Where is My Confidence?

Q: What does the Bible say about self-righteousness?

The Bible condemns self-righteousness, emphasizing that our confidence should not be in our own works but in Christ's righteousness. Self-righteousness is a significant theme in scripture, particularly highlighted in Philippians 3:4-7 where Paul recounts his own pedigree and accomplishments. He states that he had every reason to have confidence in the flesh, yet he counted all those things as loss for the sake of knowing Christ. The law was never given to justify men, but to reveal their guilt and inability to meet God's standards. True righteousness comes only through faith in Christ, and any confidence in our own deeds is ultimately futile. The believer must recognize that apart from Christ, our righteousness is as filth.

Q: How do we know our righteousness comes from Christ?

Our righteousness is obtained through faith in Christ rather than our own efforts, as stated in Philippians 3:9. In Philippians 3:9, Paul explains that he wishes to be found in Christ, not having his own righteousness which comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness from God on the basis of faith. This indicates that true justification and righteousness come not from our adherence to the law but as a gift from God through Christ’s sacrifice. Each believer is made righteous by faith and is seen as such before God because of Christ’s atoning work. Therefore, any assurance we have should rest solely in His perfect righteousness and the faith He grants us.

Q: Why is confidence in Christ important for Christians?

Confidence in Christ assures us of our salvation and righteousness before God, rather than in our flawed works. The importance of placing our confidence in Christ cannot be overstated. Philippians 3 conveys that confidence in our flesh leads to despair because our actions are tainted by sin. Paul’s journey illustrates that true confidence is rooted in the grace afforded by Christ’s sacrifice. As believers, our assurance of salvation hinges on the recognition that Christ fulfilled the law perfectly on our behalf. Therefore, when we align our trust on Christ, we acknowledge that He is our only hope and righteousness, allowing us to approach God without fear of condemnation, as His promises secure our standing. This foundation of faith is vital for enduring trials and living a life that glorifies God.

Q: What does it mean to count all things as loss for Christ?

To count all things as loss means to prioritize Christ above all personal achievements and possessions. In Philippians 3:7-8, Paul highlights the concept of counting everything he once held dear—his heritage, accomplishments, and adherence to the law—as loss for the sake of Christ. This radical re-evaluation of what constitutes value represents a heart change that prioritizes a relationship with Christ over worldly success or self-righteousness. Recognizing the surpassing worth of knowing Christ means that all earthly pursuits pale in comparison to the eternal joy found in Him. As believers, this paradigm shift challenges us to evaluate what really matters and encourages us to passionately pursue intimacy with Christ, allowing nothing to hinder our walk with Him.

We are in Philippians, if you'd like to turn there. Philippians chapter three. In our text, we have one of the greatest descriptions probably in all of scripture of an individual man giving a testimony of his former self-righteousness. Paul's giving his pedigree, his history, his education, his obedience, and nowhere else will you actually find a man that has put down everything that they had confidence in, in and of themselves, what they had done, what they believed, and then turn around and call it done. This is the only place found that does that. Paul says, all the things that I counted as gain to me, I now count as loss.

Why? That I may win Christ. Now, as he's saying, for the reason Because I'm doing this so I can win Christ. No, that's not what he's saying at all. He's saying that Christ is the prize. Christ is the hope. Christ is the desire of the believer. And that's part of what the word prize means. He's the prize possession.

And yet it's him that possesses us. That's what he talks about in this same chapter. He says that I would apprehend that which has apprehended me. I've not yet apprehended that which has apprehended me. That's talking about Christ. I can't apprehend Christ, but he's apprehended me. That's the hope. I press towards the mark of the high calling of God. What's the mark? That's Christ. Run the race with patience. What's the finish line? That's Christ. It's all about him.

Can't ever get away from that. If we do, we're missing the point, the sum and the substance. Men will look at themselves, and I forgot to turn my phone off again. Men will look at themselves in their self-righteousness, their works religion, their man-made works religion. They will examine themselves. And as we talked back in the Men's Study a little bit this week, I'm just gonna skim over something very important, but next week I hope to look at it.

