Self-Righteousness

Just by way of review, just to go back a little bit, chapter one, what we're looking at and what the premise of the whole class is that our life is like a series of books. And the shelf is like a bookshelf, and the bookshelf is analogous, if you will, to the salvation we have in Christ. So we have somewhere to put our books, and yet the books which consist of both spiritual and our natural lives, our spiritual lives, natural lives. sitting on a shelf is good, but even with the shelf we need. Bookends. Anybody that's tried to put books or VCR tapes or anything like that on top of a shelf with no bookends in it, we know what it's like. You go to take one, it's like dominoes. They go flying all over the place, so. so God in His grace, and the premise of the book, and it's a good one I said before, I'm not real crazy about a lot of Christian books, especially ones I used to be a pro golfer, and now I'm saved. So here's the 18 hole secret to a victorious Christian life and all the cheesy analogies and stuff, but this one, even though it's a bookshelf, etc. it's great. It's a great and it's an easy read, but on one bookend. We're gonna spend, we, we're gonna spend a total of 5 weeks on the righteousness of Christ, which those books our lives have to have to lean on. The righteousness of Christ on one side and then the Holy the power of the Holy Spirit on the other, and I thank Him for taking on, The task of of actually teaching about the power of the Holy Spirit to us non-charismatic folks, that's a good thing. It's a good thing to know what the power of the Holy Spirit is biblically. I think sometimes as we talked about a couple of weeks ago, we do tend to shy away from that topic. but in this book he does a fantastic job because we can't, we both, we cannot, manufacture and keep and keep up a righteousness that would be pleasing to God. Neither can we live a Christian life here on Earth apart from the power of the Holy Spirit. It just, it's an absolute failure and it's not that it's not there. God has placed them both there. It's us knowing that because you got almost every epistle says grow in grace and grow in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus. So there's, God has given us His word for us to know, and it's important to know it. It's important to know his ways. we're going to look at the verse we look at in Romans 10. Hang on one second. Feel like having a flashback in the old days. That was a reflex. But it's important to know what he has done. when we look at, we're going to look at Romans 10 in a minute and you're going to see the importance of, you can be zealous, you can be sincere all day long, but if it's not zeal and sincerity according to the truth of God and His ways, it ends up in destruction ultimately. that's why the guy that comes to your door. Do you want to talk about the kingdom and the other guys that come up to your door saying, we're Christians too, very sincere, very zealous, but that sincerity and zealous won't buy a square inch of heaven. Unless it's according zeal and knowledge and, and, zeal must be according to the knowledge, according to the word of God, according to God's ways. He's made it his way. It's his way or the highway in a sense. So we'll take a look at that. So the righteousness of God and the Holy Spirit. We went over the fact none of us are righteous, and I love the definition. that they gave on that self righteousness. I let me find it. I've had it written down, a person who always does what is right and is perfect. Always obeys. Always does what is right all the time. It's like, OK, that eliminates us before we even get started, which is good. It's nice to know those things up front. but we know that one person did live the perfect life. The Lord Jesus Christ did live the perfect life. He, and then he gave his life, and died on a cross, and God in His wisdom and love for men. decided I'm going to send my son. He is going to take on a human body and it's the same as every other human being, with one exception, and that's sin. But I'm gonna have him as the perfect spotless lamb, give his life, but not just die for himself. I'm gonna have him die for the sins of the world. I'm gonna have him die in the place of men. Because men can't please God, the fall fractured and just crippled any, any way that we could possibly. Please God, killed it. But Christ came and Isaiah says he took on himself, the Lord laid on him the iniquity of us all. And before that it says, all we like sheep have gone astray. We've turned everyone to his own way, and the Lord laid on him the iniquity of us all. So that's, and then God provided that for us. And then men who are hungry and thirsty for righteousness, poor in spirit, and all the other things, realizing that it's an impossible task to be righteous or to please God, we can't be done. I need something else, and I don't need a my righteousness on steroids. I need another righteousness. So we're going to talk about that because God took our sins and put it on His Son and didn't just leave us there like, OK, you're sinless, but I'll see you when you get here. It's like, no, he took the righteousness