All right, if you have a Bible, would you take it out and we're taking one from underneath the chair in front of you and turn to Philippians chapter 3. We are continuing a sermon series that we started last week on Easter Sunday and it's called All Things New and we're celebrating a bunch of new things that we received through faith in Christ who will be focusing on one of those new things here this morning and we will be looking at Philippians 3 at least for starters as we do that this morning. So here now God's holy and true Word from Philippians chapter 3 starting in verse 1. You possible, Paul writes, finally my brothers rejoice in the Lord to write the same things to you is no trouble to me and is safe for you. Look out for the dogs, look out for the evil doers, look out for those who mutilate the flesh. Or 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 of Pharisee, as to zeal a persecutor of the church, as to righteous under the law, blameless. 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. For His sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish in order that I might 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 in the power of His resurrection and may share His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead, not that I have already obtained this or I'm already perfect, but I press on to make it my own because Christ Jesus has made me His own. It's the Word of the Lord. Will you pray with me? Heavenly Father, we are here before you to continue to worship you now as we look in your Word and Lord, as we look at this absolutely amazing and life-changing truth in your Word, and life-changing truth in your Word, we just pray, Lord, that you would use this time to open our eyes and hearts to how amazing this reality really is, what Jesus really has done for us that we might exalt Him more in our hearts and in our city. So Father, we just thank You and we pray that You'll use this time also to make us more like Jesus and equip us to take the good news to our neighbors and to the nations for it is in Jesus' name that we pray. Amen. So, we're talking about all these new things that we receive when we receive Christ as our Lord and Savior, things that you already have, those of you who are followers of Jesus, and so this week we're talking about this new status that we receive through faith, that in the risen Christ we receive a new status from God and that status is righteous. Now, before faith we are sinners, we are not righteous in God's sight, but through faith we are declared righteous by God and this is something that separates Christianity from all other beliefs and worldviews, the fact that we would receive the declaration of righteous through faith. And you know what's interesting is we don't always realize it, but this is something that we want, this is something that our hearts long for to be called right, either by God or by people around us, we long for that feeling we get when somebody says yes, you're right, you're valuable, you're worthy, you name it, that feeling that we are right. In fact, that was funny, you know, we even joke about it, but it's true. I was at two weddings in the last few days, okay, so I have eaten so well, it's been awesome. But anyway, when I was at a wedding on Friday, it was funny because there was the bride and groom were seated at this little table, and they had name tags that everybody could see from where we were sitting, these little name plaques, and in front of the groom it said Mr. Wright, and in front of the bride it said Mrs. always right. You know, and so, I mean, it's just kind of, that's funny, but it's true like we do, we really long to be right. We don't want to hear or even think about the possibility that we are doing things wrong. We want someone to say that you are right, you are approved, you are accepted, our hearts long for that. And we also want to know that we're right because we fear judgment, we fear the punishment, we might deserve if we are indeed wrong. And deep down, we all know that we are wrong, we have done wrong things, we have sinned, and so our hearts will look for righteousness, that's what the Bible says we're looking for. That it's righteousness, that declaration of righteousness is what our hearts are really after, and what's so amazing is that only in the Bible, only in Christianity, do we receive the status of righteousness through faith. Everything else is different, so we're going to talk about that this morning. And if you're making an outline, we're going to talk about three things basically. I want to talk about what the Bible doesn't say. We'll try to be crystal clear on that. What the Bible does not say about how we gain a status of righteousness in God's sight. And then we'll talk about what the Bible does say. And then we'll talk about the daily impact of grace. So what it says, I'm sorry, what it doesn't say about righteousness, what it does say, and then the daily impact of grace. Take a look at verses 1 and 2. Let's talk about what the Bible does not say. Here's what the Bible does not say, and if you're a guest with us, you've never heard this before, it might be kind of shocking, but this is what the Bible does not say. The Bible does not say that morality is the way to gain or maintain a righteous status with God. It's true. Take a look at 1 and 2. Verse 1 and 2 of our text today. Finally, he says, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you is no trouble to me, and it is safe for you. So he's