From the May 15 sermon, "Works Righteousness vs. Gift Righteousness," preached out of Luke 18:9–14: Works righteousness is in fact unrighteousness. We are not saved by our good works; we are saved by the gift of Jesus’ work on the cross. Our unrighteous sin goes to him, and his righteousness comes to us. Do not trust in yourself as the works righteousness man in the parable did. Trust in the Lord as the repentant, humble sinner who received the gift righteousness did. Confess your sin to Jesus. Receive the righteousness of God in Christ. And then celebrate with joy.

Pride is a sin. You can call it self-esteem, it’s still pride. It’s the sin that got Satan kicked out of heaven. Augustine, the church father, says that pride is like a mother who is pregnant with all sin. All sin ultimately comes from pride. The first sin was to be like God. That’s pride. That’s pride. … Who? Who do you have contempt for? Let the Holy Spirit highlight that for you, reveal to you what’s really in your heart. I don’t know who it is, maybe it’s an individual, a kind of person, a category of person, maybe it’s a body type, a race, a gender, a socioeconomic background, a lifestyle choice, I don’t know what it is for you, but the Holy Spirit will highlight some person or group of persons and say, "You have contempt for them rather than compassion for them. You don’t understand the gospel." … Friends, you need to know this, that works righteousness, either in its secular form or in its religious form, is nonetheless an abomination, it is deplorable to the God of the Bible. When we come to God, friends, we are to come empty-handed to receive a gift, not bearing all of our works righteousness as if God were to be impressed.

It’s not about you. It’s all about Jesus. Additionally, it’s not about what you do for Jesus. It’s about what Jesus does for you. That’s what justification is about. Furthermore, God is not impressed with you. God is not impressed with you, but God loves you. That’s even better. Because if God is impressed with you, you need to keep performing. But if he loves you, he loves you no matter what. … We do not change so that God will bless us. We do not change so that God will love us. We do not change so that God would accept us. Rather, we change because in Jesus Christ, God has blessed us. In Jesus Christ, God has loved us. In Jesus Christ, God has accepted us. Christianity then is not what we have to do. It’s what we get to do. And because of the presence of the Holy Spirit in us, it’s ultimately what we want to do. We want to follow Jesus, we want to be like Jesus, not so that God would love us, but because he’s already loved us in Christ. The motivation is very different. It leads to joy and not duty or burden. It’s a bunch of get-tos, not a bunch of have-tos. That’s the Christian life.