Sermon: Count Them As σκύβαλα (Part 2)

Hey everybody, I'm Pastor Jeff Durbin with Apologia Church. I want to thank you all so much for watching the content right here on Apologia Studios channel.

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So thank you again so much for watching these and sharing them. God bless you. All right, brothers and sisters, if you would open your

Bibles to Philippians chapter 3. So if you have been following Apologia Church online, you're visiting today, or you've been gone for some time, we've taken a sidestep off of our series,

The Kingdom of God, an exposition through the gospel according to Matthew. We're in Philippians for a small sidestep series working through this amazing, amazing work from the

Apostle Paul, this inspired letter, while he is in chains. And we've been talking about how this can transform us as believers individually and also as a body.

And one of the things we've tried to emphasize the most is, as you get there, the fact that the

Apostle Paul, it cannot be avoided, he is pursuing authentic joy in Jesus Christ.

You cannot read this letter without seeing the call to joy, the call to rejoicing.

And what I've tried to emphasize is, it's my conviction that we need to avoid the pursuit of Christian joy that is external, right?

It's the kind of thing that you put on that plastic smile and you sort of carry that covering into church.

We used to call it early on in the history of Apologia Church, David knows this, the God face, right? You come into church, you have the

God face on, you're having the worst possible day at home, you're depressed, you're lonely, you're struggling, and then you sort of come into church parking lot and it's magical, right?

You open that car door and all of a sudden a smile falls from heaven onto your face. And it's all pretend.

And I've tried to argue that there's no use pursuing that kind of false joy, right?

It's pseudo joy, it's not real. And I've argued that what the apostle Paul is referencing over and over and over is authentic joy.

So we've talked about worry, we've talked about anxiety and how to be free from that and to actually rejoice in all things.

We've talked about how it's possible for us to have authentic joy, real, actual joy in the midst of difficulty, trial, tribulation.

And I think it's wonderful and providential, of course, that the Lord allowed us to do this series in the midst of the trial we didn't even see coming.

It's perfect. It really is perfect. So we're in Philippians chapter three now, this is part two.

So again, if you've missed the first one, I really encourage you to listen to that one and then listen to this one and listen again, go back to the text that I referenced, because I'm going to give you a smattering of verses and try to unpack some as much as possible.

But next week, Dr. White is going to be doing a little more of an expanded look at this particular topic of the imputation of Christ's righteousness, justification, and I believe comparing that even to some other false claims made by religion elsewhere.

But we're in Philippians chapter three. And I want to emphasize as we start to open this up, as I did last week, this is core.

This is essential. Pastor James noted during the catechism that Christians throughout the ages have had to actually face difficulties, trials, things like the black death, the black plagues, not the first time in the history of the church that we've had to face these sorts of difficulties, but here we are, here's our time.

This is our moment. And I agree that what carried many of these believers through those difficult storms and trials and tribulations was particular truth.

There was an anchor. There was something underneath those believers. Talk about the external, right?

The plastic smile, the shell. Well, that will fall apart. It's going to come to pieces.

It's going to unravel. It's going to get taken down if it's not built upon a firm foundation of truth.

And I want to encourage you, strongly urge you, when you come to this particular truth of the imputation of Christ's righteousness, receiving a righteousness from God through faith.

When we come to this truth, understand that this is one of those truths that you lay everything down for, you give up everything for, because this is a particular truth about how we have peace with God.

It's all about reconciliation with God. It's all about peace with God. And I'm going to get to the text here in a second, but I want you to be considering that as we get to this text and you're looking through it and you're thinking about it in light of what matters the most.

And as we're thinking about death a lot right now, people are thinking about finally sickness and death and their own mortality.

We have to start asking the question, what matters the most? Like what's the main theme of life? And I would say that God is the ultimate as part of our catechism, right?

First question is what is man's chief end in the modern? What is man's primary purpose?

And our answer to that from the catechism is man's primary purpose is to glorify God and to enjoy

Him forever. That's a bold claim that that's the main point of your life to glorify

God and to enjoy Him forever. We can substantiate that and prove that through scripture, but that's the truth.

And if that is what we're created for, if all of the universe, if every galaxy, if this entire created order, which is so vast, it's incomprehensible and so detailed down to the microscopic level.

If it's really about the glory of God, if it's what is my relationship with God?

Listen, it goes beyond the relationship you have with your spouse, the pursuit of marriage if you're single, or even the thought of having children as a married, maybe a newly married couple.

It goes beyond where am I going to buy a house? What kind of job or career will I have?

It goes beyond the kind of relationships you surround yourself with, what you invest yourself in. It goes beyond the amount of money you're trying to earn and to build up.

It goes beyond any other goal in your life. This is the most important thing.

What is your relationship to your creator? Are you reconciled to God? Do you have peace with God?

Now, you might be saying, well, there's lots of religions to try to answer that question. Exactly. And that's my point.

How is reconciliation and peace with God actually possible from the mouth of God?

What does he say? And I'm going to argue that if you don't know, please hear me on this.

If you don't know the answer to the question, what is justification? What is the imputation of Christ's righteousness?

If you don't know the answers to those questions, then get to know them because these are truths that you let goods and kindred go, your mortal life also.

You lay everything down for these truths. We lose these distinctive elements of the biblical faith.

We've lost biblical faith. We've lost everything. So we're in Philippians chapter three.

Now that we've laid that down, Philippians chapter three, starting at verse one, I'm going to read through this and we're going to pick up sort of where we were last week with a couple of reminders.

Philippians chapter three, verse one, hear now the words of the living and the true God. Finally, my brothers rejoice in the

Lord to write the same things to you as no trouble to me and is safe for you. Look out for the dogs.

Look out for the evil doers. Look out for those who mutilate the flesh. For we are the circumcision who worship by the spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh.

Though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh. Also, if anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh,

I have more circumcised on the eighth day of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a

Hebrew of Hebrews, as to the law, a Pharisee, as to zeal, a persecutor of the church, as to the righteousness under the law, blameless.

But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing

Christ Jesus, my Lord, for his sake. I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as scuba rubbish in order that I may gain

Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and may share in his sufferings, his sufferings becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible,

I may attain the resurrection from the dead thus far as the reading of God's holy word. Let's pray. Father, please bless for your glory this message.

