Written by Pastor Gene Harmon
for today's devotional, he writes, the promises our Lord made to
the national Israel were conditional upon their obedience to God's
laws. The laws, you know, that were
given to Moses on Mount Sinai. They failed. They could not keep
the laws. They were breaking the laws before
Moses even brought the tablets down from the mountain. Therefore,
God, he goes on to write, does not owe them anything. They could
not keep the covenant. The promises God made in the
eternal covenant, though, the eternal covenant of grace, were
conditional upon the perfect obedience of Jesus Christ when
He came to this world to do His Father's wills, and He did not
fail. Christ, our blessed Redeemer,
was obedient unto death, even the death of the cross, as we
read in Philippians 2 verse 8. Therefore God, who cannot lie,
must and will fulfill every promise that He made to His darling Son.
We, brethren, are the children of promise. That's what it says
in Galatians 4.28. We were promised to Christ our
Savior by God our Father. When we, by God-given faith,
flee to Christ for refuge to lay hold upon Him, who is the
one and only hope for hell-deserving sinners, our hope is both steadfast
and sure. Why? Because our hope has absolutely
nothing to do with us or with anything that we have done. Our
hope is in the resurrected Christ of God who has entered within
the veil into heaven itself, there to appear in the presence
of God for us as we read in Hebrews 6.17. When Christ was raised
from the dead, our Heavenly Father declared then, and declares to
every enlightened child of His, that He accepted Jesus Christ
and His perfect work of redemption. We have this blessed assurance
from God's Holy Word, from God Himself, that He has made us,
all of God's children, accepted in His beloved Son. That's what
we read in Ephesians 1-6. Christ in us is our hope of glory. Colossians 127, brethren, he
says, in closing his article, he says this, he says, brethren, we have absolutely nothing to
fear. You can see him saying that,
huh? Oh, the promises made in the
eternal covenant of grace are as sure as God himself who made
those promises. Amen. Once again, join me in
prayer, if you would. Father, we know that there was
a time when we all walked according to the lust of this flesh, according
to our own desires. And we know, Father, by your
revelation and your word, that we can trust It's not something we just turned
and started, you know, I just think I'll believe tomorrow.
No, Lord, this is a gift from You. This is a gift that You give
to every one of Your blood-bought children. Everyone who Christ
went to the cross for and shed His blood for will come to know
who You are. There will be no empty seats
in heaven. All the Father hath given Him shall come to Him. And we know this because You
have given us the gift of faith to believe Your Word. Not just
parts, as some do, parts that fit us and make us feel good
about ourselves, but all of Your Word. Lord, I ask this morning that
you would be with me once again. This is not a prayer that I can
just pray once. This is a prayer I have to pray
every single moment of every day. Lord, be with me. The biggest sinner in this room
is me, Lord. I'm the weakest one in faith, and I need you. Just as much
as anyone who hears this word preached needs you, give them
ears to hear, Lord, that we need you for everything. And we can stand on the promise
that God has given us, that where two or more are gathered in my
name, you shall be in the midst. We praise you and thank you,
Lord, for your word and your promises. We pray this in our
Lord and Savior's name, Christ Jesus, Amen. Once again, we turn to the letter
of Philippians. We've been in a series looking
into God's word, this letter that the Apostle Paul wrote under
the divine inspiration of God the Holy Spirit. All Scripture
was penned by sinful men, but it was inspired by God. It is
God's Word to His people. It's the love letter that He
has left for us, each and every one of His children. And Paul
wrote this. He was inspired by the love that
the saints at Philippi had for him. They had received word that
Paul had been put under house arrest for going about and preaching
the good news. Preaching the gospel. There's
only one gospel. There's only one gospel. And that is Jesus Christ and
Him crucified. It's not what men do. It's not
what men can do. It's what Christ did for His
people. When we come to The revelation. And that's what it is. Revelation. It's not that one day, oh, I'm
just so tired of all the stuff I've been doing. I think I'll
get smarter and start acting better tomorrow. No. If left to ourselves, we would
have never turned. For that very heart that we were
all born with in this world is dead and trespasses in sin. Every
single one of us. We must hear the gospel of Christ
and Him crucified. And there is only one. One message. And Christ is that message. The
one message that declares who the Lord Jesus is. Heaven Came Down. Isn't that
a wonderful song? I can't help but picture it every
time. It's Christ came down. See, He was on the throne of
glory forever before anything was ever created. In fact, He's
the one who created everything. It says that very much in Scripture. In the beginning was the Word.
