Gospel Conversion

Well, let me invite you to turn in your Bibles this morning to, Romans chapter one. Why don't we start there? I'll be alluding to another passage before we get to, Romans one. Romans chapter one, as I said to you last Sunday, our stated purpose as a church is helping people journey from brokenness to wholeness.

Through the gospel of Jesus Christ. As a church, we are here in this community by God's great design to help you to understand your broken condition, to help you to understand the brokenness that exists between you and God, which includes you breaking God's laws. The brokenness between you and others, as well as the brokenness inside of you and to help you to move from that brokenness. To wholeness and flourishing in relationship with God in relationship with others, and also within yourself and the primary instrument through which we wish to.

Help you in that journey from brokenness to wholeness is what we call the gospel or the good news about Jesus Christ. we live in a 24 hour news cycle world. Where we are constantly being bombarded by news and it seems like most of the news that we hear is, is bad. and, we all know how digesting the news that we're confronted with today.

Can affect our moods and our outlook, making us anxious or fearful or, even depressed. But at the center of our faith, at the center of the Christian faith is some really good news that broke 2000 years ago that is still transforming hearts and lives today. It was. revolutionizing people's lives in the first century, and it continues to do so today.

The staggering news that God loves the world so much that he has given his only Son Jesus Christ and sent him into the world and that Jesus perfectly fulfilled the law of God that that all of us have broken. And that Jesus died on the cross for our sins and fulfillment of the Old Testament scriptures and that he was raised from the dead and appeared to many people. And that he ascended to heaven and now lives forever at the right hand of God in order to save people like you and me, and to give us righteousness and freedom.

And power and love and relationship with God forever.

That's the news that you and I ought to spend more time consuming. Amen. And delivering to others. If you wanna be a news junkie, how about consuming this news, the gospel news.

There's a lot to consume as we're going to see in the coming weeks. Given the centrality of the gospel. Of Jesus Christ to the Christian faith, you would think it would be a no-brainer. That the gospel would have a central place in the worship and in the preaching.

Of every Christian church, but this has not always been the case. Back in 1930, Dietrich Bonhoeffer came to New York as a part of his postdoctoral work at Union. Theological seminary. And while he was in New York, he sat under the preaching of a number of men.

In a number of churches. And eventually he wrote these words of complaint. Listen to what he says, and I quote, In New York, they preach about virtually everything. Only one thing is not addressed.

Or it is addressed so rarely that I have as yet been unable to hear it. Namely, the gospel. Of Jesus Christ. And sadly the same could be said.

Of many churches today. May God look upon us here at Cornerstone with mercy and protect us from ever becoming a church that is about anything other than. The gospel of Jesus Christ. Partly because.

This is what we're called to be all about, right? And partly because this good news is actually good for us. You can write this reference down, Proverbs 15:30. In Proverbs 15:30, Solomon makes an interesting statement that you may not have even known was in the Bible.

Listen to what he says, and I quote, good news. Puts fat. On the bones, unquote. Good news puts fat on the bones.

Now you may not want fat on your bones, but fat on the bones was a good thing in the mind of Solomon, who wrote these words the bones represent the core of our physical constitution. And the health of the marrow in our bones is very much tied to our overall health. And Solomon is saying that good news can profoundly affect you in the deepest parts of your being and put fatness there, a fatness that can sustain you as you walk the road of life, and don't you want that? I think we all do.

Take that statement by Solomon in Proverbs 15 and multiply it by infinity. And that's the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ and its impact upon us. Cornerstone is here to be a bringer. Of good news to this community.

We're here to tell the people of this community who Jesus is and what Jesus has done, and to tell them that there is salvation. And the forgiveness of sins available to them through Jesus, who died on the cross for their sins, and to tell them that Jesus is the Lord, who can do as he pleases. And being able to do as he pleases with no one stopping him. Jesus is giving out salvation to all who come to Him and who believe in Him.

And he promises that anyone who comes to me, I will never cast them out. Cornerstone is here as a church to unpack what all of that means and in the process of doing so. Put a whole lot of fat on your bones and to see your life changed forever. Solomon says, good news puts fat on the bones.

