Paul's Example Against the Judaizers - Part 2

how good this looked for many. We might think, you know, Pastor, I'd never fall into that. You'd be surprised. Now, I have given us a brief history of the Judaizers by mentioning what took place in the book of Acts. I mentioned the fact that this starts at Acts 10. We see it in Acts 13 and Acts 15 and so on. I have said numerous times that these false teachers followed Paul from town to town, and they tried to steal away those early converts, and they tried to infiltrate those early churches. I would challenge you to take the time and go and study Acts. Get in chapter 10, get in chapter 13, read it through and notice how often this popped up.

Maybe you've never noticed that before. And also I mentioned how this type of false teaching did in fact infiltrate a church, the Galatian church. And I have said that that's really what the book of Galatians is all about. This may surprise you. We do know that we see Paul's personality many times in his writing. We see how he felt in his personality in the book of Philippians, how much he loved the Philippian believers. Well, if you studied the book of Galatians, if there ever was a book where Paul was mad, it's the book of Galatians. As a matter of fact, I've heard scholars through the years say that Paul was furious.

And maybe you go read Galatians and look at how Paul was dealing with this type of false teaching. I think doing those things in your own study will help you really get all of the teaching even better. Now, before we read our verses, listen to what Paul was doing. This is really a brief summary. First in verse one, Paul tells the church that it was no trouble for him to write the same things to them. This tells us that he had warned them of the Judaizers before. And this tells us that this was a real threat to the Philippian church. And in verse two, he calls out those false teachers by calling them dogs and evildoers.

And he addressed the fact that they were abusing Old Testament circumcision. He says that their circumferem, where Paul was writing to the Philippian church for a particular purpose. He was writing to educate them. He was writing to equip them. He was writing to counsel them and to caution them. Caution can be in all caps because the caution was a rather large caution. It seems that certain false teachers and a certain false teaching was lurking right outside the door of the church. And there was a real possibility that these things could infiltrate the church. I know I have used my imagination several times.

I don't know what their culture was like and their church culture was like, but it's almost like the Judaizers were having a conference right across town. It's almost like the podcasts and the blogs of the Judaizers were becoming more and more popular. It's almost like some of the members of the church were getting some newsletters. Maybe some folks were knocking on their doors with material from their teaching. But using that kind of imagination is good, I think, because it helps us understand that they were just like us. They had influences that were negative as well.

Now, we know who these false teachers were, and we know what their false teaching consisted of. The Judaizers taught that the Gentiles who were coming to faith in Christ must submit to Jewish rules and laws before they could be saved. And at the top of their list was the Jewish circumcision. They taught that the Gentiles must be circumcised in order to truly be saved. Simply, they were trying to mix lawkeeping along with grace for salvation. They were imposing the Jewish ceremonies of the law upon the Gentiles as necessary for their salvation. The Judaizers were truly propagating a salvation of works.

Now, at the end of the message, I'm gonna speak to this, but we must see just how tempting this was and how good this looked for many. We might think, you know, Pastor, I've never fallen into that. You'd be surprised. Now, I have given us a brief history of the Judaizers by mentioning what took place in the book of Acts. I mentioned the fact that this starts at Acts 10. We see it in Acts 13 and Acts 15 and so on. I have said numerous times that these false teachers followed Paul from town to town, and they tried to steal away those early converts, and they tried to infiltrate those early churches.

I would challenge you to take the time to go and study Acts, get in chapter 10, get in chapter 13, read it through, and notice how often this popped up. Maybe you've never noticed that before. And also, I mentioned how this type of false teaching did, in fact, infiltrate a church, the Galatian church. And I have said that that's really what the book of Galatians is all about. This may surprise you. We do know that we see Paul's personality many times in his writing, we see how he felt in his personality in the book of Philippians, how much he loved the Philippian believers.

Well, if you studied the book of Galatians, if there ever was a book where Paul was mad, it's the book of Galatians. Matter of fact, I've heard scholars through the years say that Paul was furious, and maybe you go read Galatians, and look at how Paul was dealing with this type of false teaching. I think doing those things in your own study will help you really get all of the teaching even better. Now, before we read our verses, listen to what Paul was doing. This is really a brief summary. First in verse one, Paul tells the church that it was no trouble for him to write the same things to them.

This tells us that he had warned them of the Judaizers before, and this tells us that this was a real threat to the Philippian church. And in verse two, he calls out those false teachers by calling them dogs and evildoers. And he addressed the fact that they were abusing Old Testament circumcision. He says that their circumcision was nothing but a mutilation of the flesh, or a mutilation of the body. This tells us that circumcision was at the top of their list. And in verse three, he explains to them that they're truly circumcised, possessed a spiritual circumcision, or a circumcision of the heart.

