The Righteousness Which is From God

Introduction: The Universal Spiritual Consciousness and the Gospel's Answer

0:03 This sermon was preached on Sunday morning, October 4th, 1981, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. Now will you turn, please, in your own Bibles, once again, to the third chapter of Paul's letter to the Philippians, Philippians chapter 3, and follow as I read this morning just verses 7 through 11. Philippians chapter 3, beginning the reading with verse 7. How be it, what things were gain, or literally gains, to me, these have I counted loss for Christ.

0:47 Yea, verily, and I count all things to be loss for the excellency or the surpassingness of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but refuse. Garbage. Garbage, manure, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of mine own, even that which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith,

1:25 that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, becoming conformed unto his death, if by any means. If by any means I may attain unto the resurrection from the dead. Let us again seek the face of God for the special help of the Spirit in the ministry of the word of God.

1:57 Our Father, we remember your word through your prophet Isaiah. To this man will I look, even to him who is of poor and contrite spirit, and who trembles. At my word. And our Father, we pray that you will help us, from the youngest to the oldest this morning, to tremble before your holy word, that all carnal carelessness and indifference will be swept away before the magnitude of the great issues that are set before us in the passage we shall study this morning,

2:41 that all creature confidence, that all creature confidence, that all creature confidence, will be swept away, that each of us may feel his own helplessness, to understand aright one word of your written revelation, unless your Spirit comes to be our teacher. Holy Father, in our felt inadequacy and need, we cry to you, come, O God, and grant us every grace of the Spirit's ministry, needed for this hour, to the end that we may hear aright, and then may be given grace to run in the way of your commandments.

3:24 Hear us, we plead, for the sake of your beloved Son. The scriptures of the Old and the New Testaments assert that there are in all men, in all ages, in all circumstances, two different, two dimensions of implanted spiritual consciousness, which they cannot escape.

3:51 The first is what I am calling the haunting awareness of accountability to and guilt before the living God. Romans 1 and 2 make this abundantly clear, and there are many passages in the Psalms which underscore that truth, that in all men, in all ages, in all circumstances, there is a haunting awareness of accountability to and guilt before the living God. And in the second place, there is also a gnawing consciousness of capacity for

4:34 and the need of communion with God. A gnawing consciousness of capacity for and need of communion with God. A gnawing consciousness of capacity for and the need of communion with God. And passages such as Acts 17, 26 to 28 state this most emphatically in the famous words of Augustine, O Lord, thou hast made us for thyself, and our hearts are restless till they rest in thee.

5:09 If I may liken this awareness, this consciousness, in a physical way, it's as though every man, woman, boy, or girl comes into the world tattooed on his chest with a ticket for judgment. And every time he's honest in bearing his chest in the mirror of his own consciousness, he is reminded that he is accountable to God and that as an accountable creature, he's guilty before God and will always, ultimately come to the judgment of God. And if he had eyes to look within the depths of his soul,

5:53 he would see that there was a perpetual vacuum that only God himself can fill. And so I assert that all men, in all ages, in all circumstances, have these two dimensions of implanted spiritual consciousness. One, a haunting awareness pointing to legal accountability to God, and the other, the personal inward awareness and consciousness of capacity for and the need of communion with God. And no little part of the glory of the gospel of the grace of God

6:37 is that it comes to such creatures precisely at these two points of consciousness of consciousness, and declares that God has done something infinitely glorious to meet both of those needs. The gospel tells us of a set of activities on the part of God which can lay to rest all of the fears arising from that haunting awareness of our accountability to and our guilt before God. And furthermore, the gospel comes announcing the possibility of such dimensions of relationship

7:21 between God and the creature which can fully satisfy that gnawing consciousness of capacity for and the necessity of communion with God. And in the very passage that I shall attempt to expound this morning and again next Lord's Day, you will note that these two things are formed forcefully brought together as having been resolved in the spiritual experience of the Apostle Paul when he came to that which he calls the surpassingness of the knowledge of Christ. I remind you briefly

Paul's Spiritual Autobiography and the Surpassing Knowledge of Christ

8:06 of the train of thought. He has warned the Philippians about the influence of the Judaizers in Philippians 3.2. These people, who were asserting that Christ was not enough either to lay to rest the fears of unmet legal demands before God.

