Components of Biblical Faith- Part 1

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But our confession today is that we don't have anything fit for a king.

When we think about your nature and who you are, who what is a man that you're mindful of him?

Yet the Bible tells us that you made him a little lower than the angels, and you've crowned us with glory and honor, and you've given us dominion over everything you've created, Lord.

So increase our understanding today, which leads to our enjoyment of the dominion you've given us over all that you've created.

We say with the Bible, God, that you are the Lord God of all flesh.

Is anything too difficult for you?

And the answer is no.

So there's nothing that we can't ask you for.

We're not talking about some prosperity gospel, name it and claim it.

We're talking about sons and daughters coming to their father and making their needs known.

Now, Lord, as we open up your word, Holy Spirit, illuminate the scripture today.

Cause it to make sense in our head and in our heart, find expression in our hands.

Lord, thank you for my new best friend Joel.

I met this morning.

I pray that even in his age, he would realize today that you have a plan and a purpose for his life.

So it affects the way he does fifth grade and sixth grade and middle school and high school and college, the girls that he dates and the woman that he marries.

Because you're a God of that much detail, Lord.

Arrest his attention today and say something today that has all of our name on it, we pray.

We pray this in Jesus' name when everyone said.

Amen.

Amen.

You could have a seat if you've got a Bible.

I invite you to take it and open up to Acts chapter 24.

Acts 24 · chapter mention

Acts chapter 24.

Acts 24 · chapter mention

If you're our guest today, I want to say, welcome.

We're preaching through the book of Acts.

We're typically preaching through the book of the Bible.

We preach at what's called expository preaching.

Uh, because we do that because we think that's the way you nourish the faith and the understanding of a congregation over the long haul.

So in the book of Acts, uh, we left off in the part of chapter 23.

There's some travel narratives.

So let me kind of summarize what's happened since we last were in Acts.

Uh, there's a Paul is preaching the gospel and he gets in trouble.

Go figure.

Uh, and and so there's a problem.

Religious people don't like it.

So there's a plot that they they devise a plot to kill Paul.

And over 40 assassins said, We're not gonna eat or drink until we kill this guy.

And so there's someone standing over here, and he hears this, a kid, and he goes and tells the commander and says, Hey, they're gonna get Paul.

And so they send Paul away.

They send him to go see Felix, the governor.

And so he's and so he gets to this town.

He has to wait there for the lawyer to show up.

You know, the prosecutor attorney gets there, and so he charges Paul, and then Paul makes a defense, and now he's standing before a guy named Felix and his wife Drusilla.

A little context for Felix and Drusilla.

She was known for her ravishing beauty, one of the most beautiful women uh of the time.

She was uh in an arranged marriage at the age of 14, and Felix saw her, was so struck with by her beauty, he got a magician and to put a spell on her, it convinced her that she should be his wife.

So Felix took her as his third wife.

Now, if you've seen me and you see my wife, now you understand how I got my wife as well.

Amen.

And so Felix, it's a true story.

Uh, it's not in the Bible, but Josephus used to, or do you get that?

The Jewish historian Josephus and many other references tell the story that he got a magician to put a spell on her and said, Hey, you should be my wife.

And she said, Okay.

And so she's standing here at about 18, 19 years old with Felix, one of the most powerful men in that part of the country.

Now, why why do I tell you that?

Listen to what Paul says to them.

What he does is called contextualizing the gospel.

He puts it in the context in which he's in and applies it most uh appropriately to the people he's talking to.

It's imperative that we learn how to contextualize the gospel.

Otherwise, we'll only know how to have gospel conversations about certain things on certain days, like Sunday.

Uh, and we avoid or inform, but we don't engage.

Paul was always engaging, taking the gospel and applying it to the to the people in the circumstance he was in in the moment.

Let me read Acts chapter 24, starting in verse 22.

Acts 24 · chapter mention

It says this But Felix, having a rather accurate knowledge of the way, put them off, saying, Hey, when Lysias the tribune comes down, I will decide your case.

And then he gave orders to the centurion that he should be kept in custody, but have some liberty, and that none of his friends should be prevented from attending to his needs.

After some days, Felix came with his wife Trisilla, who is a ju who was Jewish, and he sent for uh for Paul and heard him speak about faith in Christ Jesus.

Now let me stop right there.

You getting this?

Paul's in prison, Felix has authority over him, and so he would just send for him and say, Hey, bring Paul.

I want to listen to Paul talk about this whole Christianity thing.