And it's the three focus points of the law, which is the ceremonial law, the civil law, and the moral law. The moral law is how I live my life before God that he might accept me. The civil law is how I live my life to you, how I treat you, how I treat my neighbor. And the ceremonial law is how I worship God or how I approach God. And if you take all three of those and you look in the Old Testament, every single law falls underneath one of those categories. So men will look at that and they'll look at their faithfulness unto God based upon the law.

And that's what he's talking about here, establishing his own righteousness. He says, I have no righteousness. I have no assurance. I have no resting place in and of myself. It's all, I've counted it all loss based upon what I do that I might win Christ. Men by nature will look to themselves rather than looking to God to justify themselves. And Paul is establishing, if you have anything to be confident in before God, in and of yourself, as any part or evidence of your salvation, or if I have any hope in and of myself, Based upon what I have done or what I am not doing as any part or evidence of salvation, Paul says, I have had more confidence than you, but I've counted it all but loss now. And I said before, he uses the word dung. He says, I've counted it all but dung.

Let's read this together. Philippians 3, four through seven. Philippians 3 verse 4 says, 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. So if we have confidence, and I love the word any there, if any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more. more this goes not this is not relative and relevant just for when this was made you know 50 when it was written 40 50 60 BC or AD whatever it was he's not saying during that time this is applies to our time too because although what the physical looks like on the outside might have changed the issue here with circumcision The issue now would be what you're doing or what you have done unto the Lord.

Men use the term, give your heart to Jesus. Or men use the term, we'll just pray this prayer. Or men use the term, what's your service look like unto God? How are you living your life? Those are the, it's the exact same thing. He says, and if you have confidence, whereof you may trust in the flesh. I have more confidence. I have abundant confidence. And he gives us his pedigree. Let's read this together, verse five.

First of all, he says, I was circumcised the eighth day of the stock of Israel. Now, why is that relevant? Because Israel was God's chosen people in the Old Testament by blood, by the lineage, the physical lineage of Abraham. And yet it was the faithfulness of Abraham that was reckoned unto him, that God had given him faith in order for him to believe God, that was actually, what does the scripture say? It was counted to him for righteousness' sake. So God gave him faith to believe. Abraham believed because he was found to be righteous before God. God was the doer of it. And so we see that it was actually a spiritual seed all the way from the beginning to the end of the scripture.

And even now it was never about the physical, but Paul saying, if it would have been physical, I was circumcised the eighth day of the stock of Israel. And then he says of the tribe of Benjamin. So I have the blood. I'm a hundred percent Jew is what he's saying. And the Hebrew of the Hebrews is touching the law of Pharisee.

Like I was self-righteous to a tee. I had dotted every eye and crossed every tee. Verse six, concerning zeal, I persecuted the church. How fervent was I in my belief of self-righteousness? How fervent was I and how determined and purposed was I in my unbelief?

I held the coat of Stephen while they stoned him to death. That's what Paul's saying. That happened. He held the coat of Stephen, one of God's preachers, while they stoned him to death. Why? Because he preached the gospel. That's why they stoned him.

Paul said, I was persecuting the church. Touching the righteousness, which is in the law, I was blameless. You couldn't have found one thing in me, or that I did, whereby you could have said, okay, Paul, you're a sinner. No, I was blameless before the law.

But what things were gained to me, I counted loss for Christ. Yea, doubtless, I counted 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 be found in him, not having my 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've titled this message, where is my confidence? Where is my confidence?

He just told us that the righteousness, which is of the law, is my own righteousness. That's what he's saying in verse nine. and be found in him, not having my own righteousness, which is of the law." So if I have a righteousness by the law, that means it's my righteousness. It's a self-righteousness. Why is that relevant? Why is that important? Because a righteousness that is not in Christ Jesus is no righteousness at all.

The law was never given to justify men. The law was never given to save someone. The law was never given in order for us to be found righteousness. to be found righteous before God, it was given that we all may be made guilty. Guilty before God, guilty before His standard, His holiness, His perfection, was given to show that we cannot attain to His commandments. We cannot live up to His standard. We cannot work the works that's pleasing unto him in and of ourself, that we can't work a righteousness before God.

He's gonna have to provide that which he requires. That's what the law was given. Scripture says the law came by Moses, but grace and truth came by the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace and truth. Where is my confidence? That's a simple question, isn't it? Do you know the Lord's people are the only ones that are honest? I say that, I know I've said that before, but it's true. They're honest before God. They're the only ones that are honest before God.