going to tell them something he's told them before. And this is why we talk about this regularly. It's safe for us to hear this regularly. Verse 2, look out for the dogs, look out for the evil doers, look out for those who mutilate the flesh. So right there, he is telling these people in this church to look out for something that's taking place. What was taking place? Well, basically, when he refers to the people who mutilate the flesh, he's talking about people who were going around in this church in Philippi. They were going around and they were telling people that in order to be right with God, in order to have that status of righteous, you have to do certain things. In this case, they were talking about circumcision. And so they were going around telling people that you're not right with God unless you do this certain thing, you have to go through this practice. And so Paul says that there are evil doers. He's actually talking all these things, dogs, evil doers, people who mutilate the flesh. All three of those are applied to the same group, this group that's going around telling people that in order to be right with God, you have to do certain things. Evil doers could also be translated as troublesome or destructive. In other words, what was happening, happening was these people who were going around saying these things that in order to be right with God, you have to do certain things. They were being destructive to the people in this church that he wrote this letter to. And one of the things that we see then is that it's not only wrong, but it's also very destructive for people to teach that we are made right with God by doing good things. It's wrong and it's very destructive for us to believe or be taught that we're made right with God through obedience or through morality. And what's interesting is this kind of flies in the face of what people very often think Christianity actually teaches. And outside the church, non-believers generally have no idea that this is what the Bible doesn't teach. They think that it does teach that you're right with God by what you do. And even in the church sometimes, sadly, people think that we're right with God based on the things that we do. I'll give you an example. I was talking to a guy. I've talked to him twice on the last couple of weeks. Great guy. I've had a great time talking to him. And he is interested in learning more about Christianity. And so we were talking and I just asked him. I said, well, just, you know, I want to know where you're coming from. What do you think the Bible teaches? What do you think the main message of the Bible is? His response was, I think the main message of the Bible is that we should live a life of love and compassion. And I said, no, that's actually not the main message of the Bible. If anything, the main message of the Bible is that we can't live a life of love and compassion. We can't be truly loving. We can't be really compassionate. We can't do the things that we would need to do to be declared righteous through the things that we do. We're sinners. We fail. We can't do it. So that's an example of somebody outside the church who just thought, that's what the Bible teaches. Like any religion, you just got to do certain things and then God will declare you righteous. But inside the church too. A lot of times people inside the church somehow are under the impression that they are righteous depending on what they do and what they do not do. That as long as they offer morality to God, he will return the favor by declaring them righteous. That as reading a book on parenting, and this woman was saying that she thinks one of the primary reasons that a lot of Christian youth grow up and then leave the church is because they're not really understanding what we're going to talk about today. What the Bible actually does say. And they're under the impression that what God wants from them is just morality. And if as long as their moral then God loves them and if they're not moral then God doesn't love them, that's what a lot of young people tend to think. And so she says in her book, she says apparently we've transformed the holy, terrifying, magnificent, and loving God of the Bible into Santa. And instead of transmitting the gloriously liberating and life-changing truth of the gospel, we have taught our children that what God wants from them is morality. And we have told them that being good, at least outwardly, is the be all and end all of their faith. This isn't the gospel. We're not handing down Christianity, and she makes such a great point. Not only outside the church, there are tons of people who don't understand what the Bible teaches about how we are declared righteous in God's sight, but there's people inside the church. And oftentimes it's our children, because they just seem to sometimes hear that we're just supposed to do this or do that. But this is categorically, it's so important that we understand this. The Bible does not teach that morality is the way that we gain or maintain a righteous status with God. We can see this other places, Galatians 2, 16, Paul says by works of the law, no one will be justified or declared righteous. Romans 3, 24 by works of the law, no human being will be justified in God's sight. Galatians 3, 11, now it is evident that no one is justified or declared righteous before God by the law. I mean, it's just everywhere. The message of the Bible is not, here's a list of things you should do, and therefore if you do them, then God