We are continuing our study this morning in Paul's letter to the Philippians. In a few moments, I am going to read a section from chapter three, and then we will dig into that. But before we do that, I'd like to take you to a passage in Luke's gospel. Luke 18, and the section I want to draw your attention to begins in verse 18. Now, it's a well-known story, and I know that you are familiar with it. It begins with a ruler, it says. A ruler coming to Jesus to ask Him a question. And the ruler asked him, good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? Now, what does Luke mean by ruler? When Luke uses the term in his gospel, he usually means a member of the Sanhedrin, that is the council that ruled the religious affairs in Israel. Now, there were only 71 members for all of Israel. And so, if that's what Luke meant, this would have made this man who came to Jesus one of the elite of the elite religious leaders in the entire country. Now it's also possible that Luke meant the ruler of a local synagogue. Every town of any size had a synagogue where the people would come and worship on the Sabbath and sometimes more often than that. And every synagogue had a ruler, someone who was in charge. Now if that's what Luke meant, then it's not quite as lofty as being a member of the Sanhedrin on a national level, but he still would have been a well-respected religious leader in his community. So either way, this man was apparently relatively accomplished in his religious life. Now, in addition to that, both Matthew and Mark, when they tell of this account in their Gospels, they make the point that he was a young man. I don't know what Matthew or Mark would have considered young, but I think it's safe to say that this man had achieved this standing earlier than most, at a younger age than many of his peers, whether he was a local religious leader or a national religious leader. So, in a nation where they took their religion seriously, he stood out for his piety, for his reverence for God, even at a relatively young age. Now, many of Israel's religious elite asked Jesus questions. Members of the Sanhedrin, Pharisees, experts in the law. And it's clear that in most cases, they were asking him these questions in order to test him, to try to trap him, to find something that they could use against him. because they considered him a threat. They would stand up when Jesus was teaching, and they would pompously ask him their gotcha questions, designed to trip him up. Now, it never worked, but that was their intent. Not so with this man. Mark tells us that he ran up to Jesus and that he knelt before him. This man certainly appears to be honestly looking for an answer, unlike many of the other religious elite. And here's what he asked. He said, good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? Now, that's the right question. At least it's close to the right question. Eternal life and how we might inherit it is absolutely what we should be concerned with. But notice that his question focused on what I must do. Well, there's nothing that you can do. And Jesus is going to show him that. So Jesus made two basic points. First, no one is good except God. And Jesus' second point, you would have to keep the commandments to perfection in order to inherit eternal life. Now, when you put those two things together, The conclusion should be clear. Someone who is inherently not good isn't going to be able to keep God's perfect law. And therefore, you can't inherit eternal life, at least not on your own. But the ruler didn't make that connection, apparently. And he responded, all these I have kept from my youth. So he missed Jesus' point. He's still looking for what he could do in the flesh, for how he could put confidence in his flesh, in his own efforts. And he claims that he had, indeed, been blameless under the law. Now, perhaps in some strict legalistic way, he had. Presumably, he had never committed adultery, or murder, or theft, or perjury, at least under a strict legal definition. And he had met his legal obligations to his parents. So he claimed that he had kept God's commandments. He probably thought that this conversation with Jesus was going pretty well based on his misunderstandings. He likely expected Jesus to follow up with something like, good job, keep it up, and you will inherit eternal life. That's what he no doubt was hoping for. If he had heard and understood Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, which Jesus had preached sometime earlier than this, he would have understood that that kind of obedience didn't cut it. He would have understood that lust and hate And many more things that never occurred to the Pharisees are an offense to God that disqualify you from eternal life, even if you don't follow through and commit adultery or murder. The point of the law is not to give you a way to earn eternal life. It's too late for that. The point of the law is to show that you've already failed and that you're going to need some outside help from God. But Jesus didn't go there with him. Jesus wasn't going to talk about his lust or his hate because there was an even more apparent sin of the heart in this man's life. And Jesus knew it. The man coveted. Maybe not, again, in the legal sense. He may not have coveted his neighbor's possessions, but his attitude toward things, his love of material things, was to coveting what lust is to adultery and what hate is to murder. And Jesus revealed that to him in a very pointed way. One thing you still lack, he said, sell all that you have and distribute to the poor. Can you count it all loss in order to gain Christ and have eternal life? Now, Jesus isn't saying that this is a work that the man had to do and that by it he would earn eternal life. Jesus is revealing to him that his love of things, loving things more than people, loving things more than God, that was a problem. And Jesus showed him this convincingly by telling him to sell all that he had and to give it to the poor. But he couldn't bring himself to do that. And that made him sad. This was not the outcome that he had hoped for. But the things that he valued in this life were more important to him than the righteousness that was to be gained in Christ. Well, turn with me now, if you're not already there, to Philippians chapter three. I'm gonna read the first 11 verses, and then we'll start unpacking at verse four, and we're gonna focus especially on verses five and six this morning. Well, Philippians three, beginning in verse one. Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you is no trouble to me, and it is safe for you. Look out for the dogs. Look out for the evildoers. Look out for those who mutilate the flesh. For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus, and put no confidence in the flesh. Though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more. Circumcised on the eighth day of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews. As to the law, a Pharisee. As to zeal, a persecutor of the church. As to righteousness under the law, But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord and Savior. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God, that depends on faith, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and may share in His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death, that by any means possible, I may attain the resurrection from the dead. Now, in the passage that we looked at in Luke, the rich young ruler came to Jesus wanting to earn. eternal life. He wanted guidance from Jesus. He looked to Jesus as a mentor to steer him in the right direction and to validate that what he was doing was right. But he, the ruler, was expecting to do the work. He was intent on putting his confidence in his own flesh. "'What must I do?' he said. "'I have kept the commands since my youth.'" Jesus identified the specific area where this man put his confidence, which was legalistic law-keeping, and then Jesus zeroed in even further on one particular law, thou shalt not covet, and showed the man that he had no basis for confidence in his flesh. But there are more areas, more than just legalistic law keeping, where a person might put confidence in the flesh. In fact, here in Philippians chapter three, Paul identifies seven of them. Seven areas where Paul himself said he could have had reason for confidence in the flesh. Any one of which you or I might be susceptible to as well. Although none of us would have had as much reason as Paul. So Paul wrote in verse 4, Though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also, If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more. And then he gives us these seven things. If anyone was going to be saved by the flesh, by his own doing, it would have been Paul. Because he beats everyone in every one of these categories. But even Paul fell infinitely short of what God desires. Now, he was writing to warn the Philippians about the Judaizers, that is, those who wanted to add Jewish requirements to faith in Christ as a means of salvation. And, of course, Paul himself was a Jew. He was a Pharisee. So the things that he lists here are very Jewish. But John MacArthur, in his commentary on this passage, he takes these specific credentials that Paul possessed and he broadens them into categories that may apply to us as well. Now, I don't think anyone here is counting on being a Pharisee to save themselves, but there may be something like that in some sense that we do put confidence in that we shouldn't. So I'm gonna adopt Dr. MacArthur's outline for verses five and six, and I'm even going to use the same headings for these categories. He calls these religious credits that do not impress God. And if they don't impress God, well, there's really not any value in them at all. So you better find something else to put your confidence in. The first thing Paul writes that he would have reason for confidence in, the flesh, is circumcised on the eighth day. And what we see here is that salvation is not by ritual. Now, maybe we can understand how some Jews came to misunderstand the role of circumcision, even in the Old Testament. Last week, we looked at Genesis chapter 17, where God instituted circumcision as the sign of the covenant that God made with Abraham. And when God defined the terms of the covenant in verse five through verse eight, it was all what God was going to do for Abraham and Abraham's descendants. God would make Abraham the father of a multitude of nations. God would cause kings to come from Abraham. God would give them the land. It was all God. It was completely one-sided and everlasting. It was irrevocable. And then, In verses nine and following, God said to Abraham, as for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout all their generations. This is my covenant, which you shall keep between me and you and your offspring after you. Every male among you shall be circumcised. And that's it. That's all that God asks of Abraham after he says, you shall keep my covenant. He goes on and he gives more details about circumcision, but he doesn't add anything else to it. So maybe we can understand where a Jew would get the idea that circumcision is non-negotiable. that it's an absolute and everlasting, irrevocable part of the covenant. Now, we understand, as we explored last week, both from Old Testament passages as well as New Testament ones, that physical circumcision was an outward sign of inward circumcision of the heart. And that circumcision of the heart is being separated from your sin. That is absolutely what had to happen and what still has to happen to every saint in every age. He or she must have their sin cut away in order to receive any of the promises that