How many people are going to say, Lord, I've done this, and Lord, I've done that? You know who's not gonna say that? The Lord's people. No, they won't. Why? Because they've been made to see him now and confess him now. They've been made to bow on this side of eternity and say, truth, Lord, you're right. In my hand, no price I bring. Father, I have nothing to give to you. I have no good works. Everything that I do, I've counted but dung. I've counted it all but loss.

All the effort that I put in, all the time I spent going to church. I've said this before, but how many of us can say in the heart, don't raise your hand, but, well, I spent a lot of time going to church. False religion, you know, did anybody relate to that? I spent a lot of time going to church. I would go wake up, where you going church? What for? Don't think I would ever, but I was asked that before. I'm just gonna go to church. That's where we're just going to church. It's what you're supposed to do, it's Sunday, right? Ain't that what you're supposed to do? Not even realizing that we were working self-righteousness. Not even realizing why we still come to church.

Well, it's actually tradition that goes all the way back. That's when they worshiped in scripture was the day after the Sabbath. That's just how it was. But it's good that we have, the Lord's made it to where we set aside a day where we can have this. I'm not complaining on the day. We don't worship a day. Sunday's not the Sabbath. Saturday is technically the Sabbath. And I promise you, I have mowed my yard plenty of times on the Sabbath. Christ is the Sabbath, isn't he?

That's the whole point. It's all about him. It's not me keeping the law. That's what Paul's saying. Everything that I thought was right was wrong. The Lord flipped me upside down on my head and everything changed. All the thoughts that I had of God and all the thoughts that I had of myself was backwards. Can you relate to that? Backwards. I had it all backwards. Upside down, wrong, sideways, however you want to say it. The Lord revealed himself. And we counted everything but loss for the excellency of Christ.

Men and women, anytime I say men or I say brethren, I'm not a sexist person. I have three daughters, I'm all for women. But that being said, I am declaring that mankind in general is an umbrella of Adam's offspring. So that being said, men look at their faithfulness to God.

Is that not true? Women look at their faithfulness to God as part of their salvation, meaning I have done something. And I've done, I've made the blood of Christ effectual. It wasn't, it didn't accomplish anything until I accepted it. Do we see that? That's what we're saying. Whenever we say, okay, I have chose, I've chosen to let the blood of Christ save me. Think about that for a second. Wait a minute. He's God.

So am I really confident in my choice? Where is my hope not in of myself? Because Paul said, everything I've counted loss. All my choices, all the words that's come out of my mouth because out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh and the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Well, now we have a serious problem. If I am the one that's choosing to accept God or reject God, I have all the power. No. No, God is sovereign. God has chosen from the foundation of the world before time ever began who and when his people would be saved.

Left to themselves, men would look to their faithfulness to God, which is broken down, honestly, and this is what I mentioned earlier that we're going to look at next week, and I've already titled that message for next week. The three parts of self-righteousness can be broken down into these three things. It can be broken down into your personal service, whether it be service to men or to God. It can be broken down into your sacrifice or my sacrifice unto men or unto God. And it can be broken down into our selflessness, our selflessness.

And all of that is umbrellaed in one word, my faithfulness to God. Am I looking to my faithfulness? Is that my confidence? Boy, I have been faithful this week. Let me tell you, I went to church three times. I haven't missed a service in 321 days. And I'm giving examples of silliness because that's, men may not say that, but yet there is a undertone of self-righteousness in the word I. There is an undertone that is a dominant tone in the word I. If I was to ask you, how do you know that you have been saved? What is your confidence? If it begins with the word I, brethren, there's a serious problem there. because I am not the result or the cause of my salvation.

Jonah was made to find himself by God's mercy, by God's providence, by God's grace, and it might not look like that, because he was in the belly of a whale. Three days and three nights, and I don't know how you all have processed that information, but me personally, the stomach has acid in it, The Lord had to keep him.

I would imagine there would have been seaweed in there. Well, it had to be pretty big for it to have Jonah inside of him. You know what I mean? Well, to have inside of it that was hitting him, how bad would that have smelled and been? It's been terrible. Well, here's what Jonah said, out of the belly of hell hath I cried. That's what he said.