We pray that this truth would transform not only us here in this room, but those who will hear this at another time.

We pray that you would use these truths to transform, renew, strengthen, empower your church.

I pray that we would go forth into the world with these glorious things and tell everybody about them.

Please get me out of the way. I pray that you would teach by your spirit and I pray that everyone forgets me and remembers what they've learned from you in Jesus' name.

Amen. So we have, again, been talking about the fact that these are things to die for.

Again, listen, there are core issues in the biblical faith. And look, you see it in the apostle Paul right here, scuba law, right?

Rubbish, refuse, dung. I mean, there's all kinds of ways you could describe what the apostle

Paul is saying there, but that's a scandalous term, right? And he puts it in a letter like, you want to know how

I feel about all this stuff on my attainments, you know, the being a Pharisee, that top school, right?

All my zeal persecuting the church, all this rubbish, refuse, dung, all of that.

I want none of it. I want the righteousness that comes from God through faith. So for Paul, this is clearly core.

It's everything. And when we think about the Christian faith, we understand that we're fallible people.

We're surrounding an infallible word from God. It's the reference point. And so all of us as fallible human beings going through time throughout church history are supposed to go to this revelation as the anchor.

This is the point that corrects us. But we know as believers, we do have different opinions about particular things.

And that's okay if it's something that is adiaphora, if it's on the side, it's not essential stuff that affects everything else.

We need to be gracious and love one another. We've talked about this, but there are core things that matter the most.

And you do see biblical prophets. You see Jesus, you see Paul, you see Peter.

When there is an essential, essential aspect of biblical faith that is in danger or is being muddied, that's where you see the gloves come off.

And so when we think, thank you, brother. When we think about biblical faith, we think about things that matter the most core things.

For example, when we go to the Mormon temple to do evangelism. Unfortunately, Mesa temple is being fixed up and changed right now.

So it's just a mess right now. So I don't even know when we're going to be back there to do evangelism. We'll go to Salt Lake City. You'll notice that we try to stick to essential parts of the biblical faith, the truth about the true

God and how we can have peace with God. We try to avoid conversations that go off into things that don't really matter because we have this little window, this small space to communicate the essential truths to this person, right?

Just moments. Another example of how we have to do this is when we go to the abortion mill to preach the gospel, to save lives, what do we do?

We condense the message down to the things that matter the most, right? These are the core things.

Who is God? What is the gospel? What does this person need right now? They need to be reconciled to God.

So we say things like at the abortion mill, please don't murder your child. Here's who Jesus is.

Be reconciled to God. Here's what he did. Turn to him in faith. We'll help you condense it down to what matters most.

And I want to argue when you condense down the biblical faith to what matters the most, you need to talk about the essentials.

Who is God? What is the gospel? We need to, as God's people, know the answers to those questions.

If you don't know, especially kids, when we have family -integrated church, at times there are things that may go way over your head, but the things that you need to grab hold of are those essential things.

Who is God? What is the gospel? As God's people, we should be able to articulate what we believe about the

Trinity. Do you know? Can you articulate it? I'm not asking you this. Can you comprehend the

Trinity? That would be foolish for any creature to say, I do. Dangerous person who says something.

I totally comprehend the triune God. No, you don't. You're a creature with a three -pound brain.

You do not. But we do apprehend truths from God that he's communicated about the Trinity.

So the question is, if you're a believer, if you call yourself a child of God, you say that you're redeemed, you belong to Christ.

Can you articulate what the Bible teaches about who God is? Can you communicate the truth about the triune

God from scripture? And then further, when we talk about the gospel, why is your message good news?

Why? What makes it different from the world? What makes it different from Joseph Smith Jr.'s revelation or Brigham Young's revelation or David Koresh's revelation or Mary Baker Eady?

Why is your message good news? More to the point, why was it called good news in the new

Testament? What makes it good news for the world? Can you articulate that? Listen, we need to raise our standards as God's people.

I'm going to challenge you with that. You have to raise your standards as a child of God, as a

Christian. We've lowered our standards in evangelism in this generation in the

West. We don't even want to know what the essentials are to communicate those things. The history of the

Christian church is replete with examples of believers who died for truths that many of us would say today, that was stupid.

That was dumb. That was irrelevant, not necessary. Why bother dying for something like that?

I mentioned that recently we were in, we were doing ministry for Edinburgh Chanel in Northern Ireland, in the

Republic of Ireland, that's the South, and also in Scotland. And we were in Scotland, we got to do a three and a half hour tour with a representative of the church that had us out.

We got to do a three and a half hour tour talking about the covenanters. Now that's a long story, a lot of history there, and there's some conflict and there's failures with the covenanters.

But one thing that I think we should consider is these covenanters, these

Christians, they would die and be tortured. I mean, seriously maimed, body parts broken while they're cognizant, aware, thinking they have time to endure this, not just a quick death, not just an easy one, not just a simple beheading, as simple as that can be, but we're talking about having your thumbs crushed and your legs broken.

And then you're dragged down the street for about a mile to be brought up onto a platform in public to have your head cut off or whatever the case might've been.

And you think like, why would someone do something so stupid? I mean, was there a way out of it?

Was there a way to maneuver around it? And the answer is yes. Yeah, there was.

There was a way to maneuver out of all that torture, all that pain, all that difficulty, all that soul crushing difficulty.

And what was it? Well, all you had to do was acknowledge that the King has authority over the church, right?

That the government has, the state has authority over the church as well. That's it. Just say it.

That's all you have to do. Just say it. Just acknowledge that the King has that rightful place on the throne, essentially, of the church as well.

And these were Christians, thousands of them who suffered, starved, were crushed, were drowned, were mutilated, were beheaded, all the rest, because they just wouldn't say it.

They wouldn't say it. People would, and they lived. And then they wouldn't, and then they would be starved for months at a time, living off four ounces of bread.

Many of them died of exposure while in jail, which is not a jail. It was just outside of a courtyard in Scotland, freezing.

I mean, it's challenging weather there. Listen, it's Christians dying because they won't say something.

How about the first century of the church? Caesar Curios, Caesar is Lord. That's it. That's all you have to say.

