Well, with that same theme in mind that we have just sang about, let's take our Bibles and turn to the letter to the Philippians chapter 3. Letter to the Philippians chapter 3. Nothing in my hand I bring, simply to thy cross I cling. That's exactly what Paul is saying here, isn't it? In Philippians chapter 3, beginning with verse 3. The Apostle Paul writes, we are the true circumcision. who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus. And we put no confidence in the flesh. Though I myself, he says, have a 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. But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Let's pray. Lord Jesus, help us to see the truth of these words before us. That we would not be those who put any confidence in the flesh. But instead. That we would all behold your glory. The glory of. Your finished work. That brings us reconciliation with God. You must say. And you alone. And we praise you that you are a perfect and willing savior in your name, we pray. Amen. You may be seated. I am very thankful for the perspicuity of God's word. Now, perspicuity is a big word that we don't use a lot, but it's a word that speaks of the clarity of God's word, God's word. is clear as it relates to necessary elements for faith and godliness. That isn't to say that the Bible is always easy to understand. There are difficult parts of the Bible, of course, as even Peter notes about the letters of Paul. But as it relates to our salvation, the Bible is clear. It explains very clearly in an easily understood language the path to salvation. And what we have here this morning is a simple passage. It is not difficult to understand the Apostle Paul's point that he is laying out before us. It's very simple and yet it is profound and it's important. He lays out before us a list of all of his accomplishments. Now these are things that in Judaism would have been highly valued, as he himself says here. He holds himself up as the Michael Jordan of Judaism, as it were. Note, I didn't say the LeBron James of Judaism, the Michael Jordan of Judaism is none other than Saul of Tarsus. And here he is and all of his accomplishments, these things he would have thought pleased God, these things he would have thought were gain to him. But now, after coming to know Christ, he knows the truth about all of his accomplishments in Judaism, that, in fact, they are not accomplishments at all. They are worthless. They amount to nothing. They did not help him. They did not impress God. They could not please God. In fact, if he would have held on to all of those things listed here in verses four through six, he would have died and he would have been condemned before God. He would have died and he would have met God in judgment. And the lesson is simple, and it is to let go of confidence in your flesh. That's a simple message, isn't it? That's a simple thought. Let go of any confidence that you have in your flesh, which is exactly what he says at the end of verse three. The Christian is someone who puts no confidence in their flesh. No confidence, not some confidence. No confidence. in their flesh. They cling to nothing within themselves with any sort of faith or trust or belief that it merits or accomplishes anything in the sight of God. The Christian puts no confidence in the flesh. Listen, this is God's inspired authoritative word telling you this morning in very simple terms who it is that's going to heaven. It's the one who puts no confidence in the flesh. Now, the word flesh speaks to our abilities. It speaks to our works. It speaks to our righteousness. And this is what he is saying. We must let go of any trust in our righteousness or in our goodness. Now, this tells us something about ourselves, doesn't it? It tells us quite a few things. In fact, we could have really spent our time and just focused on the end of verse three if we wanted to, but we won't do that and we will continue moving. But it does tell us something about ourselves. And it tells us, really, that in spite of what we think and what we usually tend to, our default position of confidence in the flesh, that that's a foolish errand, isn't it? Because the Bible is very clear in what it says about the condition of our flesh. In spite of the fact that many men believe themselves to be ultimately good and capable of winning God's favor, the Bible paints a very different view of man. The Bible tells us that no one is righteous. No one does good. Not even one. The Bible tells us, the Apostle writes in Romans 7, 18, I know that nothing good in me that is in my flesh. Nothing good dwells in me. Nothing. You really think that you would? Please God, buy something in your flesh, buy works. George Whitfield said, I would just as soon get to heaven on a rope made of sand than I would get to heaven on the basis of my words. There's nothing good that dwells in me. In Romans 8, verse 5, the apostle writes, for those who live according to the flesh, they set their minds on the flesh. But those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death. that set the mind on the spirit is life and peace for the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law. Indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. You, however, are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if in fact the