The Word was God. The Word created everything about
everything. I didn't quote that exactly right,
did I? But you know what I mean. He came down. God Almighty humbled Himself. Why would the Lord leave the
glory and perfection of heaven to come down to a world full
of sinful men and women? It's just as simple as this.
He has loved His people from before the world was ever made.
Read that in Ephesians 1. It will tell you. Predestinated. Before the foundation
of the world. He says, I have loved you with
an everlasting love. Therefore, God came down and
was manifest in the flesh. The Gospel is one message that
declares the truth of what He has done. Folks, God did not
fall into the hands of wicked men. Wicked hands crucified Him,
absolutely. But it was by the determined
counsel and will of the Father that the Son came to this earth
and was crucified for His people. Everything that happens is by
the determined counsel of God Almighty. Nothing turns His hand. I'm sick and tired of hearing
this Jesus, this God in the world who's waiting for man to do something. Or who has done everything that
needed to be done and then just let it go. That is not the God
of Scriptures. The God of Scriptures knows every
hair on our head and numbers it, just like, who was it? Oh,
I know who it was. It was David Edmondson. David
Edmondson was preaching. No, no, no. No, I'm sorry, Norman
Wells. He was preaching about this the other day back in South
Carolina. I think that's where it was.
And he stood up before the people and he says, you know, I got
up this morning. Ran a brush through my hair and
looked at that brush and there was a whole lot of hair in that
brush. That happens to me too. I can relate to that very fact.
He goes, but you know, God knew every single hair and how many
there were on my head at that very moment. I took that brush
through my hair. That's the God of Scripture. The sovereign ruler
over everything. And he gave himself for his people. Abraham said to his son, or his
son said to his father Abraham, where is the sacrifice? Where
is it? Abraham said, don't worry about
it. Abraham said, don't worry about
it. God will provide himself a sacrifice. Yeah, there was
a lamb stuck in, a ram stuck in the thicket right behind him
that he turned and sacrificed to the Lord. But when Abraham
said that, he believed God, he believed that God would be the
sacrifice for the sins of his people. What has our Lord done? What
is the truth of what he's done? He saved his people, period. No ifs, no ands, and no buts. The Gospel is the one message
that declares the truth of where He is right now. He's back on
His throne in glory, doing exactly what He's always done, working
everything out according to the counsel of His will. He's making
intercession for His chosen children. Remember those ones that I died
for on the cross? Remember those? Yeah, He's one
of them. He's not going to hell. She's
one of them. She's not going to hell. I've already been condemned
in their place, is what he can say right now. Our Lord, who
knew no sin, perfect in every single way, was made to be sin,
that you and I would be made righteous in Him. How can we wrap our little minds
around the fact that we are as perfectly righteous as God the
Son? But that's what Scripture says. He paid for our sins. Every single
one that we've committed, every single one that we will commit.
And if God decides to keep me here on this earth, even for
another 24 hours, I'll commit enough sin to deserve what He
took for me. Is that good news? Is that some
good news? It sure is. That's what the word
gospel means. It means good news. Paul was declaring the good news
that salvation was accomplished, the work was finished. He wrote
to the Romans and in chapter 8 verse 1 he wrote this, he said,
there is now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.