He tells them that they were the truly circumcised because they worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ. He reminded them that they, as well as Paul, put no confidence in the flesh or self-efforts. And then we saw that Paul made a big shift in verse four. He gives an argument up against the Judaizers in their teaching. And at the heart of this argument, Paul sets himself up as a great example. Now, let's read the verses. I'm gonna read verses one, two, and three as well, 'cause all of this goes together. Let's look at the verses together. Paul says, "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," you could say the true circumcision, "for we are the circumcision who worship "by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus "and put no confidence in the flesh." That would be self-effort. Verses four, five, and six. "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, "and Hebrew of Hebrews, as to the law of Pharisee, "as to zeal a persecutor of the church, "as to righteousness under the law, blameless." Now, I think we can see Paul shift rather easily in verse four. I believe we can easily see that Paul becomes very autobiographical. He really makes this all about him. He describes in detail his Jewish heritage, and he quickly tells of his religious achievements in Judaism.

He summarizes and describes all of his self-effort in Judaism, and he boldly declares, almost sounds prideful, he boldly declares that if anyone could have earned salvation through religion and works, it would have been him. I know I said this last week, but it is important for us to see what Paul was doing here. He was explaining, he was explaining, I believe, with urgency to the Philippian believers that the Judaizers were putting their confidence in their religious achievements or self-efforts.

He was then telling them that he certainly had reasons for putting his confidence in his religious achievements as well, but Paul tells them that he even more, he had more reason for confidence in the flesh. He had even more reasons to have confidence in self-efforts. He was literally saying something like this. I'm putting this in my words, my language. He's saying something like this, look, church, the Judaizers think they are good at their religion and earning the right standing with God. I tell you that I was much better than they are. They think they can brag on how they keep the Old Testament law and ceremonies.

I was much better at those things than they are. But again, we must understand that Paul was not being sinful or arrogant or braggadocious in any way. He was not trying to steal the stage or one up the Judaizers. He was simply explaining that if there was anyone who had a good reason to boast in their self-effort, it was him. And by using himself as an example, he was highlighting the futility of the Judaizers and their teaching. Paul was really being very practical. He was offering a real life example to go alone with this important teaching. It's really a little lesson there for us.

Even when we teach deep things, difficult things, anytime we teach God's word, example, illustration can help us all. As a matter of fact, if you're like me, that sometimes is what makes the light bulb come on and even become brighter. Now last week, as we got into verses five and six, where Paul gets into the specifics of his autobiographical example, I said that we can look at these things in two ways. Paul shows them two things. First, he describes to them the things that he inherited. That's what we covered last week. Second, he describes to them the things that he achieved. That's what we covered, that's what we will cover tonight.

You can summarize all of these things by those two words, inherited and achieved, what he inherited and what he achieved. But before we get into Paul's testimony, an example, we need to make sure we remember the kind of language that Paul uses here. This is what helps us in our application. Language scholars tell us that in verses seven and eight, Paul used specific words in terminology. In the ESV and the New American, we see that Paul speaks of gain and of loss. Language scholars tell us that in the original, this is literally accounting language, business language. Gain speaks of profits or profits in the profits column of the spreadsheet.

I use that language spreadsheet, Paul does it. Loss speaks of profits lost or losses in the loss column of the spreadsheet. And it is very important for us to see what Paul was doing here. He was presenting salvation as a business transaction, an accounting transaction. By using himself as an example, he was and he is saying that he spent his entire life working to earn salvation. Or he puts, or to put gains in the gain column in the spreadsheet of salvation.

But when Christ revealed himself to Paul on the road to Damascus, or when Paul was saved by grace through faith, Paul saw that all of those gains in that gain column in the spreadsheet of salvation were actually not gains at all. They were actually losses in the loss column of the spreadsheet of salvation. And on that faithful day and every day thereafter, Paul gave all of those supposed gains up for the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. That was the day and every day after he died to works. So real quickly, number one, we covered this last week, Paul's religious inheritance. We see what Paul inherited in verse five.

But let's look at verse four and verse five. We're really not going to cover the last portion of verse five. Paul says, "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. Now I'm not gonna go back over all that we studied last week. You've gotta go get that if you have not gotten that already. We learned a lot about Paul's religious heritage and we saw how this applies to us. There was a lot of application for us today.