Caesar Curios, just that. Just acknowledge that Caesar is the ultimate. Just say that the state is the ultimate, that Caesar is

Lord. It's all you have to say, and you survive. Rome is pagan. They don't care what God you worship.

It's paganism. You worship any God, but you just have to say, Caesar is

Lord. And the Christians were saying, Jesus is Lord. I can't say that you're the ultimate.

I can't say that you are Lord, that you're the ultimate. I'll be a good citizen in Rome. I will be an obedient citizen.

I'll do all that, but I cannot say that. And so Christians were mutilated, set on fire, tortured, killed, ripped from their families, lost everything.

Why? They just wouldn't say it. Caesar Curios. How much does truth matter to us today?

How much does it matter? Well, I think Pastor James is right. I mean, I think the context we're living in, so many people don't think about death and the future and their own mortality and the fact that they're going to face

God one day. So what's it matter? Why are these things really important to you? What's important to me is what's in my pocket, my smartphone, the plans that I have.

What's the new app? Do I have enough money in my accounts? Where am

I going to go on vacation? The relationships around... These are the significant things right now, but we're not thinking about mortality, our own death.

But I think I love the moment that we're in right now, that people are starting to think about it. What matters the most?

What? And I want to argue, brothers and sisters, that this, what we're talking about here, when

Paul says things like scupola, when we're talking about things, count them all as loss.

I just want his righteousness. We're talking about the things that matter the most. And I want to challenge you as we finish this study.

And as you hear Pastor James next week, get to know this truth and be willing to lose everything for it because it's one of those things that matters the most.

So we talked about the fact that the apostle Paul, the beginning here, uses harsh words, strong words.

He says things like the dogs. He says things like evildoers and those who mutilate the flesh, says that we're the true circumcision, us.

We're the circumcision. It's a matter of the heart, Paul says. That's what matters before God.

The true circumcision, that's you guys, the believers. Be aware of these evildoers, these dogs argued that those are strong words.

And the apostle Paul is clearly using a serrated edge. So I pointed you last week to Galatians chapter one and Galatians five, where the apostle

Paul uses the serrated edge. He's careful about when and how he does it, but when it matters most, he uses it very strongly.

I won't go over all of last week, but I'll just say anathema is a very strong term, eternal separation from God forever, a cursed anathema.

If I come back to you or an angel comes from heaven and preaches any other gospel to you, let him be anathema.

And the apostle Paul is very, very clear about what the issue was in Galatia.

I mean, think about it today in terms of how we will muddy truth today and just say, you know, let's just have sort of a unity.

That's not really a unity. It's just an indifference or an ignoring of what matters.

And we'll say, it's no big deal. What? It's just a proposition, right? It's just a simple doctrinal proposition.

Just keep the circumcision, right? We've got Jesus, we've got the scriptures, all that.

Let's just maintain unity. Let's just say the circumcision, you at least got to carry that aspect over and just keep the circumcision.

We can't have all these uncircumcised people all, you know, mingling together with us. And the apostle Paul says in Galatians chapter five, he says, look, if you receive circumcision, if you go that route, he says, then

Christ is of no benefit to you. You have become severed from Christ.

Whosoever of you attempts to be justified by law, you've fallen from grace.

Paul says, choose grace or law, right? You're trying to get righteousness through obedience in even one aspect.

And he says this, choose that aspect. No benefit. Jesus is no benefit to you.

He says, you've become severed from Christ. You who attempt to be justified by law, you've fallen from grace.

Christianity has always been from the beginning of the Bible, a religion of grace.

Abraham believed God and it was credited to him, counted to him as righteousness.

When was this after the law was given? It was long before the law was given. Was it after circumcision?

It was before circumcision. Abraham believed God, empty hand of faith. It's a religion of grace.

And Paul says this, you choose law. You want to bring that over and attempt to be justified before God.

You've fallen from grace. And he uses the edge, really?

When he says that he hopes these people who are troubling them would go all the way, that they would mutilate themselves, that they would cut themselves off.

I quoted from the God who justifies our pastor's work where he essentially summarizes what

Paul is saying there in Galatians five. I hope these guys who like to play with knives go all the way.

I hope they slip with the knife and cut themselves off. That's hardcore. That's not very Christian.

But that's the kind of language he uses when it matters the most. And so you see that language there.

Paul goes from joy, joy, rejoice, rejoice. I don't know which one

I want to do. I'm hard pressed between two decisions. I don't know. To stay on, live with you in the flesh, it's fruit, it's righteousness, it's all that.

He says, but to depart and be with Christ is far better. So I don't know what I want. To live as Christ, to die as gain. He's just joyful, joyful, joyful.

And then he says, look out for the dogs. Look out for the evildoers. Look out for those who mutilate the flesh.

Shift, right? A little bit of a shift in tone. And we always have such a hard time with tone. Well, in social media, it's a big deal where like, how am

I communicating properly? We always be cautious with that. Make sure that we can communicate in a way people don't misunderstand.

I think we understand his point here and how he feels about it, right? I think Paul is being very, very clear.

And I don't think there's a way to misunderstand him about how serious this issue is for Paul. And I want to just point this out as we get to this text here, because we're talking about righteousness and peace with God.

He's addressing a religious issue. All creaturely rebellion, please hear this.

All creaturely rebellion seeks to establish their own righteousness.

That is just indicative of all of human history. All creaturely rebellion seeks to establish their own righteousness.

Name the flavor, and I'll show you where it's at. Name it. You want to talk about Rome and its perversion of the gospel of God's grace?

You want to talk about Mormonism and its perversion of grace? You want to talk about Jehovah's Witnesses, the

Watchtower Bible and Tract Society? You want to talk about Islam? You want to talk about how atheists also seek to establish their own righteousness by saying,

I'm a good person. I'm not as evil as that person. I haven't done as many bad things. I'm basically a good person.

Every creature in rebellion against the true God seeks to establish their own righteousness.

Find the false religion and you will find in there somewhere where that religion is attempting to establish its own righteousness before God.

Something is broken, so you have to fix it. And the fixing it is not a matter of grace and God and his glory and his accomplishment, but it is a matter of fixing it according to your own accomplishing, according to your own obedience, your own cleansing of yourself.

