Do I Seek My Own?

Q: What does the Bible say about seeking one's own wisdom?

The Bible teaches that true wisdom comes from God and not from our own understanding. In Philippians 2:21, Paul states that 'all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ's.' This highlights the natural tendency of humans to rely on their own wisdom rather than the wisdom that God provides. The pursuit of personal wisdom often leads to pride and a reliance on human intellect, which is ultimately futile. In contrast, God's wisdom is manifested in Christ, and believers are called to seek Him for true understanding. As stated in 1 Corinthians 1:30, God has made Christ to be our wisdom; we must look to Him alone for guidance and enlightenment.

Q: How do we know Christ is our righteousness?

Believers see Christ as their righteousness because He fulfills the law on their behalf. The concept of righteousness in the Bible is central to understanding our standing before God. As Paul explains in Philippians 3:9, we are not to have 'mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ.' Our righteousness must come from outside ourselves, as we are incapable of perfect obedience to God’s laws. In Christ, we receive the imputed righteousness that fulfills all the law’s demands, expressed in passages like 2 Corinthians 5:21, which says He became sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. This underscores the grace of God, where our salvation hinges not on our works but upon Christ's obedience and sacrifice.

Q: Why is seeking sanctification important for Christians?

Sanctification is crucial because it reflects the work of God in transforming believers into the likeness of Christ. In the Christian faith, sanctification refers to the process of being made holy and set apart for God’s purposes. The scripture emphasizes that it is God who sanctifies us through His Spirit, as seen in 1 Peter 1:2, which says that we are 'elect according to the foreknowledge of God through sanctification of the Spirit.' Seeking sanctification means acknowledging our dependence on God's grace to grow in holiness. This transformation is essential for living a life that glorifies God and demonstrates the power of the gospel. Moreover, sanctification assures believers of their new identity in Christ, where they are seen as complete and perfect in His sight despite their ongoing struggles with sin.

Q: How can I be certain of my redemption in Christ?

Your certainty of redemption comes from understanding that it is solely based on Christ's finished work. Redemption in Christ is rooted in the finished work of the cross, where He declared, 'It is finished' (John 19:30). This signifies that all that is needed for salvation has been completed by Christ. Believers do not redeem themselves through works; instead, their faith rests entirely on Christ's sacrifice. As reflected in passages like Ephesians 1:7, ‘In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins,’ it is clear that redemption is a gift of grace, not a result of personal merit. Therefore, our assurance of salvation is found in trusting Christ's obedience and sacrifice alone, which was fully sufficient to secure our redemption.

We're going to be in the book of Philippians again, if you would like to turn. One line of that song is very relatable. Our love so faint, so cold to thee, and thine to us so great. Philippians chapter two. Here in our text, Paul delivers a statement, declares a statement of life and death proportion. It's life and death, as is everything pertaining to the gospel, it's life and death. And he asks a question in, if you look at verse Verse 21, for all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ. So he makes a statement. He makes a statement, all seek their own. I've titled this message, Do I Seek My Own? Do I Seek My Own?

I was speaking with someone recently, and I realized that if I'm not the Lord's, I am born once and I die twice. But if I am the Lord's, if I am the Lord's, then I am born twice and I die once. The flesh will go back to the dust for whence it came, but the spirit will go back to God which gave it and the soul will live forever with him in the likeness of him, no longer in this sinful flesh. If I have been Elected by the Father, redeemed by the Son, and regenerated by the Spirit, all by His grace, I am born again. I have hope in the life to come. Now, seeking your own means that there's something that you had to do or something that I had to do in order to have, in order to become born again.

And I would ask the question very simply, what did we have to do with our first birth? What choice did we make in that one? And I think they'd be lying if somebody said they could even remember their birth. I don't think that's even possible. Don't start remembering much until what, two, three, four, somewhere around there? What did I have to do with that birth? Not a thing. Matter of fact, I was the problem. I was the reason for the pain. I was the reason for the issue that was going on. I was the problem.