The apostle Paul has his own way of describing the power of the good news of the gospel in the New Testament. In Romans chapter 1 verse 16. Paul literally says that the gospel is the power of God, literally into salvation to everyone who believes. Notice that he says here that the gospel is the power of God.

In other words, it is the ultimate location where God's power resides and does its most amazing work. If you're hungry for the experience of God's power in your life, you will find that power in its highest concentration inside the gospel of Jesus Christ. And here is what the gospel is powerful to do. Paul says it is the power of God into salvation.

To everyone who believes. In other words, the gospel has the power to generate movement in your life. And to move you out from underneath the wrath of God and into the realm of his salvation with all of its blessings. Of forgiveness and freedom, transformation, love and power and relationship with God.

And Paul is saying that the gospel is the power of God that gets you into the realm of salvation, and then once you are inside of that realm, The gospel is the power of God to take you deeper and deeper into that realm. And inside of this thing called salvation. There are, I think, what we can call 5 critical elements involved in the journey from brokenness to wholeness. And the first of these points is gospel conversion.

And you could write these down as I list them off. Gospel conversion, which entails being born again into the family of God, receiving the Holy Spirit of God inside of you, repenting of your sins and believing in Jesus. That's gospel conversion. Secondly, There's gospel centrality.

Which involves learning to keep the gospel at the center of your focus, even as a believer. Learning how to think gospel and reason from the gospel to every area of your life. A third point or element of this journey is gospel community, which entails living life and relationship with brothers and sisters in Christ in the church, embracing those brothers and sisters as a part of your gospel inheritance. And then fourthly, gospel commission.

Which entails doing all that you do for the sake of God's gospel purposes in you and in others, living for the purpose of fulfilling Christ's commission to make disciples of all the nations. And then the final point of the journey we can call gospel completion. Which entails entering heaven and being fully glorified in the presence of Christ forever. Which every true believer in Christ is destined for.

So if you come here to Cornerstone, and you are a part of this local church, just know up front that this is our mission. To help you to experience gospel conversion, and then to walk in gospel centrality while living in gospel community, fulfilling your gospel commission. Until brought to gospel completion in the day of Christ. And over the next few weeks, we're gonna be pondering each of these 5 points of the journey from brokenness to wholeness.

And to do so, we're gonna track a particular man in the Bible whose story is so well known. And so transparently told that we can actually track his journey all the way through these 5 critical points. And this man's name is Saul. In the Bible, he is called Saul of Tarsus initially, and then later became known as Paul.

Paul lived in the 1st century AD. His writings make up about 1/4 of our New Testament. His life story is amazing, his conversion to Christ is no less amazing. And we're gonna focus on his story from beginning to end.

In the coming weeks, because in many ways his story illustrates. What our goal as a church is for everyone that we are seeking to help. In their journey from the brokenness of sin all the way to glory. So with the time that we have this morning, I wanna.

Just present to you 3 truths, 3 truths to help us, to help you to understand Paul's conversion. And we'll learn a lot about the nature of conversion. As we observe these three truths. Whenever someone tells their conversion story, they typically say this is what my life was like.

Before Christ, then secondly, here's how Christ came into my life and saved me. And then here's how my life has been different since I have been converted and that's essentially what we're going to do this morning. Truth number one, before conversion, Paul's life was characterized by the brokenness of sin. Before conversion, Paul's life was characterized by the brokenness of sin.

And the first element of this brokenness is we see that there was brokenness between himself and God. You could turn to Ephesians chapter 2 verse 2. Where Paul speaks about this, he, in the context of speaking about the sons of disobedience who lived rebelliously against God. And then Paul puts us and him.

Together with these sons of disobedience, and he says in Ephesians 2:2, among them, we too, all formerly lived in the lust of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath even as the rest. Living ultimately for self. And thus being under God's wrath, Paul says. Paul would tell you that before his conversion, he was living in rebellion against God.

He was under the wrath of God because of his sins, just like the rest of mankind outside of Christ. Yes, Paul, and yes, we were created by God and bear the image of God, but we all, including Paul, have gone astray from our purpose. In fact, Paul says we were by nature. Children of wrath that he includes himself in this.