8:27 Christ was not enough to satisfy the deepest longings of the heart. It had to be Christ plus ritual and form and ceremony and the whole mosaic economy. And the Apostle warns the Philippians of the baneful influence of the Judaizers. Then he describes the qualities of the true people of God in verse 3.

8:54 And then he launches into this bit of spiritual autobiography beginning with verse 4 in which he demonstrates that in his own experience the fundamental tenets of the Judaizers have been exploded and forever stripped of any credibility by those who are not. Those who are concerned with the truth. And so he mentions all of his fleshly advantages both inherited and attained and concerning all of them he declares in verse 7. He has counted them lost for Christ.

9:34 Then in verse 8 he amplifies that assertion. He expands it as well as reaffirms it. Yea, verily I count all things to be lost for the surpassingness of the world. The knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord for whom I suffer the loss of all things and do confident refuse that I may come to the acquisition of Christ and that I may be found incorporated into Christ.

10:02 Now then for the remainder of verse 9 and verse 10 he gives us an explanation of those blessings which he has come to regard as constituting the cardinal blessings of the surpassingness of the knowledge of Christ. It's as though we stand and we inquire of Paul and say Paul what was it precisely in this acquisition of Christ this being incorporated into Christ which caused you to count all of those other attainments to be as refuse. What are the specific spiritual realities

10:45 which have so filled your vision as the pearl of great price that for these you were willing to sell all other commodities. And he tells us in essence that in the gospel I found an answer to that gnawing consciousness of my need for communion with God. In the gospel I found an answer to that haunting awareness of my need for communion with God. to that haunting awareness of my need for communion with God.

The First Blessing: An Objective Provision of Perfect Righteousness

11:15 My accountability to God and my guilt before Him. Well this morning we'll have time only to take up verse 9 in which he sets forth by way of further explanation the first of these great blessings that came to him by virtue of the knowledge of Christ by virtue of gaining Christ by virtue of being found in Christ and by virtue of being found in Christ and by virtue of being found in Christ and by virtue of being found in Christ and as I read the text the emphasis will be obvious to all of you. Not having a righteousness of mine own even that which is of the law but that which is through faith

11:59 in Christ the righteousness which is from God by faith. Now it is obvious that Paul gives as the first great blessing that has come to him by virtue of the knowledge by virtue of being in Christ the blessing of an objective provision of a perfect righteousness before God. He came to the possession of a righteousness that would allow him to accept fully his accountability to God face realistically his guilt before God and yet fully accepting

12:43 his accountability to God and his guilt he could face the reality of the day of judgment without any dread. He says that if I can but be found in Christ now and in the last day I will be possessed of a righteousness that answers all the demands of that accountability and all the demands of my sin in the face of that accountability and I can face that day unafraid. In fact I can face it with the keenest anticipation and with joy.

What is Righteousness?

13:28 Now it's my purpose to try to unpack verse 9 this morning and we'll use three little crowbars each one a question and question number one is what is righteousness? Question number two how can I obtain it? And thirdly do I possess it? Three simple little crowbars by which we hope to pry open the text to see it in its evident meaning.

13:57 First of all then what is righteousness? From our text it is clear that the commodity which Paul so desired that he was willing to lose all his former gains to get it is the commodity called righteousness. Twice in the verse it is explicitly mentioned once it is assumed. Now what is this commodity?

14:26 What is this thing called righteousness in this particular text? And in the light of the teaching of the previous hour those who were there will know what I mean by that qualifying statement. What is righteousness in this text? Well it means basically a right standing before God and His law.

14:52 To have righteousness is to have acceptance with God as right or just in the full light of His demands expressed in His law and therefore to be treated with favor. In other words to have righteousness is to have a commodity which enables God to look fully at His own righteous standard for man than to look at the man who is answerable to that standard knowing His every thought and motive, word and deed from the very dawning of His conception and to declare

15:35 that in the light of all that He knows that is all that God knows about the breadth of His standard and all that He knows externally and extensively about the man who is accountable to that standard to say that man in the face of that standard meets with my acceptance and with my favor. I declare him to be totally non-liable to any punishment for breaking that law. I declare him worthy of all the favor to be shown to one who has fully kept it. Now that's what righteousness is.