spirit of God dwells in you, anyone who does not have the spirit of Christ does not belong to him. Notice the dividing line. among mankind. There are two types of people in this world. There are those who have the Spirit and those who are in the flesh. And the Bible is very clear that those who are in the flesh, they cannot please God. Now, you want to talk about perspicuous. That's clear, isn't it? Those who are in the flesh cannot, not may not, but cannot, they are unable to please God. And yet. How many people believe. That they are on the path to heaven precisely because they believe that in their flesh their works are pleasing. To God. It's impossible. Those who are in the flesh. Cannot please God, even if they wanted to try. Isn't it remarkable how he speaks of the total inability of man in that passage? They cannot submit themselves to the law of God. It's impossible. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. And so you can see very clearly that there is no reason to put confidence in the flesh. None whatsoever. Even our righteousness, even our good deeds are tainted with sin. They are polluted, like dropping a drop of arsenic in a cup of clean water. Would you drink it? Because it's been tainted and polluted, even our best works are tainted with sin, they are as filthy rags. There is none righteous, there is no one who does good. Not even one for all of sin and fall short of the glory of God. I mean, the first thing that that tells us, isn't it, that we are those who put no confidence in the flesh is that we can't put confidence in the flesh because our flesh is incapable of doing anything that would please God. But it tells us something else. Also, there is a positive aspect of this, isn't there? And it's the grace of God. God does not demand. That you accomplish something in your flesh. God does not Demand. That you is incapable as you are, then try to earn something. From him. Rather, God offers salvation to us as a gift. And Ephesians 2 8 for by grace you have been saved. Through faith. And this is not your own doing. It's the gift of God, not a result of works. so that no one may boast." Here is God the Father looking out upon a sinful mass of humanity incapable of keeping His law, incapable of pleasing Him, incapable of earning His favor because we are so sinful and fallen. And what he does in all of his grace is to send his son to provide us with salvation free and totally as a gift. Here it is. Receive Christ and be saved. And yet again, what does that say about fallen man that God would offer us something so wonderful as eternal life as a gift? And we would say, no, thanks, I'd rather earn it myself. And yet that's what we do. Here is eternal life. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and receive it, and we say, no, thanks, I think I'm good enough, I can make it on my own. How foolish are we? Of course, we can't help but look at 2nd Corinthians and know that the God of this age has blinded the minds and the eyes of the unbelievers to keep us from seeing the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. If you would be saved today, folks, if you are here and you don't know Christ, what you must do is behold the glory of Christ. to understand him to be a perfect and sufficient savior. You need nothing else. You can bring nothing else. Forsake confidence in the flesh and look to Jesus. This is exactly what the Apostle Paul came to know. This is what he learned. This is exactly what he tells us in these verses that he had all of this confidence in his accomplishments in Judaism. And upon coming to know Jesus Christ, he threw it all away. He said, no, I'd rather have Jesus. Because having Jesus. Was all that he needed. Let's look at it together in verse four. We are those who put no confidence in the flesh, though he says 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, and we will stop there. Now you will remember what he is addressing here. There are a group of false teachers who are making their way into Philippi, and they are a group known as the Judaizers, and they are teaching people that having Jesus is not enough. They want to claim Jesus, but they want to say faith in Jesus is not enough. It's the same old lie that's been told ever since the beginning. But their statements are this, that you must have Jesus, but that's not enough. You also must become a Jew. So if you are a Gentile, you must not only come to faith in Christ, you must be circumcised and you must then attach yourself to the law of Moses. If you don't do that, then you have no part in God's kingdom. That was their statement. And so all of the Judaizers confidence was really in what? In their flesh. And what they had done, their circumcision and their adherence to the law of Moses. And they were inviting Gentile proselytes, converts, to do the same thing, to put all of their confidence in the flesh. Well, the Apostle Paul begins verse 4 and he says this, if those guys think that they have confidence in their flesh, they've got nothing on me. That's what he says. Now, we don't usually see a lot of boasting in the Apostle Paul. He does it in 2 Corinthians chapter 11 and he calls himself a fool multiple times for doing it. And here he does, right here, because he's wanting them to see that of all the claims that the Judaizers