But I wanna remind us of what Paul was doing here and how this applies to us. This would be very big picture. Here Paul was examining his religious heritage and what he received from his family. And he was explaining to the Philippian church that before he was converted to Christ, he was actually spiritually bankrupt and he didn't even know it. And that is salvation in an everyday sense. He gladly took all his religious inheritance from the gain column of the spreadsheet of salvation and he put all of those things in the lost column of the spreadsheet of salvation. Listen to verse eight, I read this last week.

He said, "Indeed, I count everything as loss "because of the surpassing worth "of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. "For his sake, I have suffered the loss of all things. "All things even includes what he inherited spiritually. "And he counts them as rubbish "in order that I may gain Christ." Now, I know that none of us had or have a religious inheritance just like Paul did. But again, many in the church today do. Very different but very much the same. Many can say that they were dedicated to the Lord even before their birth. Many can say that they were dedicated to the Lord by their parents in a church service.

Many can say that they were born into a Christian family, born into a Christian family that maybe reaches back for generations. I know people who can say, you know, I'm a member of a church where my parents go and my grandparents go and my great granddaddy and all their family helps start the church. I know people that can say things like this, I teach Sunday school, my mom and dad taught Sunday school, I'm a deacon, my dad was a deacon, my grandparents were deacons, they can say things like that. What are they speaking of? A very deep and wide religious heritage.

So what we see is this, even though our religious heritage is not at all like Paul's, in many ways it can be exactly like Paul's. But just like Paul, the religion and the religious heritage that we may inherit from our parents and family cannot make us right with God. And just like Paul, from many in our churches to come to saving faith in Christ, they have to take their religious heritage and see that those things can never earn them any right standing before God. Now for me, I didn't have that. I didn't have that. Now I'm always reluctant to mention someone else's testimony, that's their story.

But many of you have heard Keith's testimony, that was the kind of thing he had to overcome. When he came to faith in Christ, he had to die to his religious heritage. His religious heritage runs rather deep. So Paul's religious inheritance are his heritage. Then next, number two, this is where we'll spend most of our time tonight, number two, Paul's religious achievements. We see that at the end of verse five and verse six. Now here Paul launches into three things that pertain to what he had achieved in religion. That would be the religion of the Jews, Judaism. These are things that he certainly did have control over.

The others he did not have control over. These are things that he certainly did achieve through his dedication, through his hard work, through his sacrifice. First, as to his adherence to the law, he was a Pharisee. We see that in verse five. Now when we think of the Pharisees, we can automatically think of hypocrites and bad guys. We may even say something like this, pastor the Pharisees were hypocrites because Jesus exposed them as hypocrites. And they were bad guys because they rejected Jesus. Well, it is true that most of the Pharisees were hypocrites and bad guys, but not all of them were equally as bad.

And how the Pharisees came about as a religious sect or group was not bad either. As a religious group, the Pharisees came about really for good reasons. During the period between the conclusion of the Old Testament and the giving of the New Testament, sometimes that's called an inter-testamental period, the Pharisees came about as a reaction to the Jews and the Jewish leaders who embraced Greek thinking, Greek living and Greek culture. In our language, we can say that many of the Jews and the Jewish leaders have become worldly. And they were very influenced by the world. And this group rejected that.

So the Pharisees, they were sometimes called separatists. You can understand why. Now, they withdrew from the more worldly Jews and the more worldly Jewish leaders. And scholars and historians tell us that they abstained from the influences of the culture and they dedicated themselves to religious purity. They accepted the entire Torah. They had a belief in the physical resurrection of the body. And they did believe in the existence of angels. They were not into politics like the Herodians, that was another Jewish sect. They were not into a revolution by blood like the zealots were. They were not radical liberals like the Sadducees were.

They simply had a very, very high regard for the Old Testament scriptures. They truly tried to live by the Old Testament scriptures. And they rejected the wordliness that most of the Jews and the Jewish leadership had drifted into or walked into. And if they had stopped right there, we could say that they were good. And the fact is many were. And if Christ, when Christ came, when Jesus came, if they would embrace Christ as the Messiah, they really would have been good. But here was their mistake in a nutshell. The scribes had devised a massive system of interpreting the law, the Old Testament law.

And they imposed all of those things upon the law. For instance, the law said that they were to abstain from work on the Jewish Sabbath day. Well, to ensure that they did not work on the Sabbath day, the scribes had come up with hundreds of rules that would ensure that they did not work on the Sabbath day. See, their way of thinking was this. If we keep all those rules, well, we will keep the law. I'll give you an example. They had what was called a Sabbath day's walk. You've heard that term if you've been around the Bible. And that rule said that they could walk 2,000 cubits. That was about 3,000 feet from one's house.