Now, didn't she used to be born? The Lord told Nicodemus, you must be born again. And I love how he tells him, Nicodemus was very confused. He said, how can a young man, when he is old, enter into his mother's womb a second time and be born? And the Lord said, that which is born of the flesh is flesh.

That which is born of the spirit is spirit. It's born of the spirit. Do we see that? It's born of the spirit. It's the one that does it. Marvel not that I say unto thee, you must be born again. He tells him the wind bloweth where it listeth, now can't tell where it comes or where it goes. So is everyone that is born of the spirit. It's God's spirit that causes his people to be born again.

It's not my choice. It's not me seeking my own, but it's him. He does the work. The Lord gives faith to his people that no longer look at what we do, no longer examine self, not as any part or evidence of salvation, but we look to Christ alone. That's what faith does. Faith comes from Christ, faith looks to Christ, and he gets all the glory for it. He's the one that bestows it freely by his grace to his chosen people. If I've been given faith, I'm not seeking my own. I'm not seeking my own. But if I have not, then most certainly I am seeking my own.

What? What we lost in Adam. We gain back infinitely more in Christ infinitely more. His salvation is so glorious and. Past finding out. Uhm? Let's read our text, Philippians 2, 19 through 24. But I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timotheus shortly unto you, that I also may be of good comfort when I know your state. For I have no man like minded who will naturally care for your state, for all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ's. But you know the proof of him that as a son with the father, he hath served with me in good gospel, in the good gospel, or in the gospel, I'm sorry. Him, therefore, I hope to send presently. So soon as I shall see him, it will go with me. But I trust the Lord that I will also myself shall come shortly.

Our title comes from verse 21, for all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ's. Do I seek my own? Do I seek my own as a title? Do I seek my own wisdom? Do I seek my own righteousness? Do I seek my own sanctification? Do I seek my own redemption? Or has God made Christ into me all my wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption? First, do I seek my own wisdom?

There are so many people who look at what they know. They're ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. The Lord told the Pharisees, search the scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life, but they are they which speak of me. No amount of learning, no amount of learning can cause a man to come to the knowledge of the truth. The Lord has to do that. And he does it by the foolishness of preaching.

I was recently told, let me say this, it's not what we believe, it's whom. Paul said, I know whom I have believed. And I'm persuaded that he is able to keep that which I've committed unto him against that day. Recently, somebody messaged me and said, that I wasn't preaching right, that you cannot know Christ without first knowing the doctrines of Christ. That's what they said.

My response was simple. I just simply said, God-given faith and God-given repentance teaches the Lord's people his doctrine. You don't learn the doctrine, you come to a person. The Lord didn't say, come to my doctrine. He said, come unto me, all you that are labored and heavy laden, I'll give you rest.

No, we believe in good doctrine. We preach good doctrine, but our focus is Christ alone. Our focus is Christ alone. It's not what you know, it's who you know. When repentance and faith is given, the Lord reveals that I'm the great sinner needing a savior. And faith reveals the great savior that saved his people from their sin. That's the hope we have. That's the hope we have. No, we're not seeking our own wisdom.

Matter of fact, we've been a base to the point of saying I know nothing, save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Isn't that what Paul said? How did he word that? I've determined to know nothing among you, save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. It's not what I know, it's who I know. Moreover, it's does He know me? Does He know me?

The Lord gives, the Lord teaches his doctrine to his people through the preaching of the gospel. The Lord teaches, the Lord gives everything required. He provides. I don't learn a doctrine and then believe Christ. I believe Christ. And I learned that the half hadn't been told yet. I learned that it's much more vast than I ever thought it was. That everything that had to happen for my salvation, God, completely did. It's glorious. It's glorious.

We are made alive by the preaching of the gospel, the power of his spirit and given repentance and faith to believe him, believe his truth, to believe his doctrine. Brethren, we must be made to believe. we must be made to believe on the wisdom of Christ. We must be made to believe he is the wisdom of God, because he is. But otherwise, we're going, you know what knowledge does, it puffeth up, that's what the scripture says, that's what's gonna happen. If it was about what we knew, if salvation would come down to what do you know, Then think about false religion.