And look at the way Paul defines faith.

He says he he he would send for Paul and he heard me speak about faith in Christ Jesus.

Ask yourself today if someone stopped you at work tomorrow and said, Hey, tell me about faith in Christ Jesus, tell me about faith in Jesus, how would you answer that question?

Look at what Paul says.

Verse 25 says, And as he reasoned about righteousness and self-control and the coming judgment, Felix was alarmed and said, Go away for the present.

When I get an opportunity, I will summon you.

At the same time, he hoped that money would be given him by Paul.

So he sent for him often and conversed with him.

Don't miss verse 27.

When two years had elapsed, Felix was succeeded by Portius Festus, and desiring to do the Jews a favor, Felix left Paul in prison.

So get this, okay?

For two years, this guy had Paul uh in custody.

He he was kind of a popular prisoner, so he said, Hey, you get all the benefits of a Roman citizen.

Your friends can come and bring you chicken casserole, they can go make a Starbucks run, but you're gonna be here in jail.

And because he wanted to bribe, he just thought, hey, money makes the world go around.

This guy, Paul, just showed up with a huge offering for the church at Jerusalem.

Surely he's got some bling.

I'm gonna keep him in jail until he buys me off.

Here's what he didn't understand about Paul.

Paul valued the truth of the gospel more than he did money.

And so for two years he's waiting and he never gets the offer of the bribe.

But for can you imagine Paul summoning Paul and for two years on a consistent, bi-weekly, three times a week basis, Paul just lays out the gospel.

How hard does your heart have to be for you to never come to faith?

Because Felix never does.

He never does.

But I want to I want to drill down and talk about uh a three-part series.

So we're in the Acts where Paul's defending the gospel.

I want to talk to you this morning about the components of biblical faith.

From right there, verse 24 and 25.

It says, as he heard him speak about faith in Christ, and as he reasoned about righteousness and self-control and the coming judgment.

And then notice the Bible says Felix was alarmed.

Have you ever noticed that these days no one's alarmed when you share the gospel?

They're kind of comforted.

They're like, hey, thanks for sharing.

I appreciate that.

That's good for you.

That works for you.

But I've got my own personal system of belief.

No one's alarmed, and here's my concern: no one's alarmed because what we're really sharing is not the biblical gospel, it's a cultural gospel.

We don't talk about righteousness, self-control, and the judgment to come.

So for three out of the next four Sundays, I want to talk about the components of biblical faith.

And today I want to talk about righteousness.

Righteousness.

What do you mean, righteousness?

Well, I brought you a definition as it's used in this context here.

As it relates to man, it refers to the doctrine concerning the way in which a man can may attain.

I say a man, I don't mean man versus what I mean humanity can attain a state approved by God.

Now, I realize that's kind of heady and nerdy.

Let me say it again.

Righteousness, it refers to the doctrine concerning the way in which a person can attain a state of being approved by God.

Now, this sounds simple and doable.

You're like, okay, basically, what do I got to do to be right with God?

It sounds simple and doable, but understand that when it comes to righteousness, there's three things about man.

If you're a note taker, write these down, okay?

Man is by nature unrighteous.

He is secondly, man is by effort self-righteous.

And thirdly, by faith is made righteous.

See, righteousness sounds like an easy thing, okay?

What do I got to do?

It's just the way in which I can I can get into a state of being where God approves of me.

Well, uh, it's a little bit of a problem because we by nature are unrighteous.

Uh, we by effort are self-righteous, and then we by faith are made righteous.

I want to unpack each one of those.

It's just a component of biblical faith.

Because again, all what's the first thing Paul says?

You don't understand faith.

The issue is not good or bad, it's righteous or unrighteous.

So, what do we mean when we say by nature, man is unrighteous?

This is important because you start off with the unrighteous nature of humanity, okay?

And it's important because people are incapable of any righteous behavior because they are unrighteous, okay?

And so you say, What do you mean?

You can do good.

I get asked this a lot.

People say, Oh, so are you saying Christians are the only people only people that can do good?

No, no, no, no.

Lost people can do good.

Man in his natural state is unrighteous.

You can do good, but you can't do righteous.

Do you understand the difference in those two?

Let me ask it again.

You can do, yeah, if you're here today and you're like, dude, I don't believe in what you're saying.

I'm an atheist, I'm an agnostic, I'm a jaded Baptist, I'm a cynical Methodist, wherever you come from.

I I do not say, oh, that people that aren't believers, they can't do good things.