Anything further was a violation of the law. But that's not what the law said. They imposed that on the law. As a matter of fact, in some of my study today, to make sure they could walk a little further, they came up with another law. In other words, they said, well, if you have food or a stop for food, it's somewhere down the journey. Well, then that was like staying at a home and then you could walk further. You see? And the lesson there is when you start imposing rules on the scripture, you go from one rule to another rule, to another rule, to another rule. It's never ending.

And as a result of this, the law, which was given by God, the true meaning of the law and how they were to relate to the law was buried under this massive religious system of interpreting the law. Simply their massive system of rules buried and ruined the true meaning of the law and how they were to relate to God's law. And as a result, they became a bunch of mean, legalistic rule mongers. And when Jesus came along, he did not keep their rules. So they naturally accused him of breaking the law. You see? Because in their eyes, to keep God's law, they had to obey their rules.

Well, Jesus comes along and he does not obey their rules, but he obeys God's law. Actually, Jesus kept the law, the law of God, perfectly in every way, but he broke almost all of their manmade rules all the time. That's why they wanted to stone him. But let's get back to what Paul was saying here. He said to the Philippians, as to the Old Testament law, he said he was a Pharisee. You see? He was saying that he had chosen to become a Pharisee, and in fact, he was the son of a Pharisee, according to Acts 23.6. But what was Paul's point?

He was telling the Philippians that he had remained conservative, orthodox, and he believed all of the Old Testament scriptures. He was telling them that he believed and lived according to the strictest interpretation and understanding of the Old Testament scripture. He was telling them that he was a member of the sect that championed all of these things. And of course, he was referring to his pre-conversion to Christ's days, and he was saying that he kept not only the law, but all of those manmade rules, too. And he was emphasizing the fact that he had worked hard and he had excelled in all of these things.

And notice, he was contrasting himself with the Judaizers, remember? Because many, if not most of them, could not say this. Many were Jewish proselytes, which means they were Gentiles who had been converted to Judaism. But as we will see, Paul comes to the place where he takes the merit badge of his religious party, his religious group, his religious identity, being a Pharisee, and the son of a Pharisee, and instead of putting that on the list in the gain column of the spreadsheet of salvation, he moves it and he puts it next on the list in the lost column of the spreadsheet of salvation. Now, what's the lesson here for us today?

You see, no matter our religious affiliation, no matter our religious tradition, no matter our religious position, those things can in no way gain us a right standing before God. I'll give you an example. I've been reading a book by Spurgeon. Really, it's not by Spurgeon, it's by someone who's compiled some of his information. But the book's aim is to reveal how Spurgeon dealt with his church life, soteriology. Most books deal with Spurgeon's preaching because he was the preacher's, but this book deals with his approach to church and the church life.

And the author of the book pointed out that in Spurgeon's preaching, Spurgeon often made application directly to church officers. Now, in his church he had elders and deacons. And the author points out that one of his common exhortations to his leaders was warning them not to miss out on the gospel. What does that mean? He was warning them to make sure that they were converted, his church officers. To quote Spurgeon, he said, and I'm quoting Spurgeon's sermon, "Brother ministers, coworkers, and officials of the church "do not imagine that office can save you. "The son of perdition," who's he talking about? Judas.

"The son of perdition was an apostle, "greater than we are in office, "and yet at this hour he is greater in destruction." So what's the point? Spurgeon understood that the position couldn't save. And he was urging the leaders of his church not to trust in the religious position or some kind of a position or tradition for a right standing before God. And you know there are many today that fail here. There are many, many today who are much like Paul.

They say, "Not I'm a Pharisee, but I'm a Baptist, "or I'm a Sunday school teacher, or a deacon, "and I've been a good one, but that still doesn't matter." Then second, as to his zeal, Paul says he was a persecutor of the church. Now we see that beginning in verse six. Now whereas I took a little more time with Paul the Pharisee, here I'll be a little shorter with Paul the persecutor. But what Paul was in his saying here is very important. He was explaining to the Philippians that he had demonstrated the greatest zeal that was possible in his religion.

He was, and he is telling them, that he was so devoted to his religion and the religion of his fathers and forefathers that he persecuted to death Christians. And he did this because he believed that they, that would be the Christians, had not only left the Jewish religion, but they dared to believe that Jesus was in fact the promised Messiah of God. You see, Paul saw them as perverting Judaism and the religion of his forefathers.

