Day 13

Gospel Enemy #1:

Self Righteousness

Roger and Eileen Himes

www.ThePracticalGospel.com

Paul says that the gospel is the power of God because it is the revelation of HIS righteousness in us (Rom 1:16-17). Knowing this, it is no wonder that gospel enemy number one is SELF righteousness.

Today we will look deeper into SELF. If life is mainly about us, — getting our needs met, prosperity and success, and having a better life, — this is self righteousness. It is what we work at — of course praying for God’s help. This was the focus of my book, America: Searching For Reality. Many pulpit messages address this — how to get the most out of life, and how to (vainly) try to be ‘more like God.’

The focus of the gospel is on God, not on us. God is in the spotlight. The gospel is God’s testimony. When it deals with us, it is about who he makes us to be because of the finished work of the cross. It is about the presence and power of God moving through us (Gal 2:20).

As we’ve seen, living under instruction is living in the mindset of “What do I lack?” The fact is that, until the cross, we ALL lacked. But because of the finished work of the cross, NONE of us lack.

The only way we lack is not believing the gospel of Christ’s finished work (John 6:29, Heb 4:2).

The question is instead, “What do I have?” The answer is absolutely everything God has. Jesus came for sin, and to become sin for us (Rom 8:3, II Cor 5:21). Jesus became us (Heb 7:26, KJV only), so we become as he is (I John 4:17). What God gives us is absolutely unbelievable.

But the gospel, the presence of God, creates divine belief in us!

When we don’t live in the knowledge of the truth of the gospel, our only choice is to live in self righteousness, or as Paul most often calls it, ‘our own righteousness.’ We have seen many ways we live in self righteousness as we have progressed. We will see more.

Self righteousness was born when Adam and Eve ate from the forbidden tree: The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. It’s been with us ever since. It is a type of thinking that focuses on SELF (that should be a ‘no-brainer’ now). Satan told Eve: ‘You shall be as God.’ It was the same sin he fell to: pride. It is what Paul calls worshipping and serving the creature (SELF) rather than the Creator (Rom 1:25).

Self righteousness is modern day idolatry: it is self, not God!

Self righteousness is trying to get what God has already given.

Self righteousness is born in unbelief — in a lack of faith.

Self righteousness is born in ignorance of gospel truth.

Self righteousness is living life in the flesh, not in the Spirit.

Self righteousness is living by human, natural, worldly means.

Can you see why self righteousness is the greatest enemy of the gospel? Can you see why Satan is constantly urging us to live in self righteousness, so that we don’t trust God, and the finished work of Christ on the cross? Can you see why it is Satan’s greatest goal to blind our minds to the glorious gospel?

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GOSPEL TRUTH #25

We need to truly see the RESULTS self righteous living. Seeing the results of living this way helps cure us from this fatal spiritual disease.
(1) It robs God of his glory, and our oneness and unity with him.
(2) It robs us of God’s necessary love, and God of our love.
(3) It robs us of our identity: who we are in Christ.
(4) It robs us from living in the truth and the power of the gospel.
(5) It robs our faith, which is necessary to live God’s gospel.
(6) it robs others of close fellowship and relationship with us; we can’t be truthful and transparent except in the gospel of grace.

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Lets take a look at HOW we live in self righteousness. Lets see the motivation behind us living in our own righteousness — rather than in the gift of the imparted righteousness of God. Remember: Paul tells us in Romans 5:17 that we reign in life by RECEIVING two things: (1) God’s abundant grace, and (2) his gift of righteousness. We can’t live as reigning overcomers, in God’s presence, authority, and power, if we live in our own self righteousness! The converse is true: we can’t receive God’s righteousness living in self righteousness!

Paul says the only thing he wants to know is ‘Christ crucified’ (I Cor 2:2). Paul says he wants to be found ‘in Christ,’ . . . “NOT having my own righteousness — which is of the law, — but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith” (Phil 3:9).

This passage says self righteousness is born in trying to live by the Old Covenant law of God. On a later gospel fast day we will look at the law of God in depth, and what the New Testament gospel says about it. In short, as a preview, it can be the glory of God — but trying to live by it can also be playing in Satan’s sandbox! It produces sin which evolves into UN-righteousness (Rom 7:5). This is the way Satan takes captive, and controls us AT HIS WILL (II Tim 2:25).

Human righteousness is born in Old Testament law (Deut 6:25). But in the New Testament gospel, it comes by means of impartation from God (II Cor 5:21). One is by works, and one is by gift. Paul discusses this in Romans 3 and 4. Trying to obtain righteousness by means of law, is to deny God’s gift of his righteousness by faith. Gospel righteousness is— of God by faith.