Yes, you can do good things, but you have to understand the difference between good and righteous.

The difference in good and righteous is this one is man's standard.

That's good.

God's standard is righteous.

Uh uh What do you mean?

The problem with good is twofold.

When I say one is man's standard, man's standard is good.

Well, how do you mean?

I I've talked to many people that were unbelievers, not Christians.

They find out I'm a pastor and they say, Oh, I'm gonna ask you some questions.

You know, God's so good, what about this hurricane that just destroyed Western North Carolina?

Blah, blah, blah.

And then I turn it back on them and say, Tell me about you.

Is there a spiritual component to your story?

Typically, I hear this.

Well, I'm a good person.

No, un no, I've never heard a non-Christian say, Well, actually, I'm a righteous person.

I hear, I'm a good person.

I try to help my fellow man.

I follow the golden rule.

I say, What is the golden rule?

Do unto others as you have them do under you.

All that is is works-based righteousness.

When people say I'm good, I say, Yeah, you're good.

Good's here.

Can we take it up the next level?

And they go, What's the next level?

Righteous.

And then the color drains from their face.

They're like, What do you mean, righteous?

Yeah, God's standard is righteous because man by nature is unrighteous.

And then it doesn't go much better because I think it's helpful to say, hey, by the way, as an unrighteous person, anything you do uh as an unrighteous person, even when it's good, okay, it cannot make you right with God.

And then they're like, Well, why do anything?

And they say, What do you mean?

The Bible says it like this in Isaiah chapter 64, about verse 6.

Isaiah 64 · chapter mention

He says, 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.

There's no one who calls upon your name who rouses himself to take hold of you, for you have hidden your face from us and have made us melt in the hand of our iniquities.

Hear that part, that last part in verse 7.

He says, There's no one who calls upon your name.

Nobody by nature calls upon God because we trust in ourselves.

Because we're, you may have heard this phrase before, we're sinful or we're fallen people, okay?

This is why we don't trust ourselves.

We're unrighteous by nature.

He makes it clear who rouses themselves to take hold of you?

Who wakes himself up and says, dude, get a hold of yourself, okay?

You need to pursue God, right?

Unrighteous people can't do that.

Now, let me just acknowledge something.

The Bible paints a hopeless picture because it's an accurate picture.

We have a core fundamental problem, which is why you need to grasp what are the components of biblical faith: the righteousness, self-control, and the judgment to come.

Because for people who are not right with God and cannot rouse themselves to do the right thing, the reality of a future judgment is very concerning to them.

See, we we've kind of allowed the culture to tell us what they're listening to, and we leave the components of biblical faith in the Bible and they don't come out of our mouth.

And so when people say we're good, we're like, well, okay, I mean, I agree that you're good.

Let me say something.

A guy asked me not long ago.

He goes, What about all the good people in the world?

I said, There are none.

He said, Excuse me?

I said, There are no good people, morally good in the side of people.

He said, Man, why do you got to be such a hater?

I said, I'm not being a hater.

I said, Let me ask you something.

If you can be good, I mean, because see, here's the question again uh uh about goodness, okay?

Who defines it?

Who defines it?

When you do something good, does this count or not?

And then secondly, who quantifies it?

Is it enough?

If you grew up in the method, uh excuse me, if you grew up in the in the Muslim tradition, then you have that you understand this.

Because in Islam, there is no certainty of uh of salvation.

You do good your whole life, and at the end you walk across this bridge over the lake of fire.

And if Allah thinks you've done enough good, he lets you pass.

If not, he knocks you off the bridge into the fire.

No assurance of salvation, no certainty whatsoever.

So your whole life, you're always trying to do more good than bad.

Here's again, here's the problem.

If you think in terms of good instead of righteous or unrighteous, if you think good or bad, two questions.

Who defines good?

And is my definition of good better than your definition?

Or can everybody just make their own definition?

Because I would submit to you if everyone can make their own definition of good, then you don't need God.

You're gonna lower the standard to where it's, oh, this is easy, this is accessible to me.

And then, secondly, who defines good?

Secondly, who quantifies it?

How do you know it's ever enough?

How do you know it's ever, ever enough?

This is why Paul is before Felix, a man who used a magician to steal away a teenage bride from another man.

Both immoral people, not just because that, but because I mean they their reputation precedes themselves.

And he says, Oh, you want to hear about biblical faith?

Let me tell you the first thing it's about righteousness.

And you catch by nature, and we all by nature do not have that, because man is by nature unrighteous.