of Christ and put it on us, those that trust in Him. So that we are clothed with, with, impenetrable righteousness that can't fade, can't be destroyed, can't get stained or sullied. It is spotless. It is perfect from the, from the get go all the way through eternity, and I like what Alvin brought up that even though we sin, We don't have to take off that garment and go wash it. Oh, OK, thank you for the garment of righteousness. Oh, oops, sorry, I'm gonna have to, it's all dirty again. It's like we don't do that. Jesus says you need to have your feet cleaned as you walk through this world. You get your feet dirty. That's as we walk we sin. And so we get dirty feet. What happens? They need to be washed, but the rest of the garment, you're righteous. You are clean every whit in Christ, every whit. And even that who washes whose feet? When we sin and confess our sins to God and according to His word, who does the washing? He does. He washes our feet. We confess, we believe, we humble ourselves to His righteousness and His word. He takes care of the rest. And he's, and we're spotless at that point. And to say otherwise, it'll even go, I'll go further to say that. those times you feel, 00 man, that was really bad. Lord, I just confessed that's it. I don't know. He didn't, to do that, he didn't forgive me. He didn't cleanse me. I'm still, I'll confess it again and all that stuff, it's, it's impugning something we don't intend, but it's imputing that he is not faithful. And he is not righteous because he says if we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins, not merciful or gracious, it's faithful and righteous. It's a, it's a done deal or else God is not telling us the truth and we don't want to go there. So it's very important he's made that up for us. Chapter 2. Now this is not going well. Chapter 2 motivation of the gospel that OK, so we're clean, we have perfect righteousness, and we're forgiven completely and it's all good. So what can we just go out and just thin our brains out and then we'll see you in heaven? No. The motivation of the gospel was touched on by Bob Gall last week. And says that it's that gospel motivation that showed the woman who had been forgiven by Jesus, who was a sinner, a visible sinner that everybody knew she was a sinner. She came and wept and, washed his feet and dried with her tears and dried them with her hair. And what would motivate a person to do that, the forgiveness of God and the gospel of Jesus Christ, when it's understood, and when it's when it's applied to our, it takes us way past ingratitude. It takes us way past what the law could do. Think about it. The law says thou shalt not kill. OK, I can do that, and to this day I'm 68. Guess what? I've kept that law, that command. However, Jesus came and said, Yeah, you heard that said unto you, shall the couple, but if you hate somebody in your heart, you're guilty as the murderer. Oh, Oh man, OK, now you've just changed the game, the game changer. So the Gods, what does the gospel do? The gospel, first of all, it secures our righteousness and forgiveness in someone else. Secondly, the Holy Spirit, when he comes in, he empowers us to live not according to live law again. OK, let's now you can really do the law. No, no, that's not what he meant. He gives us power to live way righteously, more righteously than we ever thought we could. So not only do I not kill people, Not only can I do I have the power by grace and by His Spirit to not hate you. I've seen it happen. But I actually have by grace and His Holy Spirit, His goodness, I have actually the power to love an enemy. And I've actually seen that not a lot, but a couple of times. The law could never do that. Law can't make you able to not hate your enemy or to love your enemy. Christ can. So the power of the gospel when it's when it's imputed, not just imputed, but, but when it's a part of us and we walk in it, it causes us to do great things, so. That's the motivational gospel, and then chapter 3. That's where we're at today. We're going to look at the gospel enemy number one, self-righteousness. There's a lot to self-righteousness because if you just think., just lazily think about self-righteous. All you think about are the people that, they, they're like this and they wrap their robes and they go, did you pray today? I did. we think about that stuff. And the Pharisees and all that, but there's a lot more to it, and it's more indicting than we might think. And in the context and in the time we have, the context we have. We'll touch on unbelievers self righteousness which results in Destruction in hell, but we'll also spend more time on us. We're not going to go to hell if we are self-righteous, us believers, but there are consequences to self-righteousness, and it does create a An interruption in our fellowship with Him, it creates, creates a lot of problems. So we'll we'll look at that. self righteousness, we live by resting on false assurance that we are a good person, good enough to earn God's love and favor. and then questions that we might want to think about or ponder while we're going on. What does self-righteousness really look like? Which enemy of