And after three, and I find it so interesting that it took, and we know it's prophecy, but at the same time, three days and three nights. Then in chapter two, he cries out unto the Lord. Isn't that amazing? That says something about our pride and stubbornness, doesn't it?

Our self-righteousness. Yeah, well, I know I fled from the Lord, but I didn't deserve this. Is that not probably what the thoughts were? What would I thought be? Is that not crazy? On the third day, he was like, okay, yeah, truth, Lord, I did, I deserve this, I'm a sinner. I deserve your wrath.

And what does he say? Salvation is of the Lord. Salvation is because of the Lord. He's the first cause of it. He's the last cause of it. He is the alpha and the omega of salvation. Salvation is of the Lord. By him, all things exist. Without him, there was not anything made that was made. John chapter one. Salvation is of the Lord, meaning that he's the only one that can accomplish it. And he must give it freely by his grace. When the Lord puts us in the belly of the well, we'll realize, woe is me.

I'm undone. I count all things but dung. I count all things but loss that I may win Christ. I thought I had self-righteousness. I've done this and I have done that and I don't do this anymore. I don't do that. I've cleaned up my life. I've turned over a new leaf. There was a book that came out in the 80s, and I realized I was young back then, but maybe some of you all will remember this book. It's called The Power of Positive Thinking. Anybody remember that one? Linda says she does. What is all about being positive? And don't, you know, it's not so much that we're, this is what I've taken from researching and things. It's, you can change everything with a positive outlook. I'm all about positive outlook. If you can't change your reality, change your perspective. And what that means is for the believers, look to Christ. No matter where you find yourself, no matter the circumstance, look to Christ. Call upon him. Lord, I'm murmuring again. Save me from myself.

But what they mean by that is, If I am positive, if I do the right thing, that's what it talks about, if I do the right thing, then God will accept me. I'll be good to go because I've been positive, I've been nice to you, I've been good to you, I have done the right thing before God, I have this positive outlook on life, everything, sunshine and rainbows.

Brethren, the Lord is not looking. to you or to me as any part of our salvation. My confidence is not in my positive outlook. My confidence is not in my works or my good deeds. It's not in my selflessness, my sacrifice, or my service. It's in the sacrifice, the service, and the selflessness of Christ Jesus. There's our hope. There's our hope. Why is that our hope? He says here, well, he says this in Romans 8, so then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. That's why, that's why. So no matter what I do, I can't please God.

And I realize the more that, I got a confession for you, the more that I stand up here, the less that I use this thing and the more I talk. But the Lord brings back to me all the thoughts that I had in the notes, and so I kind of lose my place a bunch. And that's okay, but it makes for a long message sometimes, and I apologize for that. We're not even off the first page yet. What's the point?

Well, the point I'm making is, is that nothing that we can do is perfect. These words that the Lord has given me in the message that I studied for, Christ is perfect. Everything that he is in the scripture is perfect. But even if I try to preach a perfect message, I can't do it. Can't do it. It's tainted with my sin. I can't have confidence in preaching, in myself. I can have confidence in the subject, the Lord Jesus Christ. I can have confidence in his gospel. That's the point I'm trying to make. No matter how hard a man tries to be perfect, it's never gonna happen. It's never going to happen. They that are in the flesh cannot please God.

There's one that did, and it's the Lord Jesus Christ. He pleased God fully and completely, and he is the believer's confidence. He is our hope of eternal life. He is our only resting place, not myself, not my choices, not my sacrifice, service, or selflessness, not my faithfulness.

What does the Lord say? What did the writer say unto the Lord? Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but into thy name be all glory and honor and praise. Can you say that? Why? If you say yes, why can you say that? Because the Lord's made him all of our confidence, all of our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. We have no confidence in our flesh.

It's abundantly true that if we are left to ourself, we will look to the physically seen things of this life. And I would remind us what Paul said by the inspiration of the spirit in the book of Corinthians, that the things which are seen are temporal. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my word shall not pass away, the Lord said. But he goes on to say, but the things which are not seen are eternal. Those are the things that the Lord's people strive for, the eternal things. Can you see yourself, and if you can, it's by God's grace, first and foremost, has the Lord, I probably should say it this way, has the Lord caused us to see ourself, not just as getting older, We all see ourself getting older.