Secondly, he is by man is by humanity is by effort self-righteous.

When we hear, we don't take the news of our inability very well.

So when humanity hears that we are unrighteous by nature, well, the first thing we do is we turn right around and we try to come up with a way to make ourselves right or righteous.

We use good behavior, doing what we can, but basically all you're doing is trusting in your own efforts to be righteous.

Does that make sense?

Say amen.

We're gonna think a little bit today, okay?

You good with me?

Because y'all are like, ooh, you're kind of serious today.

Yes, I was at a two-day elder retreat this weekend while you all were watching football.

I was doing a two-day SWOT analysis.

Yes, and I might have even said out loud a time or two, even so, Lord Jesus, come quickly, but he didn't, so I had to stay there.

No, it was great.

We we we're very excited, by the way.

If you're visiting like one of the elders, we are an elder-led church.

I'm the pastor, but I'm not in charge.

I am responsible, but I'm not in charge.

There are seven men that give leadership to our church.

We have five more in the process of coming on, and we'll be talking more about that in the new year.

So we went away for a couple days just to say, hey, where's our church?

Where are we?

And here's our philosophy.

I think I'll sum this up for you, okay?

You want to know what we boiled it down to?

Say yes or no.

All right.

We want our church to be like a restaurant.

Somebody in the section here was like, Y'all took two days to come up with that.

Yes.

You go to a good restaurant, a good restaurant, if it's a good restaurant, you know something, most of the good restaurants, they don't, it's a wait.

We went to a place down on Tiki Alley called Katy's.

We got out of the truck, they said 45 minutes to an hour.

It was two o'clock in the afternoon.

Like, what is this senior adult lunch or lunch?

What are we doing here?

Senior adults are eating supper at two o'clock.

What why are these people all here?

But listen, when a restaurant is good, and when people show up, you don't just keep expanding the restaurant.

Okay, we're gonna expand our children's building, and that's it.

We're done.

We're gonna have two services, and hey, we got this service and another service at 10:30.

We're not gonna keep adding services and kill our staff.

We just want to be like a restaurant.

We want to serve a good meal, we want to teach the Bible, we want to pastor our people well, we want to know your names.

We don't want to have multi-site, we don't think, matter of fact, we don't even think that's biblical.

We're not Chick-fil-A, we're not gonna open a bunch of franchises.

We think this, if we're equipping, the Bible says we're to equip the saints for the work of ministry, if we're equipping 1,100 people, which currently is what shows up in two services, we're really advancing the kingdom.

And that's enough for us.

Make sense.

We're not gonna turn you into things and try to extract, hey, and we need you to yeah, we want you to volunteer, we want you to help row the boat.

But we're not gonna be like Pharaoh and say, okay, now you did this, now do this, now do this, now do this, now do that.

Because if you go to a church like that, over time look at me, and then my little sidebar is over.

We're getting back to the Bible.

Eventually, you will think, these people don't really care about me, they're just using me.

And that's gross.

We're not gonna do that.

And you maybe think, y'all are lazy.

Okay, great.

Just we just want to be clear.

Now, back to what we're talking about in in Acts.

Man is by uh nature unrighteous, and by effort he is self-righteous.

We do not take our our unrighteousness, well, like don't call me unrighteous, and we try to do something to make ourself righteous.

The Bible, all through the Bible, I just brought you a couple places.

This is Luke chapter 18.

Luke 18 · chapter mention

Jesus is talking, and notice what he the way he says this, Luke 18, verse 9.

Luke 18:9

He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and they treated others with contempt.

Don't you love how honest the Bible is?

They trusted in themselves.

See, this is the essence of self-righteousness.

You don't trust anybody else.

I asked people in counseling fairly consistently, tell me who or what you submit to.

And way too often I hear back, I don't submit to anybody, submit.

Are you kidding me?

I don't submit to anybody.

You want me to submit to you?

I'm I'm getting out of here.

He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous.

They treated others with contempt.

Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee, and the other a tax collector.

The Pharisee standing by himself, praying thus, God, I thank you.

I'm not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, democrats, CNN watchers.

You know some of you self-righteous people think you're righteous because you watch Fox News all day.

You know that, right?

That ain't funny, Pastor.

Yeah.

I'm not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, even this tax collector.

I fast twice a week.

I give tithes of all that I get, but the tax collector standing far off would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, and he beat his breast, saying, God be merciful to me, a sinner.

