Introduction: When I was a student in seminary and serving as a chaplain candidate, there was a fellow chaplain candidate that said something one day just before he stood up to preach from the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) in the New Testament. He said, “This is the greatest sermon ever ignored.” And then he began to teach. I remember almost nothing from that man’s sermon from decades ago now, but I do remember that phrase–the greatest sermon ever ignored.

This morning I was studying the Sermon on the Mount again. No matter how many times I read it, I am broken. Why? Because I cannot keep the standards. I will have a good run spiritually for a day, maybe a week, maybe longer, but then Blam! And I totally blow it. That is the point, of course–that no one is righteous, no not one. As David writes in Psalm 14:1b, “there is none who does good.”

And Paul, the one-time Pharisee and spiritual legalist, reemphasizes that truth in Romans:

as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one. (Romans 3:10-12, ESV)

Paul would go on to write that he counted all his spiritual pride prior to knowing Christ:

2 Look out for the dogs, look out for the evildoers, look out for those who mutilate the flesh. 3 For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh— 4 though 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: 5 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; 6 as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. 7 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, 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—(Philippians 3:2-9, ESV)

Why is that passage so important? Because Paul is reemphasizing what God teaches throughout Scripture: our works will only damn us. What saves is being broken over our fallenness and sin, fleeing to Christ alone as savior and redeemer, and having his righteousness imputed to us. In short, we are to flee to God in Christ through repentance and trust/confidence in his saving work.

The constant theme: Paul taught that. Isaiah taught that. Moses taught that. David taught that. Jesus taught that. Abraham was counted righteous by what means? By his merits? No. By his trust in God. He believed God. His confidence was not in himself but in God.

Christ alone is sufficient. And in Christianity alone, all those clothed with Christ’s righteousness are reckoned/counted righteous. That is why Christians are to disciple the nations. It’s a rescue mission for fellow sinners.

And Christ offers himself to us sinners who blow it spiritually. He offers forgiveness, hope, peace, redemption, restoration, and more to us via his sovereign grace. Forgiveness, redemption, and restoration. Let that sink in. Why would we resist that? He says to us, “I am your righteousness. Come to me.”

In Matthew 5:20 Christ says, “For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” I remember when I was young in my thinking, I took that to mean that I needed to really buckle down and do better. Try harder. Get better. Sin less. Show improvement, etc. But no! That way of thinking is exactly our problem. Why? Because no work of ours is sufficient to merit God’s favor. On the contrary, our works are filthy rags, sufficient only to merit God’s just condemnation.

Pharisaism runs deep and deadly: Jesus reserved his most scathing condemnations for religious legalists, those who thought their works set them apart unto God sufficient to merit his favor. And the Lord excoriated them and their theology. He called them hypocrites (Matthew 23:13) and blind guides (Matthew 23:16) and serpents and broods of vipers (Matthew 23:33). The list could go on and on. The point should be clear. Legalism, adding to the gospel, spiritual pride and posturing, kill. They damn people.

Encouragement: This Sunday, Lord willing, I will unite with fellow sinners and rejoice in the truth of the saving gospel–that Christ came to save us sinners. And those sins so often are related to our focus on ourselves rather than on the redeemer himself. It is God who saves. Any good works the redeemed do are results, not the grounds, of acceptance by the saving God.