We see self righteousness in a different light in Romans 10:3-4:

For they being ignorant of GOD’S righteousness, and going about to establish their OWN righteousness, have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God. For Christ is the END of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.”

Gospel belief and faith transpose righteousness into something spiritual and divine from God himself, due to the finished work of the cross. But as this verse says, we must ‘submit ourselves to it.’ This has the same meaning as ‘receiving it,’ as we looked at in Romans 5:17. Today, the ONLY way we live in righteousness is by submitting ourselves to it and receiving it as a free gift. To try to attain it by any other means, such as existed in the Old Testament, is non-gospel.

Thus Hebrews 4:2 says, “For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them, but the word preached did not PROFIT them, not being mixed with faith in them who heard it.” The only way for the gospel to PROFIT us is by faith and belief in Christ’s finished work.

See this in light of what we talked about earlier:
God’s righteousness begins in rest, which then produces work.
Self righteousness begins in work, which leads to UN-rest.

Our ‘state of being,’ as gospel Christians, is righteous!

The state of being of God’s Old Testament followers was only righteous if they kept all of the law, as they were commanded (Deut 6:25, Gal 3:10, Jam 2:10). Thus, gospel righteousness is by means of rest and receiving; Old Testament righteousness is by means of work, that never attains it. Most people; live by work, not in gospel rest.

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GOSPEL TRUTH #26

Gospel revelation light reveals God’s agape love, which produces abundant, Zoë life. Sometimes it is receiving his love first that reveals his light. We receive this when our hearts are established in grace (Heb 13:9). We cannot live in God’s love, light and life and grace if we are consumed with worldly, natural, carnal, fleshly thoughts and works. This is the fruit of self righteousness.

Let me say it this way: the fruit of gospel righteousness is living in God’s revelation light, agape love, and Zoë life — which is all produced by the heart being established in grace.

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Paul says God’s law is good — IF it is used lawfully (I Tim 1:8). The problem is that if the law is used to establish our righteousness, as Paul describes in Philippians 3:9 that we read, it is being used UN-lawfully. Living this way we become ‘enemies of the cross,’ spiritually speaking (Phil 3:18). We are ‘religious outlaws’ if we live by this means in the New Covenant gospel. We Gentiles were not meant to live by the Old Testament law in the first place (Rom 2:14). Paul says no one ever kept it to God’s satisfaction (Acts 15:10).

What makes us so arrogant and prideful to think we can?

This side of the cross, we are meant to live by a NEW law. Paul calls it ‘the law of faith’ (Rom 3:27). Today, we are actually in rebellion to God, and in disobedience to him, if we put ourselves under any law, rules, regulations, principles, systems, methodologies, or anything else, in order to try to attain righteousness. The purpose of the law was to declare us all guilty, not make us righteous (Rom 3:19). Christ is the END of the law for righteousness (Rom 10:4, Gal 4:19-24).

If our minds are conformed to the ways of the world, including noble-sounding religious ways, then we CANNOT live the gospel. In essence, we are mixing the blood of Jesus with the blood of animals. Living by faith is trusting the finished work of Christ’s cross.

Every time we put SELF in the spotlight, and look to SELF, we are living in self righteousness. Every time we trust the finished work of the cross for our righteousness, we are living in God’s righteousness. This is what the gospel — the power of God — reveals to us (Rom 1:16-17). But this revelation can only be seen with gospel eyes.

Satan tries to keep our eyes on God’s law, not his gospel. He knows this keeps us ‘opposing ourselves’ in everything we do, because we are not living gospel truth. He knows he has us in a snare and we are taken captive by him at his will (II Tim 2:25-26). In this way he keeps us blind to truth. He gets a lot of help from the pulpits of 10,000 instructors!

As with Eve, Satan’s greatest human temptation is SELF. If he can get us living a self-focused idolatry, — we’ll never see gospel truth.

Self righteousness ties God’s hands in our lives. It destroys the revelation of divine identity in our hearts, and the authority of God in our minds. It is a deadly cancer that destroys us spiritually.

The gospel is the only thing that can bring a permanent heart change. 2,000 years of Old Testament history showed us the law could not do it. Paul calls this type of life weak and unprofitable — and thus he says it was ‘disannulled’ (Heb 7:18). For us to try to reinstitute it is trying to breathe new life into a dead corpse.

We’ve seen it before: “The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ” (John 1:17). Jesus says, “Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father. There is one who accuses you, even Moses (his law), in whom you trust” (John 5:45).

Our trust is wrong if we trust anything else but the gospel! You’ll see this late in this 40 day fast — but think about it now, to see it later. What is the REAL battle?
(a) Is it Jesus vs. Satan? Or has he been defeated?
(b) Is it Jesus vs. Moses (new vs. old)? Is the conflict still real?