VII. Those that have attained the excellent knowledge of Christ will not think much to lose all things to gain Christ.—1. All outward enjoyments and earthly possessions. 2. Personal righteousness as a means of justification.—David Clarkson.

The Excellency of the Knowledge of Christ.

  1. To know Christ in the Divinity of His person is excellent knowledge.
  2. To know Christ in the glory of His redemption is excellent knowledge.
  3. The comparative worthlessness of all else.—1. Wealth. 2. Worldly honour. 3. Human learning. 4. Mere morality.

The Excellency of the Knowledge of Christ.

  1. Is pre-eminent excellence is to be found in its certainty.—Proved by—1. Prophecy. 2. Miracles. 3. Experience.
  2. In its majesty and grandeur.
  3. It its suitableness and adaptation.
  4. In its comprehensiveness.
  5. The knowledge of Christ is sanctifying.—R. Watson.

Christ the Only Gain.

  1. To count Him gain.
  2. To covet and seek Him as gain.
  3. To appropriate Him as gain.
  4. To enjoy Him as gain.—R. S. Candlish.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Verses 9–11.

Features of the Believer’s Life in Christ.

I. The believer’s life has its home and stronghold in Christ.—“And be found in Him” (ver. 9). Once lost, now found: found by Christ; found in Him by others. Once homeless, now safely sheltered. One day Charles Wesley was sitting by an open window looking over the bright and beautiful fields in summertime. Presently a little bird, flitting about in the sunshine, attracted his attention. Just then a hawk came swooping down towards the little bird. The frightened thing was darting here and there, trying to find some place of refuge. In the bright sunny air, in the leafy trees or green fields, there was no hiding-place from the fierce grasp of the hawk. But seeing the open window and a man sitting by it, the bird, in its extreme terror, flew towards it, and with a beating heart and quivering wing found refuge in Wesley’s bosom. He sheltered it from the threatening danger, and saved it from a cruel death. Wesley was at that time suffering from severe trials, and was feeling the need of a refuge as much as the trembling bird that nestled safely in his bosom. So he took up his pen and wrote the well-known hymn—