Biblical faith looks away from the self and it looks towards the work of Jesus Christ, which is what

Paul is doing in the text. I'll point out to you there again in four, verse four, he says, though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also, if anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh,

I have more. Again, we said last week, just a summary of last week, this is

Paul throwing himself into the ring saying, I'll play. You want me to play the game?

I'll play the game. These people over here, these dogs, these evildoers, the ones who mutilate the flesh, you want to compare resumes?

Let's compare resumes, guys. He says, here's my pedigree. Here's where I'm at. These are my bona fides right here.

I am of the tribe of Benjamin, circumcised the eighth day of the people of Israel.

He says, a Hebrew of Hebrews, as to the law, a Pharisee. So that's the highest school.

Like this is the respected dudes in the day, right? They've done their homework. They've done their training.

You know where they're at according to the law, their rigorous commitment to law to the degree that they're even doing things that are above the law in terms of added to the law.

That's how rigorous. And he says, I argued rather tongue in cheek, knowing his theology, knowing what he believes about mankind and knowing what he believes about the law.

He says as to the righteousness under the law, blameless. You couldn't find, you want to try to find a fault, guys?

That's how rigorous I hold to it. You want to see? Blameless. Here's what he says.

But whatever gain I had, like all of that, all my bona fides, all the pedigree, all the zeal, all of it, he says, whatever gain

I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.

Between the two things, my rigorous commitment to the law, blameless, my zeal, my pedigree, my bona fides, all of it.

He says, I want Christ, not that. I want Jesus. That's a very strong statement from a person that spent their life invested in a particular worldview and way of thinking about the law itself.

Indeed, he gets deeper. I count everything as loss. I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing

Christ Jesus, my Lord. For his sake,

I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as scubala.

So again, back to the main thing we've been aiming at this whole time. Authentic joy, authentic joy, authentic joy.

How do we have true divinely inspired, authentic joy?

Not the external shell, not the pseudo joy, not the plastic smile. Paul's telling you right here.

How do you do it, Paul? You're in prison, beaten times without number, constantly in danger, shipwrecked.

He's in danger from false brethren, his own countrymen. All of that stuff eventually is martyred for his faith in Jesus.

He said, how do you have so much joy in chains, right? Are you just the eternal optimist?

You're just so optimistic, right? You ever know a person like that? They're always half full glass.

They're always the optimist, even to their own detriment. Is that what you're dealing with, Paul? He says, here it is.

I count everything as loss because of the his sake,

I have, for his sake, I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish in order that I may gain

Christ. There's the source. There's the foundation for his rejoicing, for his peace, for his hope.

In order that I may gain Christ, and here it is, and be found in him. Make a note.

Union with Christ is the core issue. You see, that's the thing from which everything else comes.

You want to know what makes biblical faith different? What makes it distinct?

What makes it amazing? That truth. Be found in Christ.

Union with Jesus Christ. That new identity in Jesus Christ is the heartbeat from which everything else flows.

He says this, be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ.

The righteousness from God that depends on faith. And there it is.

There's the truth that I argued. You need to be willing to let goods and kindred go, your mortal life also, everything, because that's the core of what separates true salvation, reconciliation, and peace with God from all other world religions.

Just consider it for a moment. You guys, many of you have probably been out with us to do evangelism at the Mormon temple. I know many of you guys live in Mesa.

Some of you guys live in Mesa. You're in Mormon communities, and you've had more missionaries show up at your door.

I mean, just consider the message from the message that perverts biblical faith.

And it's just a little twist. It's just a little turn the different direction in terms of grace and what the

Bible says about it. I'll give you the verse, you know it, you could finish it for me, right? For by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves.

It is the gift of God, not according to works, lest any man should boast. And then you have in this new religion created by Joseph Smith Jr.

In the 19th century, you have, by grace are you saved after all you can do.

Second Nephi 25, 23, by grace you've been saved after all you can do.

It's the mingling, the mingling together of grace, gift, and your work and your labor, what you accomplish.

We believe that through the atonement of Jesus Christ, all mankind may be saved. And you go, hey, that sounds, that sounds beautiful.

That sounds gracious. This is from the articles of faith of the Mormon church or the church of Jesus Christ of Latter -day

Saints. We believe through the atonement of Jesus Christ, all mankind may be saved. And here it is through obedience, through obedience.

And then there's the law, right? Laws, principles, ordinances, all these things that you must do, that you must accomplish.

And there it is again. It's a religion that even co -ops Christian language, co -ops the concept of grace and faith and salvation and peace with God, co -ops the ideas of a death and a resurrection and the

Messiah, borrows biblical language, borrows from the Bible, and then twists the message and distorts it.

And where's it distorted? At this point, how are you going to have peace with God? Because the apostle

Paul says through inspiration, he says, I count everything verse eight has lost because of the surpassing worth of knowing

Christ Jesus, my Lord, for his sake, I've suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish in order that I may gain

Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes through the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, righteousness from God that depends on faith.

The apostle Paul has made his position very, very clear for us in the word of God as to the condition of all of mankind's men and women, children, everybody in exactly the same position before God.

And the apostle Paul's made his position very, very clear through inspiration about how a person has peace with God.

Now, a couple of points on this. I want to take the apostle Paul and put his own context, his own words into this.

This is really important in terms of interpretation, right? The Bible. We have Paul here saying in Philippians chapter three, here is what

I had as a Pharisee, blameless, zeal. Here's how

I consider it, scubala. And he says, I want to be found in Jesus.

Not having a righteousness of my own derived from the law, but a righteousness that comes from God through faith.

So this is a space where he says it, you know what the implications are.

He's already said it previous to this. What does this accomplish? He says to live as Christ, to die as gain, right?

I go either way. Like I, this, this righteousness from God through faith in Jesus produces in someone an authentic joy and a hope for what we have in Jesus Christ, a hope that never fades and something that alters the way that you see the world to live as Christ, to die as gain.

Listen, can we be honest about something that sounds stupid? If you don't know

God, that sounds stupid. If you're an atheist, think about it from an atheist perspective for a second.

This is huge. The atheists believe that all we are is matter in motion and all that we have is the life that you have right now.

So live it well. So what, right? This is it. This is all there is like you live, you die and you're gone.

You're absolutely gone when you die. That's Dr. Will Provine, professor of biology at Cornell.

That's it. That's all there is to it. And so for, watch, someone with that worldview to hear somebody saying to die is gain, that sounds like utter foolishness.

