In Jason Dohm's sermon 'Two Kinds of Righteousness,' he explores the distinction between righteousness from the law and righteousness from God by faith. Using Philippians 3:9, Dohm argues that Paul is cautioning against reliance on self-achieved righteousness, emphasizing that true righteousness is only attained through faith in Christ. Dohm illustrates this by referencing Paul's rejection of his own exemplary religious resume in favor of faith-based righteousness. The sermon discusses the limitations of the law, which cannot grant life, and instead serves to highlight human sinfulness, driving individuals to Christ. The concept of the 'great exchange' is central, where believers' sins are placed on Christ, who bears God's wrath, and Christ's righteousness is imputed to believers. Dohm stresses that faith, not as a work but as a means to grasp Jesus' righteousness, is key to salvation. The sermon concludes by urging listeners to abandon confidence in their own deeds and fully embrace the righteousness that comes from faith in Jesus.

So I will be reading Philippians chapter 3 verses 1 through 11 and the sermon text is verse Nine okay Finally my brethren rejoice in the Lord For me to write the same things to you is not tedious, but for you it is safe. Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the mutilation. For we are the circumcision who worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh, though I also might have confidence in the flesh. If anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh, I more so circumcise the eighth day of the stock of Israel of the tribe of Benjamin a Hebrew of the Hebrews concerning the law a Pharisee concerning zeal persecuting the church concerning the righteousness which is in the law blameless But what things were gained to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ, and be found in him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being conformed to his death, if by any means I may attain the resurrection from the dead." Let's pray.

Dear Heavenly Father, I pray that as we hear your word preached, you will humble us that we will hear your word and that we will not put up any defense to the gospel, but that we will listen as it is your word from your mouth. Please send your Holy Spirit to speak through Jason. Please Help us to apply your word to our lives. Help us to be a changed people. In Jesus' name, Amen.

The title of the sermon this morning is, two kinds of righteousness. Paul, in this letter, in the particular verse that we're studying today, that's what he's doing. He's setting in front of our eyes the two kinds of righteousness so that we understand the distinction between the two of them. Last week in verse 1, the text began with the word finally, which is simply a normal literary transition in Greek. So, when we see the word finally there, we can't think he's getting ready to wrap it up, because we're really only at about the halfway point.

He's not getting ready to wrap it up, but he is transitioning to a completely new topic. And what Paul began to do in last week's text is to inoculate the Philippian Church against anyone who would tell them they could put any confidence whatsoever in the flesh. What is it to inoculate? Guys, it's sounding really live. Can you pull it down just a bit?

To inoculate, this is vaccination. This is what we want to do to prepare our bodies to fight off something that's dangerous. So we give different kinds of vaccines. And it makes your body ready to fight off an attack. So this is what Paul is doing.

Think of it in those terms. Paul is inoculating, he's vaccinating the Philippian church against a terrible danger, which is the view that out of our flesh we can earn a right standing with God. And He goes particularly to circumcision because people have been traveling around saying you must be circumcised to be saved. Paul is saying no, circumcision has no value for salvation. You cannot put any confidence in anything that the flesh can produce when salvation and being clean before God, having a right standing before God is in view.

So Paul is waging a war here. He's making an all-out assault on trusting in self. Here's his strategy. He's waging a war against us trusting in ourselves. He's got a strategy in doing it, and it's this.

He builds out his resume, which is better than 100% of any Gentile who's ever lived, way beyond, way better than any Gentile that's ever lived, and better than 99.9999% of any Jew that has ever lived. And then he crumples it up and throws it in the trash can, not as something that, as a really good resume, would be close to earning a right standing with God, but a resume as good as it is compared to yours is a million miles away from being right standing in God. This is his strategy, to get us to give up building a resume for our standing with God. We saw his resume last week, it's way better than my resume. So It makes me pause when I see Paul crumple his up and fling it to the trash can.

It makes me stop in resume building for myself, for a right standing before God. This is what he's intending to do. Paul's resume is not close to right standing before God. In fact, in what we study next week, he's going to say it's rubbish. It's not a near miss from righteousness.