In other words, we were born this way, highlighting our need to be born again. Now you might hear Paul talking about living this way and being under God's wrath, and you might think, wow, Paul must have been a really wicked, unspiritual man before he was converted. Actually, he was intensely spiritual. He was very religious.

More religious than any of us in this room have ever been. In fact, Paul's story shows us that one can be deeply, profoundly. Religious and spiritual and still be under the wrath of God. Not only did Paul experience brokenness between himself and God, but he also experienced a brokenness within himself.

That was very much ultimately tied to his relationship with God. Something was wrong inside of him that he could not ignore. And that was sin. In Romans chapter 7, in verses 78 and 9.

Listen to what Paul says. He says, I would not have known about coveting if the law had not said you shall not covet. But sin taking opportunity through the commandment produced in me coveting of every kind. When the commandment came, sin became alive and I died.

This passage in Romans 7 expresses. A profound frustration that Paul experienced before conversion. Being an intensely religious man, Paul studied the law of God in the Old Testament. He memorized it.

Almost certainly, Paul could have quoted to you the 1st 5 books of the Bible. He knew his Bible better than any of us in this room know ours. And he knew what God expected of him, yet Paul found himself unable to live up to that standard. And not only was he not able to live up to the standard of God's law, but his study of the law made things worse.

When Paul would read the 10 Commandments and see the command of God saying, you shall not covet. The sin that was inside of Paul would be aroused by that prohibition and cause him to act out even worse. Than if the command had never been given in the first place. In Romans 7, Paul goes on to say that the law of God is holy, the law of God is good.

But that it had a provocative and aggravating effect upon the sin that was inside of him. Does that resonate with any of you? All of us who are parents know what it's like to tell our children, do not do such and such and What is the natural response of our children? To do the exact opposite of what we have told them to do.

This problem plagues us all. Alexander Solzhenitsyn made this very discovery about himself back in 1953. And he writes gradually it was disclosed to me that the line separating good and evil passes not through states nor between classes nor between political parties either, but right through every human heart. And it was while he was in prison for denouncing the sins of Soviet communism, denouncing the sins of others, which he was rightly doing.

That God showed him his own sin in his own heart. And his need for a savior. Norm MacDonald. Passed away this week.

And before he died, he gave voice to a similar realization. In an interview not too long ago, he said, and I quote, there's some people who believe that man is divine. And that we are all like beautiful creatures. I can't believe that because I know my own heart.

And I know that's not true. He goes on to say in that interview. That he also cannot believe the atheist notion that we are nothing more than animal creatures destined for nothingness. He resonated With the Christian doctrine that man is both created in the image of God, yet also wretched.

Because he saw that wretchedness in his own heart. And I certainly hope that His faith was in Jesus. If we're honest, we all know this is true. The sin within us rises up as we do what God has forbidden.

Or we refuse to do what God has commanded, and we reap the inward consequences of brokenness that come about as a result of our Disobedience with our conscience either accusing us or excusing us. For our behavior. I could weep and do weep. Thinking of all the times that I have sinned against a holy God.

When his word told me very clearly to do otherwise, I brought great hurt to my own soul. And to the heart of God and to others through the sinful choices that I have often made throughout my life. Paul here is admitting to this also. He's saying before I was converted, the more I understood the law of God, which is good and holy, the more I found sin aroused within me.

Rather than getting holier, I seem to be getting only more sinful. This is the essence of the brokenness. That Paul experienced within himself before his conversion, and we're all the richer because he's admitting this to us. There's a third layer of brokenness that Paul experienced before he was converted, and that is brokenness between himself and, and others.

In Titus chapter 3 and verse 3. Paul speaks about himself as well as all of us. And he says in Titus 3:3, for we, which would have included himself, also once we're foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, and enslaved to various lust and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another. Not everyone is as transparent.

As Paul is here. Not everyone admits their own complicity in such societal evils. But we get what he's saying, don't we? We see malice in our world today.

We see hate everywhere we look. We see malice between nations. We've seen malice. Between political parties we see hate within ourselves, wishing ill upon people who cross us.