the gospel do you fight with most, I might ask? Do you fight with self-righteousness or persistent guilt? I think it's hard to separate them somewhat because one produces the other, but just think about which one you are. and how does the gospel give us victory? So, we'll check that out. OK, so, page one of your, printout. Looks like this, Romans chapter 10, verse 3 and 4. Romans 10:3:4 says, being the part I want to look at, being ignorant of the righteousness of God and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit themselves, did not submit to God's righteousness, for Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. So in, in chapter 10, verse 1, this is Paul, and, and again, this is, there's a, there's an implied evidence of the grace of God in what he says. He said and actually chapter 9, he says, I would myself a curse. of Christ so that my people above the flesh, my Israelites would be saved. I would trade my salvation for theirs. If they could get salvation by that, I would take, I would go to hell and be accursed if they would be saved. Whoa, Stephen said, Lord, do not lay this sin to their charge right after they just stoned him. So in verse 10 or chapter 10, he says, I would that, I'm sorry, I lost my place, I would First one that, in chapter, 11 of chapter 10, I would That my brethren, could somebody read it? I didn't. I had it written down. I lost it. Chapter 10, verse 1. My heart's desire my prayer to God. The. OK, this is the man speak. Who's he talking about? He's talking about Israel. And what have they been doing to him lately? Hunting him down, chasing him like a dog, stoning him when they get the chance, throwing him out of the synagogue, beating him, cursing him, making sure that they assault him at every turn that they get, have decided he needs to die. In fact, we're going to have 25 or we're going to have a bunch of us fast and not eat until we kill him. That's what he's talking about. And yet he had the wherewithal, the work of the Holy Spirit that he could say, Lord, I would. That you would spare this nation. And he gets down to and talks start talking about them, and he's, this is in the verse that we're looking at it's on the top of the page. Then he talks about what their problem is being ignorant of God of the righteousness of God and seeking to establish their own. They did not submit to God's righteousness, for Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believes, and it's a dumbfounding. Startling truth that technically he's referring to here, there are like two righteousnesses. There's God's righteousness, and then there's those they're seeking to establish their own. They have rejected God's righteousness. And sometimes we don't think about that like, Lord, you have a right. It's a righteousness, not just you are righteous, but there's a righteousness of God, or there's a righteousness of ourselves. It's either produced. It's either we either produce it. Or God does, what I'm saying? It's like it's one or the other. There's a choice in the matter. There are two righteousness. I, I read it and it hit me like, like gee, I'm 43 years in Christ and I'm 150 years old, and I never really saw that like that. who knows what I'm gonna find out in the next 150 years, but, so there's two righteousnesses he refers to. They are ignorant, and by the way, it's a willful ignorance of God's righteousness. They are willfully ignorant of God's right, God's righteousness, and they seek to establish their own. So He hits on something again. He hits on something that it's their, it's God's righteousness that they are rejecting and they're wanting to establish it on their own. We're going to look at, first we're going to look at God's righteousness, and then we're going to look at our righteousness or self-righteousness and see the contrast. But this was, and they deliberately, they ignored God in this respect and they sought to establish their own. And then it says they did not submit to God's righteousness. What I love is God's righteousness cannot be manufactured. It can't be developed. It can't be like, OK, God's righteousness. What would Jesus do? Oh, I know. OK, all those things. It doesn't, you can't manufacture something you don't have. If you have a tire store. And a refrigerator store. If you go into the tire store and say, Yo, can I get a refrigerator? they'll go, No. Why? Because all we have are tires. Well, I need a refrigerator. Well then, you're going to have to go to that store. Oh, OK, because they don't have it. There are two righteousnesses God's righteousness or self-righteousness according to the law. They don't mix. They're not the same. God's righteousness, and there's, there were 4 things about it I was looking at, 4 things about the righteousness of God. And this is his personal, personal righteousness, and he imputes it or gives it to us. So it's like if you want to accuse us of, of unrighteousness, God sees us as righteous, and we'll look at a picture of that. If we get there, but he imputes it to us. Four things about it. His righteousness is not earned. It's given. It is not earned, it's given. It's not manufactured. It's not OK, I'll work