God has given. Deuteronomy tells us that. Deuteronomy tells us that. Jeremiah tells us that. Paul tells us that extensively. There is no value in the outward sign if the inward reality isn't there. inward reality is present, then the outward symbol doesn't really matter. Now, if God had instructed us to continue to be circumcised, then we would do it out of obedience, but it wouldn't save us. There are other things that he does ask of us in this present time. He commands us to be baptized. Now, you're not saved by water baptism. It's an outward representation that you are immersed in Christ, that you are united with him in his death and in his resurrection. He also asks us to partake of the Lord's Supper, often to remember his death. There's no saving effect from partaking, but it's meaningful to us, and we do it out of obedience and worship. But we must not put any confidence in any of those things. Now, there are people in some parts of the visible church who do put confidence in these things. If you ask them if they're saved, they will tell you, yes, I was baptized. Yes, I take communion. Those are fine things for a believer to do, but they do not save you. Another ritual, and this is a somewhat informal ritual that many people put confidence in, is praying a prayer of salvation, or perhaps going forward at a meeting, or raising your hand, or filling out a response card. Now, I am not saying that those things can't accompany true salvation. Of course they can, and they often do. of praying a prayer or of going forward or of raising your hand. None of that saves you any more than physical circumcision saves you. So when Paul writes in Galatians 5 verse 6, for in Christ, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything but only faith. working through love. We could just as easily say, in Christ Jesus, neither reciting a prayer, nor going forward, nor raising your hand counts for anything, but only faith working through love. It's not the ritual that saves you. It's not the going through the motions, no matter what those motions are. So don't put any confidence in it. The second reason that Paul could have had for confidence in the flesh was that he was of the nation of Israel. Salvation is not by race. And it never has been. There are certain temporal, earthly blessings that Israel enjoyed when she as a nation followed God. and collectively obeyed him and kept his covenant. And then anyone who was part of Israel shared in those blessings, those earthly blessings. But that doesn't mean that every single one of them inherited eternal life. Those of Israel who received eternal life, beginning with their father Abraham, were the ones who were counted righteous by God through faith. That is why his faith was counted to him as righteousness, Paul writes of Abraham in Romans 4 verse 22. Or in Galatians 3 verse 6, just as Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness. Now, I doubt that anyone here this morning thinks that your racial heritage is going to save you, even those of you who are Dutch. And you're right. It's not. We have no reason to put any confidence in our race. The third reason that Paul could have had for confidence in the flesh was of the tribe of Benjamin. Salvation is not by rank. Just the fact that Paul knew what tribe he was from, that set him apart from most Jews at that time. Many had lost track of their tribal identity through the exiles and through intermarrying. But Benjamin, Benjamin along with Judah, these were the two most prominent tribes of Israel. Benjamin was Jacob's youngest son, by his favorite wife, Rachel. So Benjamin was always favored. The first king of Israel came from Benjamin. Other prominent, important figures in the Old Testament, such as Mordecai, who God used to save his people in Persia, were Benjaminites. The capital city, Jerusalem, is in the territory of Benjamin. And when the kingdom split after Solomon's death, only Benjamin and Judah remained loyal to the house of David. So it was a big deal that Paul was of the tribe of Benjamin. Now, in our day, in our country, someone might consider it significant if he could trace his ancestry back to George Washington or Thomas Jefferson or back to the Mayflower, but that would be nothing compared to this. Paul descended from Benjamin, from Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Benjamin, but it doesn't impress God. It gains Paul nothing when it comes to righteousness and eternal life. Now, these first three things that Paul cites, these reasons he might have put confidence in his flesh, rank, race, and ritual, These were nothing that Paul had done himself. He was born into Israel and Benjamin, and he didn't have anything to do with being circumcised on the eighth day. His parents took care of that. There's a larger principle to be seen here than just the individuality of ritual, race, and rank. No circumstances of your birth and nothing that your parents or anyone else can do for you can save you. Now, be grateful. Be grateful for whatever advantages that you've had in your heritage, in your upbringing. If you were raised in the discipline and instruction of the Lord, that is a blessing. But don't put your confidence in it. It won't save you. And in fact, if you do put confidence in it, if you think that it in itself provides for your salvation, it becomes a stumbling block and impedance to righteousness by faith in Christ. The fourth reason that Paul could have had for confidence in the flesh was that he was a Hebrew of Hebrews. Salvation is not by tradition. John MacArthur suggests that the best way to understand this, a Hebrew of Hebrews, is that he was born to Hebrews, his parents, he was of Hebrews, and that provided him this tradition. All of the things that he inherited from them by virtue of his birth, all of the things that they taught him, the way that they raised