will declare you righteous. The message is not, here's a list of things you don't want to do, because if you do these, then you go to hell. This is not the primary message of the Bible. Now we're going to talk about what the Bible says. You might be thinking, well, then wait a minute. What's the point of morality, then? I thought Christians really are supposed to try to do what the Bible teaches. Yes, absolutely. But not so that God would declare us righteous. It's got a different, totally different reason why we would want to pursue holiness and obedience to God. And we'll talk about that in a couple of weeks, but today we're focusing on the fact that the Bible does not teach that morality is the way we get God's declaration of righteousness. The Bible has good news. That would not be good news. That would be instructions. Do this, right? But it wouldn't be good news. It would be terrible news, especially for a guy like me who has sinned against God in many different ways. I still wrestle with sin every day of my life. So if God did say to me, here's what you need to do for me to accept you, that would be terrible news to me. The Bible's got good news. Let's talk about what the Bible does say. Look at verse three. Let's talk about what the Bible does say. Paul says in response, he just says, look out for the people who are telling you to do things in order to be declared righteous by God. Here's what he says. Verse three, for we are the circumcision who worship God by the spirit, I'm sorry, who worship by the spirit of God and glory and Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh. That's a little confusing because he says we are the circumcision, but ultimately since this group was saying that they're righteous because they were going through circumcision, he's kind of hijacking it and he's saying, no, we're the circumcision, we're the ones who are righteous. Who? Who's he talking about? Who is righteous in God's sight? The ones who worship by the spirit, glory and Christ put no confidence in the flesh. That's three ways to describe the same group of people. Just like he called the legalists, the ones who are saying that you had to do certain things, dogs, evil doers, and those who mutilate the flesh, here he's saying the same thing three times, worshipping by the spirit, glorying in Christ, putting no confidence in the flesh. And that's the key. He's saying the ones who put no confidence in the flesh or no trust in what they do, but rather glory in Jesus, worshipping Jesus, trusting Jesus for what he has done. The only way he's saying to be made righteous with God is to trust not in anything we do, could do, have done, will do, but only to put our trust in what Christ has already done. Those are the ones who receive the declaration of righteous, the ones who will receive by faith what Christ has done in their place. Now here is, so technically this is called the doctrine of justification by faith alone, and it is what separates one of the things that separates Christianity from all the other world views and religions. It is absolutely amazing and life changing. I want to give you the shorter catechism definition of justification, then I'm going to kind of edit it, not edit it, but make it more understandable. And so we make sure we understand what we're hearing. So first, here's what it says. We've been saying these words for hundreds of years as Christians. What is justification? Justification is an act of God's free grace wherein he pardons all our sins and accepts us as righteous in his sight only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us and received by faith alone. Now that may have some language in it that makes you kind of not quite sure what you just heard. So let me say it this way. Here's what that is telling us and that by the way is a summary of the Bible's teaching on how we're declared righteous as we'll see. We gain a righteous status through an act of God's free grace in which he forgives all of our sins and accepts us as if we have perfectly obeyed his law in his sight only because of the perfect obedience of Christ. Which is credited to us and received by us by faith alone. That is good news to a sinner like me. Let's break this down. First, it says we are we gain a righteous status through an act of God's free grace. Free Roman's 324 Paul says we are justified by his grace as a gift. This means you can't earn it. You cannot earn something free. It's just plain free. You know where I there's a wendixie on the way home from my house and I go and shop at the wendixie. You know why? Because they have free coffee. Waterford, do you know this free coffee at wendixie when you walk in to the right? That's just sitting there just singing to you. Hello free coffee. So every time I go there I walk in and I pump a little coffee. What I don't do is then say, excuse me, where can I pay for this? You know that that wouldn't be free if I pay for it. But what we're seeing here, this amazing reality that being declared righteous by the creator and sustainer of all things is a free gift. It's free. It says we gain a righteous status through an act of God's free grace. Next, it says in which he forgives all our sins. You know we think about this. We talk about this a lot. A lot of times when people talk about what is Christianity, they will get to the idea of the reality of forgiveness, which is true in Romans 3. Paul says for there is no distinction for all have sinned and fallen sort of the glory of God. We need