on, I'll work like we're a franchise. God has the main, the main franchise, and we're franchises of God's righteousness, and we pump out little bits of no, he, it's His righteousness. It is not earned, it is given. Number 2, it is not bought. It's paid for. You don't pay for it. How much do I owe? No, you don't pay for it whatsoever. You don't earn it and you don't pay for it. There's no sacrifices you and I can make for His righteousness. So it's not bought, but it's paid for. Here's a good one. It's not temporary. It's permanent. It's permanent so that when I am in Christ, I have submitted to the righteousness of God by accepting Christ as my Savior, as the one who died for me, who took my sins away permanently. It's not temporary, it's permanent, and I still go back to what Alvin said about the garment of righteousness. I don't have to keep taking it off and washing it. It's permanent and there is nothing. There is nothing you can do to sully or to hurt or to to defile God's righteousness that He's given us, nothing. It's permanent. It's permanent from the front. It's been permanent eternally, but in your life, from the day that you realized that Christ was your Savior and you confessed your sins to Him and He became your Savior, it's permanent all the way into eternity, all the way. Never spotted, no spots. And the fourth thing, it's this is good too. The righteousness of God is not something you become. It's something you are. When God sees that righteousness of His, It's not, you don't be like, hey, I'm, I'm looking at you. I saved you 5 years ago and Like a boss, like, I hired you and you, I know you took care of this, but you haven't really, you ain't really come through on this part. He doesn't say, where's that righteousness? He says, he sees you. As righteousness, like if I were, if there were a decree to come out and say anyone. The ones that get to heaven have a Hispanic heritage from Spain. That's the only ones that can get into heaven. Now if I'm an Irishman bouncing around the hills of Ireland and I'm pure Irish, I can't make myself Spanish. If I can't make myself African American. I can't do that. I can't as a leopard change my spots. But God doesn't say that becomes something. He says you are. And such were some of you, God says in First Corinthians, and I think we'll look at it a little bit later, such were some of you, but now you are washed. You are sanctified. You are justified in the Lord Jesus. You don't become it. you it, you are it. So his righteousness, a couple of passages, to look at one that hints of his righteousness. Habakkuk chapter 2. Behold the proud. His soul is not upright in him. But the just shall live by faith and again this righteousness of God. That he imputes, he doesn't just indiscriminately, it's sitting there and then we go to the bank and withdraw it or whatever. He imputes it to those who trust in him. In Nehem chapter 1 verse 7, he says, God is a stronghold, a very present help in trouble, and He knows those that trust in Him. So the faith, the gift of faith that he's given us, we give it to him. We trust him. Those that trust him, the righteousness of God by faith, not by works, by trust. God sees your faith. And trust in Him as if you lived the perfect life. I didn't mess up once. just by trust. What do you trust? I trust that He took my sins on him, and I have, I don't answer for my sins in that respect because he died for them. He's righteous, and I, I trust him. God, he counted to you for righteousness. so Habakku gives hints in the, in the Old Testament, there's hints about this. David writing, sacrifice and offering you would not. my ear have you pierced, but a body you've prepared for me. Those are like, if you were reading that, like, hey, here's David's latest song. Oh yeah, sacrifice and offering, you would not, God. It's like, wait, what? What? That's all it is. God set that up as sacrifice and offerings as part of the law, I said, but you would not. You did not desire. That's not your primary desire. It's like, man, you have to lie with a lot of faith. And a lot of influence by the Holy Spirit to say that, but they're they're hints like, your best, your best, even according to the law and the sacrifice of the animals and all that. It's obedient to what he said, but he said that's not the finished product. That's not what he's looking for. Also in Jeremiah 23:5-6. You'll find it here. Behold, Jeremiah says, days are coming, says the Lord, that I will raise to David a branch of righteousness. A king shall reign and prosper and execute judgment and righteousness in the earth. In his days, Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell safely. And this is his name by which he shall be called the Lord our righteousness. He is my righteousness. And I love what Bunyan said in his autobiography when he said, I was, I was just bumping a line, man, I couldn't take it anymore. And finally it hit me one day, your righteousness is in heaven. It's not here, it's in heaven. He is my righteousness. And it's a play on the, on the name of God. When, when Moses said, Who are you? And God says, You tell him I am sent you. Jehovah, we know it as Yahweh, Y