Turn with me first, if you would, to Romans chapter 10. Verse 1 will be fine, just there at the beginning of the chapter, Romans chapter 10. My title this morning is my introduction, which I give to you in the way of a question. Are you getting better? Are you getting better? You know, most people assume that time makes them better. But it doesn't. Time makes you older. Besides, what does getting better actually look like?

What does the Bible say about getting better? Better means, the definition, is to improve or surpass an existing or previous level of achievement. It means to overcome, to defeat, to improve, or to operate at a higher standard. So, the real question is, are you trying to improve yourself so God will approve of you? Are you measuring your standing with God by your performance?

I asked an acquaintance of mine not long ago if he thought he was saved. that he never attended church, never had any interest in the things of God, in the Scriptures. And I was surprised that his answer, it wasn't just yes, it was absolutely. So I followed up with the question, well, what makes you believe that you're saved? Or what did you do to be saved?

And he very competently said, well, to be saved, you just have to do the best you can do. Treat people the way you want to be treated. Well, every enlightened sinner knows that's utterly impossible. How good do you have to be to be saved? Scripture tells us. The standard that God requires for salvation is perfection. So we don't just have to be better than we presently are. We have to be perfect. God said it shall be perfect to be accepted, there shall be no blemish therein. Leviticus 22, 21. So, how are you and I going to make ourselves perfect?

We're not. We're not. Because we can't. We can't make ourselves better if we can't. We definitely can't make ourselves perfect, and that's the problem. That's why salvation cannot be by the work of man. It can't be. Nobody would be saved if it was. And in general, let's just be blunt about it, people are ignorant of God. A derogatory term, like you might think, it just means lack of knowledge. I'm ignorant about a lot of things. More than I care to admit.

And in this part of Paul's letter to the church of Rome, Paul stresses his heart's desire in verse 1 that his people, the Jews, the nation of Israel, might be saved. And in verse 2 he states, for I bear them record that they have a zeal of God. And they did, but not according to knowledge. In Paul's day and in our day, people have a religious zeal, but it's not according to knowledge.

That's what ignorance is. It's a lack of knowledge or information. That's why Paul adds here in verse 3, 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." Now listen, that's a mouthful. That's a mindful.

Trying to establish your own righteousness by a work that you yourself do isn't just misguided, it's refusal to accept the righteousness that God provides in Christ alone. If you go about to establish your own righteousness, you reject the righteousness that God provides in Christ. The only righteousness there is. And because this world doesn't understand how true righteousness is obtained, it's reshaped God into something altogether different than what He is.

It's shaped Him into being small. It's made God to be one stripped of His power and dismissed as ineffective and treated as if He were dependent rather than sovereign. If God is dependent on me to cooperate with Him and give Him my heart and get saved, then I'll never be saved and God is not God. He said to love everyone and hope someone will love him back. That's misguided ignorance. It's not what the Scriptures teach. Mankind's ignorance of God's righteousness causes them to attempt to establish their own righteousness. How? By a work that they themselves do.

You know people doing it and so do I. There are people in church this morning, attending church, thankful to do so. Had a man tell me I hadn't missed an older gentleman. And he was so proud of it. He's the same one that told me at another time that if he would have been there when they crucified Christ, he would have stopped them. That's almost laughable. But he was talking about how he had never missed Sunday school in 60-some years. Well, I'm sure you'll get an extra jewel in your crown for that one.

It's an attempt to establish your own righteousness. And that's what they teach others to do. Just do the best you can do. Just treat people the best you can. You can fix all the other stuff yourself. Yes, yes, you're sinful, so become righteous. Yes, yes, you're ignorant, so gain enlightenment. Yes, yes, you're impure, so strive for holiness. Yes, you're lost. So get saved. Become. Gain. Strive. Get. That's all things that man does. Just do it. Be all you can be. That's the slogans of today. If you pray more, you will grow. If you're sorry enough, you will be forgiven. If you practice discipline, you will become holy. You, you, you, you.

You got this. Friends, we don't got anything. Pardon my English, but we don't got nothing. It has to be given to us. Given. Those of you who are in Christ today know that beyond any shadow of a doubt. It was given to you. What did we have that we didn't receive?

God made us to do. This religious world insists, though, after all, God's made it easy to establish righteousness for yourself. In today's teachings, He has. He's made it real easy. God is willing to go along to get along. God is willing to compromise to get you on His side. No, no, no, no. That's not what the Bible teaches. Not the God of the Bible. The God of the Bible is almighty. The God of the Bible is just. The God of the Bible is holy and almighty, just, and holy God. Doesn't accept man's best because in them, that is in their flesh, as Paul said, dwells no good thing. Not a few good things. Not some good thing. Not mostly good. No good thing. Romans 7, 18. It says that in your Bible if you have a King James Version.