would make about their righteousness or whatever it is, he has far more than they do. Aren't you amazed, by the way, just as a side note, who God has chosen to be his representative? I mean, we could look at him, we could go down the list. I'm thankful for Matthew, as sinful as he was. I'm thankful for Peter, the man who was always putting his foot in his mouth. And I'm thankful for the Apostle Paul because in God's providence, he is able to be the perfect representative of someone who is, I mean, really amazing. On one hand, an awful sinner, as he would tell Timothy, the chief of sinners. And on this other hand, I mean, the highest level of Jew that there was. He calls himself here, doesn't he? A Hebrew of the Hebrews. If there's anyone else that's holding on to that Judaism, They need to get on my level. They're not where I have been. And that is exactly what he says here. He lays out all of this confidence, all of these credentials that he has before us. And the first source, he divides it up really in two ways. The first source is his heritage. The first source of Paul's confidence as a Jew, to use that type of language, comes from his heritage. He says, first of all, I was circumcised on the eighth day. Now he mentions that first, why do you think? Because that's what the Judaizers were really pushing, wasn't it? Circumcision. You had to, if you're a Gentile, you got to be circumcised or you had no part. So Paul says, look, I was circumcised on the eighth day in accordance to the law. The law that God had given to Abraham and of course was reiterated to Moses. I was circumcised from the very beginning of my life as an Israelite. I was... circumcised. I was not a proselyte. I was not as who you're trying to reach and as some of you are. I was not someone who came along later in life and as an adult was circumcised. From the very beginning of my life, I received circumcision in obedience to the law of God. He had the sign that these Judaizers so valued. But second, he says, I was of the people of Israel. I am an Israelite. Again, some of these folks were proselytes coming over from the Gentile world. And Paul says, not me. Paul says, I am a pure blood Israelite. Now, anyone who reads the Old Testament knows that being a member of the nation of Israel was to be a member of a special, privileged nation of people. There was no other nation in the history of the world that God treated in the way he treated Israel. Is that right? God chose Israel for himself out of all the other nations. In fact, he says it in Deuteronomy 7, 6. You are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. In chapter 10, verse 15, he says, Yet the Lord set his heart in love on your fathers, chose their offspring after them, you above all peoples, as you are this day. God, in sovereign election, chose the nation of Israel to be what he calls here his treasured possession. He valued them. He prized them. Not because he would say not because of anything in them, but simply because he chose to set his love upon that nation of people, they received it. Israel, then, as a nation, even though they have rejected their Messiah to this day, is a special, privileged people. And he writes about this in Romans 9, verse 4. He says, they are Israelites. To them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen. Listen at all the privileges that the nation of Israel has, and Paul says, if being an Israelite meant something before God, I can claim that too. Now, just on a side point, did being an Israelite, did being a Jew, I just said it was a privileged part of a privileged people, a privileged nation, but did being an Israelite merit you anything before God? Did it? No, because in Romans 9 he says, They are not all Israel. Who are of the nation of Israel? The Israelite. Just like we today. Was saved and is saved and will be saved. By faith alone. Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness. And so that's exactly what Paul is saying. If being a member of the nation of Israel, however, meant something. I am one. I am an Israelite, and third, I can tell you who my tribe is. I am a member of the tribe of Benjamin. Now, a lot of folks try to figure out exactly why he would bring up the specifics of his tribe, and a lot has been written about the greatness of the tribe of Benjamin, which, if you followed along in our Old Testament study on Wednesday nights, Now you've seen some goodness in Benjamin, but let's not act as though Benjamin doesn't have any red marks either. You can certainly, and we don't have time today, but we can certainly point to some, can't we? But some have said, look at the tribe of Benjamin, excuse me, how great they were. The first king in Israel was of the tribe of Benjamin. Saul, what a great king he was. And then when the kingdom split in 1 Kings 12, What we're going to be looking at next Wednesday night. There was one tribe that remained loyal to Judah in the House of David. Which tribe was that? It was the tribe of Benjamin. And so some say, well, Paul is appealing to the prominence of his particular tribe, and I really don't believe that that's it. What has happened here by this time that Paul is writing this letter, there's been a lot of intermarriage. Most folks couldn't tell you to which tribe they belong to. And yet Paul says, I can