It's rubbish. It's a million miles away from what it takes to stand clean before God. So if his resume is trash, your resume is double trash. You should give up now and find something else to hope in. Of course, Paul is going to offer us that hope.

In our section now, in verses 7-11, there are two big themes in verses 7-11. The first is losing to gain Christ. Losing to know Christ. What you lose and what you gain. It's about rightly valuing things.

And then the second big theme in 7-11 is the two kinds of righteousness. This is what we have in verse 9. And This fits perfectly with last week's text where Paul says, if anybody can have confidence in the flesh it has to be me, but I'm balling up my resume and throwing it in the trash. Now I'm throwing away this kind of righteousness so I can have the other kind of righteousness. So this week we're going to carve out verse 9 and just talk about verse 9.

In order that, next week we can go treat the other, two weeks from now, we can go treat the other major theme which is losing to gain Christ, losing to know Christ. So that's what we're doing. As we go to the text, let's go to the text in prayer. God we want to be done with our own righteousness, and to receive Your righteousness, to embrace it, to spurn any other kind of righteousness, to have the righteousness from God by faith. God, I pray that you would humble us, you would strip us of every bit of pride, strip us from every bit of self-sufficiency and Bring us to a right thinking about this, so we will abandon trying to earn a right standing before you, and we'll rest in Christ.

Oh, please accomplish this in our hearts, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. I want to read verse 9, it really starts in the middle of a sentence, but you'll be able to follow. Read verse 9 and then I'm going to spend the whole time just talking about verse 9. And be found in Him, be found in Christ, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith.

So here in verse 9, very simply, are the two different kinds of righteousness. Let's look at them in sequence. First we have the righteousness from the law. If you're filling in the blank on the handout, it's law. The righteousness from the law.

There are two kinds of righteousness. The first one that Paul puts before our eyes is the righteousness from the law. Paul says this, this would be my own righteousness. It would be earned righteousness. Nobody gives this to you, It's your own.

You've earned it. Your efforts are the source of this righteousness. The righteousness that is from the law. You exert yourself and you achieve. Those efforts and achievements are the source of that kind of righteousness.

Now, let's define our terms. What is righteousness? Righteousness is very simply doing what is right. Who defines what is right? God, the Maker, defines what is right and what is wrong.

He has given us his definitions of what is good and what is evil. Essentially, in his Word he has said, here are these things. They are consistent with the perfections of my character, so my creatures have to do these things because they are consistent with what I am like. And there are these other things that are inconsistent in every way with the perfections of my character, with what I'm like. So my creatures must never do those things because they're nothing like me.

They're the things that I hate. So if you can do that, if you can go to God's definitions of what is right and do right, then you can have the righteousness from the law. If you can do the things that are consistent with the perfections of his character and not do any of the things that are inconsistent with the things that he abhors, the perfections of his character, then you can have your own righteousness. You can have a righteousness which is from the law. Listen to what he says in Romans 10 verse 5.

In Romans 10 verse 5, Paul says, For Moses writes about the righteousness which is of the law, The man who does those things shall live by them. So in Romans 10 verse 5, Paul quotes Moses. And here's what Moses says about this kind of righteousness. The righteousness which is from the law. Exactly what we are talking about in verse 9 of our text.

Here is what Moses says, the man who does those things shall live by them. You do, you live. It is a really simple formula. The righteousness from the law is simple. It is an earned righteousness that comes from doing, earning, achieving.

If you can do it, you can have it. The Bible makes two key clarifications about this, so that you understand what God through Moses means when He says, if you do it, you can have it. If you do these things, you can live by having accomplished that. Accomplish that. The first clarification is this.

This doing includes actions, but it also includes thoughts and words. The doing to earn life is not just what my arms and legs do, it also has to do with what my brain and my mouth does. Listen to Jesus in Matthew 5, 21 and 22. Jesus says, this is Matthew 5, 21 and 22, you have heard that it was said to those of old, you shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment." Jesus is quoting one of the ten commandments, the sixth commandment, you shall not murder. He says you've heard that if you murder you'll be in danger of the judgment.