But for those who know God, who know Christ, that is the very foundation of everything, to live as Christ, to die as gain.

So Paul's belief about righteousness that comes from God through faith in Jesus is something that produces authentic joy and hope in death, hope and death.

You notice his hope in death is not based upon his own righteousness. It's not based upon his performance.

It's not based upon his own obedience. He knows that he's in Jesus, hiding in a righteousness that is foreign to him.

It is outside of him. It's Christ's righteousness through faith.

So what does Paul believe about this righteousness? How is it possible? And to see that there's, I don't think any better place to go than Romans chapter three and four.

I want to just sort of scan through here so we can put this underneath the apostle Paul's statements right here. And I want us in particular to pay close attention to what he says in Romans chapter four.

Last week, I took us through what Paul says about what is a true Jew, somebody who has circumcision of the heart in chapter two.

I took us through this collage or katina of verses from the old

Testament that the apostle Paul pulls from when he shows that Jews and Gentiles, the world, hear that,

Jew and Gentile, the world are all condemned and in the same place.

No difference. Verse nine of chapter three, what then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all.

We've already charged that all both Jews and Greeks, Jews and Gentiles, the world are under sin.

And I'll just read this as it is written. None is righteous. No, not one. No one understands. No one seeks for God.

All have turned aside together. They become worthless. No one does good. Not even one. Their throat is an open grave.

They use their tongues to deceive. The venom of asps is under their lips. Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.

Their feet are swift to shed blood in their paths. Their ruin and misery and the way of peace they have not known.

There is no fear of God before their eyes. Temptation might come to the person who reads this and doesn't understand the

Torah and the Tanakh and what the Bible has said about us throughout that revelation. Temptation may come.

Hey, Paul, you're being kind of heavy -handed here. Very creative, by the way, Paul. You're using some great language.

You're a very great writer, but you're kind of heavy -handed here. Well, the truth is the Apostle Paul is quoting from the

Old Testament. He's just taking verses from the Old Testament about the condition of all of humanity, Jew and Greek, Jew and Gentile, the world all under sin.

And now watch this. Here's what religion, man -made religion, won't take seriously. And listen, you catch this, you're going to catch the whole point.

Why does it matter to have a righteousness that's from God through faith in Jesus? It's in Jesus. It's his righteousness credited to you.

Why does it matter? Here's why. Because man -made religion will not contend seriously with this statement from Paul.

None is righteous, no, not one. That's the context.

That's what Paul is talking about. I count all this loss, scuba, right?

Refuse, scandalous terminology. I counted all. I don't want any of it. I want the righteousness that comes from God through faith in Jesus.

I want to be found in him having his righteousness, not a righteousness derived from the law.

Because Paul teaches us none is righteous, no, not one. So get it.

If none is righteous, that's you, that's me, in and of ourselves, not righteous. The question is this, how will you stand before a righteous

God? Because the righteous judge only owes you one thing, and that's justice. So how will you stand?

Because none is righteous. You see, here's one of the things that I think is critical. Please hear me on this. Why can you have a religion like even

Rome that will so distort grace? And they'll say things like, why can't you hear us?

We believe in grace. Grace is so important to us, right? It's so important to us.

We believe in Jesus. We believe in the Trinity. We believe Jesus died. We believe he was righteous and he rose again from the dead.

And they'll say, you know, why can't you just accept that we also believe in grace? And here's the thing.

I believe that the problem with even a religion like Rome is they don't contend very seriously with what

Paul says here and elsewhere. There is none righteous, none, not even one, none who seeks for God.

There's almost like the passing sort of a tip of the hat. Yeah, I agree with that. None is righteous.

We're all sinners, but we're able to cooperate. We're able to choose

God. We're able somehow to cooperate synergistically with this grace to produce our own righteousness.

But you see the clear statement from scripture is there's none righteous, no, not one, none who seeks for God, none, no one does good.

And so if that's our status, if that's the position we have before God, the question has to come, how will we have peace with God?

How will we be reconciled to God? And the apostle Paul teaches about the law. What? Verse 19.

We know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law so that every mouth may be stopped and the whole world may be held accountable to God.

What's the law do? It shuts your mouth. It stops you from making excuses. It shows your sin.

And Paul says this, for by the works of the law, no human being will be justified in his sight. Since through the law comes the knowledge of sin.

Okay. So do it. Stand before God. Imagine it for a second. Now you are there fallen, broken.

You're a sinner. How about this? Try this. Every sin. If you kept the whole law and stumbled in one point,

James says you're guilty of the entire thing. All right. So try this. Some of you guys are little up there in age, but I'm just joking.

Okay. Just seeing if you're listening. Okay. Some of you guys are older. So you've got more days behind you. How about we just try this as an experiment?

Just take the last week. How about that? How about seven days?

Your last seven days, take your last seven days of quote righteousness. And I want you to stand before God with your last seven days.

You violate any part of the law. You're guilty of the whole thing. It's a unit, right?

I mean, imagine for a second, you throw a rock at somebody's window, right? You break out just a corner piece of the window.

They come running outside. They say, what are you doing? You broke my window. And you were like, chill out.

It's just a piece. Everyone knows how foolish that is. What do you mean? It's just a piece.

It's a unit. You can't break a piece of it. The whole thing is ruined. Well, that's the law of God according to James chapter two.

So with that, we're all there together, right? We've got the last seven days of obedience and walking with God and righteousness.

How will you do before a holy God? You break one commandment. You're guilty of all of it. So how are you doing? You're or will you fall?

Just consider it. And now let's go back two weeks and three weeks and four weeks and one year and two years and three years.

How are you doing? Are you righteous before God? Do you have a boast before God? How's the law helping you?

Paul says this, by the works of the law, no human being will be justified in his sight since through the law comes the knowledge of sin.

The law just exposes your sin and nobody's going to be declared righteous in God's court through the law because you and I are guilty and we're not righteous and we're not good.

And Paul says this, but now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law.

Although the law and the prophets bear witness to it, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe for there is no distinction for all of sins and fall short of the glory of God and are justified.

That's clearly courtroom terminology for Paul by his grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.