H W H I think it is. I don't know what it means. I am the becoming one in Hebrew, and God uses that name several times in a hyphenated sense to let and me know that He is something. It says in a couple of them hyphenated names, he's the becoming one. In one place, he says. The Lord, my provider, Jehovah Jireh, I am your provider. In another place it says, I am your peace, Jehovah Shalom. I don't just dispense peace like a fairy, like fairy dust or something. Your peace, I am your peace. He is our peace who has broken down the wall of partition. He is our peace. He don't just doesn't just give it. Another one. He's my Jehovah. I am your healer. Jehovah Raphah. So it's the Lord that heals. Another one that I saw that I'm, I, I have to look up, it's like I've never seen it before. It's Forgive me, I don't even know if I can pronounce it. It's me. Makarishkin Mishkin. That's Hebrew. It means I am your sanctifier. It's what God said to Moses. I'm the one that sanctifies you. I'm setting you apart as a people, as in holiness, I'm setting you apart. I am your sanctifier. I I can't wait to dig into that one. He's the one that sanctifies. He's the one that put us in Christ in the first place. another one is Zechariah 3:1-7. This is more of a picture that has always stood out to me in Zechariah 3:17. Then he said to me, then he showed me Joshua, the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord and Satan standing at his right hand to oppose him. Sound familiar? And the Lord said to Satan, The Lord rebuke you, Satan. The Lord who has chosen Jerusalem, rebuke you. Is not this a brand plucked from the fire? Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments standing before the angel. And it's Isaiah said all our righteousness is as filthy rags, right? This is not, he's standing in a priestly garment. He's got a few, got a few spots here and a few spots there. This is the entire garment is filthy. Really a great picture of what we are before the righteousness of Christ cleanses us. But he's standing there in filth, and You use your imagination because whatever you might consider filth is what is intended. It's horrifying and there's no hope. You don't clean this thing. He didn't go, Hang on, I'll be right back and wash it. No, he says he stood before him. And then he answered and spoke to those, this is the angel of the Lord saying, Take away the filthy garment from him. And to him, he said, See, I have removed your iniquity from you. Not only that, he didn't just take it away. I will clothe you with rich robes. And then Zechariah pitches in and says, Hey, let them put a clean turban on his head or a clean headrest. So they put a clean turban on his head. They put the clothes on him, and the angel of the Lord stood by with Satan accusing him. God says, God didn't rebuke. Joshua, he rebuked Satan, Get out of here. And he took, takes the iniquity away, puts on a garment of righteousness. That's exactly what we do. That's exactly what happens to us. He takes our filth away and clothes us with the righteous garment of Christ. That, that righteous garment goes all the way through. also, OK, and then in New Testament references Romans 10:3-4. We covered that a little bit. 1 Corinthians 1:30. It says, but of Him, God, you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God and righteousness. He became righteousness. And sanctification and redemption for us. So again, it takes us out of our hands, not just the righteousness of God, which can't be duplicated, but also the righteousness that we are, we're, it's in Christ, but of God are you in Him. Are you in Christ Jesus, who became unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption? All of that is in his hands. It's in his person. God put us in Christ, and all of these things, they are, and they are in Christ, not in our hands. They're not subject to our errors. They're in his hands, they're in Christ. also Matthew chapter 6 verse 33. We blow past this when we read the Sermon on the Mount, but, but seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, not try to be righteous for him. And if anything, he's talking about seek first the kingdom of God and all these things will be added to you. If anything, it might have been seek ye first the kingdom of God and His provisions, help, food, and money and all that. Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. Apart from yours, his, and all these things to be added unto you. also, Philippians chapter 3. Verse 8 and 9. Paul, the apostle who just who preached the gospel of grace. All over the place said, yet indeed, I also count all things lost for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. So he's talking about everything he said before that was, man, if anybody had a right to boast, it's me. I was an Israelite, the tribe of Benjamin, kept the law according to law. It's blameless. I had it made, he says, but those things, but I lost them. I lost them when I came to Christ because it was His righteousness, not mine. He says, Suffered loss and count them rubbish that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith. In Christ, the righteousness which is of God or from God.