In other words, this law is about doing. It's about what your arms and legs do. That's what people were saying then. Verse 22, I say to you, but Jesus says that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother, rocka, which means you fool, shall be in danger of the council.

But whoever says, you fool, shall be in danger of hellfire. Sorry, raka would be an even more profane pronouncement on your brother. The saying at the time was, if you say, "'Raka, ' we'll drag you in front of the magistrate.' But Jesus says, if you call your brother a fool, then you're in danger of hellfire. The saying at the time was, doing is a violation of the law. If your arms and legs commit murder, then you are guilty of violating the sixth commandment.

But Jesus says, no, no, no, it's not to be restricted to that. It's to include what you think about your brother in your heart, even if your arms and legs never do anything about it. So, if you hate your brother in your heart without a cause, you're guilty of violating the sixth commandment about murder because it, Matthew Henry says it's heart murder. Your arms and legs never engaged, but your your heart engaged and so you're guilty. And Matthew Henry calls it lip murder.

Mouth murder. Again, your arms and legs never did anything to harm your neighbor, but you said you fool, and so you're in danger of hell because you violated the sixth commandment, you shall not murder. You committed lip murder or heart murder, not just arms and legs murder. The first clarification is this, This doing to earn a righteous standing before God includes your actions, but it is not limited to your actions. It also includes your thoughts and your words.

Here is the second clarification about the righteousness from the law. Righteousness from the law. Only one instance of law breaking is required to make you a law breaker. This is an incredibly important clarification that is absolutely explicitly taught in Scripture. One instance of law breaking makes you a law breaker, period.

Listen to James chapter 2 verses 10 and 11. James just says it so clearly. Period. For whoever shall keep the whole law and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty He is guilty of all. For he who said, Do not commit adultery, also said, Do not commit murder.

If you do not commit adultery, but you do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. In other words, what James is teaching is, the law stands or falls as a unit. As a unified body of the righteous standard of God. So you can't say, I'm innocent of murder, but I'm guilty as an adulterer, or vice versa. One instance, If you keep the whole law, but you violated it at one point, you're simply a law breaker.

You've taken yourself out of a right standing with God, and you've made yourself a rebel by one instance. There is a righteousness from the law, from law keeping. If you do those things, you'll live by them. Moses says that about this kind of righteousness from the law. But the two clarifications, just so you have this firm in your mind, if you want on that track, then it is true that it's not just what your arms and legs do, but what's in your heart and what your mouth says.

And that One instance of law breaking makes you a law breaker. And there's no way to reverse that. You can't earn your way out of that hole. Now you can say, we don't like that kind of righteousness, but that is what the creature has as a duty to offer up to God. So be very careful by saying that's a bad kind of righteousness because that's Jesus's kind of righteousness.

Nobody gave Jesus anything for his righteousness. His righteousness is derived from his complete, cheerful, thankful, every minute of every day obedience to his father. So before you say, we don't like that kind of righteousness, just understand that the righteousness which is from the law is Jesus' righteousness. Nobody gave him anything for his righteousness. He deserves his right standing before God.

He perfectly kept the law. Every one of the laws, all the time. These two clarifications terrify me. That it's not just my actions, but also what's happening in my heart, or what I'm saying with my words, but it doesn't terrify Jesus. He still gets over that bar.

He still meets all those criteria. All of his actions, all of his thoughts, All of his words, all of the time, no problem for Jesus. It terrifies me when I see that one instance of law breaking makes me a law breaker from which there is no return. But that doesn't bother Jesus. That's not a problem for Jesus.

He doesn't have that one instance of law breaking. But no other man or woman or child has ever attained the righteousness from the law, or could ever attain the righteousness from the law, because sin came into the world and corruption came, and you don't stand a chance. The Bible clearly teaches that this is not what the law is for. The law was never given to save you. The law was never given to save me.