This declared righteous, essentially it's as a gift gift. That's how gracious it is through the redemption, through the purchasing out of slavery, the redemption that is in Christ Jesus whom

God put forward as a propitiation by his blood to be received by faith.

Here's the point, Paul is clearly showing you the law will not save you. You will not be justified before God.

Here's the righteousness that you need. It's the righteousness that's a gift gift from God. It is grace through and through.

It's a righteousness that's in Jesus Christ. All of sins you're justified by his grace as a gift through the redemption that's in Christ Jesus.

Jesus was put forward as a propitiation. Here's terminology of substitution as something in your place.

God giving to Jesus, fully exhausting in Jesus what was due to you.

Here's the whole perspective that you need to capture from this is this completely takes you and your efforts and your obedience and your righteousness out of the picture and it now puts everything towards Jesus and his glory.

He is set up as the propitiation. The wrath of God is diverted away from the sinner and it's fully exhausted in Jesus Christ.

And so Paul says this, it's to be received by faith. This was to show God's forbearance because in his, sorry, his righteousness, because in his divine forbearance, he had passed over former sins.

It was to show his righteousness at the present time so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

Cause here's the challenge. Are you ready for this? Here's the challenge. We're going to talk about it in just a moment here. How does

God say if he's a good judge, how does he say I declare you righteous when you're not?

Imagine it. If all of us walked out of this room and went down to a courthouse and we saw somebody that was clearly guilty, guilty as charged, it is obvious.

There's no question. There is evidence and confession. And we went into that courtroom and the judge hears all the evidence, knows the evidence, and then declares the person not guilty, righteous.

We would all raise our hands up and say this is a perversion of justice. So how does

God do it? How does God declare somebody who was actually wicked to be righteous?

Because Paul says here in this amazing section of scripture that explains how

God does it, that God did this to show his righteousness at the present time so that he would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

How is God just? Well, because God hasn't forgotten your sins in terms of,

I don't care. I'll ignore them. No big deal. Right?

Think about it. Man -made religion and the false gods of men, they do that. They'll say, yes, you have moral problems.

You have moral failings, right? You're a sinner and God is good and you're, you know, you're not there.

And so you say, okay, great. How's God going to solve the problem with my sin and my failures if he's a good

God and I'm not good? And they'll say, well, just try to be a good person, right? Just try to pull yourself up by your bootstraps and do better.

Be more loving. Walk old ladies across the street, bring cookies to neighbors, whatever the case may be. Be a nice and sweet and loving person.

Be a giving person. Go to the Salvation Army, do some soup there, whatever you're going to do.

Hand out a dollar to the person who's robbing you, lying about gasoline at the grocery store, right? You ever had that?

Be a good person. Here's the problem. Their gods are false gods. Why? They're not just because their gods are simply pretending like it doesn't exist.

But the biblical God, the true God is actually just. How? Because he doesn't just simply say your sins don't matter.

He actually gives all that is due to you towards Jesus. So God remains just.

Why? Because your sins haven't just merely been ignored. God isn't indifferent towards it.

He actually accomplishes the justice that was due to you through the propitiation that's in Jesus so that he would be just.

He's not just neglecting the sin, but he's also now the one who declares righteous, you who has faith in Jesus.

And so Paul does this. In verse 27, he says, the one becomes of our boasting. It is excluded by what kind of law?

By law of works? No, but by the law of faith. For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law, or is

God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also.

Since God is one who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith, that's

Jew and Gentile, do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means. On the contrary, we uphold the law.

And here it is. Come with me now into Romans four. I want you to hear this. This is where it all rests.

This is where Paul is explaining the heartbeat of this all. If you don't know this text, get to know it.

I'd encourage you to memorize it. Romans chapter four. What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather, according to the flesh?

For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. Here's the point.

How was Abraham justified? If he's the father of our faith, right? God promised through Abraham, Abraham's going to have descendants as numerous as the stars.

If it's different than Abraham, then it's not biblical faith. So Paul says this, how about Abraham, our forefather?

There's the anchor. He says, Abraham, what does the scripture say? Abraham believed

God and it was counted to him as righteousness. That doesn't make sense to creaturely religion.

That's an opposition to God. It doesn't make sense. That's it. Abraham believed God and it was credited to him, accounted to him as righteousness.

But what else? But tell me there's more, like there's another list to follow. There's something else that must be added to that.

Paul says this, here it is. You want to have the faith of Abraham? It's an empty hand.

Now, if you know where this is quoted from in Genesis, you know that Abraham believed

God and was credited to him as righteousness. That's before Abraham does anything.

As a matter of fact, it's before circumcision. That's Paul's point here. And it's hundreds of years before the law was given through Moses.

So what's Abraham got as collateral? Well, what's he got as capital? Like where's the payment?

Where's the check? Where's the stuff? Where's the obedience and righteousness that makes

Abraham this hero in the hall of faith? Where is it? Abraham believed

God, it was credited to him as righteousness. You see, biblical faith that saves is a faith that comes to God with empty hands, with nothing to offer.

It's a faith that comes to God with an open mouth to receive living water. It's receptive.

It's trusting in other. And Abraham believed God, it was credited to him as righteousness. Even think about this for a second.

This gets neglected when you talk about this often. When this amazing covenant scenario was brought up, it's very symbolic where you have like animals parted, there's blood.

It's a cutting of a covenant and it's bloody. And people would walk through these animals together to like swear and like, let it be done to me what's happening to these animals.

Like you're making a very big deal about a covenant. What's Abraham's part in that whole story?

Where's he at? Snoring. He's asleep. Like how much more clear could it be that saving faith is a faith that is a resting faith.

It is a faith that is totally dependent on the other. Abraham believed God. It was credited to him as righteousness before circumcision, before he offers

Isaac on the altar, before the law is even given. And even in the covenant, that cutting of the thing itself,

Abraham's out and God is going through it by himself.

And so Paul says, Abraham believed God, it was credited to him as righteousness. You got to hear this. Let it wash over you brothers and sisters.

And he says this to the one who works. Here it is. Now to the one who works to the working one, his wages are not counted or credited as a gift, but as his due to the working one, his wages are not counted as a gift, but as is due, we all understand this.

We've talked about this many times before when you and I have a job and we're laboring for somebody, we're working say 40 hours a week.

