3. They value him above all spiritual
excellencies, and all other righteousness whatever, Phil. iii. 7, 8, “Those things which
were advantage to me, I esteemed loss for the excellency of the knowledge
of Christ Jesus my Lord; for whose sake I have lost all things, and do
esteem them common, that I may gain Christ, and be found in him.” Having
recounted the excellencies which he had, and the privileges which he
enjoyed, in his Judaism, — which were all of a spiritual nature, and a
participation wherein made the rest of his countrymen despise all the
world, and look upon themselves as the only acceptable persons with God,
resting on them for righteousness, — the apostle tells us what is his
esteem of them, in comparison of the Lord Jesus. They are “loss and dung,”
— things that for his sake he had really suffered the loss of; that is,
whereas he had for many years been a zealot of the law, — seeking after a
righteousness as it were by the works of it, Rom. ix.
32, — instantly serving God day and night, to obtain the
promise, Acts xxvi. 7, — living in all good
conscience from his youth, Acts
xxiii., — all the while very zealous for God and his
institutions, — now [he] willingly casts away all these things, looks upon
them as loss and dung, and could not only be contented to be without them,
but, as for that end for which he sought after them, he abhorred them all.
When men have been strongly convinced of their duty, and have laboured many
years to keep a Acts xxiii.
1.good conscience, — have prayed, and heard, and done
good, and denied themselves, and been Rom. x. 2,
3.zealous for God, and laboured with all their might
to
Acts xxvi. 7.please him,
and so at length to come to enjoy him; they had rather John ix.
40; Rom. ix.
30, 31.part with all the world, life and all, than
with this they have wrought. You know how unwilling we are to part with
any thing we have laboured and beaten our heads about? How much more when
the things are so excellent, as our duty to God, blamelessness of
conversation, hope of heaven, and the like, which we have beaten our hearts
about. But now, when once Christ appears to the soul, when he is known in
his excellency, all these things, as without him, have their paint washed
off, their beauty fades, their desirableness vanisheth, and the soul is not
only contented to part with them all, but puts them away as a defiled
thing, and cries, “In the Lord Jesus only is my righteousness Isa. xlv. 24. and glory.”
Prov.
iii. 13–15, among innumerable testimonies, may be admitted to
give witness hereunto, “Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man
that getteth understanding. For the merchandise of it is better than the
merchandise of silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold. She is more
precious than rubies: and all the things that thou canst
desire are not to be compared unto her.” It is of Jesus Christ, the Wisdom
of God, the eternal Wisdom of the Father, that the Holy Ghost speaks; as is
evident from the description which is given hereof, chap. viii. He and his ways are
better than silver and gold, rubies, and all desirable things; as in the
gospel he likens himself to the Matt. xiii. 45, 46. “Principium culmenque omnium rerum pretii,
margaritæ tenent.” — Plin. “pearl in the field,” which when the
merchant man finds, he sells all that he hath, to purchase. All goes for
Christ; — all righteousness without him, all ways of religion, all goes for
that one pearl. The glory of his Deity, the excellency of his person, his
all-conquering desirableness, ineffable love, wonderful undertaking,
unspeakable condescensions, effectual mediation, complete righteousness,
lie in their eyes, ravish their hearts, fill their affections, and possess
their souls. And this is the second mutual conjugal affection between
Christ and believers; all which, on the part of Christ, may be referred
unto two heads:—