That means you can't condemn those who are in Christ, those
who are condemned in Christ already on the cross. Folks, the only thing that will
bring peace to one who has been convicted of what their very
nature is, the sinful nature that they were born with, is
the only righteous one, Jesus Christ the Lord. The Word of
God declares that salvation is of the Lord, not of the Lord
and man, not of the Lord and this, not of the Lord and that,
but of the Lord. Ephesians 2.8 says this, For
by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves,
it is a gift of God. You see what I mean about not
just getting smarter the next day and all of a sudden I'm going
to start doing things differently? No. For by grace are ye saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves, it is a gift of God. Then it
goes on to say, lest any man should boast. Not of works, lest
any man should boast. With these words on our mind,
let us begin where we left off last week at verse three. Verse
three of chapter three of the book of Philippians. For we are
the circumcision, Now remember, circumcision was initiated by
God for a certain people. Israel. It was not something
that was initiated for the whole world. It was for Israel and
Israel alone. For we are the circumcision,
which worship God in the Spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and
have no confidence in the flesh. Paul goes on to say in his next
few verses here, Though I might also have confidence in the flesh,
if any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust
in the flesh, I more. Circumcised the eighth day, he
declares. Paul was one of the circumcision.
He was a Jew. of the stock of Israel, of the
tribe of Benjamin and Hebrew of the Hebrews as touching the
law of Pharisee, concerning zeal, that means anxious, that means,
well, it means zealous, excited. concerning zeal, persecuting
the church, touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.
Paul had no idea that he was a sinner. He thought he was righteous
as righteous could be. He followed the law as perfectly
as he thought he could. But what things were gained to
me, he says, those I counted lost for Christ." All that righteousness
that I thought I had when I was persecuting the church, I count
it as loss for Christ's sake. Yea, doubtless, in verse 8 it
goes on, I count all things but loss for the excellency of the
knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered
the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may
win Christ. And here's what I want you to
see this morning. "...and be found in Him," remember he said
that I may win Christ, "...that I may be found in Him, not having
mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which
is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of
God by faith." Our subject matter this morning is the righteousness
of God. Did you notice that there were two types of righteousness
mentioned in that verse? Proverbs 16 verse 25, we read
this, there is a way that seemeth right unto a man. I'll say the rest of this in
just a moment, but stop right there for just a moment. There
is a way that seemeth right unto a man. How many, how many here today have been
lost in religion? I had a religion. I was born
and raised in a Baptist family, but my religion was me. I don't know if we can call it
a pleasure. I don't think anybody who's had
it would call it a pleasure. I've never had another religion
in my life that I believed in, other than John Reeves. And it
was all about John. It was all about what John could
do to satisfy himself. It was all about what John could
do to get what he wanted out of the world. It's what seemeth right to me.
for 40 years. There have been some who have
gone to Catholic Church for how many ever years and it seemed
right. It seemed right. I love to hear
the story and he can tell it just as many times as the Lord
leads him to tell it and that is our brother Mike Lovis and
how he was a very, very religious man at one time. Thought he was
on the right path. It was the way that seemeth right
to Him at that time. Oh, how I pray this morning,
our Lord and Savior, is pulling you out of any religious
beliefs that you may have, that you think are the right ways,
and that He might be showing you His way, the only way. and that is the way of our Lord
and Savior. It says it this way, there is a way that seemeth right
unto man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. We come into this world with
a nature, a nature to establish a righteousness for ourselves.
We're taught that from being little children, are we not?
Johnny, if you would just do this right, if you just do this
and be a good little boy, all these great things will happen
to you. That's what we're taught. And I'm not saying there's anything
wrong with that, but that's what we're taught. We're taught that
by nature. Some aren't taught that. And some people try to teach
and they don't listen either. I was one of those for a long
time in my teenage years. By nature we come into this world
trying to establish a righteousness for ourselves. It's in our very
nature to ask, what must I do to be saved? In the book of Acts,
Peter had just preached Christ and Him crucified to a group
of people A group over 3,000. And the Lord pricked the hearts
of those people. And what was their response?
