Welcome to Reign of Grace. This
program is brought to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries,
an outreach ministry of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany,
Georgia. It is our pleasure and privilege
to present to you the gospel message of the sovereign grace
and glory of God in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that today's program
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for today's program. Welcome to our program today.
I'm glad you could join us for the message, and if you'd like
to follow along in your Bibles as I preach this message, the
text is in the New Testament, Matthew, the Gospel of Matthew,
the first book in the New Testament, chapter 5, verse 20. Matthew 5 and verse 20. And the
title of the message today is The Righteousness We Need. the righteousness we need. And I'm gonna talk about that.
Here's the Sermon on the Mount. This is what Matthew chapter
five begins with the Lord preaching to his disciples and to the others
in the crowd. And he makes this statement.
He first, he talks about the nature and the character of true
citizens of the kingdom of God. That's the Beatitudes. You've
heard of the Beatitudes. Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Things like that. He
has one, in one of the Beatitudes, he says, he says this, he says,
blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness.
That's Matthew 5, 6, for they shall be filled. We're gonna
be talking about righteousness. Then he talks about how the true
citizens of the kingdom of God, And those are sinners saved by
grace. He's speaking of his people,
his family, his household, his church, God's elect. And he says
that they are the salt of the earth. In other words, what he's
talking about there is how this earth is preserved. You know,
when Adam fell, God did not immediately destroyed the earth, the world
because of sin, but God allowed the world to go on. And the reason
he had allowed the world to go on is because he had a purpose
to save a people of his choice, his chosen people, chosen in
Christ before the foundation of the world and bring them to
a saving knowledge of Christ. And it's just like, you know,
people talk about the second coming of Christ when it's going
to be and all kinds of people are so concerned with that and
of course we should be concerned with it but we don't know when
Christ is returning to destroy this earth to gather his people
unto himself to judge the world and to destroy this world we
don't know when it is but I do know this that whenever the last
one of his sheep the ones whom God gave him before the foundation
of the world, the ones whom he redeemed by his blood on the
cross, when the last one of those sheep are brought into the fold
under the preaching of the gospel, that's when he'll come again.
So he says here that the church is the salt of the earth, he
says we're the light of the world, Let your light so shine, verse
16, before men that they may see your good works and glorify
your Father which is in heaven. And then anytime I come to that
verse, I make sure people understand the light that he's speaking
of there is not the good works. The good works are the fruit
and the effect of God's grace and power. They're the fruit
of faith. The light is the gospel. How God saves sinners by his
grace, not by their works, And the light is the evidence of
salvation. It's not the good works. You
see, good works, you know, when we talk about morality and obedience,
that's not the evidence of salvation, even though it is the fruit.
But the evidence of salvation comes through the gospel that
brings a sinner to look to Christ for all salvation, even while
they're seeking to obey, even though they're promoting morality. They don't promote sin. But see,
the light shining is the gospel light, the light of Christ, His
glory, and what He accomplished on Calvary to bring sinners to
salvation. And then He says He's come to
keep the law. That's what Christ came to do.
You see, He said, think not that I'm come to destroy the law,
verse 17, or the prophets. I'm come not to destroy, but
to fulfill. He came to fulfill the law. He
stated it at his baptism. He said to fulfill all righteousness. Now, after that in verse 20,
here's our text. He says this, he says, for I
say unto you that except your righteousness shall exceed the
righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees, you shall
in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven. Now, whatever righteousness
he's talking about, it's something that exceeds the righteousness
of man, religious man. Now, the scribes and the Pharisees. I heard a Jewish rabbi, one time
he made the statement, he said that the New Testament does a
hack job on the scribes and the Pharisees, but it doesn't. And
I think a lot of times people who call themselves Christian
have a misunderstanding, a skewed view, as it were, of the scribes
and the Pharisees. We often think of the scribes
and the Pharisees as being very mean all the time, or insincere,
hypocrites. You know, whenever we talk about
people in religion, there's all kinds of different people. Listen,
I knew growing up in false religion, what I call false Christianity,
I knew people who were just as genuine and sincere and kind
and charitable as anybody I've ever met in life. I also knew
some who were mean and hard and judgmental and in a self-righteous
way. Insincere, I knew some hypocrites. I knew the kind of people that,
you know, they go to church on Sunday, and as people say, they
live like hell Monday through Saturday. I knew, they're people
like that. And the scribes and the Pharisees,
they were a group of people. You had different kinds of people.