The law was never given so that we could make ourselves righteous. Turn to Galatians chapter 3. Galatians chapter 3. You need to go there so you can see this. Galatians chapter 3 is one of these key passages.

This is really Paul's own exposition of verse 9 from our text. So we'll let him preach. Galatians chapter 3, I'll be reading verses 19 through 25. Paul writes, Galatians 3, 19, What purpose then does the law serve? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed, capital S seed, Jesus, should come to whom the promise was made.

And it was appointed through angels by the hand of a mediator. Now a mediator does not mediate for one only, but God is one. Is the law then against the promises of God? Certainly not. For if there had been a law given, which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law." Now listen to that again.

For if there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law. What is the reverse of saying that? There is not a law that can give life. Not with corruption in the world. There is not a law that can give life.

Not with corruption in the world. There is not a law that can give life. If there would have been, God would have given it and righteousness would have been by the law. Verse 22, But the Scripture has confined all under sin that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed.

Therefore, the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. Paul says a couple of things here that are incredibly important as he explains to us the relationship between these two kinds of righteousness here. The first thing is that the law cannot impart life. It was never intended to.

God did not give us the law in order to explain to us how we could earn a right standing before Him. The law cannot impart life. It was never intended by God to impart life. The second thing that He says here, which is also incredibly important, is the law is a tutor. The law is a teacher.

What is it teaching us? You're condemned. You're a law breaker. Because God puts it, He writes it in stone. He puts it in black and white so every time you go to it you see, I'm breaking that.

I'm short of that. It's God's holy standard given to us not to impart life to us, but to see that we're dead in our sins and transgressions. It's not given so that you can earn life. It's given so that you can see you're dead. I'm a dead man, according to this.

If this is the standard, God's standard, the things that I must do to act in accordance with the perfections of His character and the things that I must not do to stay away from the things that He abhors that are completely inconsistent with the perfections of his character. If I have to always do that in my deeds and thoughts and the words that I speak in order to live by them, I am dead. That is the whole point. The law is a tutor. It's supposed to teach you that so that you run to Christ.

So that you give up on your resume building and say, I could never build a good enough resume to come back from where I am now. I have to hope in something else, and you go to Christ for mercy." This is the purpose of the law. Now I think I should say this. That does not mean that the law has no function after a person is saved. Don't draw that conclusion from Galatians 3.

If you come to Galatians 3 and learn the truth here, but then draw another conclusion that the law has no value and no role in your life after you become saved, then there are other passages that will correct us on that. I'm not touching any more of that today, but I'm just saying you cannot draw that conclusion here because there are other texts that teach us that no, the law does have an important role in the life of a Christian after you're saved, but it has nothing to do with salvation. Here's a summary of where we are in the righteousness from the law. The righteousness from the law is an earned righteousness, which is earned through law keeping. But it must be complete law keeping.

One breach means you're dead. And it includes actions and thoughts and words. And In the history of the world with the billions of people who have come and gone, Jesus Christ is the only one who has attained to the righteousness from the law. Abraham can't lay claim to this righteousness. Moses can't lay claim to this righteousness.

David can't lay claim to this righteousness. The high priests cannot lay claim to this righteousness. The Apostle Paul does not lay claim to this righteousness. He says, what I would have to offer is rubbish. Only Jesus has fulfilled the law, period.

Amen. Only Jesus. So that's the righteousness from the law. Now, the second kind of righteousness. There is another kind of righteousness, the righteousness from God by faith.

So if you're filling in blanks, it's God-faith. The righteousness from God by faith. Here's something I had never noticed before. I don't know how many times I've read Philippians, a lot of times. Never noticed this.

It's not the righteousness from the law and the righteousness from faith. It is not that. It is the righteousness from the law and the righteousness from faith. It is not that. It is the righteousness from the law and the righteousness from God.

Look at verse 9. It is not righteousness from the law, righteousness from faith. It is righteousness from law, righteousness from God, By faith. This is a key point, lest we turn faith into a work. If you say, these are the two competing kinds of righteousness, righteousness from law keeping and righteousness from faith, you are in great danger of turning faith into a work that then has earned you the right standing before God.