I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than this religious weasel over here, the Pharisee.

For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.

Here is the fundamental flaw with self-righteousness.

You exalt yourself.

You say, I don't need anybody, I don't need God.

I'm a self-made man.

I got this all figured out.

Now I know none of you would say, Oh, Pastor, thank you for talking about self-righteousness.

My wife needed to hear that today.

None of you would ever say you're self-righteous.

So, because I love you, I brought you a little quiz about self-righteousness.

And so, here, they'll just come up one at a time.

I'll read them to you.

Uh, and just take the quiz.

Don't try to write them all down.

Just get your camera ready and be discreet.

Don't stand up like your kid's ballet recital.

Just be discreet.

Uh okay, how do you know you're self-righteous?

Number one, do you ever think of yourself as better than others because of what you do or don't do?

You ever at a restaurant and see some of your friends over there and they're having a glass of wine and you think, ah, Methodist Episcopalians?

Number two, do you ever relate to God as if nothing bad should happen to you because you're a good person or because you've been good?

Number three, do you withhold forgiveness from anyone because, quote, they don't deserve it?

Number four, do you ever treat people with contempt?

What do you mean contempt?

There's three emotions in uh in all human relationships.

There's frustration, there's frustration, there's anger, and then there's contempt.

Contempt is where I punish you in my mind, but I never have I never talk to you out loud about it.

I see you, and when you walk by, I turn to somebody next to me and I talk about you.

Oh, now it's coming home.

You're like, well, I wouldn't use the word contempt.

Yeah, you should.

I think this is number five.

Do you insist on maintaining a low sense of self-worth?

What are started by this one?

Do you insist on maintaining a low sense of self-worth?

I'm just a worm in the dirt, I just stink.

You say, What's that?

What's this got to do with self righteousness?

The defining ingredient of self righteousness is that you're that you're providing your own standard of righteousness.

Let me say that again.

The defining ingredient of self righteousness is that you're providing your own standard of righteousness.

Said differently.

I'm I'm such a bad person.

Even Jesus' death wasn't enough for me.

I'm that bad.

Here's a news flash, okay?

If you if you write anything down today, write this down.

Even in self-hatred, the focus is still on self.

And in this mental health crisis, teenagers especially have figured out how to be like, oh, I hate myself.

I'm terrible.

This is how you get all the focus on you.

And so I lovingly say to people in counseling, pretty consistently, hey, by the way, this whole self-hatred narrative, this is just a way to control and manipulate everybody in your life because you're such a bad person.

The death of Jesus wasn't enough.

You're the best sinner ever.

Let's all bow down.

Because you don't hate yourself.

At your core, you want to be worshiped.

Because again, even in self-hatred, the focus is still on self.

This is number next.

You think you're right with God because of anything you've ever done in your life, good or helpful.

You think you're right with God because of anything you've ever done in your life, good that is good or helpful.

Good deeds are not the means of righteousness.

Good deeds are an expression of righteousness.

They're not the means of it.

And lastly, you like people knowing when you do good things.

You don't come out and say that, but you kind of like it.

It's kind of like, hmm.

Check me out.

Hey, yeah, you can put my name on the building.

Let's don't make the letters too big.

Yeah.

This is what self-righteousness does.

It causes us to have confidence in anything but God.

Let me say that again.

I'll show you another passage in the Bible.

Self-righteousness causes us to have confidence in anything but God.

So you should ask yourself, where is my spiritual confidence today?

Is it in my ability?

Is it in my morality?

Is it in my behavior?

Or is my spiritual confidence in God?

The Apostle Paul, the same person who records the book of Acts, he recorded the book of Philippians.

And in Philippians chapter 3, by the way, he's a very religious man, very moral man, very disciplined man, very zealous.

Philippians 3 · chapter mention

I mean, this guy was uh he kept the law, he kept the rules.

He was good, he was perfect, he was a virgin when he got married, he voted Republican, he watches Fox News, changes his oil every 3,000 miles.

I mean, this guy's got it down, listen to what he says.

Philippians chapter 3, verse 4.

Philippians 3:4

If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, hello.

I have more.

Circumnize 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, as to 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'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 from the law.

Hello.

This is the essence of self-righteousness.

Not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law.

This sense of well-being because I do the right thing.

I'm disciplined, okay?

I'm not like these people are always in debt because I have a budget and I do Dave Ramsay.

Just do Dave Ramsey law, be better, people.

You have a righteousness of your own that comes from the law.

He says, Paul says, but I don't have that.