Even if it's someone who makes us slow down by 5 miles an hour on the freeway. We see a whole lot of hate and malice in our politics today, and if we are honest with ourselves, we would have to admit that we see. This in our own hearts as well. We are all guilty and Paul is saying to his readers, this is the way you guys were.

And it was the way I was also. And I love the fact that Paul admits this brokenness about himself. He doesn't merely point the finger at others and call everyone else a hater. There's a lot of that going on today.

No, he includes himself and admits that he was a part of the problem. And that he stood in need. Of a savior also. And I would really wish that there was more of that introspection.

In our world today, but you'll never see it on CNN or MSNBC or even Fox News. If you are digesting the news endlessly. Stations, networks such as those will not be encouraging this introspection and humility. Last week I was watching.

Some interviews with people who were impacted by the terrorist attacks of 9/11 20 years ago and One such person was a young woman named Elizabeth who was 8 months pregnant. At the time that the terrorist attacks occurred. And she lived through the ordeal, but when the first tower fell, she was absolutely convinced that she would die and never get to see the baby that was in her womb. And in that moment of realization.

She said that she prayed. To God These words, holy, good Lord, dear God, help us. I'm sorry for all that I never was and for the things I never worked on. And for the evil in me.

That I didn't cure. Unquote I hope this dear woman has come to realize since that it's not up to her to cure the evil that is within her, but I was moved by the beauty of her introspection rather than using the moment to rage about the evil of the terrorists. The evil outside of herself. She was left contemplating the evil in her.

And confessing that to God and what she confessed to in that moment is true of all of us we are broken and plagued by evil, not just evil outside of ourselves and around us, but also within us. And we need a rescue that cannot come from ourselves, but only through Jesus Christ. That was true of Paul before he was converted, and it is true of every person. Thankfully, Paul's story does not end on this note.

It doesn't end with this brokenness that we are reviewing here. Yes, he was broken on all of these levels that we have seen, but God wonderfully saved him through Christ. Paul was converted to Christ. Which is the 2nd truth that we should understand about Paul's conversion.

Truth number 2, Paul experienced conversion when Christ appeared to him. On the road to Damascus. Paul experienced conversion when Christ appeared to him on the road to Damascus. When you read the book of Acts in the New Testament, you find that Paul was a great persecutor of the church, ravaging the church at every opportunity and hauling off men and women, and throwing them into prison.

Paul believed that there was a huge problem in the world of his day, and it wasn't him. It was Christians. So he not only sought to chase Christians out. Of his city, but even when they fled his city, he pursued them.

To foreign cities and sought to get them thrown into prison. Back in Jerusalem. In Acts 9, Paul is on his way to the city of Damascus to find some Christians. And to imprison them thinking that they were the problem with the world, not him.

But a funny thing happened on his way to Damascus. He got confronted for his own sins, and he got converted. Listen to this story. Turn to Acts chapter 9.

Acts chapter 9, and we'll look at a portion of his story in this chapter. Acts 9 beginning. In verse one, the text says, but Saul, that was what Paul was called initially. But Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the way, those are Christians walking the Christian way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.

Now as he went on his way. He approached Damascus. And suddenly a light from heaven shone around him, and falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? And he said, Who are you, Lord?

And he said, I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting, but rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do. Go to verse 8. Saul rose from the ground and although his eyes were opened, he saw nothing. So they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus, and for 3 days he was without sight and neither ate nor drank.

That was the power of the sight of Jesus that left him blinded. Verse 10, now there was a disciple at Damascus named Ananias, and the Lord said to him in a vision, Ananias, and he said, Here I am, Lord. And the Lord said to him, rise and go to the street called straight. And at the house of Judas look for a man of Tarsus named Saul, for behold, he is praying.

And he has seen in a vision, a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight. Verse 13, but Ananias answered, Lord, I've heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints at Jerusalem. And here he has authority from the chief priest to bind all who call on your name. Look at what the text says next in verse 15.

And the Lord said to him, Oh, I had no idea how evil Saul was. I guess this was a bad call on my part. Please disregard my instruction. To go to him Is that what happened?