You know, you get a gray hair. You wake up and you start cracking and popping like you never did before. I mean, you could see yourself getting older. That's not what I'm talking about. Can you see yourself as dying? You realize that's the end of this, right? I mean, that's the reality and the truth of it, that we're born dying. The clock is ticking. The clock is ticking. And nothing I can do can slow it down or change it.

I read a book. All right, I did not read that book. I'm so sorry. I saw a book. I did not read. You'll think it's funny when I tell you the name of it. It's like, why would you read that? It says, How Not to Die. I didn't read that. The doctor was talking to me. I might have mentioned this to you before. And she said, you really need to read this book. You take supplements, take care of yourself. She said, you need to read this. It says, How Not to Die. And I was like, I don't need to read that. I'm pretty sure I'm dying.

It is appointed unto men once to die, and after this, the judgment. I got an appointment, you do too, and it's just how it is. God is only pleased with Christ. And what I do in this blip of time that we are in, what you do in this blip of time is not going to determine, it's not going to change, it's not going to help or hurt my eternal destiny. It was determined before the foundation of the world. Greg read this to us last Sunday.

It's 2 Corinthians 1.9. You know I quote this one pretty often, but it says, God saved us and called us, not according to our works, as Paul's saying right here, not according to our works, but according to what? His own purpose and grace, which was given to us, his people, before time ever began, before the world ever began. God chose to save the people.

There's my confidence. I see myself as dying. I see myself as making all the wrong choices. I see the frailty of myself. Next time you hurt yourself on accident, don't hurt yourself on purpose, of course. I guess I shouldn't have to say accident. Next time you hurt yourself on accident, That's all because of sin. That's all because of frailty. Our frailty in the scripture clearly says, the soul that sinneth shall surely die. The wages of sin is death. That was the curse back in the garden. And you know why we were cursed in Adam back in the garden?

They looked on the physical. Exactly what Paul's talking about. They had confidence. I can choose that fruit and be like God. That's what it was all about. That's what it was all about. And the Lord said, in the day that you eat thereof, you shall surely, what?

Die. Die. We are, I'm a dying man preaching to dying men and women about the only one who can save us from ourself. The only one who conquered death. The only one, and the scripture even talks about this, says it could not hold him. He could not be holden of it. He had to be released from death because he was righteous, he was perfect, he was just, he was holy, he was good. Therefore, he says, O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? We don't have to die the second death. We live eternally. The Lord came to save the soul. Our flesh is not going to get better, it's going to continue to get worse and worse and worse. Do you see yourself as getting worse or better? Is my confidence in that I'm getting better? Am I getting better?

No? No, after Wednesday night, I was talking to somebody and We looked at that passage, it talks about secret sins, but after that it talks about presumptuous sins. And I've never really entered into that, but the sin that we do that we know better, and yet we find ourself doing it anyways. And perhaps we think for a second, well, it'll be OK. It'll be all right. Our flesh loves to do that. I don't know. We're just deformed. I mean, honestly, we're just polluted. We're corrupt. But yet the new man is like, oh, Lord, I did not. I don't want to sin. I don't want to do that unto you. I want to do what's right, what's good.

And the most interesting part is the new man is the only one that takes full ownership of the sin of the old man. The old man don't take ownership of anything. He's prideful and arrogant. But the new man is created in righteousness, so it's seen as perfect before the Lord. It has no sin. Isn't that amazing?

Brethren, our presumptuous sins, our secret sins, the sin that we do that we don't even mean to, the subconscious, that's a good way to put it, our subconscious. See, how often we do that, subconsciously sinning against the Lord. The Lord put them all away for the sacrifice of himself.

All of the times that we might have said, oops, I did not mean to do that. I know that that was wrong. I wish I hadn't have said that. I wish I hadn't have done this. I can't correct it. I can't fix it. Lord have mercy on me, the sinner. What does the Lord say? If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous. Don't examine your life and say, OK, I'm getting better because I don't do those presumptuous sins anymore. I don't have secret sin.

The Lord knows everything. The Lord knew everything about you before we ever did it. He knows the beginning. He wrote the book. He wrote everything. He knows all of it. He purposed all of it. He's God. The Lord has to save us completely because we're gonna continue in the way that we are by nature otherwise. And he says, I will.