I believed. I figured it out. I did the magic thing. Faith is not a work that earns us a right standing with God. Faith is how We lay hold of Jesus' righteousness.

It's a righteousness from God. What's the mechanism for that? Faith. From God. It's Jesus' righteousness, and you just lay hold of it by faith.

Faith is not a work. Faith is a gift so that you won't boast about it. Faith is a gift, not a work. Faith is how we lay hold of Jesus' right standing with God. That's how you get your hand on it.

Paul is contrasting righteousness, which is our own, with righteousness which is not our own. It's from God by faith. So this is not a righteousness from faith, where faith is the source of the righteousness, but a righteousness through faith in Christ, where Christ is the source of the righteousness. And now if you have this saving faith, you are found in Him. That is how verse 9 starts.

This is the beginning of verse 9 again. And be found in Him. Faith does that. You lay hold of the person and the work of Jesus Christ by faith, and then you are in Him. You are found in Him.

God finds you in Christ. Listen to what Colossians 3.3 says, For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. This is what faith does. You die. When you lay hold of Christ by faith, you die and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

God can't find the sinner anymore. Where's the sinner? Swallowed up in Christ. So faith, the full Transfer of trust to the person and work of Jesus Christ. I'm picking my words carefully here.

I'm reading off the page, not ad-libbing. Faith, I'm defining faith as a full transfer of trust to the person and work of Christ. It's the person and work. Not just anybody can die on the cross. It matters who's dying on the cross.

That it's Jesus who as the God-man could perfectly fulfill the law and have, and really be righteous according to the law. That is what has to be offered up. It is not just faith in any old person who dies on the cross. It matters who it is. So it's faith in a person and his work.

It brings us into the great exchange. Turn to 2 Corinthians 5. I heard Michael Templeton preach 2 Corinthians 5 all the way across Malawi, So it was right on the top of my brain. Maybe I should invite them up. 2 Corinthians 5.

We have to know 2 Corinthians 5, 20 and 21. You have to know them. You should memorize 2 Corinthians 5. Because faith brings us into the great exchange, which is the Gospel, and is given to us in the most concise terms. Listen to 2 Corinthians 5, or read along, hopefully, 2 Corinthians 5, 20 and 21.

Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God. Be reconciled to God. For he made him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in him." So you got two verses that are very different. Verse 20, Paul is writing to Corinthian Christians, and he's saying that God sends His people as ambassadors, with a message, to speak on His behalf to rebels, to those who are in rebellion to God, that they should be reconciled with God, that they stand condemned.

He sends us as messengers, as ambassadors, He sends Christians as ambassadors to declare to those who are dead in sins and transgressions, those who stand condemned, that they are condemned and they must be reconciled to God. And then, verse 21 is the basis for bringing together a holy God with people who rightly stand condemned. Verse 21 is the basis for reconciliation between God and man. For He, God, made Him, Jesus, who knew no sin, totally undefiled, fulfilled the law in every way to be sin for us. So to take our sins on His completely undefiled self.

That we might become the righteousness of God in Him, trading places. The sins of the sinner transferred to the undefiled Son of God, and He bears the brunt of God's anger. And the right standing that He deserves before God, given to you in its place. The gospel is never more glorious than 2 Corinthians 5, 21. He gets your sin and God's anger towards your sin, which should fall on you like a hammer, falls on Christ like a hammer.

And his favor, his right standing with a holy God that he deserves, you get it in place of your sin. You get his favor. You get his right standing. So Paul takes his superior resume. It's better than yours.

It's better than mine. He wads it up and he throws it away because he sees that there is no way to gain heaven that way. There's no way to gain heaven that way. And so he turns his back on confidence in the flesh. All the best that the flesh can work up.