No, look again at verse 15. But the Lord said to him, go. I'm so glad he said go rather than oh. But the Lord said to him, go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine, to bear my name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel, for I will show him how much he must suffer for my name's sake.

And to Ananias' credit, after he gets this assurance from Jesus, he has no doubt at all about Jesus' power to save such an evil man as Saul. Observe what he does in verse 17. So Ananias departed and entered the house, and laying his hands on him, he said, brother Saul. The Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road by which you came, has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.

Verse 18, and immediately something like scales fell from his eyes and he regained his sight, then he rose. And was baptized. I won't comment on. Everything that we just read, I do want to just point out a couple things.

In the first place, notice that Paul was not seeking Christ in this story. In fact, he was on his way to capture and imprison Christians. Paul did not find Jesus because he was seeking after Jesus. He found Jesus because Jesus was seeking him.

Paul did not find Jesus. Jesus found him right in the middle of his sin. Just like Jesus found you, right? If you are a Christian.

Also noticed that Paul's life was not changed. By some inner light that emerged from his own heart. But from the light of someone outside of himself. From the light of Jesus Christ, the God man who confronted.

Him and left him blinded by the encounter and lying on the ground. Michael Horton Says this, the God of the Bible is a strange God, not the God we can manage, manipulate, accommodate, or domesticate to our familiar experience. We cannot find this God by looking within ourselves. His word is not the same as our inner voice.

He cannot be pared down to our size, measured by our speculations, experiences, or felt needs. Rather, he stands over against us. Telling us how things actually are. And as a result, our felt needs give way to more pressing needs that we did not even realize that we had.

And that's what's happening to Paul here. What Paul is experiencing here in Acts chapter 9 is called conversion. A few days earlier, Paul was following his own heart. Now he's following God's heart.

He was once under God's wrath, but now he's in God's embrace through Christ. He was once at war with Christ, and now he is at peace with Christ and surrendered to Christ's lordship. Ready to do whatever Christ wants him to do. And the change was like that.

He was once under God's condemnation. Now his sins are forgiven. And he's declared not guilty of every sin that he has ever committed. He was once full of hate toward others, and now his heart is filled with love, as the rest of his life will go on to show.

there are many people today who doubt. The power of human beings to change. They doubt that that's even possible. But the Bible teaches that rebel sinners.

Can be converted to righteous saints. Children of wrath can be converted to children of God Himself. Bitter enemies can be converted into brothers. And people once trapped in the sins of sexual immorality can become cleansed and forgiven saints of God.

And champions for Christ. All of these things can happen through the power of Jesus Christ and the good news about him. And we have a congregation full of such people. And I am the foremost sinner among them.

Who is being saved by the power of Jesus Christ. And in this salvation, we experience a total change of perspective. Which brings us to the 3rd truth about Paul in connection with his conversion. What man did Paul become after his conversion?

There's a lot of places we can go with this, but. Let's say it this way, after conversion, Paul found his righteousness in Christ alone. After his conversion, Paul found his righteousness in Christ alone. This is one of the fundamental earmarks of a genuine.

Convert to Jesus Christ. Other things can rightly describe someone converted to Christ. This is fundamental. After conversion, Paul found his wholeness.

He found his righteousness in Christ alone. There are a number of changes that we will observe in Paul in the weeks to come, but let me just focus on A few of them here. First of all, after his conversion, Paul gloried in Jesus Christ, not in his own credentials. In fact, go to Philippians chapter 3.

Where we'll spend a little bit of time. Where we do observe in Philippians 3:3 that Paul after his conversion gloried in Jesus Christ and not in his own credentials. He says in Philippians 3:3, for we are the true circumcision who worship in the Spirit of God and glory in whom? In Christ, in Christ Jesus, and we put no confidence in the flesh.

In other words, in the stuff we do. Notice what Paul says here, he says we, including himself, are the true circumcision. Circumcision in the Old Testament was a sign of the true people of God. So what Paul is saying is we are the true converts.

