Free Righteousness

Welcome & announcements

We’re here for…

Google number

camp canceled

Sunday morning

IG polls

People prefer M&M’s to skittles

Netflix to Disney+

the beach to camping

The only thing that really surprised me is how lopsided they have all been!

three year old pictionary game

transition and prayer

Encourage questions and comments

We are unable to have a righteousness worthy of God on our own, we must receive Jesus'.

We don’t have it in us.

No matter how good we are (or think we are), it will still never be good enough/righteous enough to stand before God and his holiness and have a claim to enter his Kingdom.

Philippians 3:1–6 ESV

Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you is no trouble to me and is safe for you. Look out for the dogs, look out for the evildoers, 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 righteousness under the law, blameless.

Philippians 3:1-

Parker, as many seven year olds often do, has an over inflated idea of how much he can do sometimes. If you have younger siblings then you may have noticed this in them. You ask them, “What’s the heaviest thing you can pick up?” You’ll get a response like, “Eh, prolly about a million pounds.” “How fast do you think you could run around the track?” “Two seconds I’m pretty sure.” …

I’ll have to remind Parker of his limitations sometimes by comparing him to me. “You think you can lift a million pounds bud? Well I can’t life anywhere near that much, and I’m stronger than you, right?” This is what Paul is telling the Philippians here…

Before we get started, let’s be clear on what righteousness is…

Look to notes in Inductive Journaling NT

Romans 3:10 ESV

as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one;

We have to understand that going to church, reading the Bible, praying, telling others about Jesus, staying away from sin; these are all things we should be doing. But if we think we are doing them to earn God’s favor then we have missed it! We do these things, we do good works, not to earn his favor but to honor Him because He gave us his favor based on our faith in Jesus.

When we think that we can have a righteousness through our own effort it is stained by our pride.

Isaiah 64:6 ESV

We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.

isaiah 46

We are unable to be good enough through our own effort. And when we humbly admit this, we come to the place where there is hope! That’s what we will talk about when we get back into it.

Review any questions or comments and encourage again.

We have it in Jesus!

Our only hope for having righteousness is in Jesus and the righteous, sinless life that He lived in our place!

Philippians 3:7–11 ESV

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 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 his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

It’s supposed to be baseball season, so we’re going to use a baseball illustration. Imagine that you are at a Major League baseball park. It can be the Cardinals place, Sun Trust Park in Atlanta, Wrigley if you’re a cubs fan, I’m tryna get to Yankees Stadium in the Bronx. Where ever it is, you’ve got to hit a home run and if you can do it then they’re going to give you a one week, $10mil contract! But here’s the deal, none of us can hit a home run out of a major league park. Our efforts are not worth anything here. I don’t care if you were an all-state player in high school, how many home runs you had in travel ball. It doesn’t count for anything here. All your effort hasn’t gained you anything in the big leagues. But then Aaron Judge walks out (if you don’t know who that is, he’s a beast, maybe the best power hitter in baseball) and says he’ll stand in for you and hit that home run for you.

We have no hope of gaining righteousness on our own by obeying the law. But there is righteousness available to us through faith in Jesus. He stepped in for us to offer us his perfect obedience to God’s law. That’s what Paul tells us in these verses.

Look to notes in Inductive Journaling NT.

It’s always been about faith leading to righteousness. We see it all the way back in the first covenant God made with Abraham.

Genesis 15:6 ESV

And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness.

We place our faith in Jesus and receive his righteousness through that faith. It has nothing to do with our efforts. God’s acceptance of us and favor on us has nothing to do with our attempts at our own righteousness and everything to do with Jesus’ righteousness for us!

That faith allows us to know Jesus and his power that raised him from the dead. That’s what we celebrate this Sunday on Easter!

1 Corinthians 15:22–23 ESV

For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ.

skit guys video

close with prayer