You had some sincere, dedicated, charitable, kind people. The
scribes, they were like the lawyers, not lawyers like we have today,
but they studied the law of Moses. They wrote commentaries. They
interpreted. The Pharisees were the super
religious. And they were sincere, dedicated,
moral religionists. And here's what you have to understand
about this statement that the Lord made in Matthew 520 when
He says that, I say unto you, except your righteousness exceed
theirs. These were the main religious
leaders of the Jewish people in that day. These were the men
whom they looked up to and admired, wanted to be like. These were
the ones that they knew. These were men who were right
with God, but they weren't. They taught righteousness by
the law, by the works of the law, human works. And they didn't make it. They
fell short. Paul wrote about that in Romans
chapter nine. He said, Israel, which followed
after the law of righteousness have not attained to the law
of righteousness because they sought it not by faith. That
is, they didn't seek it in Christ, but they sought it by their works.
They were ignorant, he said, of God's righteousness, going
about to establish their own. He says, Christ is the end of
the law, the fulfillment, the finishing of the law. And that's
what he's talking about, the righteousness that we need. So
he says, you can't enter the kingdom of heaven unless your
righteousness exceed theirs. And then he goes to prove that
by showing them the extent of the law. The law reaches to the
thoughts and the motives, to the heart. But look over at Matthew
6 in verse 33. I don't have time to go through
all these verses. But here's the righteousness
that we need. He says in Matthew 6, 33, but
seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. And all these things shall be
added unto you. His righteousness. The righteousness that we need
is His righteousness. Who's that? That's God's righteousness.
Now, before I go on, let me say a little bit about this term
righteousness. You hear me, if you follow this
program, any at all, you hear me use that term quite a bit.
And I believe that a lot of people have a misunderstanding of the
concept, the term righteousness. The terms right, righteous, righteousness,
in the New Testament, for example, and in the Old, actually, could
just as well be translated just, justice, or justification. You see, that's what righteousness
has to do with. It has to do with God's justice. And righteousness,
most people think of righteousness as moral character and conduct,
but that's not what righteousness is. Technically speaking, and
I know we don't always speak in a technical way, doctrinally
precise, but we should be careful because we want to understand
the truth here. As most people think of righteousness as moral
character and conduct, But technically speaking, righteousness is not
moral character and conduct. A person, for example, can try
to be moral, try to be responsible, sincere, and dedicated in every
way, and still not be righteous in God's sight. Did you understand
that? The Bible tells us that. For
example, When we read passages of Scripture like Romans 3 and
verse 23, it says, For all have sinned and come short of the
glory of God. Now the glory of God is the glory
that He shines forth in the person and finished work of redemption
that was accomplished by the Lord Jesus Christ. And so what
it's telling us there in Romans 3.23 is that no matter how good
we try to be, no matter how sincere we try to be, no matter how dedicated,
no matter how many churches we join, how many times we're baptized,
no matter how much money we give to the church or to the poor,
we still fall short of the righteousness that is found only in the Lord
Jesus Christ. We do not measure up. Over in
the Psalms it says, man at his best state is altogether vanity. You see, I ought to try to do
my best and to be my best, but here's what I'm saying. Doing
my best and being my best, if I could achieve that all the
time, which I can't, But if I could, I would still fall short of the
righteousness that God requires. So righteousness is not moral
character and conduct, technically speaking. Here's what it is.