him, he was steeped in Judaism from birth and raised to be a godly Hebrew man. But Paul, for his part, did not forsake his family's traditional Jewish heritage when he became a man, when it was up to him. He remained a Hebrew of Hebrews, although he was born in Tarsus, a Gentile city in Asia Minor. He did not become Hellenized. He did not adopt the culture of the Greeks as many other Jews outside of Israel had. He remained committed to their orthodox traditions and to the customs of his ancestors, and even to the Hebrew language. He left Tarsus for Jerusalem, and he studied under the famous rabbi Galileo. There was no drift in Paul from his upbringing and from his parents' tradition. He embraced it and he excelled at it. Now, I said a moment ago that the family that you were born into can't save you and that the traditions that you were raised with can't save you. I know that there are some people who consider themselves Christians who do put their confidence in this, but I believe that many more recognize the fallacy of it, especially if they fall away from it. What we see here is that you can continue in all of the traditions that you were raised in. You can go to church every Sunday. You can teach your own children Christian values. You can try to live your life according to those values. You can financially support the church and other ministries and involve yourself in ministry of whatever sort. You can do all the things that a good Christian does, and it's still not something that you can be confident in for your salvation. Paul says he was a Hebrew of Hebrews, and it was for naught. You can be a Christian of Christians, at least outwardly, and it's of no value. Now this is where I believe that we need to start to really pay attention. I don't believe that anyone here really thinks that you were saved by the basis of your race or by your family or by your upbringing or anything else that you didn't have anything to do with. But this is where it gets dangerous. We look at others, perhaps, and maybe we judge them positively because they were raised in the church and they're still in the church, so they must be saved, right? Is that the standard that we're applying to ourselves? I was raised in the church. I was baptized, made a profession of faith, and I'm still here, so I must be saved. Maybe, but maybe not. Salvation is not by tradition, even if you maintain that tradition for your entire life. Now, the fifth reason that Paul could have had for confidence in the flesh was that he was, as to the law, a Pharisee. Salvation is not by religion. I think sometimes we get the idea that the Pharisees were overtly corrupt, visibly corrupt, that it was obvious to everyone around them. Now, their hearts certainly were corrupt, at least the ones who rejected Jesus as their Messiah, and that was most of them. So I'm not defending them here by any stretch. I think if we had known a Pharisee, especially before Jesus came on the scene, we would have found him sincere and devout, committed to the things that he believed in. These were the champions of morality. They defended God's word. They stood up to the liberalism of the Sadducees. They were the men who every good Jewish mother wanted her son to grow up to be like. They practiced their religion as precisely and as sincerely as a man can. They did everything that they understood was asked of them in the Old Testament law. And so when Paul writes, as to the law, a Pharisee, He's saying, as to religion, perfection. As close to it as a man has ever come. And yet, that is not a valid source for confidence. It doesn't matter how consistent your church attendance is, or how much time you spend reading your Bible, or praying, or how many ministries you're involved in, or how much money you give. None of that contributes anything to your salvation. all of it's healthy, all of it's positive for you spiritually if you're truly saved, and in Christ you will desire those things, but they can't save you. So they are not a source of confidence. The sixth reason. that Paul could have had confidence in the flesh was that he was, as to zeal, a persecutor of the church. Now, you might think, Paul, maybe you should have left this one out. This really isn't a positive thing, not the way that the others can be seen as positive, even if they aren't a basis for confidence. The Jews viewed zeal as the supreme religious virtue. And zeal meant that you went all in for what you believed. Paul's zeal was expressed when he believed that the church, that Christianity was an offense to God, so he did everything that he could to stamp it out in service to God, he thought. But salvation is not by sincerity. Salvation is not by zeal. But let me move forward almost 2,000 years from this and give you an example that may be more accessible to us today. You're all familiar with Mother Teresa. She was famous in the 1970s and 80s and 90s up to her death in 1997. She was known for her dedication to caring for some of the poorest people in the world in Calcutta, India. And she completely sold out for that cause. She was all in. She gave up everything that she had and she dedicated her entire life to serving that cause. She was the epitome of zeal and sincerity. And yet, if you listen to what she said she believed, or at least what was reported that she said, and I do realize that those are not always the same things. Everything that's attributed to her regarding the gospel and salvation is not the gospel. It was completely a works-based salvation. And yet, I think a lot of evangelicals, Christians who claimed to believe in salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, a salvation that is not of works, a lot of them looked at Mother Teresa's zeal and based on her zeal alone concluded, well, she must have been saved. Now listen. We may know how the media portrayed her beliefs. I know