No matter how hard you try to be good, you’re not good enough.

Steve Brown:
No matter how hard you try to be good, you’re not good enough. Let’s talk about it, on Key Life.

Matthew Porter:
The deepest message of Jesus and the Bible is the radical grace of God to sinners and sufferers. That’s what Key Life is all about. So, if you’re hungry for the hopeful truth that God isn’t mad at you, keep listening. Steve Brown is a professor and our teacher on Key Life.

Steve Brown:
Thank you Matthew. If you’ve been with us this week, we’re looking at some of the lies to which the apostle Paul at least illustrates in chapter 3 of Philippians starting at the 1st verse and through the 11th verse. And we’ve seen the lie you find, is that you find joy in what you acquire and you don’t. There’s another lie, you find sorrow in what you lose and you don’t, cause you can’t lose Jesus Christ. There’s a great quote I found, it’s by Robert Traver and it’s in a thing called A Testament of a Fisherman. A friend sent it to me, let me read it to you.

I fish because bourbon out of an old tin cup always tastes better when I’m fishing, because maybe one day I will catch a mermaid. And finally, I fish not because I regard fishing as being so terribly important, but because I suspect that so many of the other concerns of men are equally unimportant and not nearly so much fun. And Diogenes blew out his lamp and went home.

Somebody finally spoke the truth, except there’s a truth behind that. And if I knew Robert, I would tell him. There’s something else that is important, and that’s Jesus. And if you’ve got Jesus and nothing else, it’s enough. If you have everything else and you don’t have Jesus, you don’t have anything. Okay, let’s look at another lie. We’ve seen the lie, you find joy in what you acquire. The second one, you find sorrow in what you lose. And the third one, you find God in what you do. Look at the 9th verse of Philippians.

And be found in him,

and here it comes

not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.

Now, I’m not going to take the time to read the entire text to you, but Paul has just said to the people at Philippi that he obeyed the law. He had risen high in the echelons of power. He was something else. And it was all refuse. It was all rubbish. You know why? Cause he was lying, and nobody’s that good. You can spend your whole life trying to be good, and you still won’t be good enough. I wrote a book once, it was called, When Being Good Isn’t Good Enough. And the whole thesis of that book, and a couple of others that I’ve written, is that Christians spend almost all of their time trying to obey rules to be good so that God will be pleased. And it never, ever works. Nobody’s that good. And God is holy. He is infinite. He is righteous. And you will never be good enough to please Him. That’s a fact. And you say, how do you know? Because I’ve tried. You’ve never met, you don’t have a friend who’s tried to be good more than I have. I mean, I went into a ministry and was ordained in order to be good, hoping that God would notice and I would be acceptable to him. And I wasn’t a half bad pastor either, but I had secrets that nobody knew. I had sins that I struggled with. I had problems I couldn’t fix. I just couldn’t be good enough, and I’m an old man now. And to be perfectly honest with you, when I was younger, when I was a young pastor, I thought that by now I’d be a lot better than I am, and I’m not. Now, I’m a little bit better. I don’t want you to think that sanctification isn’t working in my life. I love more than I used to. The older I get, the sweeter he becomes. There’s a sense in which I’m obedient a lot more than I used to, and I’m not sure whether that’s Jesus or just old age. I’m not sure, but it’s all irrelevant, and you know why it’s all irrelevant? Because it’s already been done. When Christ died for you on the cross, He was a substitute, and you were justified because of the blood of Christ. And most of us think that’s enough, but it’s not nearly enough, because something else happened on the cross that is just as important. Theologians call it imputation. And you say, what’s that? That’s when all of the goodness and the obedience and the righteousness of Christ has been put into your account. And now, every time you stand before God, you stand before God clothed not in your righteousness or your goodness. You don’t have enough. You stand clothed in the righteousness of Christ. Peter Marshall used to say that someday I’m going to die, and I’m going to stand before the judgment throne of God, and they’re going to read out all of my sins. And just as the judge begins to condemn me for all of eternity, Jesus will come up and he will put his arm around my shoulders. And he will say, Father, I took care of all of that on the cross, and now my child is clothed in my purity and my righteousness and my goodness. Listen, there are two great religious views that permeate all of world’s religious culture, all of it. One view says that one gets into a right relationship with a sovereign God by doing good things, living up to certain standards, performing certain rituals, sacrificing certain animals. And that view says the harder you work the closer you get, and it’s a lie, and it’s not true. The other great view of religion, and the only religion in the world who teaches this truth and its followers experience. The other great view of religion says that you get in a right relationship with God only by grace and faith in Christ. The crux of all religious truth is one of those two views. And if you get that right, It changes your life. I don’t care what I do. I don’t care where I go or who I hurt or the sins I commit, I’m as sure of heaven as I would be if I was already there, because I have set aside the lie and believe the truth. The lie, you find God in what you do. And the truth is, you find God in what Christ has already done for you. Get that, and you’ve got it. Let me give you one other lie, and just mention it, and we’ll talk more about it next week. This is the fourth lie, you find Christ in what you merit. It’s kind of like the last point, but there’s more here. Philippians 3:8b through 9a.

I consider them all rubbish,

he just has given his Christian, his religious credentials

that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law.

And then in Philippians 3:10, he says.

I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection.

Now, while most Christians would, at least intellectually, know that that lie and the former lie that we looked at, that you have a relationship with God by what you do, would say, I believe that. I really believe that. And I hope that’s true. It is true. But then, as soon as we say that, we go out and we begin to do everything we can to get God to notice, to get Him to praise us, to get Him to have a relationship with us, to get Him to say, Well done, thou good and faithful servant. Now, I’m not saying you shouldn’t do any of those things, but they’re not a cause of anything. Listen to me, they are the result. And the result is sometimes lacking, but Jesus never is. Hey, you think about that. Amen.

Matthew Porter:
Thank you Steve. And with that, we wrap up another week of exploring the Book of Philippians. Do remember that if you’d like to listen to any episode again, or maybe share something with a friend, you can stream all of our shows for free, 24 7, at keylife.org and hope you’ll join us tomorrow for Friday Q&A here’s one of the questions on deck for Steve and Pete. I’m celibate and gay. What do I do? Tune in for their answer from the Bible. Well, I just mentioned Pete Alwinson and he’s one of our Voices of Key Life, of course, along with Matt Heard, Justin Holcomb, and Jerry Parries. Well, recently all four of those guys joined Steve in the studio for a wonderful discussion about why they’re hopeful for the future of the church. We would love to send you that entire episode on CD for free. So, call us right now at 1-800-KEY-LIFE that’s 1-800-539-5433. You can also e-mail [email protected] and ask for that CD. To mail your request, go to keylife.org/contact to find our mailing addresses. Again, just ask for your free copy of the CD featuring the Voices of Key Life. And finally, if you’re blessed by the work of Key Life, would you help share that blessing with others through your financial support? Giving is easy. Just charge a gift on your credit card or include a gift in your envelope. Or you can now give through text, just pick up your phone and text Key Life to 28950 that’s Key Life, one word or two. It doesn’t matter. Just text that to 28950. Key Life is a member of ECFA in the States and 4C in Canada. And Key Life is a listener supported production of Key Life Network.