He turns his back on it because he knows it's a million miles away of what is required to earn heaven. He walks away from that and he runs to Christ. He throws himself on the mercy of Christ. He engages in this great exchange where his sins are transferred to Christ, and Christ bears the anger of God against Paul's sins. In place of that, Paul gets Jesus' standing with God.

The favor that Jesus deserves, Paul gets. I want to finish this section considering two things that Calvin says. Listen to these two things. They are really saying the same thing. John Calvin says this, The righteousness of the law must be given up and renounced, that you may be righteous through faith.

Papas mixed them together as if the one did not destroy the other. So understand what John Calvin is saying here, it's so important. He's saying the Roman Catholics mix up these two kinds of righteousness as if they could coexist. A little of that, a little of this, and a little of that, and God will be pleased and you go to heaven. You bring what you can and Christ will supply the rest and God will be happy with you.

John Calvin says, No! It is one or the other. They are mutually exclusive. To lay claim to the righteousness from the law is to renounce righteousness from God by faith. And conversely to lay claim to the righteousness from God by faith is to renounce the righteousness of the law.

There is no mixing them. Here's what else John Calvin says. Faith presents man before God as naked. Faith presents man before God as naked, that he may be clothed with the righteousness of Christ." What is Calvin saying here? He's saying that the process by which God brings a man or a woman or a boy or a girl to faith is a stripping process.

All the things that you thought might get you by, Stripped away by showing you that these things are rubbish. By showing you that only a fool has confidence in the flesh. He strips all that away. Faith presents a man before God as naked, then he may be clothed with the righteousness of Christ. Again, you have to renounce the old clothing.

You have to let yourself be stripped bare by truth. That's what a right reading of the Bible does. When the Spirit comes and throws light on the Bible, you're stripped bare of anything that you might have thought that you could bring that would be acceptable to this Holy God. You are stripped naked, and then you're ready to trust in Christ. Now, key passages.

I want to spend a couple of minutes on key passages that drive these things home and explain them. We must know these passages. The first was Galatians 3. It says, if there would have been a law that could have imparted life, God would have given us that law, and then righteousness would have been through law keeping. But there is none.

The law is a tutor. It's a teacher to teach you that you're condemned. We have to know that passage. The law's purpose in the life of an unbeliever is to crush you and send you running to Christ. The second text that we must know is Romans chapter 3.

Turn to Romans chapter 3. Paul speaks so clearly about the two kinds of righteousness in Romans chapter 3. Please turn there. We'll be reading verses 19-25. Romans 3, 19-25.

Rather than to read such a large section of Scripture and then try to comment it all at once, I'm going to be sprinkling my comments in as we go. Romans 3, beginning in verse 19. We know that whatever the law says, it says to those who 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, no flesh will be justified in his sight. For by the law is the knowledge of sin." I'm going to stop there for now.

As we saw in Galatians 3, it said so clearly here, the purpose of the law is to shut our mouths. So, to put us in a position where we understand that we will have no defense to offer up on our own behalf before this righteous God. It's to make us guilty before God. The whole world will be guilty before God because of the law, and by the deeds of the law, no flesh will be justified. So this door of righteousness through the law is slammed shut, here by Paul.

Now look at 21, but now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, Being witnessed by the law and the prophets. Here Paul is using the same words that he uses in Philippians 3, verse 9, the verse we've been studying this whole time. It's a righteousness apart from the law. God is revealing a second kind of righteousness that has nothing to do with law keeping on our part. He says something very interesting, being witnessed by the law and the prophets.

Righteousness from God by faith, the second kind of righteousness, is not a New Testament concept at all. Jesus didn't bring in the righteousness from God by faith. Abraham was saved by faith. Righteousness from God by faith. So it's not new with Jesus.

It was witnessed by the law and the prophets. Where in the law? All that blood sacrifice. What was the blood sacrifice for? It was for the guilty.

It was for the lawbreakers. You're getting the law, but in the law is all this about what is the way to reconcile if you break the law. Something dies. An innocent dies for the guilty, all pointing to Christ. All of this was witnessed by the law and the prophets.