Many people here came from false religion. Was that not everybody wanted a bigger feather in their hat than the next person? They wanted to one up each other. They found something nobody else has seen before. And that was a bunch of watts. Didn't do any good, did it?

No, but when the Lord reveals his truth, he shows us, come unto me. Come unto me. We don't come to a doctrine, we don't come to an altar, we come to a person, the Lord Jesus Christ. We come to the wisdom of God. Not seeking our own, but seeking him. Seeking him who is all wisdom. We must be made to believe on him that he is the wisdom of God, that we're the chief sinner, that he is sovereign and holy and we can do nothing to impress him, Nothing to impress him. But if we're in Christ, we've never sinned one time.

Isn't that glorious? I can't impress him, but my substitute surety impressed him, satisfied him. Now, did I have the wisdom to come up with that salvation? Absolutely not. He did. See, his wisdom's infinite. His wisdom's infinite. The only wisdom that you and I have, what we learn as the Lord's people, the only wisdom that we have is Christ, that's it. That's it.

It's not what I know, it's who I know. You ever heard that before? Somebody said to me, yeah, it's not what you know, it's who you know, because if you know the right person, they can take care of it for you. He's the right person. It's not what I know, it's whom I have believed.

If we believed on him prior, the way that some false religions have it is you have to do something before you're saved. That's a dead man doing something that's not gonna do any good. The Lord teaches us that by his wisdom. The Lord teaches us by his wisdom that if he doesn't call me out of darkness into his light first, I will never come into the light because Men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil. If he doesn't teach me in his infinite wisdom that he's God and I'm not, that he's the sovereign creator and sustainer of life, that he is the one that determined salvation before the world ever began and provided everything necessary for the salvation of Lord's people. If he doesn't teach me all those things, I have no wisdom. I have no wisdom, all I'm doing is seeking my own. That's what we'll do by nature, is seek our own. That's our natural response, seeking our own. Seeking our own praise, seeking our own glory. Think about the reason Cain offered up what he did. Look at what I have done. Look at what I have done.

He didn't grow those vegetables, God did. And yet he was still taking credit for it. He was saying, look at what my hands have made. He might have planted it, he might have watered it, but God had to give the sunshine. God had to give the increase. No, the Lord only accepts what he provides. Cain wanted to be recognized as Cain. What about Nebuchadnezzar? He built a 60-foot statue, and I say this every time I mention this, whose face do you think was on the 60-foot statue? He wanted to be worshiped. He wanted glory. He wanted glory.

When we seek our own, that's all that we're after is the glory of God that belongs to him. Now we're not going to have it. All glory goes to God, but that's what men do by nature. No, we don't seek our own wisdom. We seek him who has been made unto us our wisdom. Do I seek my own wisdom or by his grace has God made Christ unto me all my wisdom?

That's the question. That's the question. Secondly, do I seek my own righteousness? It's called self-righteousness. Anything that we do to be recognized by God positively is self-righteousness. In reality, Most of the time, people that don't know who God is are doing what they're doing to look good to their peers, to others. I don't do what so-and-so does. I used to do that. I don't do that anymore.

They have a righteousness that's outside of Christ. What did Paul say? That I might know him, him, the power of his resurrection, the power of his suffering, Not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but having the righteousness which is by the faith of Jesus Christ, who loved me and gave himself for me. Most individuals live their lives believing that the good deeds they do or the bad deeds they have seen from will count for something, and that something good is called self-righteousness. And the Lord weighs that as iniquity.

He says, I hate the workers of iniquity, Psalm 5.5. Some people believe that their choice made them righteous. They chose to be saved, therefore God made them righteous. That's not true. That's not true. The flesh will never choose God. We mentioned this the first hour, the flesh is enmity against God. God's gonna have to do the choosing. You see how religion has it twisted where man gets some glory somewhere, some way, in some form?