The true people of God, who worship God and the spirit of God. And on the surface, it might sound to us like Paul is bragging and saying that, hey, we are the true converts, we are the true people of God. But notice what he says that he and other true converts do. He says, we are the true circumcision who worship in the Spirit of God, and who glory.

You could translate this, and who boast in Christ Jesus. Paul is telling us that true converts to Christ are people who boast in Christ. And not in themselves. In fact, here's one of the key ways to know if you have truly been converted to Christ.

Ask yourself What do you boast about? Do you boast about Jesus? Or do you boast about you? If you died right now and stood before God at the gate of heaven, and God were to say, why should I let you into my heaven?

What would you say? Would you start pointing to yourself and everything good that you have done? Would you boast in yourself? Or would you start pointing to Jesus and start talking about him and everything that he has done?

On your behalf to save you. How you would respond to that question and whether you would point to yourself or to Jesus, will reveal everything about you. Who is the champion of your salvation? Is it you?

Or is it Jesus? If it's Jesus. Then you have been converted to Jesus. If you are still trying to be the champion of your own salvation, then you haven't been converted to anything yet, because you're still stuck on you.

Again, keep in mind that these words in Philippians 3 are not coming from some man who was unreligious and had nothing spiritual to brag about. Paul was very religious and very spiritual. If anyone had stuff to brag about before God, Paul did. In fact, listen to what he goes on to say beginning in verse 4.

He says, if anyone else has a mind to put confidence in the flesh, I, far more. He's actually comparing himself to other people here. If, if there are things about you that you could point to, to put confidence in the flesh before God. I got you beat.

Verse 5, circumcise the 8th day of the nation of Israel, God's chosen people, of the tribe of Benjamin, which was the tribe whose allotment of land included the holy city of Jerusalem. A Hebrew of the Hebrews. In other words, Jews pointed to me as the ultimate Jew. As to the law, I was a Pharisee.

The Pharisees, man, they fasted twice a week. How are you doing with that? They gave away 23% of their income. To the Lord.

They separated themselves from anything unholy. Verse 6 says to zeal. Religious zeal, I was a persecutor of the church, and all the while he thought that he was doing God's work. In doing so.

As to the righteousness which is in the law, found blameless. And in saying this, Paul was not saying that he was sinless before God. What he's saying is that anyone watching him from the outside. would not have been able to find a single flaw.

In him He goes on to say in verse 7, these things were in the past gain to me. In saying that, Paul is saying these are the things I used to find my identity in. That I used to put in the credit column of my ledger sheets. When I wanted to know how I stood before God, these are the credentials that I would review to assure myself that God was good with me.

Or at least better with me than he was with other people. These are the things I used to brag about, but I don't boast about these things anymore. I glory in and I put my confidence in Jesus now. Keep in mind, as we learned earlier in this message, Paul was Inwardly, an extremely frustrated man whose sinful condition was being aggravated and made worse by the law, that was true.

Yet at the same time. Paul found certain other things that he could cling to, to make himself feel better and to feel justified before God. But now that he's converted to Christ, he doesn't do that anymore. Another evidence of change in Paul is that he was happy to lose these former credentials in order to just have Christ in him alone.

Beginning in verse 7, he says, but whatever things were gained to me, Those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be lost in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and I count them but rubbish, so that I might gain Christ. Here's another characteristic of a true convert. And that is they are willing to suffer the loss of all of their former credentials in order to gain Jesus.

They'll happily remove all of those former gains from the credit column of their life and put Christ. In the place of all of that. And becoming a Christian, Paul lost his status as the ultimate Jew. He lost his status as a good Pharisee.

He lost his status as a good lawkeeper. He lost all those things that he used to find his identity in, and he happily parted with all of it. Because he had found Jesus. Who was better, far better than all of his prior religious attainments.

And don't look at Paul doing this and think he's crazy. Look at him doing what's being described here and ask yourself, my goodness, what is so great about Jesus? That Paul would happily part with all those things so long as he simply has Jesus. Let's ask the question this way.

What would make Paul, a man of such great spiritual attainment, view his own credentials and his own righteousness as not only a loss, but actually as trash. Rubbish What happened that created this change of perspective? Well, obviously a miracle happened in his heart, but we read about in Acts 9 what happened, and that is Paul saw Jesus Christ. He saw Christ's righteousness on the road to Damascus.

