not his own performance, but a Person! Knowing Christ, gaining Christ, being found in Christ – that was what had transformed his life and set his heart ablaze with love. It was a relationship with a Person. And friends, that is what Christianity is all about. It is a relationship with Jesus Christ. And when Paul entered into a saving relationship with Jesus Christ, he received a new righteousness. He had worked hard to gain a righteousness of his own derived from the law. He had a self-righteousness. But when he gained Christ, he received a different kind of righteousness. This righteousness was not his own, but came from God. This righteousness was not obtained by working hard. It came through faith. And it is only the reception of this righteousness that brings salvation to a lost sinner.
All of Paul’s hard work and religious credentials had not been able to obtain this right standing with God. All of the efforts of the flesh are of no avail here. They are futile. They are worthless.
This morning I want to show you all of Paul’s fleshly religious credentials that he had stacked up, one upon another, to try to obtain salvation.
There are two different kinds of religious credentials here. First, we have Paul’s religious pedigree. This is comprised of things which he had no control over. Then we have Paul’s religious performance. This is made up of all the things which Paul did in his flesh to obtain salvation.
1. Paul’s Religious Pedigree
Circumcised the eighth day. Paul is saying here that he had gone through the right ritual. To be sure, this was not Paul’s decision. Rather, Paul’s parents made sure their boy was circumcised on the eighth day. Now, why was the eighth day important? It was important because that was the day that God said newborn baby boys were to be circumcised.
Genesis 17:12, “And every male among you who is eight days old shall be circumcised throughout your generations.”
Luke 2:21, “And when eight days had passed, before His circumcision, His name was then called Jesus…”
Circumcision was the God-ordained ritual by which a baby boy was brought into God’s covenant with Israel. Paul had that sign of the covenant in his flesh.
Genesis 17:13-14, “A servant who is born in your house or who is bought with your money shall surely be circumcised; thus shall My covenant be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant. But an uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that person shall be cut off from his people; he has broken My covenant.”
Circumcision was all about the covenant. If you wanted to be part of God’s covenant with Abraham, you had to be circumcised. Paul had been circumcised. He had the sign of the covenant in his flesh, and he had this ritual performed on the exact day God had prescribed – the eighth day. Therefore, he had confidence in the flesh.
Application. Circumcision performed on the eighth day, is roughly analogous to infant baptism. Paul had confidence in the flesh because he was circumcised on the eighth day, and there are many people in the world today who have confidence in the flesh because they were baptized as babies. The Roman Catholic church teaches that if a baby is not baptized he will go to hell. They teach that infant baptism brings the forgiveness of sin, grants spiritual rebirth, and makes the baby a member of the church. They also believe that baptism is the means by which one receives the Holy Spirit. It is no wonder that a Catholic would see his baptism as giving him confidence before God. But this is not restricted to Catholics. There is the possibility that any person who was baptized as an infant might conclude that he has been accepted by God. Those that make that conclusion will suffer a horrible awakening. The Bible teaches that entrance into the New Covenant takes place at our rebirth, not our infant baptism.
Of the nation of Israel. Another reason Paul had confidence in the flesh was because he was of the nation of Israel. That was important because Israel was the one nation on the planet that God had entered into covenant with. They were God’s chosen people. The Jews believed that if they were circumcised the eight day, and were born a descendant of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, that they were heirs of glory and eternal salvation. Paul just happened to be of the nation of Israel. Not only had he gone through the right ritual, but he was of the right nation. His confidence in the flesh is growing larger.
Of the tribe of Benjamin. Now, why was that important? This was important because the tribe of Benjamin held a unique rank among the other tribes. Benjamin was the youngest of two sons born to Rachel, who was Jacob’s favorite wife. That made Benjamin a favorite child. When the land was divided by lot and given out to the twelve tribes, the land Benjamin inherited included Jerusalem, the capital city of Israel. Moreover, only Benjamin and Judah remained faithful to the Davidic kingdom. As a result, although the northern 10 tribes were taken into Exile by the Assyrians in 722 B.C., Judah and Benjamin were spared, and were not exiled until the Babylonians conquered them in 586 B.C. almost 140 years later.
Furthermore, Paul knew which tribe he was from. When Paul wrote this letter, many, if not most Israelites did not know which tribe they were from. The genealogies had been lost in the Babylonian captivity, and intermarriage had blurred the tribal identities. Since Paul knew which tribe he was from, he was in effect saying that his family had not been involved in intermarriage. They had kept their family line pure.
