The Lord said in Matthew 5, accept
that your righteousness should exceed the righteousness of the
scribes and the Pharisees. You shall in no wise enter the
kingdom of heaven. There are so many, isn't there,
in this day. and in this world that seem to live their lives
out with no care about what happens afterwards, no concern about
what it is to stand before a holy God without righteousness. Believers wrestle with that probably
more than most. Necessarily we all have wrestled
with that notion of standing before a holy God without a righteousness
that will see us standing and stay standing. But we know that
message, don't we? We know the message. The message
of free grace of God in the finished work, in the accomplished work
of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's our message and that's
what we rest in. He's done it all, hasn't he?
He's accomplished it. He really did. Now we know in
the scriptures, Pharisees were very righteous people outwardly.
But we do know that because of the Lord's rebuke of some of
them, that some of them were gross hypocrites, weren't they?
Some made a pretentious show of the giving of arms. Some stood
in the street corners and prayed endless prayers so that the passers-by
would admire them. But for the most part the scribes
and the Pharisees were, well they were considered, certainly
considered a righteous group of men. The Jews actually had
a saying about them which said, if the two of all the world would
go to heaven and one would be the scribe and the other would
be a Pharisee, That's what the Jews thought of them. They were
very righteous living men outwardly. They lived by the Ten Commandments,
they paid the tithes, they fasted twice a week, they prayed three
times a day, and they did all sorts of charitable works. But
the Lord says, doesn't he, he says, "'Except your righteousness
shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees.
Then you shall in no wise enter the kingdom of heaven. And the
Apostle Paul, he was a Pharisee, wasn't he? He was circumcised
on the eighth day, according to Philippians 3, of the stock
of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin. And Hebrew of Hebrews, and as
touching the law, a Pharisee. Concerning zeal, persecuting
the church. Touching the righteousness which
is in the law, blameless. What an amazing statement. And
yet the Lord says, your righteousness, your righteousness must exceed
the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees. How can I
have a righteousness that is acceptable and pleasing to a
holy God? The fact is, nothing less than
perfect righteousness. is acceptable before a holy God.
The righteousness of God himself, that's what we must have. The
problem for these men is that they thought themselves whole,
they had no need. In Luke 5.27, the Lord calls
Matthew, and here in Luke's account, Matthew is called by his Hebrew
name, Levi. In verse 27 we read, and after
these things he went forth and saw a republican named Levi sitting
at the seat of custom. Levi was a tax collector, an
occupation that was despised of the Jews, and he was sitting
in his tolbox. And he said unto him, follow
me. And he left all, rose up, and
followed him. Follow me. What a wonderful example
of the distinguishing grace of God. It's no coincidence, is
it, that the Lord Jesus was passing by at that particular point,
at that particular time, and called Levi. And when the true
Lord Jesus calls, he calls effectually, doesn't he? Irresistibly. We
can't resist. He left all. He left his business,
he left his profits and followed him. Everything but Christ became
insignificant. Verse 29, and Levi made him a
great feast in his own house and there was a great company
of publicans and of others that sat down with them. Don't you
find yourselves marvelling at the grace of God, that He would
call someone like me, that He would be merciful to the chief
of sinners? And if me, if me, then perhaps
my friends as well. We long for our friends and family
to meet with our Saviour, don't we? But their scribes and Pharisees
murmured against his disciples, saying, Why do you eat and drink
with publicans and sinners? And Jesus answered, saying unto
them, They that are whole need not a physician, but they that
are sick. The scribes and the Pharisees
despised the Lord Jesus because they thought they were whole,
didn't they? And you remember those words of the Lord to the
Pharisees in John 9, that they thought they could see. In John
9, we just read, don't turn there now, the Lord said, For judgment
I am coming to this world, that they which see not might see,
and that they which see might be made blind. And some of the
Pharisees which were with him heard these words and said unto
him, Are we blind also? And Jesus said unto them, If
ye were blind, ye would have no sin. But now ye say, We see,
therefore your sin remaineth. They claimed they could see,
and yet they could not see God's Christ standing before them.
and their sin remained. And here in Luke 5, we read at
verse 32, the Lord Jesus saying, I came not to call the righteous,
but sinners to repentance. They thought themselves righteous.
They looked to the law. And as they looked to the law,
Christ was no effect to them. You see, it's not that men don't
have righteousness, is it? I mean, men have got plenty of
righteousness, haven't they? But the righteousness they have
is self-righteousness. And that righteousness is no
righteousness at all. The scripture says there is none
righteous. As if to pre-empt the objection, the Holy Spirit
says, no, not one. None righteous, no, not one.
There is none that understandeth. There is none that seeketh after
God. They are all gone out of the way. They are all together
become unprofitable. There is none that doeth good,
no, not one. And Paul himself, previously
a Pharisee, summed it up in Philippians 3. But what things were gained
to me, those I count at loss for Christ, yea, doubtless, and
I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge
of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss
of all things, and do count them but done, that I may win Christ
and be found in Him, not having mine own righteousness, which
is of the law, But that which is through the faith of Christ,
the righteousness which is of God by faith." The Gospel of
God's free grace in the accomplished work of the Lord Jesus Christ
is the only message of salvation that doesn't allow you to do
anything. You bring something to the table of salvation and
you disqualify yourself. It's the only message of salvation
that gives to the Lord all the glory for having done Him all
the work all by Himself. He finished the work the Father
gave Him to do according to that everlasting covenant. He put away our sin and He gave
all His people perfect righteousness in the process. 2 Corinthians
5, 21, will be known so well known to us. For he hath made
him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made
the righteousness of God in him. We have to be made righteousness.
We can't conjure up righteousness, contrary to what men seem to
think. God hath made him sin for us
in that perfect work of substitution. Him who knew no sin, the Lord
Jesus was not a sinner, he was made sin for us, who knew no
sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. May we rejoice in our blessed
saviour, who by his doing and dying has truly made chosen sinners
the righteousness of God in him. May the Lord bless us to us today. Okay, I think we're getting there.