that the Roman Catholic Church as an institution had a vested interest in how her theology was presented. But I do not know what she really believed, nor do I pretend to know. I don't know whether she acknowledged that she was a sinner deserving of hell. I don't know whether she believed that Jesus paid her penalty on the cross. I don't know whether she received the free gift of salvation from our Lord by faith alone. I don't know these things, and so I don't make any claim to know how God judged her or where she is today. What I do know is that the only thing that mattered is whether or not she was in Christ. If she was, then God received her into his presence based on the finished work of Christ alone. If she was not in Christ, if her confidence was in the flesh, in her own zeal and sincerity, in her own sacrificial works, in the heroic way that she served the poor, then she died in her sin and is now paying for her sin. And that's a horrible thought. My point is that sincerity, the sincerity of the most zealous person that you can imagine, whether that's Mother Teresa of Calcutta or Saul of Tarsus, means nothing. And neither does your sincerity or mine. All that matters is whether you are in Christ. So put no confidence in your sincerity. Finally, the seventh reason that Paul could have had for confidence in the flesh was that he was, as to righteousness under the law, blameless. Salvation is not by legalistic righteousness. That brings us full circle back to the rich young ruler who came to Christ in Luke's gospel. He was counting on his legalistic righteousness to save him. That is where he wanted to put his confidence. Now, when Paul says that he was blameless under the law, he does not mean, in retrospect, that he would have been blameless before God. Paul's clear about that in Romans chapter 7, that all the law did for him was to reveal what a sinner he truly was. What Paul means when he says that he was blameless under the law was that according to the legalistic righteousness practiced by the Pharisees and other Jews, no one could find fault in him. Like the rich young ruler, Paul could say, I have not murdered, I haven't committed adultery or theft or perjury or dishonored my parents in the narrow sense. Paul would have kept the Sabbath in a strict legalistic way that the Pharisees accused Jesus and his disciples of violating. Paul would have tithed everything that he had right down to his dill and cumin. He did everything, and he did it better than anyone else. No man could have found cause to accuse Paul. Under the law, Paul was blameless before men. You think you have reason for confidence in the flesh, confidence in legalistic righteousness? I have more, he said. And there we have seven reasons that people might put confidence in their flesh. Seven reasons that Paul had previously put confidence in his flesh. Salvation is not by ritual, race, rank, tradition, religion, sincerity, or legalistic righteousness. Paul had all of this, more than anyone else, and this was his conclusion. Whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Paul reckoned everything that was good about himself worthless in order that he might gain Christ. Now, we'll get into that in a couple of weeks here and in the following verses. There's just one more thing I want to point out before we close this morning. And for that, I want to take you to Galatians. The thing that we need to guard against, and I'm speaking of most of us in the room this morning, maybe all of us, the thing that we need to guard against is not full and complete confidence in the flesh. The danger for most of us is not in thinking that I can save myself and that I have no need for anything from Christ Jesus. You don't believe that. The danger to us is that we start in Christ, we recognize our need for Him, and we receive salvation from Him by grace, through faith, Then, as we continue, confidence in the flesh starts to creep in. I start to think that there are things I can do and even things that I must do in myself as part of my sanctification or in order to please God. And this is why Paul writes to the Galatians in Galatians chapter three, starting in verse three, Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? Did you suffer so many things in vain, if indeed it was in vain? Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law? or by hearing with faith, just as Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness. Salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, does not end with your conversion. Every aspect of your salvation, from the moment that you are born again, to the day that you die, and on into eternity, is all in Christ alone. He accomplished all of it. He perfects all of it and He sustains all of it. That is what I want to leave you with this morning. Is there anything, any aspect of your Christian life, your service, your worship, your sanctification, any area where you put any confidence in the flesh, where you think you have it handled, Examine your own lives in light of these seven areas, these potential reasons for confidence in the flesh. Ask God to reveal to you and teach you by his word to rely on him alone. Because that is the only thing that will ever produce anything of lasting value. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, God, we're so grateful to you for the example of the Apostle Paul. Father, thank you for showing us how you could take a man who was fully steeped in his own self-righteousness and you could save him. You could draw him away from that self-confidence and teach him to put his confidence in you. Father, teach us the same thing. If there's any area in our lives where we are relying on ourselves for anything, Teach us to give it over to you, to count it as loss, to consider it rubbish for the sake of gaining Christ. And we pray this in Jesus' name, amen.