Come unto me, all you that are labored and are heavy laden. Do you feel the burden of sin upon you? Do you feel the guilt and the shame of self-righteousness? Come to Christ. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me for I am meek and lowly of heart and you shall find rest to your soul for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. There's no more work to be done. There's no more work to be done. The work is finished.

When the Lord chose by himself to save his people before time ever began, he also chose to send Christ Jesus into the world at the appointed time, being born of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might be made righteous. God became a man and lived this life in our place as our substitute, as our surety, taking on the full penalty of what our sin cost, taking on the full wrath of what God required for that sin to be put away. What the hell that we deserve. That's what Christ Jesus endured on the cross. Scripture says he bore our sin in his body on the tree.

And yet we see the miraculous and we call it transaction. I hate to call it that because it just seems so. Simple so. Not as in-depth as I'd like for it to. It was so much more than just a transaction. No, he says, God hath made him to be sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Everything that happened with the Lord's soul being made an offering for sin, everything that God required was everything we cannot produce, that we cannot do, We can't even think it. Think about that. We can't even think it.

And yet he did it. He did it by himself. Scripture says when he had by himself, by himself purged our sin, he sat down. Paul here initially is dealing with the circumcision of the flesh, which was the token, as we heard a few Sundays ago, given unto Abraham and to Israel of the Lord's promise, a promise of the Messiah, a token of the covenant. That's all it was, was a token. It wasn't for righteousness. It was because Christ was their righteousness.

We see that, right? Um, we are planning to take the Lord's table this morning. That is a token given. We don't literally think that we are ingesting the body of Christ or the blood of Christ. No, that's cannibalism. No, we are confessing that it's his blood alone, that it's his body alone. That is our righteousness before God. That was a token given.

And yet men will take the Lord's table, as I just mentioned, and the men, men and women will take, uh, cutting away the flesh. And that may not be circumcision in general. It could just be, I don't do that anymore. I have, I have prevented myself from having that pleasure anymore. That's cutting away the flesh.

Do we see that? And they make it a righteousness. He's dealing with that in Romans chapter three, turn with me there. What advantage, verse 1, Romans 3, what advantage then hath the Jew? Or what profit is there of circumcision? Much every way chiefly because that unto them were committed the oracles of God.

For what if some did not believe? Shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect? Well that's an interesting question isn't it? Do you see what that's asking? He's saying here if some don't believe that we're circumcised does that make the faith of God without any effect? If they chose to cut away the flesh and yet did not believe, does that mean God's faith is rendered void? No. No, God, look what he says.

For what if, for verse four, God forbid. Yea, let God be true, and every man a liar, as it is written, though thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged. But if our unrighteousness commend the righteousness of God, what shall we say? Is God unrighteous who taketh vengeance? I speak as a man. God forbid. For then how shall God judge the world? For if the truth of God hath more abounded through my lie unto his glory, yet am I also judged as a sinner and not rather as we be slanderously reported and as some affirm that we say, let us do evil that good may come whose damnation is just."

What is he talking about here? He's saying that you have so many people that are saying, okay, well, because I'm a sinner and I am super unrighteous, Therefore, I'm counted righteous before God because I've cut away the flesh. That's what he's saying. I am I am super. And he's saying, is that true? And he says, God forbid. No, God forbid. That's that's not the case at all. He's saying, no, God is just. God is right. God is righteous. Let us do evil that good may come whose damnation is just just.

No, he's not saying that at all. He's asking them. He's asking them literally what they are saying. He's saying, this is what you're saying. And that's completely wrong. That's completely wrong. Their damnation is just because they're saying, well, let's do evil that good may come of it. The more sinful I become, and then I cut away the flesh, the more I do, God will be pleased with me. And even if I become, the worse I become, the better off I am. He's saying, no, no, that's not how it works at all. He's saying, there's no flesh shall be justified by the deeds of the law. There's no flesh that should be justified by the cutting away of the flesh. And if you are the Lord, your desire is not to do evil that the Lord would render good unto you.

Your desire is to look to Christ, look to Christ alone. Look at verse 9. Now this is a very predominant verse. Verse 11, pay attention to this. There is none. And I always ask this question because as I read it, I try to make sure to take note of certain words. When the Lord says none, what does that mean? And it may sound like a rhetorical question because it kind of is, but truthfully ask yourself, what does none mean? I fall underneath that category as none and you do too. Verse 11, there is none that understandeth. There is none that seeketh after God. They are all going out of the way. They are all together become unprofitable. There is none that doeth good, no, not one. None.