The body is dead because of sin. A dead man or woman cannot improve. A dead man or woman can't do better. They're dead. We cannot improve spiritually because we're spiritually dead. Now sanctification. It's a word that's thrown around. It's a big word. It has a very simple meaning. Sanctification is a state. It's not a process.

Sanctification means to be set apart under God. Sanctification means to be made holy by union with Christ. Sanctification means to be grounded in Christ's finished work, not personal growth. So true sanctification, according to Hebrews chapter 10, 10 says, by the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Words mean something.

Can true sanctification really be progressive? If we're sanctified once for all, then we cannot get more sanctified over time, can we? True sanctification isn't a matter of gradual improvement. Sanctification is not climbing a ladder. Real sanctification is a positional reality grounded in Jesus Christ alone. When a sinner is truly in Christ, they are set apart. Set apart from sin. Set apart unto God and made holy in God's sight. Once for all. All at once. You can't be more set apart. You're either set apart or you're not. You can't be more or less holy. You're either holy or you're not. We speak of Hebrews 10, verse 14 often. Listen to it closely what it says.

For by one offering, He, Christ, hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. It does not say, for by one offering, God will perfect those who are sanctified. giving the impression that sanctification is something that we do. He says He hath perfected. You see, to be sanctified is to be perfected. And it's by one offering, the offering that Christ made. And you can't be more perfect. A believer is justified once. A believer is sanctified once. A believer is perfected forever.

Sanctification is not something happening to you over time. It's something that happened to you in Christ. And what people refer to as progressive sanctification is actually growing in grace. The Scripture does talk about that. And that's just the believer learning and maturing and experiencing the outward working of holiness in their lives. In God's eyes, they're perfect. Christ's blood washed their sin away. You can't get more perfect than that.

But we still live in these bodies of death, these bodies of sin, and there's a struggle going on with them. Paul talked about it in great detail in Romans chapter 7. And this growth is significantly real and important, but it doesn't make you more saved. It's the evidence of salvation, not the means of it.

And friends, your holiness in God's eyes is complete the very moment that you're united to Christ. Now, I'm not one of these that can tell you the day and the hour that I was saved. I was saved before the foundation of the world, and I'm being saved, and I'm saved right now. I hope to keep growing in grace and be saved and endure to the end. Because those that endure to the end will be what? Saved. And the danger in grounding your competence and assurance on sanctification being progressive, getting better as a means of salvation, is that your confidence moves from what Christ has done, His finished work, to your own progress. That will lead to despair every time. Every time.

Because contrary to what the world says, we can't be all we can be. We can't. We can't just do it. Make salvation conditional on our effort. Pride enters in because we actually believe that we have progressively grown and because of that we're saved. Just the opposite. It becomes about what you do instead of what Christ has done for you. This is so important. So, so important.

If holiness comes by our own growth, we'll be proud of our growth. I can assure you of that. And we'll start trusting in our ability to grow. We'll start trusting in what we've done for God instead of what God has done for us. The only reason any safe center grows in grace is because God has given them life and already made them holy.

Dead men and women can't grow. They can't grow in stature, they can't grow in knowledge, they can't grow in wisdom, they can't grow in holiness, righteousness, goodness, kindness, or anything else. Listen, they can't even grow in deadness. Because dead is dead. You can't be half-dead, and you can't be half-alive. You know, we use terms like that. Well, they were in such a bad shape they were half-dead. Live or dead, one of the two. You can't be half and you can't be one or the other. You're either dead or alive. And the other side of this error is that if you lack progress, it will cause you to believe that you're not saved.

I must not be saved. You need to take care of this particular sin in your life. How many times have you said, I'm going to stop doing that. I don't want to do it again. Relatively quick. That's hopeless. No hope in that. I have no confidence in anything that I promise myself. I don't trust me, Shelly, I just don't. Not in working out my own salvation.

That's what Paul said in Philippians 2 verse 12. Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. And people immediately say, see there? It's about working to be saved. But you've got to keep on reading what Paul wrote. He said, for it is God which worketh in you. It's God that worketh in you to will and to do what? His good pleasure. No sinner can work out what God has not worked in. Our assurance is not found in our working out. Our security of salvation is found in God working in. Christ in you is what? The hope of the Lord. That's our only hope. Christ in us.

Our doing for acceptance with God is dangerous because it replaces grace with works. Now, if you and I can keep God's law perfectly, not offend in one point, And we've got to keep all of the law, and we've got to keep all of it perfectly. If we can do that, we can be saved that way. Well, if I believed in luck, I'd say, good luck. But you can't do it. Can't do it. If you offend in one little point, you forget to dot one little i, cross one little t, you're guilty of the whole law! All of it! Condemned! How is any sinner accepted by God? They're accepted in the Beloved. Who's the Beloved? The Lord Jesus Christ. That's the only way you can be accepted.