forgiveness. We have sin on our record. We deserve therefore wrath. We deserve to go to hell for the things that we've done. But he says, but we are justified by his grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood to be received by faith. Now that word propitiation is what we need to understand in order to understand how are we forgiven and what what propitiation means. What Paul is talking about here, how are we forgiven? Jesus paid the debt that our sin caused us to owe God. We owe God suffering because of our sin. The wages of sin is death. And therefore what we see in the scriptures and what we're looking at here in this in verse and Romans is Paul is saying that Jesus is the one who has satisfied God's wrath. He has appeased God. He has has received God's anger and punishment for my sin and your sin if you believe. And so the debt is paid. That's why we sing Jesus paid it all. Because our sin, we don't have to pay for our sin because Jesus paid for our sin for us on the cross. Second Corinthians 5.21 says Jesus became our sin that we might become the righteous. This is God. God put our sin on to Jesus and then port his wrath on to Jesus. His death on the cross was not just an example of love. It was him paying for our sin. That's why in John, John records him saying it is finished. It is finished and that word that Greek word to tell us that it's actually a market term that they would use when a bill was paid in full. So what he's saying on the cross about you, about your sin if you believe he's saying it's paid for. It's done. There is no longer any debt of sin for you and for me who believe. You don't have to pay for something when it's paid for. If we went to the gas station and I bought you a tank of gas and then I drove off and then you grab the receipt and you get in your car and you're about to leave. And the gas station attendant runs out and slams his hands down on your hood and says, now wait a second, you didn't pay for that gas. You just kind of like hold up the receipt and be like, I know I didn't pay for it but my friend did. And the cross is the reality that our sin has been paid for and the resurrection is the receipt. So we are forgiven of all of our sins. We gain a righteous status through an act of God's free grace in which he forgives all of our sins in the next part. And accepts us as if we have perfectly obeyed his law in his sight only because of the perfect obedience of Christ which is credited to us and received by faith alone. This means that all of the righteous things that Jesus did in his life, all of his perfect obedience, it gets credited to you and me as if we had done it. Making us entitled to all the blessings and all the things that we can even imagine receiving from God. John frames one of the world's foremost theologians alive right now, he says this. He says this means not only that God removes our sin but that he positively adds to us the perfect righteousness of Christ. So our legal status is not just not guilty. It's not neutral but it's righteous. He says if you think about your legal status numerically sin had plunged you way deep into the negative numbers. God's forgiveness brought you back to zero but the righteousness of Christ took you far above zero in the eyes of God. You have the righteousness of Christ. In Romans 4 3 Paul says what does the scripture say Abraham believed God and it his faith was credited to him as righteousness. I mean this is like unbelievable right. I mean the fact that God would accept faith as if we had perfectly obeyed him every second of every day of our lives. That is absolutely mind-blowingly amazing. That is grace. All because of what Jesus has done for us. You know you might ask like why faith? Why faith? You know why couldn't he just say you guys are really messed up and you deserve to be punished for your sins but if you will love people really sincerely well then I'll forgive you then I'll declare your righteous. Why didn't he say that or why didn't he say joy? You know you guys are really messed up but if you'll just be joyful then I will declare your righteous. Why did God use faith as the instrument? Here's what Wayne Grudem says. He said it is apparently because faith is the one attitude of heart that is the exact opposite of depending on ourselves. When we come to Christ this is still him Wayne Grudem speaking. He says when we come to Christ in faith we essentially say I give up. I will not depend on myself or my own good works any longer. I know that I can never make myself righteous before God. Therefore Jesus I trust you and depend on you completely to give me righteous standing before God. It's giving up. Christians are the people who have given up on trying to be good enough for God or for anybody because we know we can't do it. B.J. is the campus pastor down at UBC Lake Nona. He was telling us a month or two ago about how Navy seals go through really really really rigorous training and most of them actually don't make it through the training and there's this really embarrassing thing. If you're going to quit you have to go in front of all of the remaining Navy seal trainees and you have to ring this bell and it's like the bell of shame. So you've got to walk up in front of everybody and ding ring that bell when you want to give up and that is the way the world works right if you give up you're a loser and doesn't that show the brilliance and wisdom of God in the way that we can't even begin a relationship with God until we give