16:16 To have that commodity in the presence of Almighty God. Not as a legal fiction, not as an ideal, but as a valid, substantial, spiritual commodity. And my friend, listen to me, anything less than that and every fear you've had about your accountability before God, your guilt before God, every fear you have will be answered in your experience with realities that more than justify those fears. If you live and die without this commodity of righteousness

17:00 that gives you a right standing before God and His law, then my friend, it were better for you that you had never been born. So you see, our text brings us right back to this haunting awareness of our accountability to God, our sense of guilt before Him. And we know that in and of ourselves we do not have this acceptance, this righteousness before Him and therefore not His favor. And if we do not have His favor, we shall have His judgment.

How Can Righteousness Be Obtained? (Negative Description)

17:35 And the Apostle Paul by the Spirit was brought to that awareness that he desperately needed such a righteousness. But now then, we ask the question, how can we obtain it? How can we obtain such a right standing before God and His law? Now as the Apostle describes that righteousness which he sought at the price of counting all things lost, he tells us that he came to possess it only in the knowledge of Christ, in the apprehending of Christ by being incorporated into the knowledge of Christ.

18:18 And in so doing he describes this righteousness in its origin and substance both negatively and positively. Look at the text. That I might be found in Him negatively, not having a righteousness of my own, even that which is of the law, positively, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith. And like a good teacher, the Apostle describes this commodity, this righteousness and how to obtain it negatively and then positively.

19:01 Well, what's the essence of his negative description? Look at the text. He says, it is not a righteousness associated in any way with personal performance in connection with the law. Not having a righteousness of my own, that which is of the law.

19:29 So this righteousness which he saw as available only in Christ and for which he willingly suffered the loss of everything that he might actually possess it in Christ, he tells us, it is not a righteousness associated in any way with personal performance in connection with the law. In other words, Paul states categorically that the righteousness which he needs is in no way at any time under any circumstances related to anything he has done, is doing,

20:13 or ever shall do.

20:17 Now, my friend, don't just write that off as a clever bit of preacher sentence construction. That is the very heart of your soul's safety and salvation. Paul states categorically that the righteousness which he needs and which you and I need is in no way at any time under any circumstances related to anything that we or he have done, are doing, or shall do, even if what we have done and are doing and shall do is in conformity to divine precept.

21:01 It has no relationship to our performance of law, law of whatever kind.

21:11 In Paul's case, of course, it was the Mosaic law, both as to its moral and ceremonial precepts. He could, say in verse 6, as touching the righteousness which is in the law, found blameless. His life with regard to the moral law in terms of external conduct was a blameless life. With respect to all of the minutiae of the ceremonial law, all of the details, no one could point a finger at Paul and say that he was in the law.

21:50 He was ignoring one of the dietary regulations or overstepping the bounds of one of the rubrics attached to the manner of worship and sacrifice. He said, no, my life with relationship to the law was blameless. So this is no doctrine he concocted because he was a blatant, outright lawless man in life and conduct. And so he must come up with a doctrine of salvation that will somehow cover his tracks.

22:18 No, no. Here, here was a man who with respect to his own conduct in the face of the law had much going for him. There was no woman that could ever point to Paul and say, that man violated my sexual purity. There was no person who could point to his purse and say, that man robbed me of three shekels of my possessions.

22:44 There was no one that could point to Paul and say, that man took the life of my Uncle George or my cousin Henrietta. No, no. He had kept the law as to its external demands. And with respect to all of the details of the ceremonial law, he not only kept that which was required by Moses, but all the additional trappings of the Pharisaic structure.

23:09 Well, what in the world brought the man to the place where he said, any righteousness that in any way is connected with what I have done, with respect to any law of God, whatever, I absolutely turn away from any such righteousness.