Some of the most glorious, clear declarations of what Jesus did are in Old Testament prophets. They are not in the New Testament at all. Find a clearer explanation of the gospel than Isaiah 53. Find it somewhere for me. A clearer explanation of the innocent dying for the guilty.

There it is. And in a hundred other places in the prophets that were telling that a Redeemer would come. It was witnessed by the law and by the prophets. Even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ to all and on all who believe, for there is no difference for all of sin and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God sent forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith to demonstrate His righteousness. Because in His forbearance, God passed over the sins that were previously committed.

What does he mean there? God passed over those sins. The wages of sin is death. He didn't kill you right when you sinned. In His mercy, He gave you time to repent.

Verse 26, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. The blood sacrifice of Jesus Christ allows God to be both just and justifier. To maintain His righteousness again, as I've said many times, The Gospel is not God is willing to overlook sin. God is righteousness. God is righteous.

He could never overlook sin and maintain being just. But the Gospel allows Him to be just and the justifier of those who believe in Jesus Christ. Because His anger against all sin, the retribution for all sin, is satisfied either through you receiving it eternally for your own sins, or for Christ receiving it on your behalf on the cross. God is completely just and yet He is able to show mercy to sinners who repent because of the person and work of Jesus Christ. Look at verse 27, the first part of it.

Where is boasting then? It is excluded. Boasting is excluded in the righteousness from God by faith. You didn't do it. It's from God.

It's not your own righteousness. It's God's righteousness that He offers to you freely. So you don't get to boast. Small price to pay. Our boasting is in Christ.

You do get to boast. You can boast in Christ. Turn to Romans 9. This is the last text we'll be in, but this is another key passage. We have to know Romans 9, beginning in 30 and going through chapter 10 verse 10.

So it's one continuous text, Romans 9 beginning in verse 30 and just extending in 10 verses into chapter 10. What shall we say then? That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness of faith. But Israel pursuing the law of righteousness has not attained to the law of righteousness. Let's stop there for a moment.

Here we have the sovereignty of God and salvation. You have Gentiles, they're not pursuing righteousness. They've got their own wisdom, they have their own form of righteousness, they really have nothing to do with God and They want nothing to do with God, and yet God reaches into the earth and says, these Gentiles are mine. I'm going to cleanse them of their sins, even though they weren't looking for it. They were doing nothing to pursue righteousness, but they attained it.

Meanwhile, the Jews who were chasing after righteousness from the law have not attained it. Paul in the next verses is going to explain this. Look at verses 32 and 33. Why? Why did the Gentiles, who weren't pursuing righteousness, get it?

When the Jews, who were pursuing righteousness through the law, they didn't get it. Why? Because they did not seek it by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumbling stone. As it is written, behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and a rock of offense, and whoever believes on him will not be put to shame." Jesus Christ is the stumbling stone and the rock of offense.

It's explained multiple times in the New Testament, where the New Testament quotes that, and says specifically, that is Jesus. Why didn't the Jews attain to true righteousness from God by faith? It's not just a lack of knowledge. Remember, we just saw in Romans chapter 3 that righteousness from God by faith is witnessed by the law and the prophets. The Jews had the law of the prophets, so why didn't they attain to it?

Even though righteousness from God by faith is glorious, it is a stumbling block. It strips us of all pride. It robs us of all self-sufficiency. And the natural man will never stop saying, there must be another way. There must be another way where I can still get into heaven, but maintain my pride in thinking well of myself and my self-sufficiency.

There must be another way. There must be another way where I can serve myself above serving anything else and still get in. There must be another way where I can love myself above anything else and still get in. There must be another way. I'll try external law keeping.

Now, chapter 10. Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved. For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For they, being ignorant of God's righteousness and seeking to establish their own righteousness have not submitted to the righteousness of God. So we're learning here that The Jews have blindness, not lack of information.

True righteousness is witnessed by the law and the prophets. It's not lack of information, they have the information. It's blindness, and as we work our way through these verses, we see it's actual willful blindness. They would not submit to the righteousness of God, but they sought to establish their own righteousness. That's exactly what Paul is talking about in Philippians.