When we go in to get our paycheck, if our boss had our paycheck in a gift box and said,

I have a gift for you, you would be like, this is great. Thank you for this is amazing.

A gift for me. And you open it up and your wage is in there. We all recognize we would say that's perverse and wrong.

Why would you do such a thing? Right? I earned this. This is my wage. I did 40 hours. Where's the real gift?

Because this doesn't belong in a box. That's trickery, right?

It's not a gift. That's a wage to the working one. His wage is not credited as a gift counted as a gift, but as what is due you owe me.

If I labor for this, you owe me. It's a wage. And here's

Paul's gospel. And to the one who does not work, the one who does not work, but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness.

That doesn't make sense from a creaturely religious defiant position, not working for salvation.

That doesn't seem right. You got to do something, right? You got to, you got to do something.

You have to be a better person, become more righteous for God to accept you, right? You don't understand the context of a holy

God and your sin and just how much you offend God and have offended him and continue to offend him because of your sin.

Paul says this to the one who does not work, but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness.

And here it is. Just as David, here's another hero, Abraham and David. He takes the stars of the

Jewish faith, Abraham and David. Just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom

God counts, credits, imputes righteousness apart from works.

There it is. The imputed righteousness, counting, crediting, imputing righteousness apart from works.

Here it is. Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven and whose sins are covered.

Blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.

So what do you have here in verse six, seven, and eight, ready to capture it? The things that matter the most, six, seven, and eight.

You have David speaking of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works.

There's a positive crediting of righteousness to the one who believes in God.

It's apart from works. So there's the positive imputation of righteousness. And then there is this aspect of the not counting of sins in the verse eight, because our lawless deeds are forgiven, our sins are covered.

So check it out. If you're a Christian, you trust in Jesus. You have a righteousness that is not your own. God counts you righteous apart from your works.

And he does not count your sins against you. We need to hear that over and over again.

God, if you're in Jesus through faith, he counts you as righteous. And I know many of us, because we know our own hearts, we know our own minds, we know our own failures.

You're saying to myself, that sounds glorious and amazing. And I'm not sure I accept it. I'm not sure I fully believe it.

I'm not sure how that is even comprehensible. Here's the problem. You're not

God and your word is not law. His is. He says through faith in Jesus, he counts you righteous.

So whether you're in a monologue agrees with it or not, that's the fact. You're counted as righteous because it's not your righteousness.

It's the one from above through faith in Jesus. You're hiding in Jesus. You are counted righteous and your sins are not counted against you.

You know when that's going to make the most sense and it's going to matter most. And you're going to feel it when your eyes close and you stand before God.

That's when you're going to be like, wow, now I get it. And now it's all making more sense and it's glorious and powerful.

And here's the point. I think that's supposed to impact us today. Pastor James, early on when

I was listening to him, I used to hear him when he would talk about things like this. And I was reading the God who justifies. I hear him asking the question a lot.

I think it's a good question to ask. And I think you should face it. Are you the blessed man?

Are you the blessed man? Are you the blessed woman? Because here's what it says. Blessed.

Blessed. Blessed is the one to whom

God counts righteousness apart from works. Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven and whose sins are covered.

Blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin. So there is imputation.

There is crediting. It's an accounting term, right? Charging up to somebody's account.

Charged up to somebody's account. Now here's what you need to see. In verse 13, for the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.

For if it is the adherence of the law who are to be heirs, faith is null and promises are void.

For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law, there is no transgression.

That is why verse 16, it depends on faith in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring, not only to the adherence of the law, but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham.

And you might be asking the question, how? How was this accomplished? And the answer is in chapter five.

And I want you to see it. I want to spend most of my time just reading these texts here because I think that's what you have to have underneath you to understand

Paul's words. Romans 5, 1, therefore, because of all this, therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our

Lord Jesus Christ. We've been declared righteous. We have peace with God.

Through him, we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand.

We stand in this and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings. Here it is again, authentic joy, knowing that suffering produces endurance and endurance produces character and character produces hope and hope does not put us to shame because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the

Holy Spirit who has been given to us. And Paul says for while we were still weak, at the right time,

Christ died for the ungodly, not the godly. He died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person, though perhaps for a good person, one would dare even to die.

But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners,

Christ died for us. Since therefore we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.

For if while we were enemies, enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his son, much more now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.

More than that, we also rejoice in God through whom, through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

And Paul says this, just as sin came into the world through one man and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned.

For sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come.

But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man's trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man,

Jesus Christ, abounded for many. And the free gift is not like the result of that one man's sin.

For the judgment following one trespass brought the condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification.

For if because of one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace, and here it is,

Paul in context, Philippians chapter three, and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man,

Jesus Christ. See, it's the same conversation. Philippians three, a righteousness that's not his own.

He says, scuba law, he says, counted as loss. It's the one that comes from God through faith in Jesus.

I don't want this record behind me. I want Jesus. And you say, how? He says, the free gift of righteousness through the one man,

Jesus Christ. But there was something else. Remember I told you, I said, put a pin in it. I said, circle it, highlight it, note it.

How's it possible? He says in Philippians three, I want to be found in him.

I said, union with Christ was the core issue. I want to be found in him,

Paul says in Philippians three, not having a righteousness of his own derived from the law, but the righteousness that is through faith in Jesus Christ, the one that comes from God.

And here it is. Here's the expanded version. Romans five, 18.

Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men. So one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men.

For as by the one man's disobedience, the many were made sinners. So by the one man's obedience, the many will be made righteous.

Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more.

So that as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness, leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ, our

Lord. And there it is. For Paul, he has two representatives and you're going to be found in one.

So which one are you in? You're either in Adam and death spreads to all men through Adam.

All that is fallen. All that is condemnation. And then there is Jesus. And in Jesus, there is the gift of righteousness.

In Jesus, there is the gift of eternal life. And so Paul's question is this, who are you in?

There's only one way into Jesus. And that is not through a righteousness that's your own through obedience to law.

It's not through works. It is through faith. It is to receive, be received by grace. And so Paul says, who are you in?

Are you in Adam or are you in Jesus? Which righteousness will you stand before God with?

And there is only one righteousness that will ever stand or avail before the throne of God. And that is the righteousness of Jesus Christ, the

God man. Jesus perfectly obeyed the law of God. Perfectly.