23:30 Well, you see, it was the discovery by the Spirit of God that the very purpose for which God gave that law was not to be a ladder to heaven, but to be a mirror to show him how much he needed another righteousness. And he records, biographically again, in Romans chapter 7, how God did that. How the law that he thought was a ladder by which he could climb to heaven became the divine mirror that showed him his true state of heart. And when the Spirit of God took that ninth commandment, that tenth commandment,

24:14 thou shalt not covet, he says, I began to discover something I had never known before. That the law of God which I should have known, the law which in the Old Testament said thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, mind, soul, and strength, I should have seen it, but I was blind to it in my self-righteousness. That law showed me, particularly that tenth commandment, that God's demands for righteousness touched the deepest springs of desire and attitude and disposition. And when I came to that discovery, I realized, that my ladder had crumbled.

24:54 I thought that all of my obedience to law was constructing a veritable Jacob's ladder that would stand me in the very presence of God, accepted before God in His law. And he said, I saw that that commandment was unto death, and it slew me. By the law comes the knowledge of sin. Then he came to a true discovery of the purpose of the ceremonial law.

25:20 God, God, God, God, God did not give all of those rituals that men, by performing a multiplicity of rituals, would think they were adding wrongs to the ladder that would lead them to heaven. No, no. All of those rituals were pointing the Jew away from himself to the One who was the embodiment of all those rituals. All the blood spilt upon Jewish altars was but a picture of the bloodletting of the Lamb of God who would take away the sin of the world and bring it to the world.

25:50 And God was teaching them by all the system of washing natively polluted and unclean. And they could find acceptance only in the sacrifice of another, the vile and death of another, the poured out life of another. And Paul came to understand as he said, Christ is the end of the law for righteousness, not only the moral law, discovering to him something of the corruption of his heart, but even the salvation of the world. The ceremonial law was not meant to be part of a ladder by which men would climb to heaven, but it was a sign pointer pointing to the fact that there was provision

26:33 in the grace and mercy of God even in the work and sacrifice of another. Well, you see, this righteousness then of which Paul speaks, he first of all speaks negatively. And he says it has nothing whatsoever to do with anything that he has performed in relationship to divine law. But then he gives a positive statement.

How Can Righteousness Be Obtained? (Positive Description)

27:00 Look at the text. The righteousness which he came to possess in the knowledge of Christ by laying hold of or winning Christ by being incorporated into Christ the knowledge he desired to possess now and in which he longed to be found in the last day was characterized by three great parts. Look at it in the text. But that which is the reference being to the righteousness but that righteousness which is through faith in Christ the righteousness which is from God

27:43 by faith. Now here are the three fundamental characteristics of the only righteousness that will avail before God now and in the last day. The first thing we note about it is that it was from God. Paul describes it as the righteousness which is from God.

28:09 And that immediately points us to its source or its origin and tells us that God and God alone is the author of the world. God and God alone is the imparter of this righteousness. And the great keynote of the gospel is sounded in that phrase the keynote of divine initiative. And for you children whose minds will be bombarded with all kinds of theories of religion and all kinds of philosophies of how men can know God one little rule of thumb you ask yourself again and again

28:54 when you hear such theories and you hear such ideas propounded you ask the question what is the origin of this so-called message of hope? If it starts from beneath and moves upward it is not of God.

29:14 God's method of deliverance starts from above and comes down to man. For God's soul loved the world that he gave. And the whole movement of divine intervention is the movement from heaven to earth its origin is in God. And how eloquently the apostle sets this forth in his great treatise in this subject in the epistle to the Romans when after laying out the gruesome reality of universal sin and condemnation he makes the transition in chapter 3 and verse 21

29:57 and notice where the emphasis falls. But now but now apart from the law is a righteousness of God manifested. There's the emphasis a righteousness from the living God. Now note the contrast in the apostle's experience.