You pray to prayer, you did this, you walked the Nile. We'll make a work out of anything, out of anything, we will. But if the Lord has given us his wisdom, then we know we need his righteousness as well. We don't need to grab our own or get our own, we don't get saved.

Lord, you're gonna have to save me. You don't get righteous, the Lord's gonna have to make me righteous. Make me the righteousness of God in Christ alone. If he doesn't, I won't be righteous. I won't be righteous. Sin's not what we just do. It's what we are, therefore we sin. So if I'm trying to do something to gain righteousness, all I'm doing is sinning. All I'm doing is sinning.

Am I righteous? Plain and simple, am I righteous because of something I did? Do I seek my own? Or is my only hope God has made me righteous by the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ, by his suffering, that his righteousness was imputed unto me, that he gave me his righteousness freely by his grace? There's our hope. There's our hope. Do I seek my own righteousness or am I seeking the righteous, the perfect righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ? That God's chosen lamb, He alone lived the perfect life. He's the only one that could work righteousness. Did you know that? Everything that He did was righteous. Everything that He did was righteous.

Now here's the glorious part of substitution. We were given to Christ before the foundation of the world according to scriptures. So as he walked upon this earth, every step he took, it's not as if we took it. We were in him, taking the step with him. It's put upon our records. And he took our record that said guilty. Scripture said the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, that was contrary to us, he took them out of the way and he nailed them to his cross. They're gone.

So when the Lord sees us, he sees his people as perfectly righteous. As a matter of fact, scripture tells us that our name is the same as his name. Jehovah, sit can you. Your name, the church, the Lord, our righteousness. That's her name. That's her name.

To look at self as any part of my righteousness is to literally say, I do not need the righteousness of God. I do not need Christ completely. And I'm saying one thing, one little tiny thing people can hang on to. That's why David said, created me a clean heart. Oh God, renewing me a right spirit. Lord, if there be any wicked way in me, cleanse me of it. But if I'm looking to Christ alone and God has given faith and repentance all by his grace, then I am seeking Christ, not my own, as all my righteousness, as all my righteousness.

Thirdly, do I seek my own sanctification? Well, that's a, I'm trying to think of the word, a slippery subject when it comes to false religion. Very slippery. Men need to know what the definition of sanctified is. It means made holy or set apart. You don't, just like using the term getting saved, we don't get saved, the Lord saves us. We don't get holy because of what we do. If we believe that, then we're seeking our own holiness. Do we see that? If you and I could do something to please God, Christ would not have had to come and die. We can't please God. This flesh cannot, cannot, cannot please God. They that are in the flesh cannot please God, scripture says.

Do I seek my own sanctification? Well, many believe in what they call, I don't know who came up with this, but progressive sanctification. I'm gonna get better, and I'm gonna get better, and I know somebody told me recently that once they get Once they hit like the plateau, then that's whenever the Lord will take them. Isn't that crazy?

Paul didn't say, oh, wretched man that I was. He said, oh, wretched man that I am. Who shall deliver me from this body of death? He started out as saying, I'm not worthy. I'm the least of the saints. He said, I'm not worthy to be I'm unworthy to be a saint. And then he said at the very end, I'm the chief sinner. And that was towards the end of his ministry. Did Paul get worse? Paul grew in grace and the way up is down.

The only way we'll see more of Christ is if he makes us see less of ourself. That's the repentance and faith we've been talking about. And if he's given that by grace alone, we're not seeking our own sanctification. Christ is our sanctification. His spirit is our sanctification. That's our hope. That's our hope.

I keep talking and not scrolling, and so I have to stop and scroll, so I'm not trying to remain silent on you for too long, but I gotta catch back up. 1 Peter 1-2 says, elect according to the foreknowledge of God through sanctification of the Spirit. That's simple, isn't it?

That's God's the doer of it. God is the doer of giving his people his wisdom, which is Christ. God is the doer of giving his people his righteousness, which is Christ. God is the doer of giving his people sanctification, which is Christ. God is the doer of giving his people redemption, which is Christ.

