They were losing control and they knew it and they were almost in hiding. They wouldn't dare face a multitude like that. You had at that moment the potential of bloodshed and violence in the city of Porta Plata. Don Yema was in the house and she came out on that gallery which was about eight feet above the main street. and this woman raised her hand and she quieted the mom and she reminded them that the Bible says that vengeance belongs to God, that she did not want to see another mother shattered with grief that day because of violence in Porta Plata. She spoke for some time and she quieted the multitude. And then they quietly dispersed, and there was no violence that day in Porta Plata. But there was a widow's heart that was filled with grief, that her young son had so violently ended his days, just a young man, and beginning as a businessman and as a Christian. This is Don Jemma, our mother, and she was not discouraged. And tomorrow I want to take you on to other aspects of her life as she went on with her confidence in God. Battle against Octavian and Anthony, the famous Anthony of Cleopatra, the queen of Egypt. Cassius and Brutus lost that battle. And as a result, Brutus took his life. Then in the year thirty-one we find that the two men who won the battle, Octavian and also his companion Antony, they fell out and there was another battle in thirty-one and Antion lost. That's when Octavian changed his name and called himself Augustus and became the ruler of the Roman Empire, one of the great emperors. And one of the first things he did as he began his new life was to order that the city of Philippi be rebuilt. It became a place where the veterans of the army, the Roman army, retired, became a great center of veterans. And also it was a military post for the Roman army. It was a colony. And there these men lived some in retirement, some in active duty. It was a major post on the Via Ignatia that came out of Rome, went right through Philippi on the way to the east. It was a place to be. It was a very important city. I don't really think that it went through the mind of Paul very much because Paul was way to the east of the province of Asia. And in that situation, This man was trying to think, where will I serve God next? He was going northward. And he looked westward, and he knew how important and great was the city, pardon me, the province of Asia. And I think he thought, I'm going into Asia. This will be a major conquest for the Gospel of the Lord Jesus. I sense his excitement. I've worked in programs and planning. And as this man was there thinking about this, he probably talked to his associates. They probably had prayer meetings about it. They made their plans. But then the Spirit of God said, no, you're not going into Asia. I don't know how the Spirit of God said that to him, whether it was an audible voice or an inner conviction, but the message was, no, you're not going into Asia. Paul was always planning, but he was very sensitive to the leading of God. There's no rebellion. God said no. Paul went northward. Then he turned westward on his way to Troas, but as he made the turn, he remembered that farther north was the great area of Bethinia. That was another place to be conquered with the gospel. So I believe again, I can see him talking with his associates, making their plans and praying. And then again the Spirit of God said, no, you're not going into Bethany. Probably Paul is somewhat frustrated. He's an energetic man. He's a man that plans and looks into the future. He doesn't just react to situations. They're strategy. But God has very clearly said no to two major ventures. On his way to Troas, God comes and speaks to him in a beautiful way. And in a vision there was a man in Macedonia and he called out and he said, Come and help us. Now, I don't know if you ever read between the lines when you read the Bible. This is a vision during the night. I can hardly imagine Paul staying in bed until the early morning to share this news with his colleagues. Rather, I see this man jumping up out of bed and calling his associates and talking with them and sharing with them the good news. I know where we're going now. We're going to Macedonia. I've had the message from God and we've got to get ready. Luke uses the word immediately. They began their plans to go over towards Macedonia. And as he made those plans, his associates were involved with them and they were very happy and joyful men. They took a ship from Troas. went across the northern part of the Aegean Sea. And when they arrived in Macedonia, Macedonia was divided into four provinces. They went to the major province. They went right by the port city. Never gave a thought to the capital city of Apollitus. Rather, they went right for the city of Philippi. That was the principal city in that area. And Paul began to preach there. You all know the story. Tremendous. brutal suffering. His back was whipped, as was the back of Silas, and they were thrown into the jail. But in all of that awful moment, there was joy in his heart because another church had been born in the city of Philippi. And Paul, I can see him rejoicing with these Christians and sharing with them the good things of God. He loved them in a very special way. I want you to take your Bible this evening and turn with me to Philippians chapter three. And we're going to notice that in this chapter, Paul shares with this church some very important things from his own life. There's a reason why he tells this story. I would suggest to you that because it's written out in this letter in such a detailed way, It probably means he'd never shared these things with them in Philippi, at least not in any detail, but something has happened. And now he's got to share with