The Scripture never says anywhere, increase your holiness to become accepted. The Scripture never says, turn right and go straight. Never does. Because you can't. The Bible nowhere teaches become sanctified little by little. The Bible does teach grow in grace. The Bible does teach be renewed. The Bible does teach put off and put on. The Bible does say walk worthy. Sanctification is what we are in Christ. Sanctification is once for all. Growing in grace is progressive, but not sanctification. And growing in grace is lifelong.

Listen, I haven't attained. I'm not fully mature in God's grace. Are you? Are you getting better? And I'll say it. I'm not proud to say it, but in my case, and sadly to my shame, this has been a slow progression. My growing in grace has been a slow progression. You know why? Because I'm my own worst enemy. My enemy is with me and where I go.

True spiritual growth is rooted in grace, so how do we measure spiritual growth? It's not looking within to see if we think we're doing better. The real question is, are we increasingly aware of our need of Christ? That's a good sign. Are we learning to trust Christ more and more? That's a good sign that you're growing in grace. Especially when life doesn't go your way. Why did you have to add that? Are we growing in love for others? Sadly, when I look at my growth in grace to try to find any real comfort or assurance or peace of salvation, I don't find what I wish I could. I wish I could find much more there.

So, we've got to stop looking there. We've got to stop looking there. And keep looking to Christ. Are you looking to Christ? That's your only hope. We must keep endeavoring to trust His finished work. We must keep trying to rest in what He's done for us. And how do we do that? We trust Him. We ask Him to cause us to grow in grace and in the knowledge of Him.

Just like Paul in 1 Corinthians 9.27 said, I myself can concern myself greatly with the thought that when I have preached to others, that I myself might be a castaway.

Paul said, I keep my body in subjection. Paul didn't discipline his body and bring it under subjection to receive a reward of salvation by self-discipline. That's not what he's saying. He's talking about spiritual vigilance. He's talking about the self-control required in this life of a believer, and especially those in the ministry.

Listen, I've said this before, I mean it. Don't put a man upon a pedestal. Just because I'm elevated up here this morning on this podium where you say, don't lift me up. Because I'm a man just like you. I'm a sinner just like you. And I need God's mercy and grace just the same as you do. You do me and yourself a great disservice by putting me on some kind of pedestal.

Don't do it. Please don't do it. Being in the ministry is very difficult. Honestly, it's very difficult not to feel like a hypocrite. No one knows my shortcomings like I do. Sanctification is not something that you earn. You can't earn salvation by gradually doing right. You can't merit salvation by avoiding wrong.

Growing in grace is to understand that salvation is complete in Christ. Yet at the same time, believers are called to actively apply God's grace in their lives. You quit growing in grace, you die. Spiritually. You quit eating physically, and you die. You quit eating spiritually, and you die.

Resisting sin. serving faithfully in gratitude, obedience, and love. Listen, it's the proof of our salvation, not the means of it. We don't exercise self-control to earn righteousness. Our discipline and self-control is a response to the gospel of God's grace to us. God's grace is a gift. Obedience and self-discipline is the reality of grace.

We must remain faithful, ensuring our lives reflect the Gospel that we preach. You know, Paul said, I have a great concern that if I preach to you and don't heed these things myself, I become a castaway. I have to trust the same Christ you do. who gave Himself for our sins that He might deliver us from this present evil world according to the will of God our Father. I have to trust the One who gave Himself for us that He might redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto Himself a peculiar people zealous of good works.

I want to do good works. I want to be better. I do want to be better. I sure got room for growth. I sure got room to be... Okay, I want you to turn with me to Philippians 3. I'm almost done. I'll finish up pretty quick. But I want you to see this. Philippians 3, verse 7. I think this is one of the clearest Scriptures showing the difference between relying on your own progress and relying on God's grace for growth. Philippians 3. Verse 7. Paul here writing, "...but what things were gained to me, those I counted lost for Christ." Now let me quickly address the things that Paul called gained to him. He told us what they were in verses 5 and 6.

Well, were they first? Circumcision. Circumcision was that outward cutting of the flesh. It was a sign of obedience and submission. It meant the cutting away of stubbornness. It meant the removing of hardness. It meant living wholeheartedly to God. That's what the people of Israel were commanded to do. And naturally speaking, it didn't do a thing. Israel still sinned. Israel still rebelled. Israel still served idols. The act of circumcision didn't do anything, Paul.

Secondly, Paul speaks of heritage. He says, I was of the stock of Israel. I was a tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews. What he was saying was, I'm a Jew through and through. Both my parents were Hebrews. I wasn't one of them a convert. Paul's upbringing was in Jewish traditions. That meant something to the Jews.