We're not seeking our own. We're seeking Christ. We're desiring him. We are sanctified by the blood of the lamb. His spirit indwelling means God sees his people as completely sanctified. This statement I'm about to make is unbelievable. Like most of the gospel, or I would say all the gospel.

We don't understand anything we believe. We just believe it by faith. If you could understand it, then we'd go back to that what part, wouldn't it? Be what we know. No, it's whom. Our inward man, the new man created in righteousness, the new heart that the Lord's given us, is as holy as God is right now. Right now. It's not waiting to get better. It's perfect. It's perfect. That's unbelievable, isn't it?

That's hard to swallow because all we see is this body of death. All we see is the sin that we do and loathe ourself. But that's the very reason that we loathe ourself is because the new man created in righteousness. He said old things are passed away behold all things are come new. We don't think like we used to think. We don't seek our own. We don't seek our own sanctification. We look to Christ who has been made unto us our sanctification. Who has made us fit.

I love that Mephibosheth got to sit at the king's table. Scripture said, eat at the king's table for the rest of his remainder of his days. Because there's a covering on a table and Mephibosheth was laying on both of his feet. But he's at the king's table. And I like to imagine that they probably brought him in first. They wheeled him in or whatever and put him in place. So that covering covered up that infirmity. You see what I'm saying?

David made Mephibosheth fit for the king's table. Matter of fact, it was the covenant that was made between Jonathan and David was the whole reason. This is what our Lord has done. He's made us fit for his table by his covering, by his blood alone, all by his grace. He's given us a place in Christ, the right hand of God, where we are seen as perfectly righteous, perfectly righteous, sanctified.

So the question is, do I seek my own righteousness by what I have done, doing, or not have done? If that's the case, I'm seeking my own. Or am I seeking the sanctification of the Lord Jesus Christ? And lastly, do I seek my own redemption Do I believe that I can do something to be redeemed? That's kind of a contradictory statement because that would be redeeming yourself. And redeeming literally means you have to be redeemed.

You remember the story of Boaz and Ruth. Boaz was going to redeem her. make her his own. There's a price that had to be paid to redeem. But there was a nearer kinsman than him. And the nearer kinsman had to be discussed, had to be talked to first. So he did. And the nearer kinsman was told by Boaz that I have a field that is, Naomi, the Moabitess, her field needs to be redeemed. He said, I'll redeem it. They said, well, in the day that you do that, you're going to have to redeem Ruth, her daughter-in-law as well. And he said, well, I can't do that. That would mar my inheritance.

Why? Because that's a picture of the law. The law couldn't redeem you and I. The law couldn't do anything to help us. The law was a mirror given to us to show us the sin that we are. a glimpse of it anyway, to show us that we cannot please God in and of the flesh. So what happened?

Boaz redeemed Ruth. Boaz redeemed Ruth. The Lord Jesus Christ redeemed his people. He redeemed his elect, all by his grace. Do I seek my own redemption? Or am I seeking the redemption that's only found in Christ Jesus? How about this? Do I seek my own redemption by something that I might do to make the work of Christ effectual?

Because that's where a lot of people get hung up. If I do this, it means God's going to do this. You won't find that in the scripture. The reason that we believe is because God has given us faith to believe. He saves us first, then He calls us. He just lets us know about it. That's the best news we ever heard. You mean it's finished? Everything required?

You're not looking to me as any part of my wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, or redemption? No, it's all found in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Am I seeking my own redemption by what I do, or am I looking to the redemptive work of the Lord Jesus Christ? Those that believe that they can make the work of Christ effectual, that's just like Cain again, isn't it?

He offered himself. He offered himself. He said, look at me. Am I doing anything as part of my redemption that says, look at me? Or am I saying, are you begging God to look to Christ on your behalf? That's it. That's my redemption, or I don't have any. True redemption started and ended with God. True redemption started and ended with God.

And His elect are the benefactors of it, freely by grace, all because of the covenant of grace. Before time, the Lord elected His people and gave them to the substitute surety, the lamb slain from the foundation of the world, that He might redeem them. That was the reason. And He's God, He can't fail. covenant also states that the Holy Spirit and time will regenerate those chosen people according to the Lord's will and purpose by the preaching of the gospel.