up. Repentance and faith is walking up to the bell and hitting it as hard as you can and saying hearing that ding and saying I give up I can't do it. But instead of becoming the losers when we give up on trying to be good enough for God we actually become the big big big eternal winners because of receiving the declaration of righteousness by faith. This is why Martin Luther long time ago he said the same thing he said it is certain that a man must utterly despair of his own ability before he is prepared to receive the grace of Christ. It's hard to give up in this but it's amazing when we give up and say okay I'm not going to trust in what I'm doing I'm only going to trust in you we are clothed in the righteousness of Christ. That's why if you still got your Bible open if you look at verse 4 through 6 Paul goes through this long list of reasons why if there's anybody that should maybe start to think maybe I'm good enough for God based on my own works of the law maybe it's me that's kind of what he's saying. He's saying he's done all these things he has all this this great religious pedigree I mean he's got all these things that you would think maybe he's good enough to stand before God and be declared righteous but he says no way. He wouldn't trust in that for a million lifetimes or anything at all look at verse 7 here's why he says 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 for his sake I've suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish. If the children weren't here I'll tell you what a literal translation of that word is okay he says he I count them as rubbish in order that listen to this in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him not having a righteousness of my own that comes through the law but that which comes through faith in Christ. The righteousness from God that depends on faith and he says this elsewhere he's talking in Galatians 2 he says a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Christ he says in Romans 3 28 for we hold that one is justified by faith apart from the works of the law. Faith alone Ephesians 2 8 9 4 by grace you have been saved through faith and this is not of your own doing it is the gift of God not a result of work so that no one may boast. Listen if you when you live a life trying to be recognized as right as righteous either before God or for man on your own doing you are never done. Martin Luther says this as well he says the law says do this and it is never done and some of you I know know how that feels you constantly are feeling I've got to do more I got to do more I got to do more and that is a prison and you don't need to be in it okay you do not need to be in that prison the law says do this and it is never done but grace says believe in this and it is already done. I mean don't you just want to exhale that amazing that God has said to you in Christ that he has done everything necessary for you to be legally righteous in his sight forgiven and declared righteous look at this John Bunyan one of my favorite poems we should be saying this to ourselves every morning in the mirror run John run the law demands but gives me neither feet nor hands. Better news the gospel brings it bids me fly and gives me wings that's good news we gain a righteous status through an act of God's free grace in which he forgives all our sins and accepts us as if we have perfectly obeyed his law in his sight only because of the perfect obedience of Christ which is credited to us and received by faith alone it has nothing to do with what we do. If we believe then we receive that declaration so let's talk about the daily impact what is the daily impact of this on our lives. These are some of the things that the Holy Spirit works in us that we experience as we believe this so maybe you're maybe you've never really known this or believe this before if you were to receive Christ today as your Lord and Savior if you were to give up and stop trying to be good stop trying to be good enough on your own. These are the things that begin to happen number one piece the doctrine of justification by faith alone is an absolutely incredible source of peace even Paul says in Romans five one therefore since we have been justified since we have been justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ because there's no more striving it's already done God has reconciled us to himself in Christ. So there's peace humility I mean literally what a Christian is saying to the world is I'm not a good person I've never done anything really truly good my my motivations aren't pure my actions aren't pure but I have joy in my heart because I've been declared righteous because of what Christ has done but think about that we how humbling is it to realize that nothing you've ever done counts for you being declared righteous. It's only what Jesus has done that's humbling if you're on the if you're on the reading plan I was reading this morning in on our two year reading plan and we're in for somebody one this morning and so Paul the apostle Paul who was definitely one of the most obedient people right he definitely led a very powerful holy Christian life and even he says and for somebody one 15 the saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am the foremost I mean how amazing is that you can stand there. You can stand there that you can write for eternity to read and Paul says I'm the worst sinner ever because he knows that his righteousness is all from Christ and it allowed him to be humble humble