30:23 All his life he thought of righteousness as something that emerged from his self. He thought of righteousness as that which with respect to himself he had a very good start in attaining to it because of all of his background and his inherited blessing. Hebrew of the Hebrews of the tribe of Benjamin an eighth day an eighth dayer with respect to circumcision and then as he thinks of his zeal and his position and activity as a Pharisee you see when Paul pressed with this haunting haunting consciousness I must have a right standing with God

31:07 the day is coming when I shall die and after death comes judgment when I stand before God accountable to him conscious that there are deficiencies in me what will be the fabric of my acceptance Paul falls well the fabric of my acceptance is made of the raw materials of all that I inherited and all that I attained now he comes to the place where he says no I was all mixed up in my perspective I thought of righteousness as something that began with me and lifted me to the place of acceptance with God now I understand that righteousness is a commodity

31:50 that comes from God to me in all the nakedness and need of my sinful state but then the second thing he tells us about this righteousness not only that it was from God but that it was in connection with Christ now a literal rendering of that part of the text which is translated in the 1901 edition in the following way but that which is through faith in Christ could more literally be translated through the faith of Christ and what we have here

32:34 is an objective genitive for you fledgling Greek students in other words through the faith of Christ or that faith which is in a peculiar and unique way preoccupied with Christ so that the emphasis falls on that phrase not so much upon faith as the inwardness spiritual activity of appropriating Christ but upon the object of that faith which is Christ himself so this righteousness which the apostle came to possess for which he was willing to suffer the loss of everything completely change his ledger of pluses into one big minus

33:18 was not only a righteousness from God but it was a righteousness in connection with Christ in other words the apostle came to understand that if this righteousness is to be likened unto a garment as the apostle likens it I'm sorry as the prophet Isaiah likens it in his prophecy then every thread in this garment of righteousness comes from the loom of Christ person and work his life of obedience to the law his death under the curse of the law not only constitute the warp and the woof of the fabric

34:03 of that garment of righteousness but they constitute every last thread in the garment every last thread in the language of Romans 5.19 as through the disobedience of the one the many were constituted sinners so by the obedience of the one shall the many become constituted righteousness and do you see again the contrast here is a man who at one time in the very presence of the word Christ identified with Jesus of Nazareth would have shuddered and broken out into the most violent

34:47 verbal and even physical abuse of the one who dared identify anointed Messiah with Jesus but the Christ he has in mind he has already described with his full title in verse 8 in the most endearing terms he referred to him as Christ Jesus my Lord and he says the righteousness in which I have come to rest the righteousness which answers to all the demands of God's law in the face of God's full knowledge of the extent of my sin is a righteousness found in connection with Christ

35:32 Jesus my Lord and every thread in that robe of righteousness I say is woven upon the loom of the perfections of Christ person and work but then the third thing he tells us about this righteousness is this that it was received by faith look at the text again not having a righteousness of mine own even that which is of the law but that which is through the faith of Christ the righteousness which is from God we might say upon the condition of faith

36:16 in other words it is a righteousness from God found only in connection with Christ and appropriated only by faith and the concept of faith was already introduced as a secondary point of emphasis in the text you see faith holds so central a place not because it is an act of merit that has peculiar worth and adds something to the fabric of the robe of Christ righteousness no faith is chosen by God

37:01 to be the means of receiving this righteousness because in faith alone is there a disposition perfectly consistent with a salvation that is all of God you see faith is likened in the Bible to an empty hand taking the provision made by another not necessarily a clean hand but an empty hand faith is likened to a thirsty soul drinking water provided by the by another faith is likened to a trembling frightened man running and hiding to a refuge already provided by another faith is likened to a weary man

37:45 dumping his burden upon another and finding rest now what's the common denominator of all those analogies of faith that are given to us in the Bible here's the common denominator the common denominator of every analogy of faith is this in it the believing person goes out of himself into another that's it out of himself and into another and when you strip down all the definitions and descriptions that's the bare bones of it my friends and that's why it's always

38:30 contrasted with works and always joined to grace grace emphasizes that which God gives to the undeserving works have to do with that which I receive as a reward for that which I've done and God says it is a faith that it might be all of grace why because faith never comes boasting about itself bringing anything with it faith is the souls going out of itself into another for all of its need now again do you see what a radically contrasting mentality this was for the apostle