He's saying, not having my own righteousness which is from the law, but that which is from God by faith. Verse 4, For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. Christ is the end of the law for righteousness. Law keeping is out of the righteousness equation. Again, does that mean it has no role to play in the Christian life?

No, can't draw that conclusion from that verse. For righteousness, You cannot be saved through law keeping. You must be saved by believing through faith. Verses 5-10. For Moses writes about the righteousness which is of the law, the man who does those things shall live by them." But the righteousness of faith speaks this way, do not say in your heart, who will ascend into heaven, that is to bring Christ down from above, or who will descend into the abyss, that is to bring Christ up from the dead.

But what does it say? The Word is near you in your mouth and in your heart. That is the Word of faith which we preach. That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead. You will be saved.

For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." This is the great simplicity of the Gospel. What do you have to do to be saved, repent and believe? There are counterfeits. Really this isn't a sermon about the counterfeits. This is the sermon about the beauty and the simplicity of the gospel.

Just lay hold of what Christ has done. There's no doing for you. There's just trusting. There's just shifting your weight completely away from the works of the flesh so that you have no confidence in anything, even the best things you can do on your own. You trust only in the person and work of Jesus Christ.

You believe in your heart. You confess with your lips, you will be saved. There's a glory in the Gospel. Application. Let's apply these things to our lives.

We've been talking about what the text means. Now we shift to, how will this change my week? How does this change Christmas week? What we're learning. Just two.

One, just think about, consider the righteousness that is in the law. How hopeless that is. Your actions, your thoughts, your deeds, every minute of every day, and one instance of law breaking means you're a law breaker and there's no way back. Think of the rigor of that standard. Now, think about, consider the righteousness from God by faith, and how Marvelously glorious it is, and how marvelously simple it is, and how marvelously it does not depend on you and your weakness.

We know we are weak, but we are not undone by our weakness, because God has said, I'll do the work, all the work. What you couldn't do, what you didn't do, Christ has done, and He offers it freely. And He says, if you're thirsty, come drink. This is what's required of you and me. If you're thirsty, come and drink.

So number one is just glory in that. Think of the rigor of the righteousness which comes from the law, and think of how Christ has done it all. Real righteousness can be had just by embracing Jesus and what He's done. And all that's required is that you're thirsty. You've been taught by the law and crushed by the law so that you run to Christ.

That's it. Number two, have you turned your back on confidence in the flesh and embraced the righteousness which is from God by faith. Have you turned your back on anything that you can do? God is so offended by us wanting to mix the two kinds of righteousness. As if you have something to mix with what Jesus did.

Anything you would bring to mix with what Jesus did would defile it. Do you understand that? Okay God, we're going to mix our righteousnesses together to get me to heaven. You just defile what Jesus has done by bringing your filthy rags. When you consider this question, have you turned your back on confidence in the flesh and embraced righteousness which is from God by faith?

If the answer is sort of, then the real answer is no. You either have turned your back on confidence in the flesh, or you haven't. You either have embraced the righteousness which is from God, only from God, by faith, only by faith, or you haven't. These are yes or no questions. These are all or nothing questions.

I hope there are thirsty people here today. That's all you need. All who thirst come to the waters. This is Isaiah 55 verse 1. That's it.

It repeats itself, by the way, in Revelation 22, in the last chapter of the Bible. All you have to be is thirsty. God, pretty much everyone in the world this day is chasing after a law keeping righteousness. Those who do it to the end of their lives would be frustrated and disappointed and betrayed by that hope. This is just me saying what your word says, agreeing with you.

God, I pray that we would be completely free from it. Completely resting in the person and the work of your son, Jesus. Utterly depending on Him. Forsaking any confidence in the flesh so that we might embrace righteousness that comes from you. Not desiring to mix in one little thing from ourselves, but running to Christ and trusting only in Christ.

Oh, do this among us in a mighty way and give us the joy of knowing that it's you. It doesn't depend on us. Pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.