He was sin less. He's, listen, Jesus was the, is the only person in history that can stand before friends and family and enemies and say, which of you accuses me of sin?

And no one can say a word. Many of you guys are here with your family today.

I dare you try it. Walk out of here with your family, finish church today, stand in front of your family and say, which of you accuses me of sin and watch the line form, right?

Jesus can do it. And you can't, and no one can. Jesus is the righteous one. He is the blameless one.

He was the one who was prophesied. He's the lamb without spot or without blemish. He's the one who's worthy to take away sin.

And so you watch this. You need to be united to him and you need to be hiding in his righteousness. You need, if you know

God, you need to feel the same about your righteousness as the apostle Paul does in Philippians three loss, rubbish.

I don't want it. I want to be found in him. So here's the ultimate thing.

I'm going to finish today. Just reading a couple of random verses for you to go study for later, but I'm, I'm done. I wanted to just fill you in with context today.

When you stand before God, the throne of God, and you will, you will stand before the throne of God.

What will you want to be shining before this holy judge?

What will you want to be on display before the holy judge? Will you want your life of sin and rebellion and being an enemy and not righteous and not good and guilty?

Would you want that on display before him or will you want to be standing in his son?

What do you want to be covered with your sin stained garment?

Or do you want to be standing in the righteous robes of Jesus Christ? And that's it.

That's the summary. Do you want to be accounted righteous apart from works? Do you want to not have your sin counted against you?

There's only one position where that's possible. And that's in Jesus Christ. And that's only by grace through faith in Jesus.

And you might be saying to a message like that, that sounds too gracious. That sounds too incredible.

Like it couldn't be true. And I would say, I think you're getting it.

That's why it's gospel. That's why it's good news.

That might irritate people today, right? You come out, you're like, I'm going to share the gospel with you. They're like, I'm so tired of hearing

Christians saying gospel and good news, right? They go out there and it starts to even seem like to sound like a pithy slogan or something.

And like, I'm tired of hearing this message of a gospel from Christians. It's because it is.

It's good news. It's good news of peace with God. That's a gift by grace through faith in Jesus.

It's a righteousness that's not your own. It's in Jesus Christ. It's God not counting you as guilty and counting you as righteous apart from works.

It's empty hands before God. It's standing in another's righteousness. It's one who loved you so much, though you were an enemy and a sinner and lost and a rebel that he gave everything for you on your behalf.

And it was a gift. You didn't deserve it. There's nothing in us that God looked in on and said,

I'll choose you because you were righteous in some way or really worthy in some way.

No, it says while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Enemies of God. That was our position.

A couple of verses to leave you with just to bless you. Again, Pastor James is going to expand on this a little more next week, but I wanted to spend time putting this underneath you.

Second Corinthians 521. Paul again, for our sake, he made him to be sin who knew no sin so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Philippians three again, and be found in him not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith.

First Corinthians one 30. And because of him, you were in Christ Jesus. There it is again in Christ Jesus union with Jesus who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption.

Romans four again into the one who does not work, but believes in him who justifies the ungodly. His faith is counted as righteousness in Romans chapter 10.

The apostle Paul talks about those who are establishing their own righteousness. He says for being ignorant of the righteousness of God and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness for Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.

Isaiah 53. I'll end on this one. Old Testament, the promise of Messiah out of the anguish of his soul, he shall see and be satisfied by his knowledge, shall the righteous one, my servant make many to be accounted righteous and he shall bear their iniquities.

I'll tell you what, if there was, if I could hear from God, you're going to die today, right?

If you can get that kind of knowledge, right, somehow, like if God could sort of alert you to the fact that today will be the day where you are going to die.

I know where my longing would be in terms of hearing from God and knowing what truth to rest on.

And I have to just tell you the place of perfect peace and hope is in this truth of the righteousness of Jesus Christ credited to us through faith.

That is the thing that I know, if I have, if God gives me the grace to die in a hospital bed or in my bedroom as an old man surrounded by family,

I can tell you where my heart's going to be anchored. It's on this truth. If we have, if I'm walking up the steps on the platform to have my head severed from my body,

I can tell you where my heart's going to be, what I'm going to be thinking about and dwelling on and delighting in is this, this truth.

All the other stuff is just white noise. It's this truth. I have a righteousness that's from God through faith in Jesus.

I count everything else as loss. This is my hope.

And I truly hope brothers and sisters that it's your hope as well. It's the ultimate thing.

It's the thing that matters the very most. And I want to encourage you as we walk out these doors to go and to witness and be light to a world that's in darkness and struggling right now with fear and worry and anxiety and thinking about death.

I want to encourage you to allow this message to be on your lips with clarity and passion and boldness, because this is the message that matters the most.

How will you have peace with God? And the Bible says there is only one way.

It's only found in Christ and his righteousness as a gift. So the question is this, are you in Jesus?

Do you have it? Right? Because it sounds beautiful. And maybe you heard it.

Maybe you're a kid in here, a teenager even. You've been raised in a Christian home. You've been coming to Apologia your whole life.

You've heard all these things, but that's the question I want to ask you, children. That's what I want to ask you. Please listen.

Do you know God? Do you have peace with God? Are you reconciled to God?

Or is this something you believe because your mom and dad do? Because you heard about it in church?

No, you. Do you have peace with God? Are you reconciled to God? Do you have

Christ's righteousness? Are you hiding in Jesus and his perfect life and obedience?

Are you right with God forever? Do you have eternal life?

Have you trusted in Jesus? Are you in Jesus by faith? That's the question you have to ask yourself.

And I pray that you come to that knowledge now. Let's pray. Father, I pray that you'd bless the word that went out today for your glory.

I pray, Lord, for those in this room that do not know you, that do not have peace with you as of yet.

I pray that you would bring light where there is darkness and hiding.

I pray that you would open eyes to truth, that you would do that miraculous work of taking a heart of stone that is hard towards you and turning it into flesh and something as soft.

I pray that you would bring about new life in dead people so they can see the glories of Jesus Christ.

I pray that you'd help us to see the importance of this doctrine of the righteousness of Jesus Christ imputed to us by grace through faith.

I pray that you would, Lord, put this message on our lips as we go out into the world so we can communicate it with clarity, empowered by your spirit.