39:14 here was a man who for his entire lifetime when he thought of the great day and of standing accepted before God in that day thought not of going out of himself but into himself and there to draw out the record of all that he had been and all that he had done now he says no no no the righteousness that I have come to prize so much that I have counted all things lost to obtain it in Christ is one negatively that has no connection with anything I ever had done am doing or ever shall do with respect to divine precepts

39:57 and furthermore he says positively it is a righteousness from God he is its author it is found in connection with Christ and it is received by faith alone well having asked the question what is righteousness in this text and I hope I've answered it simply biblically having asked the question how does this righteousness come to pass or what are the fundamental elements of it now I come to my final question and oh I trust everyone listening this morning will accept it in the spirit in which I utter it it's a personal

Do You Possess This Righteousness?

40:41 question the question is do you possess this righteousness sitting here this morning you too have that haunting awareness of your accountability to God it's a wonderful thing to preach knowing that I have an ally in the breast of every man woman boy or girl that I can preach this morning in the confidence that there is in every person no matter how much it has been squelched no matter how much efforts have been made to silence it to somehow bury it there is that haunting awareness that you're accountable to God

41:25 and furthermore coupled with that awareness is the consciousness that you are guilty before him now what have you done with that awareness and that consciousness well some people try to bury it by a life of sensuality and so they just try to blow their minds on drugs satiate their senses with sensual passions and appetites fill their ears with music day and night why because whenever they're quiet and in full possession of all their faculties when their minds are not dulled with alcohol or booze they find themselves ill at

42:10 ease with that haunting awareness I'm accountable to God I'm accountable to God I'm accountable to God I'm accountable to God I'm not right with God I'm not right with God I'm on my way to judgment more booze more sex more drugs more music anything but coming to grips with that haunting consciousness but if you're here this morning I hope you're here sober I hope you're here with no booze in your brain no drugs in your blood and that haunting consciousness makes you feel uncomfortable when you're reminded about it doesn't it oh my

42:55 friend cherish that haunting consciousness that is the living present evidence that you are more than a beast of the field face the reality of that but then what are you going to do with it some I say try to drown it in a life of profligacy others like the apostle Paul what do they try to do they try to get rid of it by satisfying themselves that they do have a righteousness that will answer to the last day they think about the last day they think about death they think about God and his holiness God and his law and their accountability but because of the blindness of sin and the perverting influence of the devil they like

The Parable of the Peasant Girl and the Moth-Eaten Dress

43:40 Paul try to work out a righteousness of their own which God says will never never stand them in good stead and they do not in the language of Romans 10 3 submit to the righteousness of God I want to close the exhortation this morning with a parable that I've constructed for this very purpose and you children who like stories you listen to pastor's story this morning will you imagine with me that we're taken back in some kind of a time machine to the days when they had kings and there were serfs in the kingdom and there were lords and overlords and governors

44:24 of various communities of the kingdom well in a certain kingdom there was a cruel overlord who had taken possession of an obscure little village and in that village this cruel overlord took a special interest in a little peasant girl when he found her she was dressed in her very homely threadbare peasant dress because he wanted that girl to do menial tasks for him in his own home on behalf of him and his wife and his household he made both an announcement and a promise to her he told the little girl that one day the king himself might come

45:09 to their village and if she wished to appear in the presence of the king she would have to have a dress that was fit for the eyes of the king she couldn't appear in that threadbare little peasant dress that she would have to have a dress that would make her fit to stand before her king and the little peasant girl was tremendously excited at this and said oh if the king ever comes why surely I want to be found dressed in such a way that I can appear before him and see his face and receive his commendation as a loyal subject of his kingdom the cruel overlord said well if you're to have such a dress you must work for me twelve

45:54 to fourteen hours a day in the most menial tasks and at the end of three years as a reward for your work I will give you such a dress and so the little peasant girl conscious of the thread bare homeliness of her own dress and with her eye fixed on the possibility of having a dress that would make her acceptable in the presence of her king she works twelve and fourteen hours a day she slaves scrubbing floors doing the most menial tasks receiving no thanks from this cruel overlord and finally at the end of the three years the time comes when she's to be rewarded