tell you right now what tribe I belong to. I am a pure blood Benjaminite. My heritage is greater than yours because I can tell you exactly who I am from. In fact, I was most likely named after the first king of the nation of Israel, Saul. Paul had all of this in his heritage. A pure-blood Israelite of the tribe of Benjamin that he could point to and say, if being an Israelite means something, look at me because I am the supreme example of what a pure-blood Israelite looks like. Now all those things he had no choice in. All these things that we've just talked about, his circumcision, being of the nation of Israel, and being of the tribe of Benjamin, he was born with this. This was something that happened with him from birth. But the rest of his credentials that he names here are things that he chose for himself. And so he not only then has confidence in his heritage, But he would have had confidence in his righteousness. In verse five, he calls himself a Hebrew of the Hebrews. As to the law, I was a Pharisee. As to zeal, a persecutor of the church. As to righteousness under the law, I was blameless. Now you want to talk about a man who could take confidence in his righteousness, take confidence in his flesh. This is exactly what he is saying. All of those things that you believe you've accomplished, I have accomplished far more. I am a Hebrew of the Hebrews. What does he mean by that? Well, he must be talking about the fact that as a Jew, as an Israelite, this is a man who went the extra mile. He went above and beyond in his Judaism. Now, again, by this day and age that Paul is writing this, much of the nation of Israel had become Hellenized. That means that they had been kind of engrafted into the Greek culture. And they had begun practicing a lot of Greek customs and even, unfortunately, some Greek religion. But they had also begun to speak mostly Greek. Which is why the New Testament and its original documents was written in Greek. This was a Hellenized world. Most people living during this time could no longer speak Hebrew. They couldn't do it. And so when they wanted to read the Old Testament. They read from the Septuagint, which was the Greek translation of the Old Testament. They had no access to Hebrew, most of them did. But Paul says, that's not true of me. From the earliest days of my life, I grew up pursuing that which was important in Judaism. While Paul is obviously fluid in Greek, he would have been able to speak and would have known Hebrew. He would have been advancing in the customs and practices of his people. In Galatians chapter one, verse 14, he says, I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people. So extremely zealous was I for the traditions of my fathers. Again, all of this lines up in the providence of God for the apostle to be able to address this early threat. Of this this Jewish attack. On the truth of the gospel. From my earliest days, there was no one so extremely zealous for Judaism than I was. Now, fifth, he speaks of his adherence to the law, he says, as to the law. I was a Pharisee. Now, we studied the Gospel of Luke not too long ago. And we had many encounters with the Pharisees, didn't we? The Pharisees was a sect of people that rose up during the Intertestamental time. And they were the strictest religious sect in Judaism. Their name, actually, the name Pharisee comes from a word that means the separate ones, the separatists, the separated ones. And this is how they viewed themselves, isn't it? The Pharisees emphasize the law of Moses, especially circumcision and Sabbath observance. And they had all sorts of rules and traditions that they placed on top of the law of God to help them in their view to be able to keep. The law of God, they had all sorts of commandments that they had added to God's law in the Old Testament. They viewed themselves as holy and they sought a rigorous life of obedience, which is why they began to treat others with contempt and they looked at with disgust on the Lord Jesus when he would have dinner with tax collectors. And sinners. They wouldn't have anything to do with those people. They would. curse them, they would put them out of their sight. But the Lord Jesus would dine with them and invite them to receive the salvation that he offered. And so this is Paul, a member of this extremely religious sect of the Pharisees, a man who is pursuing the law, pursuing keeping of all of the oral traditions that they had put on top of the law. He was very righteous in the eyes of everyone else. Everyone looking at the Apostle Paul would have seen him as a righteous Pharisee to be imitated. They would have wanted to be like him. But he goes still further. Verse 6, as to zeal, I was a persecutor of the church. You want to talk about zealous? These Judaizers who are spreading their message, all they want to do is evangelize. That wasn't enough for me, Paul said. When I was Saul of Tarsus, I was so zealous for truth, so zealous for Judaism, so zealous for the word of God as I understood it, I was willing to kill for it. I persecuted the church. In Acts chapter eight, verse three, we're told of his former life. Saul was ravaging the church. He was entering house after house. He dragged off men and women. And he committed them to prison. In chapter 9 verse 1, But Saul, still breathing