I'm 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.

See, man is when Paul says, hey, he's he reasoned about faith, and he reasoned about righteousness, self-control, and the judgment to come.

You wait for a couple, you think this is bad.

Wait for a couple weeks and we talk about self-control.

And I tell you that self-control is an expression of your faith.

That doesn't mean if you've ever liked self-control, you're not a Christian.

Self-control, the Bible says, greater is he that's in you than he that's in the world.

That's not just a reference to the devil, it's also a reference to desert.

Wait for it, trickle down.

Yes, he that is in you is greater than he that's in the world.

So you you have a measure of self-control.

We'll get to that in a couple weeks, okay?

Let's just stay on this.

See, be righteousness is a problem for Felix and Drusilla because they are by nature immoral people, okay?

Not just because, hey, I got a magician and I stole this woman from another man, but he is he has uh flaunted God's law his entire life.

And Paul says, Oh, you want to know what faith in God is like?

Faith in God is not praying a prayer and believing and writing a check for the church, blah, blah, blah.

It is about righteousness, bro.

Let me let me rock your world.

You unrighteous pagan.

There's no way you're so far from it.

But in love, I'm gonna contextualize the gospel and tell you it is about righteousness.

And here's the problem because we by nature are unrighteous.

Okay?

By effort, we're self-righteous.

And then thirdly and finally, here's the good news.

By faith, you're made righteous.

By faith, you're made righteous.

This is often referred to as imputed righteousness.

Have you ever heard the phrase imputed righteousness?

Say amen.

Do you understand what it is?

Say amen.

Oh, you hung.

Yes.

Let me give you a simple definition for imputed righteousness.

To impute means to give the blame or the credit for to someone.

There's credit.

Okay?

There's blame or credit for something.

And to impute means to give it to some person.

Now, because of that, imputed righteousness means that the righteousness of Christ is credited to Christians because Jesus took your blame.

Now hear that last part again.

This is what washes all the pity and self-loathing off of you.

Imputed righteousness means that the righteousness of Christ is credited to you, to Christians, because Jesus took your blame.

It's on the basis of Jesus' righteousness that God accepts humans.

Hear this very carefully, okay?

I have this conversation consistently and people are shocked by it.

And I'm like, what have you been told?

Well, I've been told that God loves me and offers a wonderful plan for my life.

You are unrighteous by nature.

God can't even look upon you.

Like, oh man, that's very hateful.

You're smart people.

Just think for a minute.

If it's on the basis of Jesus' righteousness that God accepts human beings, so without the righteousness of God being transferred to you, God doesn't, and he cannot, he doesn't accept you, and he cannot accept you, okay?

Because his holiness will not allow him to, because humanity is by nature unrighteous.

Does that make sense to anybody but me?

You're like, well, it was a lot.

Say it again.

Okay, I'll say it again.

Think about it.

Just think for the next minute.

Seriously.

Because a lot of people are like, well, dude, bro, I'm a good person, and I helped my fellow man and my buddy the other day, I helped him work on his boat, and I'm guys telling me this, and I'm like, do you think this makes you right with God?

All you're doing is saying, Jesus is really unnecessary because I'm such a good dude.

Hear it again.

Without the righteousness of God, because it on the basis of Jesus' righteousness, by faith we're made righteous.

On the basis of Jesus' righteousness, God accepts human beings.

So without the righteousness of God being transferred to you, God does not, and he cannot accept you because his holiness will not allow him to accept you, because humanity is by nature unrighteous.

This is what troubled Felix.

He knew himself.

And all of a sudden, he's like, Ruh-ro, this is not good news, but actually it's great news.

You say, What do you mean?

Hear this part as well.

The righteousness of God is a divine attribute that describes God as all acting always in a way that is consistent with his own character.

Hear this.

The righteousness of God is a divine attribute, a characteristic of God that describes God as always acting in a way that is consistent with his own character.

Therefore, here's the beauty.

Here's the good news.

When God makes you righteous, when he puts the righteousness of Jesus in you and on you, what he does is he makes you capable of acting in ways that are consistent with his character as well.

And this is the part that the church has historically failed to teach people.

They tell you, well, you're a sinner and you're saved by grace, you wretched, damnable sinners, you just be glad God saved you by grace.

Look at me.

He did not just come to do something about your sin, to take away your sin.

He came to give you his righteousness.

If Jesus dying on the cross, people ask me, like, well, what's the big deal about Jesus dying on the cross?