46:37 the cruel overlord comes with a box in which he has the dress that he's going to give to the girl but you see in that box there is not a beautiful garment in reality there's a garment that is moth eaten a garment that crawls with vermin and has a terrible stench about it and knowing that the girl would immediately be conscious of being cheated if she were to know this he brings with him a very special pair of glasses that he has constructed that have unusual powers and these glasses if she wears them will cause her

47:22 totally to distort the nature of the dress he's about to present to her so when he comes to present the dress to her he calls the little girl into his presence and he says now my dear if you're really to appreciate the beauty of the dress I've prepared for you you must wear these glasses so he places those glasses upon her now he says here's the dress and she takes the dress out and she's almost dumbstruck with its apparent beauty she says oh this is a dress indeed fit for a king and she quickly takes off her peasant dress and puts on this garment and with the glasses still on she goes to look at herself in the looking glass and as best that could reflect

48:07 reality to her through her glasses she's just delighted so much so that she's almost paralyzed with joy and little girl-like squeaks of delight come out from her throat as she looks at what to her appears is a beautiful garment several days later a messenger of the king comes into the town and he announces the king is coming the king is appearing the king is going to visit your village only those dressed in garments fit for his presence will have an audience with him but I have wonderful news for you I have brought with me a whole load of

48:52 garments made in the king's tailor house under the king's supervision and with the king's personal provision in every single garment and any of you who want to appear acceptably in the presence of the king come and we will have a garment perfectly suited to you it is yours for the taking well the message reaches the little girl and she comes running up to the king's messenger and says oh sir I want an audience with the king he looks at her in shocked amazement in her and says but my little girl you could never appear in the king's presence dressed like that and she looks up

49:37 at him with her glasses still on and saying but sir why do you speak this way about this garment I worked I sweat I labored for three years for this beautiful garment don't you see it's fit for any king and the girl seems to be rational and so the messenger from the king's presence is surprised and says but my dear that garment is moth eaten that garment is crawling with vermin that garment is nothing but an extended rag at first the little girl is hurt and wounded and says no it cannot be when I look at it it appears beautiful to me and my master told me it was perfectly acceptable

50:21 for a king then the light begins to dawn upon the king's messenger and he says oh my little girl did you look upon that dress without your glasses she said oh no my master told me never to look upon myself in the looking glass wearing this dress without my glasses and he says come here for a moment and he lifts the glasses from off her face he says now my dear come here and takes her to the nearest looking glass and she looks in and now she's for the first time she sees that garment for what it really is the thing she'd worked for she toiled for she

51:06 sweat and laid for now she sees it for what it really is she sees it in all of its native ugliness all of the moth holes the shreds the rottenness the vermin crawling over it and she turns to the king's messenger and says oh sir oh sir how could I ever appear in the presence of the king dressed like this what shall I do and he takes her in his arms and says my dear I've come anon sin not only that the king is coming but the king has provided garments that pass his standard they come from his own tailor shop made under his own supervision

51:51 and he takes from his cart one that is suited to her and she's beautifully dressed in the garment that makes her fit for the presence of the king oh you see that's a sweet little story a little far fetched and a little bit of fair story in it pastor I've had suspicions that you're getting old and a little bit weak between the ears but this kind of confirms them I hope that's not what you're thinking because my friend that little girl was the apostle Paul and the God of this world blinded his minds to the nature of the garment he'd been working for all his life

The Parable's Application: Paul's Experience and Our Own

52:35 the devil said Paul work Paul slave persecute the church be a zealous Pharisee and Paul when you're all done I'll reward you with a garment of righteousness fit for the eyes of the king and Paul blinded by the God of this world when he'd look in the mirror what he would see is Paul the Pharisee clothed with a garment fit for the presence of the God of heaven one day the Holy Ghost came and took his glasses off and he held up the mirror of God's law and Paul said you know what I saw vermin moth

53:20 eaten I saw garments not fit for the presence of a king but a garment fit only for the presence of the devil and demons in hell and then when God said in the gospel there's a righteousness in my son it's yours if you throw away that dirty rag Paul said man I'm no loser for getting rid of dirty rags to get a garment like that everything that I thought was a plus sign everything that I thought all together made the bodice and the arms and all the pieces of a garment that would find me accepted before