We read in Acts 2 verse 37, Now when they, speaking of this people,
heard this, they were pricked in the heart and said unto Peter
and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall
we do? What shall we do? It is in our
very nature to establish a righteousness by our own deeds. Turn back a
few pages to the book of Romans, chapter 10, if you would with
me. Over to the left there. Look at Paul's description in
verses 1 through 4 of the world's religions. Brethren, my heart's
desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be
saved. He's speaking of national Israel. And that's our prayer
for everyone we know, everyone we meet, everyone we come across.
You know, I talk about the Pope sometimes, and I'm sorry if I've
said things that probably weren't appropriate about him. Wouldn't it be very cool, though,
if the Lord saved one of those big religious leaders of the
world and showed them the true and loving God? Wouldn't that
be cool? Or how about our president? I
don't know if he is or not. I'm not trying to say they are
or not. I'm just saying they don't give very much evidence
of it. That would just bless me to no end to see one of the
religious leaders of some other religion stop doing what they're
doing and the Lord open the Scriptures to them and show the truth to
them and they become saved. Brethren, my heart's desire and
prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved. For I bear
them record that they have a zeal, a devotion, a sincerity of God,
but not according to knowledge." Now listen to this very carefully.
Look at these words and may God impress them on our hearts. For
they, and this is speaking of you and I at one time, for they,
being ignorant of God's righteousness and going about to establish
their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto
the righteousness of God. There's our subject, the righteousness
of God. For Christ is the end of the
law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. This is exactly why the free
will foolishness that is being taught from most pulpits today
is so dangerous. It teaches that salvation is
a choice to be made by man. It puts man above the Most High. That's what the devil did. That's
what the devil did. He said, I will be above the
Most High. I will be the Most High. Well,
that's what we do when we put ourselves above God's will. If
it's God's will to save somebody, they're going to get saved. In
fact, they've already been saved before the foundation of the
world. God the Father looked down through time and He saw
all of those that were written on the breastplate of His high
priest, Jesus Christ, and knew that they would be saved. Christ
had to come to this world. He had to be made flesh. He had
to go to the cross. He had to die. He had to shed
His blood. Sins had to be paid for. that God the Father trusted His
Son that He would do it because He is God Almighty in the flesh. Free will foolishness teaches
that salvation is a choice made by man. It puts man above the
Most High. It makes the creature's will
above the will of the Creator. To exercise your will is a work
To make a decision is to establish a righteousness of your own.
I can't even tell you how often I've heard people say, I made
a decision to follow Jesus such and such, or such and such. I
decided to start following God when I got tired of all the drugs
that I was involved in, or this that I was involved in, or that
that I was involved in. How often do we hear, God called
me out of what I was in before, and now I'm in this. God's mercy
and grace came to me when I was dead in trespasses and sin. How
often do we hear that? We go about trying to establish
the righteousness of our own, we take away the only true righteousness,
the righteousness of the blood of Christ. It makes the grace
of God of no effect. Folks, I'm here to tell you this
morning that it's either grace or it's works. There's only two
kinds of religion. You either have to do something
according to the religion, or you rest in Christ and what He
has done. My Lord says to me, come you
who are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." When you come
by his divine call, the call with power, the same power that
called Lazarus out of the grave, the same call that called those
disciples from the seashores and said, come follow me. You
see, the Lord Jesus doesn't talk with just a voice. He talks with
power, for He is God Almighty. When we are called by His grace,
we come. We are made willing in the day
of His power. You cannot mix grace and works. They null each other out. You
see, the word grace is unmerited favor. It means you can't earn
it, you can't buy it, you can't work for it. It has to be given. And our Lord gives it freely.