humble joy I mean we're kidding me it's we are filled with joy when we think about this Paul even says in three verse one of our texts today rejoice in the Lord because he's about to tell them again about receiving righteousness through faith acceptance of others man you know what I'll tell you what. If you have trouble accepting other people because they're different from you or because you think they're sinners or whatever the more that you believe that God accepts you totally because of what Christ has done the more you are enabled to accept anybody because of what Christ has done too it's so powerful upon a community like our church to be welcoming anybody and anyone that shows up and we can because we know that God didn't make us make us shape up before he would accept us and so we don't need to make anybody shape up not one bit so if you're a guest with us and you don't feel welcome come talk to me tell me who did it true service if you do things you do a good thing for someone so that it makes you a good person in the eyes of people or in the eyes of God you've actually used that person to get what you want but when your righteousness comes from nothing that you do you can serve people and have compassion on people be kind to people for those people and for the glory of God yes Lewis says this the Christian is in a different position from other people who are trying to do good these other people hope by being good to please God if there is one or they think if there's not a God at least they hope to deserve approval from good men in other words they're doing good things to get something he says but the Christian thinks any good he does comes from the Christ life inside him he does not think God will love us because we are good but that God will make us good because he loves us just as the roof of a greenhouse does not attract the sun because it's bright but because but becomes bright because the sun shines on it so when we believe our righteousness comes from Christ we can do things literally truly for that person not for us at all except for perhaps the joy that we get out of serving and being just a little more like our Savior not crushed by failure when you really believe that you are declared righteous by God and you blow it big time you are not crushed when you rest in the fact that even though you failed so miserably you are still righteous in God's side you are not leveled by criticism and I know how much criticism goes around but when you know that your righteousness has nothing to do with whether you do things well or not if people criticize you can take it you can take it when people point out your sin because you don't get your righteousness from not sinning you get your righteousness from Jesus through faith authenticity we can be real nobody has to hide so I occasionally tell you about different sin things I'm struggling with like anger or whatnot I don't have to hide that at all if Paul can say he's the worst sinner in the world then I can tell you that I struggle with anger and it ends up we end up overflowing with love I mean think about that when you feel that tremendous love of God the fact that he would he would send his one and only son to die on the cross to get rid of our sin but then also take his righteousness and give it to us and credit it all to us by faith so that we stand here all day every day declared righteous in Christ you better believe you're overflowing with love and we can just go on and on and on and we will through the series we'll talk about more things that flow from the new life we have in Christ as well but I mean I just want you know once you once you have this once you had once you know that you're righteous by Christ you want everybody to feel what it feels like to know that the creator of the universe has looked at me and because of his son has said it's just amazing that's why Christians tell people about Jesus not saying be good or else but God is good and he has sent his son and he has paid our debt and he has given us his righteousness man it's amazing to think of what God is thinking about when he looks at you to think about the fact that you are legally righteous in his sight at all times it's like when you know the kids come up here on Palm Sunday recently near the parents are looking and I'm in this club now as I have four kids and one of them is old enough to be up here so all the parents are just looking at their kids and they're just kind of you know he's got this look on your face like oh man and you know you don't realize what you look like I don't even know what I look like but it's crazy and I don't care and I'm just looking at my kid and I'm thinking that's mine that one's mine and I'm so proud of him and then to think that because of Christ all day every day God looks at you and me who believe and he says that one's mine that one's mine I'm so proud of him I'm so proud of her that changes you forever let's pray Father there are 10,000 reasons that we could praise you for and there are millions more you have given to us in Christ one of the things our hearts are desperate for and Lord if you have sovereignly ordained that there are people here this morning that are not righteous through faith in Christ I pray that you would grab a hold of their heart and show them the glory of Jesus do not let them leave this building without receiving him by faith and then knowing that they've been declared forgiven and righteous because of Christ through faith alone in Jesus name amen.