them something about his pre-Christian life, his first encounter with Christ, his lifelong devotion to Christ, and finally that great expectation that lay ahead of him. It's all summed up in these beautiful verses. But Paul does say in the first chapter, talking about these people, verse eight, for God is my witness how greatly I long for you all with the affection of Jesus Christ. And this I pray that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment, that you may approve the things that are excellent And so he goes on to encourage them. And as you go through the letter, joy springs out all over the page. This is a man that's happy when he thinks about Philippi. This is a church that is happy in the Lord, but something has happened recently. And Paul is in a jail cell. We're not sure if it was in Caesarea or if it was up in the city of Rome, but he's a prisoner and he writes them this letter. There are people who come into the congregation and they're boasting of what they have done. They're boasting of their religious affiliation. They're boasting of special experiences of God. And they're using this boast to compel the people in the Church of Philippi to imitate them. So Paul begins in chapter three to speak about himself. And you'll notice that down in verse four, though I also might have confidence in the flesh, Paul says, if they're boasting, let me tell you, I can boast about a lot of things. But we're going to start tonight with verse seven, where the apostle says in a very beautiful and clear way, but what things were gained to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Just a short verse, but we're going to spend the evening in that verse because it's filled with wonders. As you think of this man so long ago, in a prison cell in Rome, not discouraged, and with a very clear memory of something that happened in his life over thirty years before. I don't know how long you've known the Lord Jesus. I don't know where you were converted. I would ask the question tonight, what memories do you have of that moment? What was it that really happened in your life? That's why I suggest we begin our exposition with the word count. In verse seven, it's in the past sense. Paul says, I have counted. He's going back over thirty years ago. It's a word that means to ponder. to think, to meditate, even to study. It's a word that can mean to evaluate, to calculate. It is certainly not something that you do in a split second. You think about it, and you count the cost, and then you make a decision. A decision that comes out of determined judgment. You have counted. In the case of Paul, if you ask me, well, where did it happen, we have to go back to the Damascus experience. We really have to go back beyond that. And remember that Paul was an outstanding man in his society. He's a young man, half the age of most of the gentlemen here this evening. But the members of the Supreme Council of the Jews, they have their eyes on this man. I can hear them talking among themselves saying, this man is going to go a long way. Because he's a man who has dedicated himself wholeheartedly to God, to the cause of God, and to the religion of God. He is a man obsessed with God and with the cause of God. He's recognized now in the community. He's the graduate of the greatest teacher in Jerusalem. He had decided to give his life over to religion. He really stands now head and shoulders above his contemporaries. I think that is evident on that sad day when they took Stephen and the Supreme Council condemned him to death. Then the young men took him out of the city, but they never threw a stone at Stephen until they took off their jackets and they laid their jackets at the foot of this man, Paul. He represented in their eyes the authority of the Supreme Council of the Jews and what they were about to do, taking the life of Stephen. They were going to do it backed up by this man, who represented the supreme power of the Jews. He's a very important man. From that he moved on and became the chief champion against the Christian church. Paul talks about it. He doesn't close the book as if it never happened. He goes into details. He tells us that he persecuted men and women, that he took them in chains, that he had a passion, a rage against them. And he also mentions that whenever there was a decision to be made in the court about a Christian, he always voted for death. So this is the man who's on his way to Damascus. He has prestige, authority, and if you belong to the Christian Jewish community in Damascus and you had any news that this man was coming, you would probably do all that you could to be inconspicuous during those days. You wouldn't want to meet him. You wouldn't want to be caught by him. And Paul is about to arrive at the city. Now, his conversion experience is described three times by Luke the historian in the Acts of the Apostles. If you put the stories all together, you find that there was a light, a great light, a light that was brighter than the sun at noon. In other words, this is not a light of this creation. This is a supernatural light, and it shone down around Paul and his companions. The next thing you notice, Paul is on the ground in the dust. I really don't know how he got there. I'm not sure if it was the strength, the radiance of the light that threw him into the ground, or if this man, when this light came down, instinctively shrunk from it and threw himself into the dust. But he is on the ground, and he's a very confused man. Again, I read sometimes between the lines, not with authority, I wonder what were the first thoughts that went through his mind. I know that in the times that Paul lived, there were many Jewish men and even some women who believed if you really love