If Jesus doesn't die on the cross in your place and for your sin, you are still who are by nature you are by nature unrighteous.

Who takes away your unrighteousness?

People are like, oh, well, I don't know.

See, said differently, this is why it's so important you place your faith in Jesus Christ.

Uh because it's only because of, hear this, it's only because of, and only on the basis of what he's done that you could not only be forgiven, but be made righteous.

Jesus did not come just to forgive you and say, okay, I wiped the slate clean, do your best.

He came to make you righteous.

And so when I became a Christian, I'll use myself.

When I became a Christian on July 5th, 1982, I didn't just get forgiven for sin, I became the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.

And so, because remember what we said a few minutes ago, how that God, uh, the the righteousness of God is his this attribute that describes God as all acting always in a way that's consistent with his own character.

When I got that righteousness, guess what?

I got this capacity uh to make me capable of acting in ways that are always consistent with God's character as well.

The righteousness of God being put inside of me doesn't mean, oh, I just get forgiveness for for following my character.

No, I I have the privilege of reflecting God's character to a culture around me that doesn't believe in him.

You say, Well, I I what okay, okay.

Let me think for a minute.

Okay, say it one more time.

It's only because of and on the basis of what he has done that you can not only be forgiven, but made righteous.

We read one more passage of scripture.

Are you still with me this morning?

Okay.

This is 2 Corinthians chapter 5, starting in verse 16.

2 Corinthians 5 · chapter mention

Hear this, and we'll be done.

From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh.

Underline that in your Bible or in your notes.

We regard everybody according to the flesh.

We just look at everybody and just think, oh, he's just a good dude.

She's a nice lady.

She volunteers with PTA.

For now, we regard, uh, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh.

Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he's a new creation.

The old has passed away, and behold, the new has come.

Hello?

The old has passed away, we get that part, but we don't get the part.

Behold, the new has come.

All this is from God who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us a ministry of reconciliation.

That is, in Christ, God was reconciled in the world to himself, not counting their trespass against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.

Therefore, we are the ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us.

We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.

Read all that to get to this last verse.

Do not miss this.

For our sake, for our sake, he, God, made him Jesus.

For our sake, he made him to be sin who knew no sin.

Why?

So that in him, in him, over and over, we walk through Romans 8 on our elderly treat, and we just pointed out in Christ, in Christ, in Christ, there is a reality that is available only in Christ that you don't get anywhere else.

Religion can't do it for you.

It's only available in Christ.

Why?

Because only Christ died for you.

He made him who knew no sin to be sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Go into your kids' bedrooms tonight and just say, I came to tell you good night, but also to remind you I'm the righteousness of God.

Thank you very much.

Tell your mother.

Yes.

Look at me over here.

Jesus didn't come just to forgive your sin and say, All right, I wiped the slate clean.

Do better this time.

He did that.

But he also imputed, put into you the about the ability to act in keeping with God's character, God's righteousness.

This is what he says in verse 21.

For I say he made him who to him to be sin who knew no sin.

Why?

So that in him we might become the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.

So righteousness, a right standing with God, is only found in a relationship with Jesus Christ.

Therefore, the question this morning becomes have you ever responded to the free gift, the free offer of a relationship with Jesus Christ?

Which is, look at me, it's not just forgiveness for sin, but it is a right standing before God for the rest of your life.

This is what Christianity is.

This is the faith that changed the world.

And look at me, it's what you were created for.

Regardless of who you are, what you've done, God put his son on the cross.

Not just so you can be forgiven, so you can be right with God for the rest of your life.

This is where peace comes from.

Let's pray together.

If you're our guests, just relax.

We like to teach the Bible, and then we give you some space to think about it.

Some questions come up on the screen.

Those are for your consideration.

Don't try to write them down.

You can take a picture.

We discuss these in our community groups.

In the meeting homes all over our city a couple times a month.

But for right now, let's just be still and just ask yourself a simple question.

Have I ever responded to God's offer of a relationship?

Not just forgiveness, but righteousness being put inside of me.

And if not, then why not?

Why would you not want to know this God?

Let's think about this for a minute.

That you're our all and you're you're you're you're our best.

You're our joy and you're our righteousness.

We we cannot get right, we can't make ourselves right with God by anything we do, because we by nature are unrighteous.

And even when we do good things as unrighteous people, it doesn't change our status before God.

This is not math.

The gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is not math, it's music.

I pray for anyone today who's heard the music, that they'd respond accordingly.