To quote William Hendrickson here, he says, "If persecuting zeal "could ever have opened the gates of heaven, "Paul would have walked right in." He continues to say, "Here too, his advantage over the Judaizers was great. "They merely proselytized." He had been a persecutor even under the death. Now, what's Paul's point here? Hendrickson has already touched on it. Paul was basically saying to the Philippian believers something like this. The Judaizers, they say they are zealous and they are. But Paul was saying that he was much more zealous than they were.

He was saying to the Philippian church, "The Judaizers are zealous in proselytizing "and making converts behind my back." But he says, "I was more zealous in persecuting the church "and making martyrs of those Christians." And as we will see, Paul comes to the place where he takes this marriage badge of Pharisaical zeal, even a zeal to persecute those who he thought deserved it. Remember, he did these things in the name of God. And instead of putting that zeal in the game column of the spreadsheet of salvation, he puts it next in the lost column, the spreadsheet of salvation. And the lesson here is simple.

No amount of zeal and sacrifice can gain right standing with God. Zeal to prove the cults wrong, can't gain us a right standing with God. Zeal in right doctrine and theology, that cannot get us some kind of a right standing before God. Zeal in missions to the heathen, that can't get us some kind of a right standing with God. Zeal in evangelism for the lost, that cannot get us a right standing with God. And notice this, even a zeal in personal holiness cannot get us a right standing before God. Great zeal and even great zeal in the right things in no way can gain us some kind of a right standing before God. This is a verse we need to see here.

I believe this will help us. It's almost like Jesus is saying the same thing. He is. Matthew 7, 21 to 23, Jesus says, not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my father, who is in heaven. On that day, many will say to me, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, cast out demons in your name, and do mighty works in your name? And then I will declare to them, I never knew you, depart from me, you workers of lawlessness. The King James says iniquity, but notice this is not the cults. These are not Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses. These are not Muslims.

These are not cults, folks. These are people who are doing all of these things in the name of Jesus. Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy? That would be preaching your name. Did we not cast out demons in your name? Did we not do mighty works? Mighty works in your name. But what does he say? I didn't know you. Again, the lesson here, the lesson we see here from Jesus and Paul is this. Ziel will not gain us right standing before God, even Ziel and the right things. Then third, as to his righteousness under the Old Testament law, he says he was blameless. See that at the end of verse six? He says that he was blameless.

Now we need to make sure we understand what Paul is saying here. He was not claiming to have been perfect in keeping the law. There was only one man who kept the law perfectly. That was the man, Christ Jesus. But notice Paul describes himself in his past life before Christ as blameless, not sinless. And what he was saying was this. He was so careful and so strict in his outward observance of the Old Testament law that the other religious leaders and the people say and said that he was blameless.

That means that in his attempt to keep the law, when he did break the law, he was so careful, so attentive, and so strict that when he did break the law, he was very, very careful to make the appropriate sacrifice or sacrifices according to the law. And he was so careful, so attentive, so strict, and so very obedient that in his outward conduct, for all to see, he was blameless. Another way to say it is he was beyond reproach. And what was Paul's point here? He was saying to the Philippian believers something like this.

The Judaizer was so careful in their adherence to the Old Testament law and they make sure that they call others to do the same thing, but they have nothing on me. He was explaining to the Philippian believers that according to his reputation among the religious leaders and the people, he was considered blameless. In every way, he was saying that he lived out all of these things better than anyone. Listen to Galatians 1.14, Paul said, "And I was advancing in Judaism "beyond many of my own age among my old people. "So extremely zealous was I "for the traditions of my fathers." And the lesson here for us is this.

Being a better Christian outwardly than most, even being a better Christian outwardly than anyone else still will not gain us a right standing before God. You know, the longer you live, it has its advantages. And not only that, the longer you walk with the Lord and work in the life of the church, it has its advantages. And one of the advantages is this. You see a lot of people come and a lot of people go. And in my years, being in the church as a layman and then being in ministry, I've come across quite a few legalists. Now, I'm not an expert on legalists. What I have found is this.

For me, about half the legalists I have known were the worst outward Christians I have ever seen. There's a whole lot of them that I have known. They were legalists all the way, but they were horrible Christians. They were mean, they picked certain rules that they liked and they ignored certain rules. And over time, people saw them as terrible Christians. Terrible Christians. I could name names. About half of the legalists I have known were the best outward Christians that I have ever seen. They weren't the best. On the outside, they were spies. And I've had legalists that I've come in contact through the years.