God and if you dedicate your whole life to God, if you spend time at night and in day reading the Scriptures and praying and keeping all the laws of Moses and all the oral regulations that came to the Jews, if you do it with a passion, they hoped that maybe, in time, still alive, on earth, they would be given a vision of the glory of God. Paul knew that. And I wonder if his initial reaction was, I am going to receive the blessing. a vision of the divine glory because of all my dedication and my commitment to God." If that was his first reaction, and of course we don't know, the second reaction was very confusing because he heard a voice. He saw a person and he heard a voice. He didn't know who the person was, but he clearly heard the voice and the voice said, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? Now that must have left him in a state of total confusion. All that Paul did was not to persecute the cause of God, but to advance the cause of God. And now from within the divine glory comes this message, why are you persecuting me? That Paul saw a person, I think there's no doubt, you find, that he says when he has to defend his apostleship, have I not seen the Lord? And the answer is understood. Of course Paul saw the Lord. Where did he see him? Outside of Damascus. When Ananias was sent to him by the Lord, he said to Paul, it was the will of God that you should see the just one and hear the voice from his lips. So Paul saw someone and he heard this voice and he is in a state of confusion and he asked the question, Lord, who are you? The answer that comes back is like a bomb that exploded in his mind, in his heart and in his life. It was the last thing this man ever thought he would see or hear that Jesus stands in the midst of the divine glory, for the voice said, I am Jesus. And why are you persecuting me? The story does not go on with very much further detail. We do know that when Paul opened his eyes, that is, you have the impression his eyes were blinded by the light, but though he was blind, In the physical sense, he saw that person that he heard the voice. When he opened his eyes, of course he was blind and he couldn't see anyone. They took him by the hand and led him into the city of Damascus to a house, probably the house, that had been prepared to receive such an important person from the city of Jerusalem. And they placed him in a room and there he sat. For three days, and Luke says two things. One, I can understand, the other one is more difficult. He did not eat anything. Well, who would be hungry after an experience like that? But the other thing is that he didn't drink anything. Three days, and not a drop of moisture past his lips. Here is a man who is evaluating his whole life. Here is a man who is making a judgment. Here is a man who has seen something. He has seen someone. And he must now make a major decision about his life. And as it goes back to think about it, he says in verse seven, I counted. I made a deliberate judgment. I made a decision. And I have counted. Now he's referring to bookkeeping language because he talks about gain and he talks about loss. I really don't know where Paul picked up that language, but that is the language of the Lord Jesus. When he taught the people and the disciples, he would say, what does it profit a man if he gained the whole world and lose his own soul? Of course, Paul had never heard that language. by the time he arrived at the city of Damascus, I wonder if maybe he heard it for the first time. When he went up to Jerusalem that time, and he says, I didn't see anyone except Peter. For fifteen days, Peter and Paul are together. James came in for two or three days, and these three men were together. You can just imagine Paul's questions and Peter's answers. and it would all be about the Lord Jesus. And maybe that's when he heard for the first time. What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and lose his own soul? Now he's using the same language and he says, what things were gained? The word is not singular in the original, it's plural. Paul had many gains. He talks about them. up in verses five and six. It's a long list, but we'll go down it very briefly. He says in verse five, circumcised the eighth day, those of us in the Western world, and especially if you speak with people who don't know very much about the Bible, this is a strange way to begin. Paul is telling them, really, I have no greater glory when I was a non-Christian than that I was circumcised on the eighth day. In other words, he wasn't like Ishmael who was circumcised when he was thirteen years of age, and he certainly wasn't like some heathen who converted to Judaism and as an adult was circumcised. No, no. Paul was circumcised the right way and the right day according to the will of God on the eighth day. And even to the present time in the Jewish community, there probably is no greater symbol of one belonging to God than the sign of circumcision. Well, Paul said, I received it, and I received it in the right way and at the right time. But not only that, he was born into the nation of Israel, and that was the great glory. We speak with love about this matter tonight. But Jewish people sometimes went to the extreme. We are, you aren't. You see, we are the chosen people of God. You have not been chosen. And to be born into that nation, it's your birthright. You belong to God in a special way. And then you remembered all the great interventions of God on your behalf. I have read that in New Testament times, the Jews who lived round about the Mediterranean. Whenever they talked to Gentiles about their faith, they always would tell the story of the Exodus. They would always tell the stories of God's intervention, His powerful saving