What does First B Jackson teach about righteousness by faith?
Drawn from the messages where it was actually addressed: the words said from the front, the passages taught, and where to hear the whole thing.
At First Baptist Jackson, the teaching on righteousness by faith starts with a clear diagnosis: the human instinct is to build a case for ourselves before God out of credentials, effort, and reputation. Both Van and Carl have worked through Philippians 3 and arrived at the same place. Paul's own resume was as strong as any human resume could be, and he called it rubbish compared to knowing Christ. The word translated rubbish, as Van pointed out, could be rendered more bluntly than most translations do. That is not rhetorical excess on Paul's part. It is the actual weight of the comparison.
What the law could not accomplish, God accomplished by sending His Son. Carl drew on Romans 8 to explain why: the law exposed how far short people fall, and rather than lower the standard, God satisfied it in Christ. The righteousness Paul describes in Philippians 3:9 is not earned but received through faith. Carl was careful to say this does not mean passivity. Philippians 2 calls believers to work hard to show the results of their salvation, but that working is a response to what Jesus has already done, not an attempt to earn what He has already given.
Van came to this text during his first Sunday morning at First Baptist Jackson and spoke openly about wrestling with the same pull Paul describes, the pull to lean on personal experience and ability rather than on Christ alone. The road to Damascus is where Paul's own reversal happened: in physical blindness he received spiritual sight, and everything he had been proud of shrank by comparison. That pattern, losing what you thought you had in order to gain what you could never earn, is what this church returns to when the topic of righteousness comes up.
Taught from Philippians 3:1-14 · Philippians 3:7-11 · Romans 8:3-4 · Romans 2:29 · Philippians 2:6-11
The passage taught · 1 Corinthians 15:10
10 But by the grace of God I am what I am. His grace which was given to me was not futile, but I worked more than all of them; yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.
World English Bible
The messages that teach on it
- January 18, 2026 Put No Confidence in the Flesh A new pastor preaches from Philippians 3 on counting earthly achievements as loss compared to knowing Christ, and pressing on toward the eternal prize.
- January 18, 2025 Whatever Gain I Had, I Counted as Loss Van preaches Philippians 3 on counting earthly gains as loss, finding true worth in knowing Christ, and pressing on toward the goal He sets before us.
- September 27, 2022 The Infinite Value of Knowing Christ Philippians 3 shows why our standing before God rests entirely on faith in Christ's work, not our own efforts, credentials, or record of good living.
Mentioned along the way
- February 7, 2016 Y'all Know the Gospel Pastor Ray crowdsourced Romans 1:16-17 from his congregation, asking them to define the gospel in 10 words or less. Their answers reveal what the good news really means.