It costs Him His life, but to you and I, it's free. You see
what Paul is declaring in our text? That he might be found in Him,
in Christ, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the
law, but that which is through faith of Christ, the righteousness
which is of God by faith. The righteousness upon which
the true children of God stands on is the righteousness of Christ
our King, our High Priest, our scapegoat, our substitute. We
believe because He has given us the gift of faith, a righteousness
that is established in that God-given faith. Paul was one of the most
religious people of that day. His credentials are listed for
us here in verses 5 and 6. Let me read that again for you. circumcised the eighth day of
the stock of Israel of the tribe of Benjamin and Hebrew of the
Hebrews as touching the law, a Pharisee concerning zeal, persecuting
the church, touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. He gave us His pedigree, His
credentials. Yet, when one is brought or arrested
or quickened, in other words, given life, born again as our
Lord said, called out of the death that we were all born into,
we see ourselves as the beggar that we read about last week.
Over in the corner, hammering our fist against our chest, bowed
down before a merciful God, crying out, Lord, have mercy on me. The righteousness of the law
of Moses could never save anyone, yet it serves God's purpose. It serves his purpose to point
us to our need of the one who fulfilled the law perfectly. It serves as our schoolmaster
to teach us, to teach the sinner our need of a savior. In Galatians
3.24 we read it this way, Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster
to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
Folks, we live under the law of love. In Galatians 5.14 it says this,
For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this, that
thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. It's the law of grace,
and for by grace we are saved through faith, not of works,
lest man should boast. That's what Paul is saying in
the last part of verse 9 in our text. Look at it again with me
if you would. Read along with me. And be found
in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, But that
which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which
is of God, by faith." Our Lord says this in John 3.16, a scripture
that we all know can be twisted quite a bit. For God so loved
the world. For God so loved all of His chosen
people throughout all of time, throughout all of the world.
All of His people in every nation, every tribe, every tongue, For God so loved the world that
He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever, and that's the
question, that whosoever believeth in Him shall have everlasting
life. You know, believing and faith
is the same thing. You can't believe the Lord Jesus Christ
if He hasn't given you the faith to believe. If He hasn't given
you, to you as a gift, you'll believe something else. We have no righteousness in this
flesh. That's why Paul wrote back up
there in verse 3. We worship God in the Spirit,
rejoice in Christ Jesus, and what? And have no confidence
in the flesh. Our flesh is still full of sin,
and it isn't going to get any better. not till we leave this
body of death and are brought into the presence of the Most
High. These mortal bodies must return to the dust from which
they came. Our confidence is in His righteousness,
His faithfulness. Great is His faithfulness. God
the Son said, I'll go and take care of that, and He did. Not
I'll go and maybe take care of it, but He took care of it. He
said, it is finished. Salvation was complete. in Him. Our confidence is in His righteousness,
His faithfulness, and His promises. Exodus 6 verse 7, we read this,
and I will take you to Me for a people. Did you catch that? He said, I will take you to Me
for a people. People don't like to hear that.
Wait a minute, don't I have any say in this? Our Lord doesn't take us screaming
and kicking and saying no. No, He makes us willing in the
day of His power, in the day of His love. He comes in and
He cuts out that heart that said no all those years, and He gives
you a new heart. It's called being born again.
He gives you a new heart that loves Him. Why? Because we see
that He first loved us. I love my Lord, not as I'd like
to, as best as I can in this flesh, but it's not because I
just want to start loving Him. It's because He has loved me
from before the world was. And He gave Himself for me. He
shed His own blood. Why? So that I can be with Him
forever. So that all of His people can
be with Him forever. Is the whole world going to be
with Him forever? No. He says, I pray not for the whole
world, I pray for them that Thou hast given Me. That's in John
chapter 17. Our confidence in His promises
are ones like this, I will take you from My people, and I will
be to you a God, and you shall know that I am the Lord your
God. He says in Hebrews 13.5, He says,
I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. Oh, there's times, is there
not, when we don't feel the presence of God close by? It's usually
when we're right smack dab in one of those sins that we shouldn't
be in, isn't it? Aren't you thankful that the
Lord allows us to stub our toes on the foolishness of sin in
our body, that we might look to Him Lord, save me. Lord, save me. Peter was walking
on water, and he had his eyes on Christ. And what happened
when he took his eyes off of Christ? He began to sink. But
noticed after that, our Lord didn't just let him go. No, he
reached down, and in love, tender, you're mine. No, you're not going
anywhere. You're going to try, but you're
not going anywhere. I'm more powerful than you. He says, I
will never leave you nor forsake you. In Romans 8.31 we read this,
What shall we say then to these things? If God before us, who
can be against us? He that spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also
freely give us all things? He spared not his own son." What do you mean by that, John? I mean my Savior was made sin
for me. I don't think we can even comprehend
a drop of what that means. I know He goes about and tells
us a lot of things in Scripture about this, but we look through the glass darkly.