action on their behalf. This was their glory. Paul was born into that family. And within that family, he was born into the tribe of Benjamin. Interesting that he puts it on the list. because it was one of the smallest of the tribes, but perhaps one of the most important. This was the boy who was born of all Jacob's sons. This is the only boy that was born in the promised land. The younger son of Rachel, who gave Jacob two sons, this was the youngest one, the last one, and Rachel, of course, was the wife that Jacob loved. Well, Benjamin was born in the promised land, and when they gave out the land later on to his descendants, they were given the territory right around about the area where eventually David would build the city of Jerusalem, and Solomon would build the temple. It all lay within the territory of Benjamin. The first legitimate king was the Benjamin, Saul. The Apostle carried his name, Saul of Tarsus. There are many things about that tribe that are important, and perhaps one of the most important is that from the Old Testament we glean that in the battles the men of Benjamin were always in the first line. And the cry from the rest of the soldiers was behind you, O Benjamin, supporting them as they led the troops into battle. They were a tribe of courageous men. And I wrote an article published last year in Missions, taking a chance. I know of no other apostle. I know of no other Christian in the last two thousand years who was so courageous. as the Apostle Paul, who took so many chances in the right sense to further the cause of God. Some would say it might even have come to him naturally as part of his heritage because he was born into the tribe of Benjamin. And he adds that he was a Hebrew of the Hebrews. I don't think it's a racial comment. I think it means that from his infancy he learned the Hebrew language. Not all the Jews who were born out of Palestine could speak the Hebrew language, but from his infancy this was the chosen language. And you may remember that day when he became a prisoner in the city of Jerusalem and they almost killed him. And the soldiers came running and they picked him up on their shoulders and they carried him into the fort beside the temple and going up the stairs. Paul says, put me down. I want to talk to the people. Then they put him down and he turned around at this roaring mob out to kill him. And when he opened his mouth, there was absolute silence because he spoke the Hebrew language. They never believed a man born out of Israel would have spoken the language so perfectly. He was a Hebrew of the Hebrews, language, religion, tradition, everything. on those blessings that came to him through the sovereignty of God and the good will of his parents, he made three decisions. Now, the first one, he decided to be a Pharisee. That's almost like a man today, and I speak reverently, a young man who makes a decision to become a priest in the Roman Catholic Church. He knows he has long years of study and discipline. To be a Pharisee was to join the strictest sect in Jerusalem. They not only obeyed the commands of Moses, but they had the long list of all the commands and regulations in the oral law, and they kept them all. Here's a man who makes a choice, a difficult choice, but he's going to put his heart and life into being a Pharisee. His father was a Pharisee. and he studied under the greatest Pharisee in Jerusalem, Gamaliel. This was the man who chose that as his profession and as his life. And then, as almost a shock in the list, concerning zeal, he persecuted the church. Please don't misunderstand the phrase. I don't think it means for a moment that Paul was a cruel man. that he had great delight in seeing people suffer and die horribly. I don't believe that for a moment. The only reason he persecuted the church was because of his seal for God. That is, Paul was an intelligent man. And as he looked around, he knew, if this Christian faith keeps growing, it will destroy Judaism. And if Judaism disappears, the Messiah will never come. And so out of zeal for God and His purposes to keep Israel intact until the birth of the Messiah, He persecuted the church with a vengeance. But He did it out of that zeal for God. I'm not sure just how much of the same reasoning is behind the man who was responsible for the slaughter a few days ago in the Middle East. He was never characterized by violence. It could still be a man today in that same state of unbelief who, out of a mistaken zeal for darn, is trying to do something to keep the nation together because the Messiah will surely come. That was Paul's obsession. And then he ends up by saying, as to the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. Some of us know each other. We've known each other for years. It would be a brave person who would stand up here tonight and point across the audience to someone else and say, I've known that person for forty years, and that person is absolutely blameless. Now, if Paul is telling a lie, there are still a lot of people who could stand up and say, that is not true. We were in Jerusalem. We remember. But Paul is telling the truth, that in the outward expressions of religion, no one could point a finger at him. These are real, authentic gains. And Paul says, what things were gained to me I have counted loss. That doesn't mean that He went from something good to something better. I don't know where you were married, what kind of a house you lived in when you began your married life. Let's imagine you were in a small home with one bedroom, and there you began your married life, and God blessed you with a family. And as the children grew, the wife said to the husband someday, Now we've got to look for a larger house. Look how many. Now we're five