54:05 God I saw it for what it was and for the surpassing this of the knowledge of Christ that I might apprehend Christ and be found in him to have a righteousness not in any way connected with my performance in relationship to divine law but a righteousness that came from God's own tailor shop made a fabric of God's own choosing under his supervision to have a righteousness that was from God in connection with Christ every thread in that garment woven upon the loom of the obedience and the sufferings of Christ one available not for doing but

54:50 for believing he said I counted all things but loss that I might be found in Christ having that kind of a righteousness and my friends my question is do you have that kind of righteousness if so somewhere along the line God took your glasses off now I'm not saying you can point to the day when he did it that you can remember all the circumstances but somewhere along the line God took your glasses off and he let you see that the best things you've done made only a garment that was full of vermin and moth eaten God says all our righteousnesses are as

55:34 filthy rats Isaiah 64 6 you have gladly submitted to the righteousness of God in Christ you have gladly embraced not a robe apart from the person in whom the robe is found but you have embraced the Lord Jesus as your only hope of salvation and you can say with Paul here and now I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and do count them but refuse that I may gain Christ and be found in him not having my own righteousness which is of the law

56:19 but that which is from God in Christ by faith oh my friend do you possess that righteousness without it you're undone you stand before the God of the universe with anything less than the righteousness God provides and you'll receive nothing less than the judgment which God gives to every such person it's perfect righteousness or hell nothing in between perfect righteousness or hell nothing in between no mediating position and the glory of the gospel is God doesn't come and crack a whip over us and say work and hope

57:04 that you'll attain a righteousness that will meet my standard he says believe such a righteousness is already provided that's the gospel that's the gospel that's the heart of the gospel that's the glory of the gospel do I speak to someone who has been living perhaps for years with that terrible haunting awareness I'm accountable to God I know I've got to stand before him I know I don't need his standard and you thought how can I ever begin to undo all I've done and build up enough equity to somehow be accepted my friend the

57:48 gospel to you this morning is cease from all such thoughts of fixing yourself up and building up equity all the equity is already built up in the son of God and in his righteousness God says believe be found in him and it's all yours in the son of God and oh for those of us who profess to have found such a righteousness in him is this not cause enough to love him to go on to say with the apostle having known the joy of that wonderful release from that oppressive crippling guilt that comes from an unanswered question with regard

58:33 to righteousness surely I want to know this Christ I want to enter into intimate personal communion with him I want to know him in the power of his resurrection the fellowship of his sufferings and being made conformable to his death you see this is no legal fiction that makes a bunch of antinomians who say oh well save by the righteousness of another live as I please no no it didn't with Paul and it won't with you or because of the fact that that righteousness is offered in a person God never brings anyone to the possession of that righteousness without a discovery of the

Conclusion and Prayer

59:18 may God grant that Paul's spiritual autobiography will be ours and that in answer to the question do you possess that righteousness you will be able to say with me yes by the grace of God I do thank God for the day when he took off my glasses and showed me what I was that I might be willing to count all things but loss to take the garment that he offers in his dear son let us pray oh our father surely eye has not seen ear has

60:02 not heard nor would it ever have entered into the heart of man the things you have prepared for needy sinners we thank you you have revealed them to us by the spirit even the spirit who has spoken in the scriptures the spirit the we confess that our minds and our hearts stagger before the magnitude of grace that you would come to us in all of our filth in all of the moth eaten vermin ridden garments with which we sought to clothe ourselves graciously show us our true condition and then not leave us to grovel but

60:47 wonderfully provide for us a perfect right justness in your son oh god make your dear son and the gift of righteousness in him exceedingly precious to every believer in this place this morning and for those men and women boys and girls who are still working and slaving listening to that cruel task master who has promised them what he cannot give oh god take their glasses off this morning help them to see themselves as you see them and as they must be forced to see themselves in the day of judgment oh god show them their undone ness

61:32 and then lead them to take from your hand the gift of grace in christ seal them the word to our hearts we ask these mercies for the sake of your beloved son and for the good of our own never dying souls amen