I love that you don't stop there. He doesn't just call us out of darkness into light and leave us to ourself. He keeps us by his power. You're kept by the power of God. Christ lived perfectly, perfectly righteous before God, our Redeemer. was perfect. He fulfilled the law's demands, satisfied God's justice. He endured hell on the cross for his people.

He made certain that redemption was not 99.9% complete, and you just gotta do that 0.1% part. If you take the first step, God'll take the rest. I've heard that so many times, false churches. No, 100% complete. He's not a liar. He said it is finished.

Salvation accomplished. He accomplished redemption. Salvation's of the Lord. Redemption is of the Lord. The only way that we're gonna be redeemed is if God is the Redeemer. God does the redeeming. He offered himself up to God alone. He suffered and bled and died and endured the full wrath due us that we might be redeemed.

Oh, I'm not seeking my own redemption by what I do. I'm seeking the redemption that's only found in the person, the work, and the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ for his people. If I'm seeking redemption of myself, then I have to be perfect in every way. I have to be obedient in everything. I have to be faithful in everything. I have to be all the things I'm not. That's what I have to be.

No, we don't look to our faithfulness. We don't look to our obedience. We look to His obedience, His faithfulness. We look to His service, His sacrifice, His substitution. Not to myself. I don't look to myself. I'm not seeking my own redemption by what I do. We don't do that as the Lord's people. We seek Christ as our redemption. Because He's the only one that put away the sin of God's elect. by himself. I said this the first hour, or maybe I even said it in this message.

I can't remember, but Hebrews 1.3 says, when we had by himself purged our sin, he sat down. He sat down. It signifies that the work was finished. You know, I've mentioned this before, but there was a piece of furniture that was missing from the temple, missing from the tabernacle. It was a chair. Place of rest. There was no rest in there. Why? The work was never done.

But when this man. by himself purged our sin, he sat down. That means the work was finished. The father rested on the Sabbath, the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Sabbath finished the work and is resting. He's seated as the successful redeemer of his elect people. Nothing left to do. Nothing left to do.

Now it's just coming to pass, and I love whenever the Bible says that, and it came to pass, and it came to pass. The Lord's the one that made it come to pass. Do we see that? And it came to pass. After Christ was buried, he was resurrected, signifying that we've been justified freely by his grace. We have been redeemed.

That transaction is complete. There's nothing left to do. It is finished. It is finished. In time, he sends his spirit to quicken us by his gospel. He lets us know about it. He lets us know best news you ever hear. It is finished. Scripture says that it's not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy. He saved us.

It's according to his grace. Doesn't have anything to do with what I'm seeking in and of myself. It has everything to do with not seeking my own, but seeking the things of Christ. It says the thing the things of Jesus Christ that are Jesus Christ. It's it's. Possessive, do we see it's apostrophe?

Yes, they belong to him. I can't, I can't even get to them. I can't even get to wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, redemption, because they're his. They're not mine for the taking. That's what God requires. So he's going to have to bestow it freely by his grace. This is redemption accomplished by God for his people.

So in closing, ask yourself this, do I seek my own wisdom? Do I seek my own righteousness? Do I seek my own sanctification, or do I seek my own redemption? Or has God by his grace alone made Christ unto you all of your wisdom, all of your righteousness, all of your sanctification and redemption? Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for completing the work given to you. Bless us to our understanding for your glory in Christ's name. Amen.

Do I Seek My Own?

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about seeking one's own wisdom?

How do we know Christ is our righteousness?

Why is seeking sanctification important for Christians?

How can I be certain of my redemption in Christ?

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About Caleb Hickman

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Do I Seek My Own?

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about seeking one's own wisdom?

How do we know Christ is our righteousness?

Why is seeking sanctification important for Christians?

How can I be certain of my redemption in Christ?

Sermon Transcript

About Caleb Hickman

Comments

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