instead of two. And the children are growing. And so the husband has been working hard. There are savings. And he looks for a better house. And he makes the purchase. And the day comes to make the move. Now the little house is filled with precious memories. That's where the children learn to walk. That's where you taught them their first words. There's a multitude of precious memories, but you're going from a good place to a better place, a superior place. Paul is not saying that. Paul is saying, all the things I considered a gain and they were true gains. I now have counted them as an absolute loss. There is nothing in them, nothing for Paul, nothing for anyone, and he's turned his back. This is loss. Now that is a radical decision. You didn't have to do that necessarily when you became a Christian. Grace and I went to Scotland in nineteen ninety on a personal private trip celebrating our forty years of married life. Grace has relatives there, and we had a very precious time. And when the day came to come back to North America, it wasn't that easy to get Grace out of Scotland. She was there when she was ten years of age. Now she went back as a senior citizen, met all of her cousins who were also senior citizens, and that who still survived. It was like going home. but I got her out but then we went back in nineteen ninety two for meetings and conferences it was much more difficult the second time and I almost made the promise I'm not going to take her back a third time I might not get her out we are going back next year for meetings and conferences so you might pray about that but the point is when Grace became a Christian she did not repudiate her Scottish background there was no reason to do that unless Unless you think that because of your race, you have a special in with God. Or because of your religious background, you have an advantage over others. Or because of your culture or language, God smiles on you while he frowns on others. If you have any feelings like that, then you're right in the category of Paul. And when Paul met Jesus Christ, He realized there are no earthly gains. There is nothing here that will ever give you an advantage into the presence of God. He came to that conclusion when he met Christ, for he says here, what things were gained to me? Those I have counted loss for Christ. Very concise phrase. And I would like to ask the question, what does it mean for Christ? Does it mean for the sake of Christ? Some translations read that way. What if it means for the sake of Christ? There's a little danger there. I went down to your library this afternoon and found a very good book of synonyms and I looked up sake. It can mean benefit. It can mean well-being. It can mean blessing. It can mean gain. You do something as an advantage for someone else for the sake of. If that's the meaning of for Christ, for the sake of Christ, we are mistaken. That's not what Paul is talking about. He's not saying, I converted. I became a Christian to do something in the advantage of Christ. He didn't say that. That's why most scholars would take the phrase to mean because of Christ or for the fact of Christ. Because it was at Damascus that Paul stood in the radiance of the glory of God and he saw the person of the Lord Jesus and he heard his voice. And in that revelation of divine glory, one of the principal elements is the righteousness of God. what God is like, His holiness, His beauty. And in a sense, I can see Paul looking over his shoulder at all that He had done so that someday with His head lifted high, He would walk right into the presence of God and God would say, Welcome to heaven and give Him a special place of preeminence. But when He saw all that He had done, And all that he was in the light of the glory of God that shines on the face of Jesus Christ, Paul stood naked in the presence of God. It was for the fact of Christ that he was put in a position there is no alternative. And he pledged his life and he made his commitment that day to the Lord Jesus. It was not a superficial commitment. It was not made on the spur of the moment. He thought, he meditated, he calculated, he evaluated, and he came to the conclusion, I have no other choice. And joyfully, he committed himself to the Lord Jesus that day And he never wavered. He never turned back. He never got lost in some sidetrack. He went right on to the end of his life. That's why we began tonight, and now as we close, I go back and ask you, and I think of my own life, what did it mean when we made that commitment to the Lord Jesus? Was it that type of commitment? And if you're young here tonight, and there are some and your beginning is that the type of commitment you made to the Lord Jesus that will lead you right down through the year should he tarry and you won't wander away you won't turn back you've met him you've made a commitment you belong to him forever take your hymn book now as we conclude our service this evening and we're going to sing a verse or two of hymn number eighty six Him number eighty-six, My Jesus, I love thee. That's the old original words I see in our hymn book. It is worded slightly differently. Hymn number eighty-six, Lord Jesus, I love thee. I know thou art mine, my rock and my fortress, my surety divine, my gracious Redeemer, my song shall be now. Tis thou who art worthy, Lord Jesus, tis thou. We will stand and sing the last three verses of hymn number eighty-six. and worship my garden on calvary tree There's God who I Take me as long as thou endest me, friend, and make your love end to my Lord. before Jesus is now. Be now to our mercy, your kingdom is now. And now to our God and Father, be glory forever and ever through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. You may be seated.