In fact, the sight of Jesus left him blinded for 3 days. Even before Paul's physical site was restored. Paul was already seeing more clearly than he had ever seen before. Especially seeing himself more clearly than he had ever seen himself before.

Paul was once impressed with his own righteousness until he met somebody whose righteousness surpassed his own. And it ruined Paul's self-image. In the best of ways. And he never looked at his own righteousness in the same way again after seeing Jesus' righteousness.

Here's what most people do. Outside of Christ, we're haunted by the depth of our failures to live up to God's law. So to make ourselves feel better, we find people who are worse than we are, and we compare ourselves to them. And we end up feeling pretty righteous compared to them.

And we hope that when we stand before God at the judgment that God will grade on a curve, right? And our thought is, as long as we're in the top 5 people. God will let us into heaven. But what we really should do is spend time studying Jesus Christ and his perfect righteousness.

We should stare At his righteousness. after all, he's the one in line in front of us who has already entered into the presence. Of God Jesus was perfectly righteous in every way. And he has blown the curve for all of us.

He never sinned. He always loved God throughout his life on earth. He always loved others. He did so many good works that the apostle John tells us that even the world itself could not contain the books that could be written of all that he did.

And if that wasn't enough, he even went to the cross. In obedience to the Father and paid the ultimate price of laying down his life in order to provide salvation for sinners like us. That's the righteousness. Of Jesus Christ.

That God the Father has been staring at over the last 2000 years as he looks upon his son in his presence. And suddenly you don't feel so righteous, do you? And neither do I Mark my words, if you're going to pass muster before God on judgment day, you need a perfect righteousness. The righteousness that only Christ can give you.

Which leads me to say this, yet another manifestation of the transformation of Paul after his conversion is that he wanted to be found with Christ's righteousness, not his own. In verse 9, Paul goes on to say that his desire is that he may be found. In him that I may be found in him. Not having a righteousness of my own derived from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith.

It's not a righteousness I generate. It doesn't come from me. It's an alien righteousness that comes from God through Christ. And I access that righteousness through faith in Christ.

Paul was once a very religious man. Yet he threw all of his former righteousness aside, and he's saying here, when I stand before God at the judgment, I don't want to be found in my own righteousness. I want to be found dressed. In the righteousness that comes to me from God through faith in Christ.

Guys, that's the way a true convert. To Jesus talks. Back in 2014. I was reading a Huffington Post interview.

with Michael Bloomberg. The former mayor of New York. He was 72 at the time of this interview, and he mentioned in the interview that he finds himself thinking a lot about his mortality, but he mentioned that he feels pretty confident about judgment Day. In fact, the headline for this article in the Huffington Post reads, quote, Michael Bloomberg is sure he has a spot in heaven.

Unquote So that piqued my interest, seeing that headline. And here's what the writer of the article said. Michael Bloomberg, and I quote, pointing to his work. On gun safety.

Obesity. And smoking cessation. He, Michael Bloomberg, said. And now I'm quoting from Michael Bloomberg himself.

What he said to this interviewer, he said, I'm telling you, if there is a God. When I get to heaven, I'm not stopping to be interviewed. I'm heading straight in. I've earned my place in heaven.

It's not even close. Unquote Be very careful about shaking your head at those words. Yes, they are arrogant. But they come from an arrogance that is naturally in all of our hearts.

If the apostle Paul heard that interview and heard Michael Bloomberg say what he said, Paul would say, that resonates with me. I used to think that way too, before I was converted. To Jesus Christ. But then I met someone whose righteousness was infinitely greater than my own, and who showed me his righteousness by paying the ultimate price.

Of his life to die for my sins, and then to reach out to me in love when I was fighting against him. And now I don't wanna be caught dead in my own righteousness. I wanna be found in his righteousness alone. And Paul would say, I look forward to my interview with God on judgment day.

Because in that interview, I wanna boast about Jesus and what he has done to save me. Paul would say, I haven't earned my place in heaven. Jesus earned my place in heaven. And it's not even close.