threats and murders against the disciples of the Lord, he went to the high priest and asked for letters to the synagogue at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. In Galatians 1.13, he says, You have heard of my former life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it. How zealous was the apostle? So zealous that he would go after men and women and throw them in prison for opposing. So zealous that the first time we see him is in Acts chapter 7 and what's he doing? He's standing over the victimized body of Stephen who had just been stoned to death for preaching the gospel. And Saul of Tarsus. looks on approvingly at what happened to Stephen. Now, he was obviously wrong. He speaks of this in 1 Corinthians 15, that I'm not worthy to be called an apostle because I persecuted the Church of Christ. But in his Judaism, he thought that what he was doing was protecting truth. He saw Jesus of Nazareth as an imposter. How did Jesus die? He was hung on a tree. And the law says, cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree. It's all of Tarsus not understanding the message of the gospel that Jesus became a curse for us. Believe that Jesus is a blasphemer and a liar and anyone who is following the way, as he calls it there, Anyone following the way of Jesus, the gospel message, is opposed to the true God, Yahweh, and they must be stopped. And so he violently attacked the church. He zealously fought for it. No one could question the zeal of Saul of Tarsus. You can imagine what it was like, and we see a little bit of it in the book of Acts when Paul is converted there in chapter nine and he begins to be brought into the church. There's some paranoid people. In the church, and we can understand that, can't we? Because they knew of his reputation and they had fled from him in particular. Trying to save their own lives. Now, finally, he says in his credentials. As to righteousness under the law. I was blameless. That's a remarkable statement. Now, he didn't mean sinless. He would have participated in all the sacrifices and everything that was required, and you don't offer sacrifices if you're sinless. Well, he didn't have to do that, or he had to do that, excuse me, because he was a sinner. And so he is not saying here that he is without sin, but what he is saying here is that in the manner of his life and in following after Judaism and all the laws and all the traditions, that there was no one who could adequately or accurately accuse him of violation of the law of God. For when he broke the law, he made atonement. There was no one who could look at the Apostle Paul and accurately accuse him of some great failure when it came to obedience to the outward law of God. Now, he knew nothing of the inward. He knew nothing of what Jesus teaches in Matthew chapter five about how adultery is not only a matter of the act, but a matter of the heart. How murder is not just a matter of the act, but a matter of anger and desire and hate. He didn't know that. But outwardly, he thought, I've never committed adultery. Outwardly, he thought, I've never murdered. Outwardly, he believed that he was blameless, and everyone else would have thought the same thing, that he was blameless in keeping the law of God. So here he is in all his credentials. Hebrew of the Hebrews. A zealous Pharisee, blameless before the law of God. The Judaizers would have looked at the Apostle Paul before he came to know Christ as this man right here is an absolute example of what a Jewish man should look like. Here is a Jewish religious man in all his glory. That's what we should aspire to be. Let's just add Jesus to it. But now, Paul, Looks at all of it and remember what his point is. A true believer. Takes no confidence in the flesh. And so what is his? Conclusion after telling us all of these things that he accomplished in Judaism, Judaism. Verse seven. Whatever gain I had. I counted his loss. For the sake of Christ. Whatever gain is now loss. These are financial terms. Paul is looking at a spreadsheet, a ledger, if you will. And in the gain column, in his life in Judaism, he had put all of those credentials, his heritage and his own righteousness. And he had looked at those things and he had said, this is taking me towards God. This is this is meriting me favor with God. This is earning me a right standard. He would have believed that God was pleased with him as Saul of Tarsus. These things would have given him confidence. But now he looks at them and says, these things that I thought were gain are actually loss. Now when you understand that to be financial language here, then you know he's not just saying worthless, is he? He's not just saying, I thought these things were profitable, but really they didn't bring me any profit. That's true, but that's not what he's saying. What is he saying? These things that I felt were gain, they're not only worthless, they're damaging. They're damaging. I have to put a minus sign over here above them. They detract from me. I'm losing on them. What does he mean? He means this, that in spite of what everyone else in Judaism would have thought of him, those works, his heritage, would have taken him directly to the judgment of God. If he would have continued to trust in them. They harm him, they destroy him because entrusting in his