A Hebrew of Hebrews. This probably means that Paul was a Hebrew child of two Hebrew parents. Many Jews, scattered throughout the known world, had become Hellenized. That is, they were Greek-speaking Jews. They had lost the ancient Jewish culture and language. Paul was different. He was a Hebrew. He spoke and wrote Hebrew. He had still maintained His Hebrew roots, language and culture. Although Paul was raised in Tarsus, under Roman rule and Greek culture, he had not lost the Hebrew culture and language. He was proud of his racial distinction.
Application. Paul was of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews. With each new credential he brings up, his chest could swell with pride. These were the things which gave him confidence before God. Granted, all of these credentials were in the flesh, but for Paul, that’s all he had to confide in. They all speak of his pure religious pedigree. They speak of his nationality, his rank, and his culture.
I think sometimes, we in the United States, make the same mistake Paul made. We put confidence in our pedigree. After all, we are Americans. We are citizens of the United States, which is a Christian nation, isn’t it? God shed His grace on us, didn’t he? Aren’t we specially favored among all the nations of the world? Not only that, but there are some who look to their special rank. Perhaps they are a priest, or a preacher, or a pastor or a missionary. Or, perhaps he is a preacher’s kid, or a missionary kid. That counts for something, doesn’t it. Some, might look to the fact that they were born and raised in a Christian family. Their parents are Christians. Surely, that must mean that they are Christians too, right? Wrong! It has been wisely said, “God has no grandchildren.” Either you are one of God’s children, are you are not. No one will get into heaven because his parents were saved. Each person must have a personal faith in Jesus Christ. My friends, never make the mistake of putting your confidence in your nationality, or your rank, or your parentage. If you do, it will lead you to your eternal damnation.
2. Paul’s Religious Performance
The next three things Paul lists all begin with “as to…” And Paul mentions three things – Law, zeal, and righteousness. Now, Paul is going to tell us about those things which he actually did. These were things he was responsible for. He made the decision to become a Pharisee. He decided to persecute the church, and he kept the law blamelessly. Let’s look at each in turn.
As to the Law, a Pharisee. The Pharisees were the strictest sect of Judaism. They arose during the 400 year period between Malachi and Matthew as response to those liberal Jews who had begun to question the authority of Scripture. The word “Pharisee” means “separated one.” And, that’s exactly what they did. They separated themselves from everyone else. They studied the Word, guarded the Word, and sought to practice the Word. At the time of Christ there were only about 6,000 of them, and for good reason. Most people didn’t want to live such a strict and demanding life.
In Acts 23:6, Paul said, “I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees.”
In Acts 26:5 Paul said, “I lived as a Pharisee according to the strictest sect of our religion.”
The fact that Paul chose to be a Pharisee tells us that he was extremely serious about God’s Law, and the Old Testament Scriptures. If a person chose to become a Pharisee, had publicly vowed that he would take the yoke of the torah upon him. They would fast twice a week, and tithe not just their money, but even their herbs and spices. They would pray wherever they were, whether it was in the temple, marketplace or street corner. He was not a nominal Jew. He was in this thing 110%. Since the Pharisees sought to obey God’s Law, above all other people, we can say that Paul had concluded that salvation is not by Law-keeping.
As to zeal, a persecutor of the church. A zealous man loves God so much that he hates whatever he thinks offends Him. Paul was a zealous man. He thought that Christianity offended God, so he hated it, and did his very best to extinguish it from the earth.
Acts 8:1, “Saul was in hearty agreement with putting him to death.”
Acts 8:3, “But Saul began ravaging the church, entering house after house, and dragging off men and women, he would put them in prison.”
Acts 9:1, “Now Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest.”
Acts 22:3-4, “I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city, educated under Gamaliel, strictly according to the law of our fathers, being zealous for God just as you all are today. I persecuted this Way to the death, binding and putting both men and women into prisons…”
Acts 26:9-11, “So then, I thought to myself that I had to do many things hostile to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. And this is just what I did in Jerusalem; not only di I lock up many of the saints in prisons, having received authority from the chief priests, but also when they were being put to death I cast my vote against them. And as I punished them often in all the synagogues, I tried to force them to blaspheme; and being furiously enraged at them, I kept pursuing them even to foreign cities.”
Paul was a man of great zeal for God, but not in accordance with knowledge. He thought he was doing God service by persecuting the church, and he was actually persecuting God’s divine Son.
If anyone was passionate and sincere about his religious convictions, surely it was Paul.
That only goes to inform us that salvation is not by passion or sincerity or zeal.
Augustus Toplady, in his hymn Rock of Ages, wrote
“Could my zeal no respite know, could my tears forever flow,
all for sin could not atone. Thou must save and Thou alone.”