It is the perfect standard, the legal standard, by which God
measures all morality and all good works. And so I've got to
ask myself, do my works measure up to righteousness? And the
answer is no. Paul dealt with that in Romans
chapter seven, when he talked about in verses 14 through the
end of the chapter about how he was still a sinner. You know,
I've said on this program quite often that there's only two types
of people in the world. There's sinners lost in their
sins, and sinners saved by the grace of God. And a sinner saved
by the grace of God is righteous in God's sight, but not by his
works. And that's what Christ is dealing
with here in Matthew 5 and verse 20. He says, I say unto you that
except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the
scribes and the Pharisees you shall in no case enter into the
kingdom of heaven." So what I know about this now is this, I must
have a righteousness that exceeds the righteousness of the best
men and women on earth in order to enter heaven. That's what
I need. That's the righteousness I need.
Righteousness is perfect satisfaction to God's law and justice. Now
where am I going to find such a righteousness? Well, that's
where the gospel comes in. And so, what he's telling them
here is this. The righteousness of man or men
will do us no good. Why not? Number one, man has
no righteousness. If you look over in the book
of Romans, chapter three, it tells us that. Verse 10. As it is written, that is written
in God's Word, there's none righteous, no not one. I don't care who
it is. I don't care what they've done.
I don't care how much they're admired. You're not gonna find
any person in the history of mankind to whom we can look to
and say according to God's standard now, that's a righteous person
by their works. Do you understand that? I don't
care who it is. You say, well, I had such a loving
mother and father. Well, that's great. But their
loving you and their sacrificing for you does not make them righteous
in God's sight. Now, to be righteous in God's
sight is to be justified. To be justified is to be not
guilty. Remember when they brought the
adulterous woman to Christ and they were going to stone her?
And he said, let he who is without sin cast the first stone and
they all went away. What would you have done? What
would your loving mother and father have done? Would they
have stayed there and picked up the stone and stoned the woman?
I dare not. We would all walk away because
none of us are without sin. So that's how strict this righteousness
is. There's not a person on earth
in the history of mankind who has ever made themselves righteous
by their works. There's none righteous, no not
one. And then listen to this, Romans 3 11. There's none that
understandeth. There's none that seeketh after
God. Verse 12, they are all gone out of the way. They are together
become unprofitable. There's none that doeth good,
no not one. Now don't make the mistake of
looking at verses like that and throwing them off away from you
to some immoral segment of society. That's all of us by nature, friend.
None that doeth good. Now what I mean by that is, what
the Bible means by that is according to God's standard of goodness.
As God measures goodness. We know good people as we compare
to one another. There are people who are good
and people who are bad. But when it comes to God's standard, when
it comes to what God requires, when it comes to God's way of
salvation, when it comes to a right relationship with God, Among
men and women there's none good, no not one. And then look down
at Romans 3 and verse 19. It says, Now we know that what
thing soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the
law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may
become guilty before God. And verse 20, Therefore by the
deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his
God's sight. That justified meaning be righteous,
being made righteous, not guilty. For by the law is the knowledge
of sin. Do you see that? So what is, where is the righteousness
we need? Well, we read it back in Matthew
6.33, seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. What is His righteousness? Well,
in the book of Romans, chapter one, verse 16, Paul speaks of,
book of Romans, chapter one, and the first few verses, he
speaks of the gospel of God, Romans 1.1. And the gospel is good news.
Now, for me to tell you, or to tell myself, that we need a righteousness
we cannot produce, in and of itself is not good news, is it?
Because I don't measure up. Even right now, I claim to be
a believer, a sinner saved by the grace of God. But even right
now, I don't measure up. In my best efforts to obey God,
I cannot say that my best efforts are righteous and make me righteous.
My acceptance before God is not based on my works even now. So
just to tell myself or to tell you that we need a righteousness
we don't have and cannot produce is not good news. But the gospel
is good news because it shows, it reveals God's provision of
righteousness for His people through a glorious person, and
that's the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's what Christ was teaching
in the Sermon on the Mount here. He told them, He said He'd come
to keep the law, not to destroy it. Back in Matthew chapter three,
when he spoke at his baptism, you remember he came to John
the Baptist, he said, baptize me, John. And John refused to
do it. And he said, no, he said, allow it to be so for us to fulfill
all righteousness. That's what Christ came to do.
And in Romans chapter one, 16 and 17, remember Paul said, for
I'm not ashamed of the gospel. For it is the power of God unto
salvation to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first, to the Greek
also. Verse 17 says, for therein, now
listen to this, here's the righteousness we need. For therein is the righteousness
of God revealed from faith to faith. And as it is written,
the just or the justified, the righteous shall live by faith.