It didn't mean nothing to God. Thirdly, Paul mentions personal religious zeal of righteousness. He was blameless at keeping the written law. Paul was so zealous and so self-righteous that he personally persecuted believers, Christians, those who followed Christ. And he actually believed he was doing God a favor. Drug men and women, and even children, homes and threw them in jail. He held the coats of those who killed the preacher Stephen. Zealous. Zealous, full of zeal, full of self-righteousness.

But after God saved him, Paul said, I counted all these things but loss. Glad they're gone. What he once valued most and thought to be assets became liabilities. and what he thought to be blessings were now worthless. Have you experienced that? I have, by God's grace.

And this is what he says in verse 8. Yea, doubtless 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 dumb. that I may win Christ. All things lost, everything in life, status, achievements, wealth, especially personal merit, is worthless compared to knowing Christ. Worthless as dung he's in. You know what dung is.

And here's the thing. I was thinking about this. Even manure has some profitable qualities. Fertilizer and fuel and whatever. But compared to Christ, any and all qualities we think that are repulsive to our flesh as manure, glad it's gone. Kind of been lost. It's manure. Worthless. Paul's talking about recognizing that personal achievements, religious progress have no value, no value in salvation or standing before God.

None. Well, what then does? Verse 9, "...and be found in Him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, righteousness by works, keeping the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith, that righteousness that God supplies for us by Christ's finished work." Is that your righteousness? If it is, you're not getting better. You're perfect.

Paul's talking here about righteousness through faith, not through the law. Righteousness comes from God in Christ by faith, not from our works to try to get better on our own. Progressive sanctification emphasizes gradual improvement in behavior. But Paul is saying that righteousness is received, not earned.

How did you get it? Did you earn it? Did you merit it? Do you deserve it? No, you received it. It was a gift. You're saved by grace through faith. That is not of yourself. It's what? The gift of God. And it's not according to works. Because if it was, you'd boast and you'd be trusting in your works instead of in Christ. You can't earn God's approval.

Verse 10, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings being made conformable unto His death. Not knowing about Him, but knowing Christ Himself. And here Paul speaks of knowing Christ and the power of His resurrection, and he focuses totally on the intimate knowledge of Christ. Knowledge is to know Him. Not just to know things about Him. Knowing Him in intimacy. Like a husband knows his wife, and a wife knows her husband. It's sharing in His sufferings.

It's being included in His resurrection. And verse 11 says, "...if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead..." What does that mean? What is attaining unto the resurrection of the dead? It gives us freedom from the dominion of sin. It gives us the gift of spiritual life. It gives us strength to endure all things.

And then Paul says, not as though I have already attained, either were already perfect, but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Jesus Christ. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended, but this one thing I do for getting those things which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press. toward the mark of the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. And in these verses, Paul talks about pressing on toward the goal.

He admits that he hadn't arrived. None of us had. None of us will. Not in this life. He doesn't say, I'm trying to get a little holier every single day. He's pursuing the objective glory in Christ, motivated by grace, not self-effort. Because growth in grace is a forward movement toward Christ. And it's fueled by faith and desire for Him. In the pursuit of Christ, there's gratitude and obedience and love is enabled by the Spirit of God. And our pressing forward is a response to grace, not a condition of it. Well, we don't press forward toward the prize and be saved. We press forward to Christ's de-prize because we are saved. And I said all that to say this, Paul destroys all confidence in religious credentials. It don't mean nothing. All our works, lost. It's just lost. Done.

We're perfectly righteous yet grow in grace because life in Christ has been given to us. We live in a world that is obsessed with being better. It really is. You turn on the TV and just watch a few commercials. Folks desire to be better looking? Well, I'd like to be. Someone asked me not long ago, I was teasing The Harmon family said, how did you get your life? I said, I didn't always look like this. I'd like to be better looking. This world desires to be better looking, better educated, better connected, better paid, better, better, better. Improvement has always become, has become today, a salvation story. Oh, you've got to get better. Better is good. Better, better. It's not a salvation story, it's a slay-bation story. The Word of God cuts straight through that illusion. The world says, improve yourself. God says, deny yourself. The world says, go for it.

God's grace is sufficient for us in all things. His power is made unknown unto us in and by and through our weaknesses. In our weakness, He's made strong. The world hides weaknesses. God reveals it. God restores our weakness. The world markets strength. God magnifies dependency.

Pretty much just the opposite of what this world tells you to do is the truth. Just take what the world says, do, and do the opposite. You'd be pretty safe. But better off, do what God's Word says. The world says be the best you can be, and God says you're not, nor can you be, but Christ is. So, I ask you the same question in closing as I did in introduction. Are you getting better? It won't make you worthy. Worth is not achieved, it's received. At the cross of Christ is where that was said. You don't have to look anywhere but Christ's cross and the Christ of the cross to see that it's received, never achieved. Amen.