They read their Bible better than you. They knew their doctrine better than you. They managed their homes better than you. They were better employees and bosses than you. They attended church better than you. They tithed better than you. They gave better than you. They did things on the outside better than you, better than me. But they were legalists. But on the inside, they were the worst Christians. The worst. Because listen folks, the outside sometimes doesn't reflect the inside. Now, just like last week, I wanna step back from verses four and five. And let's see what Paul was doing here. He was examining his own life.

And he was giving to the Philippians what he saw. And he was using himself as a great example. Again, I quote Warren Wiersby. I quoted him last week. Wiersby says, "He becomes an auditor who opens the books "to see what wealth he has and he discovers "that he was bankrupt." But notice, as he writes these things to the Philippian believers, these are Christians he knew and loved, Paul does not have to discover that he is bankrupt. God had already shown him that he was bankrupt. God had shown him he was bankrupt at his conversion to Christ.

And Paul gladly took all of his religious inheritance, we saw that last week, and he took it from the gain column of the spreadsheet of salvation, and he put all those things on the loss column of the spreadsheet of salvation, even if it insulted his family. And Paul gladly took all of his religious achievements from the gain column of the spreadsheet of salvation, and he put all those things on the loss column of the spreadsheet of salvation. Again, look at verse eight, we see it here. Paul says, "Of all of these things, "indeed I count everything as loss, "everything is everything, folks." You don't have to do a word study on that one.

Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake, I have suffered the loss of all things. Listen, folks, when he came to faith in Christ, he lost his position, he lost his family, he lost his friends, he lost everything that he ever lived for. As a matter of fact, he became a hated man, and they chased him all the way to the death. For his sake, I have suffered the loss of all things, and I count them as rubbish. What is he talking about? All of that I've described, he said, is trash, garbage, and it's garbage, why? In order that I may gain Christ.

Now, before I move to our conclusion, we must make sure that we are not depending on the merit badge of our religious achievements. You do realize there are people in the church who they got merit badges all over them. You don't see them. I mean, religious achievement after religious achievement, it's just like a merit badge. Unlike a boy scout who can work and earn a particular merit badge, no one, no one can think that they can gain or earn some kind of a right standing with God with their religious achievements. Go back to Matthew seven.

I mean, those folks are standing before the Lord saying, "I preached, I cast out demons." We had a church member like that, we would put him on staff. Now, as I close, let me push away from the message. Let's push away from what we studied. And let's see what Paul was doing here. This is flyover big picture. He was explaining to these believers, this church that he loved, that external self effort in religion, specifically keeping the Old Testament law, cannot gain anyone a right standing with God, even when it's mixed with grace. See, the Judaizers weren't denying grace, they were adding to.

He was offering himself as an example in the argument up against the Judaizers. And he was telling them that if anybody could have earned it, it wasn't the Judaizers, it was him. But he said that was hopeless. Now, one more thing from you, pastor. When these kind of legalists come around the church and into the church, and they do, but they will and they do, they can fool a lot of people. They can lead even Christians astray. They can wreak havoc in some. They can confuse people, even believers. And that is why it's important for us to study these things, understand these things.

That's why it's important for you to trust your leadership in these things. That's why it's important for you to look to maybe your small group leaders in these things, older believers in the church in these things, because if you're a new Christian or an immature Christian, maybe you haven't grown as you should, you can be led astray in these things. And I'll say this before I close. There are people I've known through the years, real believers that I have seen led astray. We're a little bit long here, but I'm gonna tell you this story. Years ago, I went to church with a guy, a legalist in the ministry.

He goes off and he starts him a church, a legalist church. And I watch people that I know leave churches, not perfect churches, healthy churches, and go to the legalist church. And I had a good friend who went to the legalist church. He became so mean, so bitter, I couldn't have anything to do with him anymore. I didn't talk to him. Now we were close. I mean, he became mean, arrogant, rude. It was like dealing with a mad bear, but all I could do was pray. Keith is my witness. We prayed for him for well over a year, and God got him out of that. Now he had to be vomited out. It was very difficult.

And I can't tell you how many times I spent hours on the phone with him, as he would weep uncontrollably and say for 10 years, I poured my life into that garbage. For 10 years, I was fooled, I was tricked, and I was a part of it. But I'd say, "But God's grace got you out." These things are important. That's why I'm taking my time here. So, part of the message, Paul's example, against the Judaizers, and of course,