That's the way a true convert to Jesus talks. Think about it, guys. If God. Allowed Michael Bloomberg to earn his way to heaven.

If he allowed us to earn our way to heaven. If he allowed heaven to be populated with people who earned their way there, what would we all do for all of eternity? We would spend eternity bragging. About us.

And all that we did to get ourselves there, right? There's only one name. For a place full of people like that, and it's not heaven. Who would want to go to a place like that?

Where everyone is bragging about themselves and what they did to get there. For heaven to be heaven, it must be populated by people who have been rescued from their pride. Right? Which brings us, I think, to the sheer genius of the gospel.

For salvation to be salvation, it must. Rescue us from our pride. In fact, a salvation from any deity that is not structured in a way so as to deliver us from pride is no salvation at all. If God doesn't save us from our pride, then he's honestly doing us very little good.

And he's definitely not doing any favors for the people in our life, right? if God doesn't save me from my pride, then he's not being very good to all the people in my life who have to endure my arrogance. This is why true salvation. In part is structured the way that it is.

This is why salvation is something that specifically is designed to not come from ourselves, but from God. This is why salvation is a gift that is given to those who are humble enough to recognize they don't have it inside of themselves. And they must receive it from God as a free gift. And my question to you this morning is, have you received that gift?

And if you haven't, would you receive that gift today? Are you willing to abandon not only your sin, but also your own. Righteousness. Are you willing to abandon your pride and admit before God that you are broken?

Are you willing to stop pointing the finger at everything outside of yourself? As this is the problem, this is the problem, this is the problem, and are you willing to point that finger back at yourself and say, no, before God, I am the problem. And I need A great salvation. Are you ready to abandon a life of accusing and alternating between accusing and excusing yourself for all the things that you have done wrong?

Are you willing to admit that your flat broke? Unable to make one iota of a contribution to your salvation. And are you willing to look to Jesus Christ, who died for you, and who was raised from the dead, and is now at the right hand of God? Raining from on high, are you willing to look to him, to look away from yourself and look to him as your 100% Lord and Savior?

If this morning you're ready to do that. That is already a miracle of God in your heart. That God is performing in you. And I would plead with you to respond to that beautiful miracle of his grace and pray right now.

Look to Jesus, believe in him, call upon his name. And if you do that in the power of the Holy Spirit, you will have experienced conversion. And you will have taken your first step in the journey from the brokenness of sin. To wholeness Through the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Let's pray together I hope you can tell the difference between Christianity and any other religion. From what we have looked at this morning. Every other religion. Points the finger at you and says, here's what you need to do to.

Be worthy of salvation. Christianity stands alone in saying. You will never be worthy. And your case is hopeless apart from.

Jesus Christ, but he has come. And he has fulfilled all righteousness. And he died and shed his blood to atone for your every sin. And if you Look away from yourself to him.

You can be saved. Right now. And I pray that God will lead you. To do that this morning if you have never done that before, and if you have questions about.

How to become a Christian and what all of this means, please come and talk to us afterwards. For those of you that are believers. We ought to just Be beside ourselves that this is good news that we get to declare to others. This is amazing news.

That we get to preach to ourselves every day. And that we get to make known to others. In the hopes that God will use the power of His word. Through the Spirit to bring sinners to repentance and faith in Jesus.

Lord, we ask that you would. Help us as a congregation to. Preach. The gospel To believe.

The gospel To be faithful, to make the gospel known, to think gospel, and to reason from the fullness of the gospel to every area of our lives. That the gospel would be on display here in this community. As we journey from the brokenness of sin. Toward that day when before you, Lord Jesus, we are utterly complete and whole, body, soul and spirit.

In your presence forevermore. May your power be here because the gospel is the power of God and the salvation to everyone who is believing. So give us rich faith to believe. And help us To live in the good of this gospel.

That we might experience your great power. In all of life. Every day in every relationship. And may the light of this gospel go forth from here, bringing light and warmth and direction.

And hope and healing to others. who desperately need it. We ask All of these things, Lord, in the name of Jesus, and all God's people said. Amen.