So regardless of whether I think cutting away the flesh is the proper avenue to God, or I think going ahead and living a frivolous life because God will see me as a worse sinner and he'll save me then, or whether I think I can obligate God by what I do or do not do, none seeketh after God in the flesh. If I believe my keeping of the law, my service, my sacrifice, or my selflessness is the reason God will save me, there's none that seeketh after God.

So what is my hope? Well, here's what the Lord says about these individuals. Look at verse 13. This is the reason. There is no fear of God before their eyes. What does he mean an opulent sepulcher? Well, I remind you that's a tomb that's above ground. Open sepulcher simply means is the mouth is open. The Lord can see all the way down to the heart. Lord knows the truth. We can't fool God. We can't fool God.

So what is our hope? Well, he tells us in verse 19, now we know. whatsoever things the Law saith, it saith to them that are under the Law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the Law there shall no flesh be justified in His sight, for by the Law is the knowledge of sin." Now if he stopped right there we'd be in a little bit of trouble because now we have nothing really that gives us a whole lot of hope.

But he doesn't stop there he interjects with, but, and I like the word but because that's the Lord's interjection of the Gospel a lot of the times. He may say yet, he may say but, it just depends. But that's where the Lord inserts the good news. And here it is, 21, but now the righteousness of God without the law is manifest.

It was witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe, for there is no difference. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. whom God has set forth to be the propitiation through faith in his blood to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are passed to the forbearance of God. That's our hope. That's our hope, that God sent forth his son into this world that he may be the propitiation for our sin, that God would give us the faith of Christ, not my faith in Christ, his faith bestowed freely. The faith that God requires, the perfect faith we cannot produce.

And that I may look at him as my righteousness, not my deeds or my works or my do's or my don'ts, but the faithfulness of Christ, his service, his selflessness, his sacrifice unto the Lord. Verse 26, to declare, I say at this time, his righteousness, that he might be just and the justifier of him, which believe in Jesus.

Somebody said, well, I believed in Jesus and I made a good choice, but what does it say here? And I just said the word, I, did you see that? I just said, I, I did. I believed. Well, what does he say? Verse 27, where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? Nay, but by the law of faith.

Faith bestowed. He just told us it was the faith of Christ. It's the faith of God given. Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. What does he mean you're justified by faith? Faith is the evidence that God has justified you. If the Lord has given you faith to believe, it's because God has justified you at the cross of Calvary. Before the world ever began, we were justified in Christ. And then in time at the cross of Calvary, the Lord justified all of his people. How do we know? Because he says he was raised for our justification. He was raised because of our justification. We, let's finish this here. Let's just read verse, uh, 29, is he the God of the Jews only? Is he not also the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also, seeing it as one God which shall justify the circumcision by faith and uncircumcision through faith.

Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid we establish the law. How do you establish the law? By faith. Well, what is faith? Faith is the substance of things hoped for. Well, what's the substance of things hoped for? Christ. Then he says he's the evidence of things not seen. What's the things not seen? Christ. So what does faith do? It looks to Christ alone. Where does it come from? It's the faith of Christ. Go back to our text, Philippians chapter three.

Verse nine, 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. By faith. The Lord gives faith unto his people because he made them perfectly righteous on the cross of Calvary.

In time, by the preaching of his gospel, he comes unto a sinner and he says unto them, live. We're born dead in trespasses and in sin, the scripture says. And at his appointed time, he says, live. We become alive unto him and he gives us faith to believe him because we were made righteous, because he justified his people, he sanctified his people, he glorified his people.

There's no other work to be done. The Lord is not a liar. And whenever he bowed his head on Calvary's cross, he said, it is finished. The work was accomplished and God was satisfied. No longer do we look to the things of this flesh or keeping of the law or our service, sacrifice or selflessness. And you might as well get used to those three words. I won't be saying those a lot here in the future, probably. Service, sacrifice, selflessness. It's not about us, is it? That's about him. It's about him. It's about his service, his selflessness, his sacrifice.