works, he stood condemned in Galatians chapter three, verse 10. Listen at what he says. For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse. For it is written, cursed is everyone who does not abide by all the things written in the book of the law. And do them. Pay very close attention to that. All who desire to be righteous, all who rely on works of the law are cursed. Because the law says, cursed is everyone who does not abide by all the things. How many things? All the things written in the law undo them. This is the great mistake that men make. They think that God weighs on a scale. And they hope that on this scale, that good outweighs bad and that God's going to look at the things on the good side and measure them against the things on the bad side. And since we all believe the best about ourselves, certainly I've never really done anything that serious, we believe that our good's way up here and our bad's way down here. And God's going to look at that good and say, well, you did just enough. Congratulations. You made it. And then our neighbor, what a terrible person that guy is. Never mows his lawn. He leaves his trash down by the side of the road all the time. He's mean when I wave at him. He's a horrible person. His bad must be up here above his good. And he's going to be standing right behind me and God's going to say, sorry, but not good enough. This is the way people think. Maybe not in that type of language, but that's what they think that God's looking at the balance of their life. But the word of God says. Cursed is everyone who does not abide by all the things written in the law, not most, not the majority. But all. The standard that God looks for is not good enough. What's the standard? Jesus said in Matthew 5, 48, you must be perfect. You must be perfect. As your heavenly father is perfect. The standard is God's own righteousness. How do you measure up to that? You're not judged in comparison to your neighbor who never mows his lawn. And is rude to you when you talk to him. You're certainly not judged by the worst of criminals that's ever lived. You're not judged on the basis of anyone else, you are judged on the basis of the standard of God's perfect righteousness. How do you measure up to that? You see, you can. Go around and you can ask anybody you want to. And if they answer in that way, that they believe that they're going to heaven on the basis of their good works, ask them that follow-up question, are you perfect? And I've yet to find anybody that says, yep. I think we know, don't we? We might think that we're good. But we innately know that we're not perfect. We know that. We have guilt. We have remorse. We wish we'd have done something or wouldn't have done something, whatever. We have a lot of guilt that we carry around with us. No one will say, I am perfect, unless they are extremely deluded or just can't help but be a pathological liar, one or the other. And the moment that someone says, well, I'm good, but I'm not perfect. Well, you failed to meet the standard. All the things that you were trusting in that you might think are good. They're going to damn you. They're going to condemn you. Now, this is where a man gets offended by that. No, you won't tell me that I'm not good enough. How foolish are we to want that? Because what was it that brought the Apostle Paul to the realization that all the things he were trusting in were actually harming him? What was it? It was the day that he was on the road to Damascus. When he met Jesus Christ. The day that he met Christ. All those things that were in the gain column were taken out and transferred to the loss column. But the gain column was not empty. There was one thing written in the gain column. What was it? The name Christ Jesus. Paul says, that's all I needed. That's all I needed. Whatever gain I had, I counted as loss, he says, for the sake of Christ. For the sake of Christ. I'm not perfect. I'm certainly not good enough. But I don't have to be. Because Christ was. And Romans eight, verse three. For God has done what the law weakened by the flesh could not do the law, there's nothing wrong with the law. The problem is our weak flesh as we started, we can't put confidence in our flesh because our flesh is fallen. And so God did what the law weakened by the flesh could not do, what did he do? He sent his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin or as a sin offering, he condemned sin in the flesh in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the spirit. The righteous requirement of the law can be filled within us because we are united to Jesus Christ. God the Father, out of nothing but pure grace, sent His Son to be born of a virgin. Why? So that He could be God, so that He could be man. Both. And He is able to live here under the law of God as our representative before God. And he lives his life in perfection. And God delivers him up. As a sin offering and condemned sin in the flesh of Christ in Jesus Christ, folks, all of your sin, all of your guilt is taken away. You understand. It's not about trying to be better or do more. You need to have forgiveness of sins. You need to have the guilt of your sin canceled and removed. And Jesus Christ does it for you. He does it for you. You went to the cross as a sin offering and God laid all of our sins