Where is, who is, what is the righteousness that I need? Well,
my friend, that righteousness is found in the glorious person
and in the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Romans 10,
four says this, for Christ is the end of the law for righteousness
to everyone that believeth. That word end means the finishing.
In John 19.30 when Christ was hanging on that cross he said
it's finished. Same word. It means it's the
fulfillment. Christ is the fulfillment. Christ
kept the law. He obeyed unto death. Christ satisfied the justice
of the law. How did he do it? He did it as
the surety and the substitute of the people whom God had given
Him before the foundation of the world. God's elect, Christ's
sheep. Now what does that mean, He's
the surety of God's people? Well, before the foundation of
the world, God the Father chose a people and gave them to Christ. He put all of the responsibility
of their whole salvation from sin in the hands of the Lord
Jesus Christ. All of their salvation was conditioned
on Him. And in order for Him to be just
in doing that, He imputed, He charged, He reckoned, He accounted
the debt of their sins to Christ. It laid to His account. In other
words, Christ took responsibility for my sin. He didn't commit
the sin. He never became a sinner. He
was not made a sinner. But He became guilty and responsible
for the debt of my sin charged to Him. He's my surety. He paid
my debt. That's what sin does. It runs
up a debt to God's law. God's justice. Christ stood as
my surety. Now, in order to pay that debt,
He had to be my substitute. He had to come to earth, He had
to unite His deity with sinless humanity, the God-man, God with
us, the Word made flesh dwelling among us, and He had to keep
the law unto death to pay that debt in full. The scripture says
in Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 14, by one offering, his one
offering of himself, by one offering he hath perfected, finished,
completed forever them that are sanctified. Those who are sanctified
are those who are set apart by God for salvation. And that's
what it is. And what happens, see, he says
there in Romans 160, it's that good news of a righteousness
freely and fully provided by the grace of God in Christ for
His people is the power of God unto salvation. That is when
sinners in the power of the Holy Spirit are born again under the
preaching of that message and come to believe in the Lord Jesus
Christ and embrace Him and cling to Him as their righteousness. I'm telling you, The righteousness
I need, I don't have in myself, and I cannot work it in myself,
but I have it because I look to Christ as the Lord my righteousness. Seeking first the kingdom of
God and His righteousness. What is His righteousness? It's
Christ crucified, risen again from the dead. That's what the
death, burial, and resurrection of Christ is all about. It's
not just about a heart-wrenching story, even though the story
is heart-wrenching. It's not just about Easter and
Christmas and Easter and all of that. It's not about just
feeling sorry for Jesus. You remember when he was on his
way to Golgotha carrying that cross and the women in the street
were weeping and he turned to him and he said, don't weep for
me, weep for yourselves. Don't feel sorry for me. That's
the reason he came into the world. to obey unto death as the surety
and substitute of his people, to do what? To establish righteousness,
whereby God could look upon them and rightly and justly declare
them righteous, not guilty, righteous in his sight. God does not charge
his people with their sins. He charged their sins to Christ.
Christ went under the wrath of God justly, for their sins charged,
imputed, accounted to him. And he died the death that I
earned and deserved as my surety and my substitute. And therefore
God does not impute, charge me with my sins. He imputes righteousness
to me. Now, how do I know that I have
this righteousness that I need? Well, the first evidence of having
this righteousness is believing on the Lord Jesus Christ as he
is identified and distinguished in the Bible. That's how it comes,
that's the evidence. Believing doesn't make you righteous.
Believing evidences that you have been made righteous by God
in his grace. Grace reigns through righteousness
unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord, Romans 5.21. Our faith,
our believing, for example, is not our righteousness before
God. We believe in Christ who is our righteousness. Christ
is the righteousness that we need. I hope you'll join us next
week for another message from God's Word. We are glad you could join us
for another edition of Reign of Grace. This program is brought
to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries, an outreach ministry
of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany, Georgia. To receive
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today and may the Lord be with you.