What is my confidence? Well, if it's in me, I have no hope. It's in me, I have no hope. But if my hope. Is in Christ alone, I have hope. I have hope because. My confidence is not in something I do, which is tainted with sin. It's not in something I do that I can mess up. How many times have you set out to do something and you messed it up? You can't count that high, can you? Neither can I. You know what the good news is? The Lord don't remember it. He said in their sin and their iniquity, I'll remember no more. He don't remember the sin of his people because he put it away.

Isn't that glorious? All the times you've made a mistake, all the times you messed up, all the times you sin, if you're in Christ, He doesn't see that. He sees the righteousness of Christ. He sees the blood of Christ. And he says, I am well pleased with my good and faithful servant. Isn't that glorious?

Every time I've tried to help my wife can something, I know I use this example a lot. I learn not to touch it. We talked about that already. I know not to touch it. I got that. Don't touch the cans until they're completely sealed. I understand. Got that.

But even when I try to put the stuff in the thing, I might not tighten the lids up too much and they explode or something. No matter what I do, it just seems like everything, I just use canning because it's relatable. I mean, I went to pull an oil plug out of the truck the other day and got oil everywhere, all over myself, all over the driveway, all over my head. I was like, well, that's not good. How'd that happen? Well, it don't matter how it happened. I wasn't trying to do that. Why did I do that? It was a mistake. It was an accident. Was it sinful? Well, because I did it, it was. What's my point?

My point is I can't have confidence in what I do if I can't even pull an oil plug out of a truck. without making a mess. Can you relate to that? How many times have you tried to cook something and it burnt or fell apart? How many times have we tried to do something, men? I can fix that. You ever heard that, ladies, from your men? I can fix that. Babe, I don't know if I can fix this or not. I may have to call somebody on this one. Now we've got YouTube, so we look like champions a lot of times. Just give me a few minutes. What are you doing? Nothing. Looking on YouTube.

And yet we still can't have confidence in ourself, can we? Not when it comes to salvation. Not when it comes to the things of the Lord. There's some things in this flesh the Lord gives us confidence in, working with our hands and planting a garden, but it's the Lord that gives the increase, isn't it? We have confidence in Him alone. Lord, you're gonna have to give the increase or we have no hope. We have no hope.

Paul was made to forsake everything he thought of God. Everything he used to think of God, he's like, I had that all wrong. He was made to forsake himself, made to forsake his works, made to forsake everything that he did. He said, and here's the reason why, because I have to have his righteousness, not my own, not my own. Can you imagine, that was his lifelong endeavor. His lifelong, I mean, he was not a young man. This was a lifelong endeavor, and yet, when the Lord called him, he counted it all but loss, because he had to have the righteousness of God. The Lord gave him that. He was made to say, later on, I have no confidence in the flesh. He also made to say, in me that is in my flesh will look no good thing.

Can you agree with that? If you can, it's because God has made Christ your only hope and confidence. The title of this message is, Where Is My Confidence? I was gonna put what, but it's not a what, it's a who. And we could say, who is my confidence? Is it me or is it Christ? But where, where does my confidence lie? In myself or in him? If it's in him, I have a good confidence. I have a blessed hope. But if it's in me, I have no hope. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we ask that you would take this and bless it according to your will and purpose. In Christ's name, amen. Let's take a break.

Where is My Confidence?

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about self-righteousness?

How do we know our righteousness comes from Christ?

Why is confidence in Christ important for Christians?

What does it mean to count all things as loss for Christ?

Sermon Transcript

About Caleb Hickman

Comments

Articles

Featured Authors

Podcast

Sermons

Featured Preachers

Books

Browse by Format

Music

Recent Comments

About

Legal

Subscribe

Account

Articles

Featured Authors

Podcast

Recent Comments

Sermons

Featured Preachers

Books

Browse by Format

Collections

Music

About

Legal

Subscribe

Where is My Confidence?

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about self-righteousness?

How do we know our righteousness comes from Christ?

Why is confidence in Christ important for Christians?

What does it mean to count all things as loss for Christ?

Sermon Transcript

About Caleb Hickman

Comments

More from Caleb Hickman

Related Sermons

Same Scripture

Suggested for You

Where this book stands in the tradition

Plato

Augustine

The Western Christian Tradition

This Book