This is my prayer prayed in Jesus' name, and everyone said.

Amen.

Amen.

Thank you for your presence here today.

If you're our guest, uh, thank you for having the courage to explore a new church.

You're always welcome here.

If you have questions about anything you saw or heard today, some of our pastors will be available down front.

We'd love to answer any questions you may have.

All we ask of you, if you're a guest, if you just text the word welcome, that number on the screen behind me.

Uh that gives us a record of your visit.

We're not going to show up unannounced at your house or apartment.

We'll just shoot you back a text.

We want to help you take your next step spiritually.

We know that finding a church is a big, important decision for your entire family.

And we let you move at your own pace.

Uh, but but if you're like, hey, I want you to know I was here, just shoot, just text welcome to that word, uh, that number on the screen, okay?

Uh we always have things going on in the life of our church.

Uh, and so we make you aware of those by way of our video announcements.

So check out the screens and see what's coming up in the next few weeks.

Here's what's happening at Grand Park Way Baptist Church.

By design, men's discipleship groups or D groups are small groups of three to four men who meet weekly to support each other in their journey with Jesus.

These gatherings focus on applying scripture to everyday life through discussion, accountability, and confession, going beyond just learning facts about the Bible.

If you're interested in joining a D group or want to learn how to lead one effectively, join our men today in the Fellowship Hall from 4 o'clock to 5 15 p.m.

They love to have you.

This evening is Loving Aliana.

This is a time of prayer walking, offering prayer, and spiritual conversations with the people of Aliana.

We will gather today in the parking lot at 5 o'clock p.m.

for a short time of training and prayer before being sent out.

As always, there will be cars at the front of the stage, at the mission center, and around the campus with instructions on how to love your neighbor.

Let's end this month on an amazing note.

Today is the last day to register for fall retreat.

This year we will head to Camp Teos for a weekend dedicated to refilling margins.

It is from November 1st to the 3rd with a cost of$225.

This includes transportation, food, and lodging.

We hope to see your 7th through 12th grade student there.

The table is on November 10th from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.

in the sanctuary.

This is a free event with no registration required.

Lindsay Frelick will be leading us in worship along with Alex Addison, Annie Fairley, and an amazing band.

To close it out, Marzi McClendon will be speaking from one of her favorite passages in the Bible.

Finally, if you have a student in the 4th through 6th grade, mark your calendar for Bridge Retreat.

It's on January 17th to the 18th at Piney Woods Camp.

Be on the lookout for an email from our bridge pastor, Caleb Miller, for more details.

For more information or to register for these events, please visit our website at grandparkway.org.

If you have any questions or want someone to pray for you, buy one of our pastors at the front of the stage at the conclusion of our service.

So by way of clarifying, the table is a women-only Bible study.

I think it said it on there, but it's kind of hard to see.

So the table is women-only.

It happens on a on Sunday night.

And so, men, let's encourage our wives to get away from us and breathe some uncluttered air that our kids haven't polluted.

Amen.

Secondly, the bridge, you may be new to our church.

What is a bridge?

The bridge is we have children's ministry, which is birth through fourth grade.

I mean, excuse me, through third grade in our kids' building right there.

The bridge is fourth, fifth, and sixth grade.

They're kind of tweeners.

They're in that building right there.

They're fixing to meet at 10:30.

That's when they're they meet.

There's probably 90 of them in there.

And our students, which is seven through 12, they meet in the student building, which is at the back of our property back here.

And so we have the bridge is for it's a special time in life, fourth, fifth, and sixth grade.

And so the curriculum is tailored to people at that age and that development, that developmental uh state.

And so if you're visiting, you go, what's the bridge?

And like, uh, that's what the bridge is, okay?

Uh last thing, if today's the day you worship God through obedience or generosity when it comes to giving, you can take care of that at the offering boxes by the doors on your way out, or you can give online as many people do, okay?

Would I conclude our service on the spoken blessing?

So stand at your feet.

Hold your hands out.

Because you're unrighteous by nature, you don't know what to do to fix yourself.

So you give God stuff, you give him promises, you give him money, you give him guilt, you give him confession of sin, and all that is great.

But what changes you is that God gave himself for you, and he's never gonna change his mind about that.

Because it is your only hope of being right with God is you put your faith in Jesus, who gave himself for you, taking your sin and giving you his righteousness.

And he's never gonna want it back.

So learn to live in it.

If you're a Christian, it's who you are.

So depart now and release righteousness on the culture in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Bless you.