Application. My friends, you can be zealous in religion, and be headed for hell. If your zeal is not according to truth, it is in vain. It is merely a work of the flesh. I have known of many people in non-Christian religious cults that were extremely zealous. Many Jehovah’s Witnesses devote at least 70 hours a month to spreading their doctrine. They had devoted their entire lives, all their time, all their wealth, all their gifts, to their religion. But, in the end, it is a work of the flesh. They are building madly, but they are building their house on the sand, and when the storm arises, it will all be destroyed.
As to the righteousness which is in the Law, found blameless. Now, this is an amazing confession! Paul is saying that when it comes to keeping God’s Law, no one could find anything against him. This is not saying that Paul was sinless. Every person born into the world is a sinner and in need of Christ’s salvation. But it does showcase the great lengths Paul went to in order to externally keep the Law. Paul was a model Jew if there ever was one. He was Exhibit A, under the heading of “Faithful Jew.” He was the Poster Boy for Judaism. Surely, if anyone could be saved by law-keeping, it was Paul.
Application. My friends, we can make the same mistake that Paul did. We can reduce Christianity to so many laws that we must keep. Our faith merely becomes a bunch of boxes that we must check off each day. We can become very good at going through the external motions of Christianity, without really seeking and community with Christ.
Read the Bible – check.
Pray – check.
Witness to someone – check.
Memorize a verse – check.
Attend church – check.
Pay my tithes – check.
And, what happens? Instead of your time in the Word and prayer being something you look forward to, because you are communing with the Almighty, it becomes a duty you must endure.
You get the picture. You can make your Christian faith entirely a matter of checking off the Do’s, and not checking the Don’ts. But if you do, you will lose your joy entirely! Your faith will become drudgery and a chore, instead of a delight.
The truth is no one can be saved by law-keeping. We will never be righteous before God by our obedience to God’s Word. We will only be granted God’s gift of righteousness through faith in Jesus Christ.
So, let’s go back and summarize what we have seen so far. Paul said that if anyone has a right to put confidence in the flesh, he could do so far more. Why? Because of his religious Pedigree. He went through the right ritual, was from the right nation and tribe, and family. Not only that, but because of his religious Performance. He chose to join the Pharisees, the strictest group of Jews on the planet. He chose to persecute the church because he felt they were a threat to God’s true people. He chose to give his life to observing God’s Law.
My friends, we can make the same mistake today. We can put confidence in baptism, the Lord’s Supper, our country, the fact that we have Christian parents and were raised in a Christian family. We can put confidence in our zealous religious activity, and the fact that we live our lives “right” while everyone else is doing it wrong. But what does all that stuff amount to? The flesh! It’s all what I can bring to God. It is all based on me, and what I can do to be accepted by God.
Conclusion
Now, let’s conclude our time in the Word, by taking a look at Paul’s conclusion to this matter. Verse 7 says, “But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ.” What is a Christian? A Christian is someone who lets go of everything he had been putting his trust in for salvation, and clings to Christ alone. He glories in Christ Jesus, and puts no confidence in the flesh.
Paul used to view all of those fleshly credentials as gain or in the profit column. But now he sees all of them as in the loss column. Instead of being pluses, they are huge negatives. In fact, he calls them “rubbish”, which means “garbage” or “manure.” He realized that they are absolutely worthless.
So what was truly valuable? Vs. 8 – “knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.” Vs. 8 – “that I may gain Christ.” Vs. 9 – “and be found in Him.” Vs. 10 – “that I may know Him.”
My friends, salvation can never be obtained through the works of your flesh. The ONLY way we can obtain salvation is by knowing Christ. Therefore, that is where we need to put our focus. If we make knowing Christ the primary goal of our life, everything else will flow out of that. Good works will flow from that, obedience to God’s word will flow from that, peace and joy will flow from that, compassion for the lost and evangelism will flow from that. But if we make the works of our flesh the focus, everything will be turned on its head, and devastation and misery will flow from that.
My challenge to you this morning, is to make knowing Jesus your all consuming passion! Make communion with Him the most important pursuit of your life. This week, seek Him. Spend time with Him. Pray to Him. Listen to Him in His Word. Make Jesus your Sun, and make every part of your life revolve around him like various planets. This week, get out of bed, and before you eat, or drink, or work, seek Christ. That’s my exhortation to you. May we all seek Him. If we do, we will experience His life. Let’s pray.
______________________________
© The Bridge
Permissions: You are permitted and encouraged to reproduce and distribute this material in any format provided that you do not alter the wording in any way and do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction. For web posting, a link to this document on our website is preferred. Any exceptions to the above must be approved by The Bridge.
Follow Us!