227 Philippians: Making the Cut, pt. 2

The Apostle Paul knew what it was like to live under the “performance plan” – to try to be good enough, to jump through all the religious hoops in order to be “righteous” before God. 

Then one day, he met Jesus, and this man who had taken such pride in his performance, saw perfect righteousness for the first time – a righteousness so brilliant that it blinded him. And in that instant, Paul saw how far short he fell of it. He saw Jesus for who He really is, and Paul declared his belief and cried out for mercy. In that moment, stripped of the rags of self-righteousness, he was clothed in the robe of God’s perfect righteousness. (Is. 61:10)

The same is true for all of us. No matter how hard we try, we cannot get rid of the stain of sin on our own. Jeremiah 2:22 says, “Although you wash yourself with soda and use an abundance of soap, the stain of your guilt is still before Me…” 

But what we can do is to allow God to cover over our sinfulness with His righteousness. 

“True righteousness,” Paul says in Phil. 3:9, “does not come from the law.” We can’t earn it by following the rules or doing good deeds. Those things aren’t sufficient to remove the stain of guilt we all have before a holy God. Instead, God offers the amazing gift of “righteousness... through faith in Christ...righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.” 

How is this possible?  How can it be that faith in Christ can accomplish what all those rituals couldn’t?

God made a way for the stain of sin to be dealt with. Jesus Christ came into our world, lived a sinless life among us, taught us how to love and showed us how to live. Then He went to the cross where He paid the penalty for our sin and rebellion and rose again defeating sin’s hold and giving us the hope of eternal life with Him.

But it’s not enough to just know this. It changes nothing if you don’t take the next step. Entering into a relationship with Jesus can be thought of in terms of A-B-C.

A-   Admit: “I admit that I’m a sinner. I’ve got stains, God. I know I can’t remove them or pay for them. I acknowledge that I’ve gone my own way and done my own thing and I’m sorry. Please forgive me.” 

B-   Believe: “I believe that Jesus is Your Son and the only Savior of the world. I believe He died on the cross for me and that His blood is sufficient to cleanse my stain.”  

C-   Commit: “God, I commit myself to you from this day forth. Lord Jesus, even as I ask you to be my Savior, I commit to following after You, learning from You, and living for You.”

Text: Philippians 3:2-9 

Originally recorded on November 2, 2008, at Fellowship Missionary Church, Fort Wayne, IN