That means we see it, but we don't see the glory of it in
full. The day is coming when we will. But for today we have
to We walk by faith, not by sight. What do I mean by he spared not
his own son? Our Lord says in 2 Corinthians
5.21, for he, God the Father, made him, God the Son, to be
sin for us who knew no sin. Speaking of God the Son, why? that we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. I wish to be found in His righteousness,
don't you? I want to be found in Him, as
Paul wrote there in that ninth verse, and be found in Him, not
having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that
which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which
is of God by faith. I believe that my Lord and Savior
was perfect in every way and that when He went to the cross,
He had fulfilled the law perfectly. I want to be found in Him complete
and as holy as He is, don't you? Look at Romans chapter 5 with
me, if you will, and we'll bring this to a close. Romans chapter
5. If you're with me in Romans chapter
5, let's begin at verse 19. For as by one man's disobedience,
this is speaking of the first Adam, many were made sinners,
so by the obedience of one, speaking of the second Adam, shall many
be made righteous. Does it say all? No, it says
many. So there is a certain number
attested to that, is it not? For by one, By the obedience
of one shall many be made righteous. Moreover, the law entered that
the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace
did much more abound, that as sin hath reigned unto death,
even so might grace reign through righteousness unto the eternal
life by Jesus Christ our Lord. What shall we say then? Shall
we continue in sin that grace may abound? Folks, I tell you,
and I'm speaking to me, go out into the world and do
everything you possibly can to turn from sin. But you're going
to fail at it. It's what our flesh is. Until
the Lord takes us home and we stand perfectly with Him in heaven,
we have to deal with this flesh. We have to fight the good fight.
And that fight is looking to our Savior in His righteousness,
not in this, the body of flesh. Not in this, the mind of the
flesh. Not in this, the actions of us. But in our Lord and Savior. What
shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that
grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we that
are dead to sin live any longer therein? We've been born again
in our Savior. We are dead to the sin of this
body. He's paid the price. He has died for us. Know ye not,
in verse 3, that so many of us were baptized into Jesus Christ,
were baptized into His death? We died in Him. Our sins were
paid for in Him. Therefore, we are buried with
Him by baptism into death, and that like as Christ was raised
up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also
should walk in the newness of life. For we have been planted
together in the likeness of His death, we shall be also in the
likeness of His resurrection. Knowing this, that our old man
is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed,
that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead
is freed from sin. Now if we be dead with Christ,
we believe that we shall also live with Him. Knowing that Christ
being raised from the dead dieth no more, Death hath no more dominion
over him, for in that he died, he died unto sin once, but in
that he liveth, he liveth unto God. Likewise reckon ye also
yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in
your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lust thereof.
Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness
unto sin, but yield yourselves unto God as those that are alive
from the dead, and your members are instruments of righteousness
unto God. For sin shall not have dominion
over you, for ye are not under the law, but under grace." The
law is fulfilled in one word, love. And it's not your and my
love, just as it was not our faithfulness that we were singing
about in the beginning. It's His love for us. A love
that cannot be turned. And anyone who wants to stand
before people and tell them that God died for you, but you can
still go to heaven, they're talking about a God that does not exist.
They're talking about somebody who doesn't even deserve to have
that title. To be called God, you must be
God, and this is a book about who it is that is God. It's a
book about Jesus Christ our Savior. Remember my urge earlier, but
for the grace of God, there go I. Aren't you thankful for grace? Aren't you thankful for mercy?