upon him. And the justice that our sins demanded were satisfied in him so that anyone through Christ who believes in Jesus. And receives Christ as Savior. Receive the merits of his atoning work. And so now as we're going to see when we come back next week and focus on imputation. We're going to see that the righteous standard that God requires that of perfection. Now I have it. But it's not mine. It's his. It's what Martin Luther called an alien righteousness. It's foreign to me. I don't. Achieve it, I receive it. And it comes through faith in Jesus Christ. This is why he will joyfully speak of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus. There's nothing greater. The knowing Christ Jesus. Because he fills up your gain column. He is the one that gives you right standing before God. And so what you need this morning, if you are here without Jesus Christ, is not the right heritage. Paul had that. It's not personal righteousness. Paul had that. You shouldn't trust in your baptism. Your tithing record. Your love for your neighbor. Some generic idea of what constitutes to be good works. Paul had the law. He had the traditions of the elders. It was not some generic understanding where we just always grade ourselves on a curve. You can't trust in those things, you can't win what Christ has already won. What you need. Is him. So I just want to ask you that question, what are you trusting in to save you? What are you trusting in? To give you eternal life. Charles Spurgeon. Said the greatest enemy to human souls is the self-righteous spirit, which makes men look to themselves. For salvation. The greatest enemy to human souls is the self righteous spirit. Which makes men look to themselves. For salvation. He's right, isn't he? You must reject that. And put all of your confidence in the merits. Of Jesus Christ. Now, finally, just one more thing as we close. When I think of this statement, We put no confidence in the flesh. There's more than just an evangelistic aspect of this. Is it not a temptation that we have, even as God's people, to fall back into that? To put confidence in the flesh? You know, we could apply that in so many ways. We could apply that to the Christian life. We could apply it to how we serve others. We could apply it to so many things. But I just want to apply it in this way. Isn't it easy for us to fall back into a performance based understanding of how we are and how we stand with God? That when we sin, suddenly we think God's opinion of us have changed. Even we who know Christ. The guilt comes flooding back. And we don't want to pray and we You want to avoid because we think that the presence of God is scary. Or sometimes it's the opposite. We've had a good day for whatever reason, I woke up with a wild hair and I decided I was going to go to the grocery store and share the gospel with everybody I met. I took a whole bunch of tracks in there, I handed out 50 of them, 17 people were converted, we had revival right in the middle of the food depot. We walk out and we get in our car and we're driving down the road and we say, wow, God really must be pleased with me today. I've really done something here. Somehow God's affections towards me are elevated by my performance. But the truth is, ladies and gentlemen, because we are in Christ, The affections that God has for you never changes. God's love for you. On the day that you have revival in Food Depot. And lead 17 souls to the kingdom. Is the exact same affection that he has for you on your worst day? It's not altered or changed. Because God's affections towards you are not based on your flesh, but on Jesus Christ. Our communion with God can be affected, but our standing with God and His love for us never can be. If we are in Christ Jesus, We are just as right in the sight of God as His own Son is. And He loves us as He loves Jesus. Always and forever. We are those who put no confidence in the flesh, but we glory in Christ Jesus and in Him alone. Let's pray. Lord, we are so grateful for this truth. We know our weaknesses and you know them greater even than we do. And so help us never to put confidence in the flesh. There may be some here today that they do not know you as Savior and their whole lives they've been living in confidence in something they're doing or whatever. I pray that your word as clear as it was to us this morning would penetrate into their hearts and Peel back the layers that they would see themselves as sinners and they would see you as holy judge and that they would know. That there's one way, one path, one gospel. And it's the gospel of Jesus Christ. And that even where they sit, they would look to you, Lord Jesus, in faith. And receive all the benefits. All the privileges. Especially that of eternal life and our inheritance that is reserved for us in heaven with you. Even for us here who are believers, we know the tendency to fall back on this confidence in the flesh to begin to to look at our performance as somehow affecting and altering our standing with you. Forgive us. May we continue to preach this gospel to ourselves, clinging to Jesus, focusing on the glory of Jesus. For he is all that we need. Lord, we love you and ask, once again, that you would accomplish your good purpose here this morning. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.